Meath dominate as new Louth boss Ger Brennan left with much to work on

The Royals dominated against their neighbours.

GROUND GAME: Meath’s Daithí McGowan and Oisin McGuinness of Louth. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

Meath 2-13 Louth 1-7 

The post Mickey Harte era got off to a disappointing start for Louth as they were no match for their neighbours in this Dioralyte O’Byrne Cup quarter final at Ashbourne.

But for a brief spell on the approach to half-time during which they hit a goal and two points to draw level, Louth produced very poor fare and left new boss Ger Brennan with plenty to work on prior to the start of the Allianz Division 2 campaign.

The win set up a semi-final for Meath against holders Longford in Ashbourne next Friday night. Colm O’Rourke emptied his bench in the second half which Meath dominated and substitutes contributed seven points of their side’s tally.

The opening half was a low key affair for long stretches until Louth shook themselves up and broke through for a goal from defender Dan Corcoran with Ryan Burns creating the opening on 28 minutes.

Newcomer Wayne Campbell and Jonathon Commins, a fine long range effort, added points to draw the teams level for the first time since the opening minutes.

Meath responded to that Louth surge and a pointed free from Aaron Lynch on 33 minutes separated the teams at the break, the hosts ahead 1-5 to 1-4.

It was Lynch who accounted for the Meath goal, finishing a lighting move to an empty net with Eoghan Frayne, Jack O’Connor and Cathal Hickey all involved in the move on 10 minutes.

Meath had started with nine of their Tailteann Cup winning team and also gave a first competitive outing to Michael Murphy (Dunboyne) and they made the best possible start to the second half when Hickey’s darting run was halted illegally and Mathew Costello blasted to the net from the resultant spot kick.

Sean Coffey, Adam McDonnell and Ruairi Kinsella (two) all added points to stretch the lead before substitute Sean Marry accounted for Louth opening score of the second half on 56 minutes.

That left it 2-9 to 1-5 but there was no way back for a Louth side that lacked a cutting edge in attack.

Louth’s remaining points came courtesy of Peter McStravick and a Ryan Burns ’45.

Meath found scores more easily to come by as Kinsella took his tally of points to three following his introduction on the restart. Another pleasing aspect for the Royals was the return of Shane Walsh from injury for his first appearance since the early stages of last year’s league campaign.

Scorers for Meath: M Costello (1-3, 1-0 pen, 2fs), A Lynch (1-1, 1f), R Kinsella (0-3), S Coffey, J Flynn, A McDonnell, C Finnegan (f), K Curtis (f), D Moriarty (0-1 each).

Scorers for Louth: D Corcoran (1-0), R Burns (0-3, 1f, 1’45), W Campbell, J Commins, S Marry, P McStravick (0-1 each) 

MEATH: S Brennan; M Flood, A O’Neill, M Murphy; C Caulfield, R Jones, S Coffey; J Flynn, C Hickey; D McGowan, E Frayne, D Campion; A Lynch, M Costello, J O’Connor. Subs: B Hogan for Brennan, R Kinsella for Campion, D Rowe for Lynch, D Keogan for Jones, D Moriarty for Frayne, A McDonnell for Caulfield (all h-t), S Walsh for Costello, C Gray for Flynn (both 46), C Farrelly for Coffey (51), C Finnegan for O’Connor (52), K Curtis for Flood (59).

LOUTH: N McDonnell; D Corcoran, P Lynch, C Maher; C McKeever, D Campbell, O McGuinness; C Early, W Campbell; P McStravick, T Jackson, J Commins; R Burns, D McKeown, K McElroy. Subs: C Murphy for McKeever (41), L Grey for Corcoran, C O’Neill for W Campbell (both 43), S Marry for McElroy (48), B Collier for Commins (53), D McKenny for D Campbell (62).

Referee: Ian Howley (Dublin)