Meath 0- 16
Westmeath 0-15
By Eoin Horkan
Andy McEntee side come out on top of this local derby right at the death with the help from his bench.
Both sides flew out of the blocks in this local derby. With 4 scores coming inside the opening 5 minutes. Luke Loughlin opened the scoring with a 45 before Thomas O’ Reilly levelled with a free before Cillian O ‘Sullivan put the home side in the lead.
The visitors responded with 3 points in a row from Ronan O’ Toole, Loughlin again and John Heslin from a narrow angle.
Matthew Costello slotted over from long range before Ger Egan did the exact same at the other end.
With the game heading towards the first break O Sullivan added a mark before wing back Eoin Harkin made his way up the pitch to level the scores.
The 2nd half of the half was a much tighter affair with scores much harder to come by especially from play.
Heslin added a dead ball before Joran Morris and Darragh Campion got scores on the board for the Royal’s.
Heslin slotted two more frees to give Jack Cooney’s the lead by a point at the break.
The away side who kept Meath waiting on the pitch at the start of the half got the opening score with Egan firing over from range.
Meath sub-Bryan McMahon added a dead ball before Heslin notched another dead ball.
Royal’s midfielder Bryan Menton burst through the lines to hammer the ball between the posts. Sharpshooter Heslin added a cultured score with the outside of his boot from the side-line.
Ex Aussie rules star Ray Connellan added his name to the score sheet before Luke Loughlin dissected the posts from a near impossible angle.
Andy McEntee started to empty the bench, and this reaped rewards with Fionn Reilly and James Conlon scoring from play in between another dead ball from Morris.
Heslin scoring spree continued with another free before the home side hit for home scoring 4 point in a row. Two of the scores coming from dead balls off the boot of Morris and then goalkeeper Andy Colgan.
Substitutes McMahon and Eamon Wallace put the home side two points in front when the clock was in the red.
Roan Wallace fisted over a consolation score for Westmeath, but this wasn’t enough as they went home disappointed after been on top for the majority of the game.
Scorers
Meath Thomas O ‘ Reilly 0-1 ( 1 free), Cillian O’ Sullivan, 0- 2(1 mark ), Matthew Costello, 0-1, Eoin Harkin 0-1, Jordan Morris 0-3 ( 3 frees), Darragh Campion 0-1, Bryan Menton 0-1, Bryan McMahon 0-2 (1 free), Fionn O’ Reilly 0-1, Eamon Wallace 0-1, Andy Colgan 0-1( 1 free), James Conlon 0-1
Westmeath John Heslin, 0- 7 (5 frees), Luke Loughlin 0-3, Ronan O Toole , 0-1, Ger Egan 0-2, Ray Connellan 0-1, Ronan Wallace 0-1
Meath: Andy Colgan: Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, Ronan Ryan: Eoin Harkin, Shane McEntee, Donal Keogan: Bryan Menton, Padraic Harnon: Ethan Devine, Darragh Campion, Matthew Costello: Jordan Morris, Thomas O’ Reily, Cillian O’ Sullivan
Subs Bryan McMahon for Thomas O’ Reilly, James Conlon for Darragh Campion ,Jason Scully for Matthew Costello , Fionn Reilly for Eoin Harkin, Eamon Wallace for Ethan Devine ,Jack O’ Connor for Jordan Morris, David Dillon for Cillian O’ Sullivan
Westmeath: Jason Daly: Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire, Boidu Sayeh: James Dolan, Ronan Wallace, Jamie Gonoud: Sam Duncan, Ray Connellan: David Lynch, Denis Corroon, Ger Egan, Ronan O’ Toole, John Heslin, Luke Loughlin
Subs Kieran Martin for David Lynch, Lorcan Dolan for Jack Smith, Brandon Kelly for Ger Egan
Man of the Match. John Heslin
Referee: Brendan Cawley
https://www.thebackdoorgaa.com/post/nfl-division-2-north-meath-scrape-past-westmeath
