Meath crowned Leinster minor champions as Offaly fall agonisingly short

Offaly's John Furlong and Conor Gray of Meath contest a high ball. Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Meath 1-7 Offaly 1-6 

A renaissance of sorts at underage level continued for Meath as they won their second of the last three provincial minor crowns with this 2020 final victory at TEG Cusack Park Mullingar last night.

It was a gigantic struggle throughout with Offaly’s spirited fightback in the final quarter falling agonisingly short.

With the counties' last competitive outings over six months ago, it took the teams quite a while to get into their stride. At the opening water break, it was 0-1 apiece and it was level again entering the closing stages of the half before Meath captain Eoghan Frayne pointed a free and a ’45 to give his side a 0-4 to 0-2 advantage at the break. The Summerhill man accounted for all of his side’s opening-half scores.

Offaly hit the opening point of the second half from Jamie Guing but the climb became steeper when Frayne converted another free and Liam Stafford took advantage of a defensive lapse to rattle the net on 38 minutes.

Seeking a first title in the grade since 1989, Offaly responded in the best possible fashion with a goal from Pauric Robbins on 48 minutes and two points from Guing to draw the sides level on 57 minutes.

Meath hit back with points from Ruairi Kinsella and Frayne to go two clear and Offaly’s only response came from a Geordi O’Meara free.

The Faithful almost snatched it in the dying minutes but John Furlong's goal effort was wide of the target.

Scorers for Meath: E Frayne (0-6, 3 frees, 1 45), L Stafford (1-0), R Kinsella (0-1).

Scorers for Offaly: P Robbins (1-0), J Guing (0-3, 1 free), C Egan, K O’Neill (free), G O’Meara (0-1 each).

MEATH: B Hogan; B Moran, L Kelly, B Donnelly; A McDonnell, O Kelly, C Caulfield; S Emmanuel C Gray; M Coffey, R Kinsella, L Stafford; A Bowden, E Frayne, J McDonagh. 

Subs: A Murphy for McDonagh (h-t), T Corbett for O Kelly (50), O Keogh for Stafford (56).

OFFALY: D Dunican; D Finneran, T Hyland, C Conroy; D Dempsey, C Ryan, G O’Meara; J Furlong, H Plunkett; M Dalton, A Egan, P Robbins; J Guing, K O’Neill, C Egan. 

Subs: P Taaffe for Dempsey (40), S Keenaghan for Robbins (49), E Gavin for O’Neill (51), D McDaid for Hyland (58), J Bergin for Plunkett (60).

Referee: D Fedigan (Louth)