Cavan turned in a fine second half performance to see off neighbours Meath in the Frank Govern Memorial Tournament final organised by the Oldcastle club and played at their Millbrook grounds.

Cavan 1-13
Meath 1-8

The game was played under the new rules system and referee Sean Carroll gave the crowd a glimpse of what was to come throughout next year. The Westmeath official issued 4 black cards, 3 to Meath players and one to Cavan. First to go was Breffni full foward Eugene Keating, next was Stephen Bray, already on a yellow, while Seanie Curran and Dalton McDonagh also saw black in the second half.

Meath played with the aid of a strong breeze in the opening half at the end of which they held a 1-5 to 0-3 advantage. Points from Stephen Bray, David Larkin and Conor Sheridan had the Royals 0-3 to 0-1 up after 15 minutes. Cavan hit back with scores through Philip Tinnelly and Niall McDermott to level matters. Donal Lenihan put Meath back in front. A quick 1-1 from Padraig McKeever gave Meath a five point half time lead.

Cavan introduced Martin Dunne to the action at the beginning of the second half. Taking advantage of their extra man, because of Brays dismissal, the Breffni men dominated the remainder of proceedings. Dunne notched 1-2 in the opening ten minutes, the goal coming from the penalty spot and with 15 minutes gone Cavan held a 1-7 to 1-5 lead.

Meath levelled matters through Seanie Curran and Bryan Menton. Thats as good as it got for The Royals. Curran and McDonagh were dismissed with black cards and Cavan kicked six points to Meaths one, three from Kevin Tierney and one each from Michael Lyng, Declan McKiernan and Dunne.

The Frank Govern Memorial Cup was presented to Cavan captain Alan Clarke after the game.

Cavan: Joe Masterson, Josh Hayes, Rory Dunne, Killian Brady, Packie Leddy, Alan Clarke, Philip Tinnelly 0-1, Turlough Mooney, Declan McKiernan 0-1, Fergal Flanagan, Michael Lyng 0-1, Martin Reilly, Niall McDermott 0-3, Eugene Keating, David Hyland.
Subs: Kevin Tierney 0-4, Aaron Farrelly, Martin Dunne 1-3, Niall Murray, Chris Conroy, Mark Leddy

Meath: Conor McHugh, Caolan Young, Kevin Reilly, Cian McPartland, Seamus Kenny, Padraic Harnan, Bryan Menton 0-1, Conor Sheridan 0-1, Conor Gillespie, Damien Carroll, Padraig McKeever 1-1, David Larkin 0-1, Cillian O'Sullivan, Stephen Bray 0-1, Donal Lenihan 0-1.

Subs: Paddy O'Rourke, Paddy Gilsenan, Graham Reilly, Eoghan Harrington, Sean Curran 0-1, Dalton McDonagh, Michael Newman 0-1.

Referee Sean Carroll Westmeath

Footnote: Frank Govern was a founder member of the Millbrook Development Committee and was very much involved in the running of the club in Oldcastle for many years. Tweet

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