Meath 3-12 Monaghan 2-11

Meath were made work hard for their victory over Monaghan in the last of the Round 3 matches of the Gerry Reilly U-16 FT played in Oldcastle on Monday evening. A great evening for football and both sides responded with fast and exciting football.

A lot was at stake with the outcome. Monaghan with a win or a draw were assured of making either the Plate or Shield Finals, while Meath had to win to make the Shield Final.

Monaghan's Conor Leonard opened the scoring with a fine point and almost straight awy at the other end CianO'Reilly pointed from a free. Ethan Devine put Meath ahead with a point in the 5th minute. Monaghan's response was quick with 2 unanswered points from Dean McDonnell and Michael Brannigan. Eoin Finnegan put Meath ahead again with a goal. Dean McDonnell and Cian O'Reilly (f) traded points and again 2 more traded points from frees by Michael Brannigan and Cian O'Reilly with end to end play.

Ross Lowey regained the lead for Monaghan with a well finished goal at 1-5 to 1-4. Daragh Campion pointed to have the sides level yet again in the 20th minute. Conor Leonard regained the lead for Monaghan with a point which turned out to be their final score of the half.

In the 27th minute Daragh Campion pointed to have the sides level. Meath's Eoin Finnegan put Meath ahead just before the break with a goal and a point.

H/T: Meath 2-7 Monaghan 1-6

Monaghan started strongly on the restart and were creating all the scoring chances. By the 33rd minute they had registered 3 points from David Garland (1f). They had another chance just wide of the post before the Meath 'keeper brought off one of his many great saves to deny Monaghan.

A Cian O'Reilly point from a free helped to settle Meath somewhat. However Monaghan were again creating the scoring chances. They had two shots off target before again Meath 'keeper, Adam McDermott made yet another spectacular save on goal.

Aaron Courtney pointed to leave just the minimum between the sides. Daragh Campion pointed to help settle things for Meath. But Calvin Carlisle responded for Monaghan with a point. Monaghan had another chance of a score with their shot coming off the post and cleared.

Leo Reilly's goal in the 49th minute had Meath leading y 3-9 to 1-11.. Meath added a point to their tally to stretch their lead.

But Monaghan were not going to give up and were putting a lot of pressure on Meath. They were eventually rewarded with an Aaron Courtney goal, but at the same time were thwarted by Meath's 'keeper, Adam McDermott (and Caffrey's Millbrook Food Market 'Man of the match' award winner) on numerous occasions. The Meath defence held out at all the Monaghan attacks with just 2 points between the sides. With Meath getting the last 2 points (Frank O'Reilly and Daragh Campion), it meant that Monaghan had to get 2 scores to at least score a draw. They were throwing everything at Meath, but it was Meath that dug deep to hold them at bay to claim their victory.

Meath: Adam McDermott, Ryan Hand, Mark Foy, Mark Phelan, Daragh Brodigan (1-0), Brian Joyce, Sean Reilly, Eanna Kelly Lynch (0-1), Ethan Devine (0-1), Brian O'Reilly, Daragh Campion (0-3), Eoin Finnegan (1-2), Brendan McKeon, Cian O'Reilly (0-4) , Leo Reilly (1-0)
Subs: Paddy Murtagh for Brian O'Reilly, Frank O'Reilly (0-1) for McKeon, Aaron Kenny for Sean Reilly, Morgan Callaghan for BrodiganJeff Kavanagh for Cian O'Reilly

Monaghan: Jack Deery, Cian Hand, Oisin Campbell, James McKenna, Colm Lennon, Kieran Burns, Owen Quinn, Ryan O' Connor, Padraig Finnan, Dean McDonnell (0-2), Conor Leonard (0-2), Ross Lowey (1-0) , Dean Brennan, Remy McKenna, Michael Bannigan (0-2)
Subs: Padraig McMahon for O'Connor, Jack Kirk for Deery, Aaron Courtney (1-1) for McKenna, Calvin Carisle (0-1)for Lowey, David Garland (0-3) for Brennan,

Ref: Conor Dourneen (Cavan) Tweet

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