Allianz Football League Division 2

MEATH 2-15 DOWN 0-14

By Gareth McCullough at the Athletic Grounds

A clinical second half double from Cillian O’Sullivan at the Athletic Grounds helped Meath to a comfortable win over Down and secured their promotion play-off place.

The forward found the net twice in five minutes to put paid to what was already an unlikely-looking Down comeback in awful conditions in Armagh. 

Despite Meath having both Eoin Harkin and captain Shane McEntee black carded in separate incidents in the first period, Down weren’t able to capitalise as much as they would have liked, notching just two points while they had the numerical advantage for 20 minutes.

Harkin was sin-binned by Referee Niall Cullen with only 40 seconds on the clock for a pull down on Liam Kerr, but Kilcoo midfielder Ryan McEvoy hit the resultant 45-metre free wide.

It was the Royals who took command in the early exchanges and, after Cathal Hickey had opened the scoring in the second minute, Matthew Costello doubled the advantage for Andy McEntee’s men following a period of sustained possession.

It could have been even better for Meath in the fifth minute when the lively Donal Keogan cut through a static Down defence only to see his shot crash off the corner of bar and post.

Paddy Tally’s ‘home’ side eventually got off the mark 60 seconds later when Cory Quinn pointed from play, but a ’45 from Meath keeper Andrew Colgan was added to by Cillian O’Sullivan from play and a Bryan McMahon mark.

That put Meath 0-5 to 0-1 in front just before the first half water break and although Colgan had to make a brave stop to deny Quinn a goal before the Mayobridge attacker grabbed his and his side’s second, the men in green were very much in command heading into the second quarter.   

A superb Jordan Morris point from an acute angle on the left extended Meath’s lead to four on the resumption before McEntee was black carded for a foul on opposite captain Darren O’Hagan. Paul Devlin converted the resultant free to leave a goal between the sides and the torrential rain and hailstones that had been tumbling out of the Armagh sky for the majority of the first period finally began to abate slightly.

McEvoy produced an excellent point from the left before Thomas O’Reilly and Devlin traded frees to put two in the difference heading into the latter stages of the first period.

The advantage could have been much more handsome for the Royals when O’Sullivan’s goalbound shot was superbly pushed out by Reid, who sprung to his right to make the stop on 33 minutes. Devlin and Morris than swapped points from the placed ball as Meath went in 0-8 to 0-6 ahead at the short whistle.

Morris (two) and Devlin exchanged scores before O’Sullivan grabbed the first of his two goals on 43 when he slid the ball home into the bottom right corner. To make matters worse for Down, Jonny Flynn was black carded shortly after before Morris stuck over another free and O’Sullivan then sped away to round Reid to hit the net to make it 2-11 to 0-7.

Morris added another before Meath took their foot off the gas somewhat and that allowed Down to put some respectability on the scoreline. Frees from Barry O’Hagan, Devlin and Quinn were replied to by points from play by Morris and sub Eamon Wallace as the Royal led 2-14 to 0-11 by the hour mark.

McEvoy converted a free for Down before they saw Gerard McGovern red carded for apparently striking Costello on 67, while Ethan Devine scored Meath’s final point of the day from a mark in stoppage time.

There was still time for Down sub Conor McCrickard to hit two points for his side but it was merely facile as Down suffered their second defeat from their two tough opening games.

Scorers for Meath: Cillian O’Sullivan (2-1), Jordan Morris (0-7, 3f), Thomas O’Reilly (0-1, free), Andrew Colgan (0-1, ’45) Cathal Hickey (0-1), Ethan Devine (0-1, Mark), Bryan McMahon (0-1, Mark), Matthew Costello (0-1), Eamon Wallace (0-1)

Scorers for Down: Paul Devlin (0-5, all frees), Cory Quinn (0-4, 1f), Ryan McEvoy (0-2, 1f), Conor McCrickard (0-2, 1 Mark), Barry O’Hagan (0-1, free), 

MEATH: Andrew Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, Cathal Hickey; Eoin Harkin, Shane McEntee, Donal Keogan; Bryan Menton, Padraic Harnan; Ethan Devine, Bryan McMahon, Matthew Costello; Jordan Morris, Thomas O’Reilly, Cillian O’Sullivan. Subs: Ronan Ryan for Harkin (24), Joey Wallace for O’Reilly (47), Eamon Wallace for Hickey (54), Jason Scully for McMahon (54), James Conlon for Morris (62), Darragh Campion for O’Sullivan (62), Danny Dixon for McEntee (70+2)

DOWN: Marc Reid; Peter Fegan, Gerard McGovern, Patrick Murdock; Pierce Laverty, Darren O’Hagan, Caolan Mooney; Ryan McEvoy, Jonny Flynn; James Guinness, Barry O’Hagan, Liam Kerr; Daniel Guinness, Cory Quinn, Paul Devlin. Subs: Ceilum Doherty for J Guinness (42), Paddy Branagan for Mooney (51), Stephen McConville for Kerr (51), Gerard Collins for D O’Hagan (53),Conor Gough for Flynn (55), Conor McCrickard for B O’Hagan (55), Danny Savage for Quinn (62) 

Ref: Niall Cullen (Fermanagh)