Our first port of call was Ashbourne for the second round of the Hastings Cup. Meath were forced to field an experimental team with 7-8 of the more established players on O'Byrne Cup duty. The Royals were made pay by a very clinical Roscommon team. Meath failed to score in the first half and their only score was put over the bar by Rory Mannion in the Roscommon goal with seven minutes remaining. Things will be different come championship time when Sean Barry gets his players back.

A few hours rest and it was back to Pairc Tailteann for round 3 of the O'Byrne Cup. The students of DCU stood in our way and a meeting with Dublin in the semi-final. David Bray's goal in the opening minutes was a great boost and Meath went in at the break 1-7 to 0-6 ahead. An early second-half scoring burst that yielded 1-3 put the students in front and Meath looked in trouble. With 56 minutes gone DCU led 1-13 to 1-10 but Meath showed great character to kick four points in the closing stages. Diarmaid O'Connor hit the equaliser but the draw was enough for Meath to advance.

Not nice reading but better days are ahead for Meath Under 21's

The Meath line out was: Jack Hannigan; Michael Farley, Conor Carton, Liam Ferguson; Declan Smyth, Gavin McGowan, Conor Doran; Shane Dowling, Keith McCabe; Oisin Reilly, Jason Daly, Michael Flood; Ryan O'Rourke, Stephen Coogan, Barry Dardis. Subs - Dan Ormsby, Shane McEntee, Ruairi O'Coileain, Shane Lenihan,  David Toner

Barry Dardis and the Under 21's found the going tough against Roscommon

On a bitterly cold and windy day there was no better place to watch the game in Ashbourne

There was only one change from the panel in the programme. Ballinlough's Cian Mallen was replaced by Seamus Mattimoe Gaeil Colmcille.

Was this the first time Sean Boylan ever stood against The Royals? The Meath legend was a selector for DCU.

David Bray finds the back of the DCU net in the opening minutes

Another solid outing at full back for Conor McGill

We struggled at times to come to terms with DCU corner forward Conor McHugh

Our top scorer Mark O'Sullivan

Trevor, Mick and Sean made the right switches when needed

Andy enjoyed a right ould tussle with Eoin O'Connor

Captain Donal never fails to deliver a good performance

Paddy was flawless between the posts

Another outstanding performance from Graham

Seamus Mattimoe came on and won loads of possession

Nicky Judge kicked a crucial point towards the end

Harry got a few lectures and a yellow card from referee Stephen Johnson

Our man of the Match Joey Wallace

In the end a draw was all we needed. Bring on 'The Dubs'

Tweet

Most Read Stories