DCU 2-8
Meath 0-6

Meath made a tame exit from the O'Byrne Cup competition when proving no match for a much slicker Dublin City University side at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday night.

The home side did show some promise when going into a two points lead in the opening 13 minutes but after Sligo corner-forward David Kelly netted the best of his two goals coming up to the quarter-hour mark, the students were in control.

DCU moved the ball around at a brisk pace and took some stylish scores. Although Kevin Reilly and Seamus Kenny were introduced for Meath, they failed to get into the game in a meaningful manner.

Reilly joined the action after 29 minutes as a direct replacement for Navan O'Mahonys clubmate Mark Ward and played at midfield alongside Conor Gillespie. Most of the Meath attacking traffic was directed towards Paddy Gilsenan and while the Oldcastle clubman battled hard, he could have done with more support.

However, Seamus McEnaney had his two wing-forwards, Brian Meade and Donnacha Tobin (replaced by Kenny for the second half), performing further back the pitch, which limited scoring opportunities. Graham Reilly was much less conspicuous than against Wexford and Louth, just contributing a point from a free.

Six points was a very poor return with half of them coming from frees. McEnaney pointed to the return of Joe Sheridan and Cian Ward in the near future but the overall performance hardly inspires optimism.

DCU had Dublin All-Ireland winners Philly McMahon, James McCarthy and Eoghan O'Gara and others to impress included Colm Begley from Laois, Dean Rock and, of course, Kelly.

The Glasnevin college's manager, Niall Moyna, described Kelly as "a wizard," who "would walk on to any county team." A ball in from Rock and a knock-down by O'Gara was the build-up to the first goal and points from Begley (free) and Cavan youngster Jack Brady followed as DCU went on to lead by 1-3 to 0-3 at the break.

Walsh blazed wide from a good position near the end of the first period and DCU had stretched their advantage to eight points within 10 minutes of the restart.

Rock was on target from a free and play and in between defensive slackness allowed Kelly crack another shot past David Gallagher. Meath did reduce the deficit to two goals with converted frees by Reilly and Gilsenan but that was as close as they got.

Now McEnaney will be looking for a big improvement before his charges take on his home county, Monaghan, on the opening round of the NFL Division 2 campaign at the same venue on Saturday, February 3.

DCU: M Boyle; P McMahon, K Galvin, E Culligan; C Begley (0-3, one free), J Cooper, J McCarthy; F O Curraoin, N Collins; G Sweeney, D Rock (0-3, two frees), F O'Shea; J Brady (0-1), E O'Gara, D Kelly (2-1). Subs: P Flynn for O'Shea (23 mins), D Keenan for Sweeney (56 mins), C Cafferkey for Culligan (58 mins), P Dooney for Cooper (65 mins), D Smith for Kelly (68 mins).

Meath: D Gallagher; G O'Brien, B Menton, M Burke; C McGuinness, S McAnarney, C O'Connor; M Ward, C Gillespie; B Meade, G Reilly (0-1, free), D Tobin; P Gilsenan (0-3, two frees), T Walsh (0-1), S Bray (0-1). Subs: K Reilly for Ward (29 mins), S Kenny for Tobin (half-time), C Lenehan for McGuinness (47 mins), D Smyth for Gillespie (60 mins).

Referee: D Fahy (Longford). Tweet

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