Meath 4-16  Longford 0-4

After the disappointment of falling short against Dublin in the first round it didn't take the Meath U16s long to put all that to the back of their minds and put on a fabulous display of football.

Playing in the surrounds of Dunshaughlin GAA Club on what has to have been the best day of the week Meath opened the scoring in the third minute courtesy of a well take point by Orla McLoughlin. Two minutes later Leah Devine put the ball into the back of the net. She followed this up with another point. Corner forward Emma Duggan got the first of her three goals and after seven minutes Meath were 2 - 02 to no score to the good.

Meath even at this early stage were eager to show the huge crowd what a force they were. Longford had no real answers to the onslaught and time and time again the trio of Devine, Susie O'Rourke and Emma Duggan were rampant in front of goal with the corner forward (Duggan) bagging herself a hat trick of goals Indeed Longford only split the post on four occasions in the whole game. Even when Longford did get a sniff of goal you can be sure the backs led by captain Orlagh Lally held firm. That being said Meath had all but put the game to bed at half time and went into the break with a well earned lead of 4 - 09 to 4 points.

The Meath Under 16 squad

The second half started as the first one had ended and substitute Meabh Byrne split the posts in the first minute of the second half. Meath managed a further six points before the end of this one sided game. Longford to their credit fought for every ball and never gave up till the final whistle. But, with the Royals in such devastating form the result was never in doubt.

Meath will travel to Laois for their round three fixture. This is on April 9th at a time and venue tbc.

Meath team and scorers: Emily Jo White, Caitlin Hamilton, Kate McCarthy, Sonia Leonard, Sarah Wall, Orlagh Lally (C), Aoife Farrell, Petra Reilly, Molly McNamara (0-1), Orla McLoughlin (0-1), Mollie Browne (0-1), Megan Peters, (0-1), Susie O'Rourke (0-2), Leah Devine (1-02), Emma Duggan (3-04).

Subs: Meabh Byrne (0-3) for O'Rourke, Leah Dennehy for Browne, Aisling McCabe for Lally, Aoibhinn Bracken for McNamara, Orla Smith (0-1) for Devine, Aoife Toner for McLoughlin, Lucy Butler for Duggan, Mary Kate Lynch for Aoife Farrell, Ali Sherlock for Leonard.

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