Workmanlike Meath claimed a 1-17 to 1-12 victory over Wicklow at wet and windy Aughrim.

Full back Kevin Reilly's fortuitous 33rd-minute goal from inside his own half was the turning point as Meath finally shook off their determined opponents to take a 1-10 to 1-4 advantage into the break.

Seconds earlier, with just two points between them, Seanie Furlong was shaping up to take a Wicklow penalty but his tame effort was comfortably saved by Paddy O'Rourke.

The Royals played with the wind at their backs in the first half and they launched an immediate attack, with John Flynn saving well from Damien Carroll before Stephen Bray inexplicably blazed the rebound into the side-netting with an unmanned goal gaping.

Meath's Mickey Newman opened the scoring from a straightforward fourth-minute free and the Kilmainham clubman doubled the difference with an excellent 50-metre free 90 seconds later.

Paul Earls - who had been a last-minute addition to the Wicklow starting XV - turned the match momentarily on its head when he fired the opening goal in the seventh minute. Wearing No.26, Earls had nothing less than goal on his mind as he sprinted through the Meath defence and sent a rasper into the roof of the net.

Unflustered, the Royals replied instantly with a nonchalant Graham Reilly point: 0-3 to 1-0 after eight minutes.

John McGrath and Newman traded frees as the teams remained deadlocked but Man of the Match Graham Reilly arrowed over his second super point to make it 0-5 to 1-1 in Meath's favour after 14 minutes. However, the underdogs were level again within two minutes when full forward Furlong defied the elements to slot a fine left-footed free.

Midfielder Anthony McLoughlin had the freedom of Aughrim as he powered through the Meath defence unopposed to edge Harry Murphy's men back in front; another sublime point from Reilly restored parity.

Championship debutant Eamonn Wallace darted through the Wicklow defence to fire over the lead point for Mick O'Dowd's team and this time it was midfielder Rory Finn who fisted over the equalising point - level again after 22 minutes, 1-4 to 0-7.

The benefit of the run-out against Longford in the preliminary round seemed to be serving Wicklow well in the first half as they looked more composed in possession than their rather ring-rusty opponents. Opportunities went abegging at either end.

On 28 minutes, Newman converted his fourth free - this one from the hands - to restore the visitors' lead and Meath No.8 Brian Meade thumped over a brilliant point from out the field, through the middle, to double the gap - 0-9 to 1-4.

On the half hour, Wicklow were awarded a controversial penalty. Meath goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke appeared to have been impeded by Furlong but play continued and the netminder was himself penalised for a tug on McGrath. Furlong struck a poor penalty, however, and O'Rourke saved.

Within seconds, the ball was in the net at the other end: full back Kevin Reilly's long punt eluded everyone and - aided by the wind - the ball bounced off the wet surface into the top corner of the Wicklow net! A freak goal and a vital six-point swing inside 60 seconds.

Corner back Bryan Menton added another Meath point to leave six in it at the interval: 1-10 to 1-4.

Perhaps unfortunate to be so far in arrears, the Garden County at least had wind advantage in the second half, so they were not completely without hope.

Centre back Patrick McWalter gave the home side a perfect start to the second period with a great point after 23 seconds and wing back Darren Hayden got forward to fist another one a minute later.

Unbelievably, McLoughlin then kicked another lovely Wicklow point - their third in as many minutes - and the gap had been halved in double-quick time - 1-10 to 1-7.

Furlong (free) arrowed over a fourth Wicklow point in four minutes and we were down to a two-point match again! Game on!

Substitute Padraig Harnan and Reilly replied with two Royal County points in the space of 60 minutes. McGrath responded with his second point after Newman's free was rather dubiously adjudged (by a hesitant umpire) to have tailed wide. Hawkeye would have been the man there but, in fairness, the Meath place-kicker shouldn't have left that one in any doubt…

Peadar Byrne had his goal effort saved but Newman caught the resultant '45' brilliantly to make amends for his earlier miss - a stunning point into the wind, 1-13 to 1-9.

Wallace added a sensational score for the winners and McGrath tapped over a simple Wicklow free after a Reilly foul on Furlong. That over meant we'd had ten scores in the first 15 minutes of the second half, six of them going to Wicklow, who still trailed by four, 1-14 to 1-10.

There was still four between them as the game entered its fourth quarter and McGrath expertly slotted a (soft) free from the ground to make it a three-point match with 15 minutes left.

O'Rourke made an important save from McLoughlin to preserve the Royal County lead and Wallace then took a point off his left foot to extend the gap to four with ten minutes to go.

Joe Sheridan kicked a classy point within seconds of being introduced as a substitute and ditto Paddy Gilsenan as he fisted a seventeenth Meath point with his first contribution: 1-17 to 1-11.

Despite a last-minute McLoughlin point, Wicklow were unable to force their way back into contention and it was the Meath men who prevailed to book a semi-final meeting with Wexford.

Meath - P O'Rourke; D Keoghan, K Reilly (1-0), B Menton (0-1); C Lenihan, C King, M Burke; B Meade (0-1), C Gillespie; P Byrne, D Carroll, G Reilly (0-4); E Wallace (0-3), S Bray, M Newman (0-5, 4f, '45). Subs: S Kenny for Burke, P Harnan (0-1) for Lenihan, B Farrell for Carroll, J Sheridan (0-1) for Newman, P Gilsenan (0-1) for Byrne.

Wicklow - J Flynn; C Hyland, D Power, A Byrne; D Hayden (0-1), P MacWalter (0-1), D Healy; A McLoughlin (0-3), J Stafford; D O'Sullivan, R Finn (0-1), J Kelly; P Earls (1-0), S Furlong (0-2f), J McGrath (0-4, 3f). Sub: JP Dalton for O'Sullivan, P Dalton for JP Dalton, L Benson for Healy, B McCrea for Kelly, B Coen for Furlong.

Referee - C Lane. Tweet

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