Kevin McLoughlin’s 1-02 for Mayo was the winning of the game as James Horan’s charges beat Meath in Navan 1-09 to 2-05.
Tommy Conroy opened the scoring in this game after 5 minutes. In fact they went on to kick five more in a row. James Carr’s brace the pick of those. Meath finally got on the scoreboard with 25 minutes on the clock. The point came courtesy of midfielder Bryan Menton. Meath were finding it hard to cope with the conditions, albeit they were against the wind. Menton and Walsh kicked wides. Menton’s score would be the Royal county only score of the half. Ryan O’Donoghue and a superb Fergal Boland effort had Mayo ahead 0-07 to 0-01 at the break.
It was Mayo’s turn to struggle with the elements early in the second. They kicked four wides in a row.Meath also kicked some wayward shots. They kicked five shots wide. James McEntee got on the board then when he got a badly needed goal A trio of Meath players were involved Thomas O’Reilly, Bryan Menton and Donal Keogan all involved before the ball found McEntee who palmed the ball to the net.
It was 0-07 to 1-01 now. Ronan Jones had a second Meath goal on 54 minutes which gave the Royals a 1 point lead. However, it was Kevin McLoughlin who in a 14 minute cameo that won this game for Mayo with 1-02 in the final 14 minutes. O’Reilly and McMahon kicked scores for Meath but they ultimately just fell short. It was Mayo who were victors in the end by a point as they beat meath 1-09 to 2-05.
Scorers for Mayo:Â Kevin McLoughlin 1-2 (1f), James Carr 0-2 (1f), Fergal Boland 0-2, Tommy Conroy 0-1, Patrick Durcan 0-1, Ryan O’Donoghue 0-1.
Scorers for Meath:Â James McEntee 1-0, Ronan Jones 1-0, B McMahon 0-2 (1f), T O’Reilly 0-1 (f), C O’Sullivan 0-1 (m), Bryan Menton 0-1.
MAYO: Rob Hennelly; Brendan Harrison, James McCormack, Lee Keegan; Eoin O’Donoghue, Michael Plunkett, Patrick Durcan; Stephen Coen, Diarmuid O’Connor; Fergal Boland, Ryan O’Donoghue, James Durcan; Tommy Conroy, James Carr, Aidan O’Shea.
Subs: Kevin McLoughlin for Carr (HT), Conor Loftus for Conroy (h/t), Eoghan McLoughlin for McCormack (56), Ciaran Treacy for Durcan (61), Bryan Walsh for Boland (68).
MEATH: Marcus Brennan; Robin Clarke, Conor McGill, David Toner; Brian Conlon, Ronan Ryan, Donal Keogan; Bryan Menton, Ronan Jones; James McEntee, Bryan McMahon, Cillian O’Sullivan; Ethan Devine, Thomas O’Reilly, Shane Walsh.
