Meath edge through on wits and fortune
THEY’VE known grander occasions than this, but Meath were mightily relieved to escape with a victory all the same.
Trailing by three points at half-time, and still behind with 65 minutes on the clock, Andy McEntee’s men lived on their wits before advancing through to tomorrow’s draw.
A run of four late points without reply, two of which were scored by returning forward Michael Newman, ultimately secured the battling two-point win in Navan.
Seán Tobin’s brace of points in injury-time were crucial at Pairc Tailteann, too, where the Royals bounced back from their nine-point Leinster semi-final defeat to Kildare.
Newman was making his longawaited return to action following injury and his first point tied the game up with minutes remaining before nudging Meath ahead with a classy trademark free-kick conversion.
Tobin then added his two points to leave Meath three clear, though the real drama was still come.
Sligo substitute David Kelly fired over for a consolation point in the 76th minute after a goal opportunity was missed.
It brought an exciting finale to a game that generally won’t be remembered as a classic.
Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch’s 30th minute goal put Sligo 1-6 to 0-6 up at half-time and it wasn’t until that Newman point late in the second-half that Meath were finally able to get their noses in front. Meath: P O’Rourke; D Keogan, C McGill, M Burke; P Harnan (D Tobin 65), B Power (B Conlon h/t), S McEntee; B Menton, R Jones (J Toher 15); J McEntee (T O’Reilly 57), C O’Sullivan (E Wallace 75), G Reilly; R O Coileain, S Tobin, D Lenihan (M Newman 61). Scorers: D Lenihan (0-3f), S Tobin (0-1 45) 0-3, G Reilly, M Newman (0-2f) 0-2, C O’Sullivan, R Jones, J McEntee, S McEntee 0-1. Sligo: A Devaney; R Donavan, C Harrison (N Gaughan 47), Keelan Cawley; G O’Kelly-Lynch, B Egan (D Kelly 58, BC), N Ewing; A McIntyre (S Gilmartin 67), P O’Connor (C Davey 72); J Kelly (Kyle Cawley 47), M Breheny (K McDonnell 54), N Murphy; S Coen, P Hughes, A Marren. Scorers: G O’Kelly-Lynch 1-1, A Marren 0-4 (0-3f, 0-1 45), N Ewing, P Hughes, N Murphy, D Kelly 0-1. Referee: N Mooney (Cavan).