Meath Under 16's were crowned Gerry Reilly Cup champions 25 years ago with a comfortable win over Cavan at Gilson Park. The 1996 decider needed a replay to separate the neighbouring counties.

Meath 1-16 Cavan 0-5

Confusion might have reigned in the drawn match but there was no doubt about the outcome in the replay as Meath completely overwhelmed Cavan in the Gerry Reilly Tournament Final replay in Oldcastle.

Cavan were short a number from the drawn match including ace full forward Andrew Coleman who had contributed ten points in that match and they were always struggling against a better balanced Meath outfit.

Meath had the advantage of the wind in the opening period but it was only in the latter stages of the half that their dominance began to show on the scoreboard. They only led 0-3 to 0-1 at the end of the opening quarter as they found scoring extremely difficult. The switching of Mark Ferris to the ’40 brought about an improvement as the Blackhall Gaels youngster shot points in the 24th and 25th minutes to increase the Meath lead to five. Meath went on to finish the half in style adding a further 1-4 to lead 1-10 to 0-1 at the break. Skryne’s Chris Cunningham shot the goal following good work from Ronan Kelly and Declan Kearns. Full forward Kearns notched three points while midfielder David Crimmins was also on the mark in this productive period.

The losers first half point came from a Trent Fitzpatrick free while three of their second half scores also came from frees. Cavan rarely threatened the Meath goal throughout the second half though Ryan McCormack did have a good chance of a goal early on but his effort was blocked by Meath full back Gareth McGuinness.

Pointed frees from Glen Loughran, Eric O’Reilly, and Niall Kelly boosted the Meath lead to 1-13 to 0-2 at the three quarter way stage. Centre back Kelly who was later named Man of the Match had to go off with a back injury early in the last quarter but there was no way back for Cavan at that stage.

David Crimmins from a free, Damien Dalton and Eric O’Reilly completed the Meath tally but it was all too easy towards the end.

Meath had plenty of stars on the night with Ronan Kelly, John Davis, Niall Kelly, Eric O’Reilly, Mark Ferris, Declan Kearns and Chris Cunningham probably the pick.

Meath scorers: Chris Cunningham 1-1, David Crimmins 0-3, Declan Kearns 0-3, Eric O’Reilly, Mark Ferris and Glen Loughran 0-2 each, Niall Kelly, Seamus Kenny and Dermot Dalton 0-1 each.

Meath: D. Gallagher, R. Kelly, G. McGuinness, C. Travers, P. Farrelly, N. Kelly, J. Davis, E. O’Reilly, D. Crimmins, S. Kenny, G. Loughran, D. Dalton, M. Ferris, D. Kearns, C. Cunningham.

Subs: P. Woods, E. Ferguson, K. Morgan, K. Folan, B. O’Reilly 

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