Royals get going in style

MEATH opened their U-20 campaign with a comprehensive win against Wicklow.

Wicklow briefly led in the opening five minutes after Dan Kelly’s goal cancelled out Meath’s earlier two points.

The Royals, however, struck back with a goal through Sean Reilly and they added another five points as the Wicklow defence struggled to deal with their hard running.

Meath led by 1-8 to 1-3 in the 20th minute and then hit two quick-fire goals, one each from their wingbacks. Sean Ryan’s goal, fired into the top corner, was particularly memorable.

They led by 4-8 to 1-4 at half-time and the second half continued in the same fashion. Darragh Campion scored a fine goal while substitute Jordan Morris kicked four points in a good cameo performance.

Both teams were awarded penalties in the last ten minutes – Adam McDermott saving from Dan Kelly, while Frank O’Reilly fired home.

SCORERS – Meath: S Reilly 2-3, D Campion, C Moriarty 1-2 each, F O’Reilly (1-00 pen) 1-1, J Morris (2f) 0-4, S Ryan 1-00, S McDonnell 0-2, C O’Byrne (f), A Murphy 0-1 each.

Wicklow: D Kelly (f) 1-2, G Murphy 0-3f, R Stokes (f), M Kelly, C Byrne, J Bellamy 0-1 each.

MEATH – A McDermott; R Clarke, C Harnan, B O’Reilly; S Reilly, E O’Kelly Lynch, S Ryan; D Campion, A Murphy; E Smith, E Devine, F O’Reilly; C Moriarty, C O’Byrne, S McDonnell. Subs: O Martin for E Smith (42), J Scully for C O’Byrne (42), A Kealy for A Murphy (46), C O’Neill for S Reilly (46), J Morris for C Moriarty (52), R Hand for C Harnan (56).

Wicklow – T McGurk; J Cotter, T Maher, A Curran; F O’Shea, J McCall, T Kearns; P O’Toole, R Kelly; D Kelly, R stokes, G Murphy; A McHugh, M Kelly, C Byrne. Subs: J Bellamy for J McCall (25), C O’Gallchobhair for T Maher (26), K Mullhall for F O’Shea (44), S Gregory for A McHugh (46), C Coffey for M Kelly (52), C Kelleher for R Stokes (66).

Ref– J Hickey (Carlow)