U-21s win battle of Hastings to make history
3-10 1-14
MEATH Under-21s created a little bit of history and set themselves up nicely for a tilt at the provincial crown at Abbeylara last Saturday.
Barry Callaghan’s side captured the Hastings Cup for the very first time to give themselves the perfect boost ahead of their opening-round Leinster FC clash with Westmeath on February 22nd.
After conceding a goal just four minutes into the game, Meath recovered to lead by 1-5 to 1-4 at half-time. By the time 60 minutes was played the scores stood at 2-8 to 1-11, with Shane Kenny hitting the equaliser for the hosts from a 45. Then in extra time the Royals pushed ahead to win, with their third goal coming from top scorer David McLoughlin.
Afterwards manager Callaghan reflected on the victory. ‘Delighted with the performance, the way the guys dug out the victory,’ the Dunderry clubman said. ‘A lot of things went against us, a lot of things went wrong, but time after time our guys didn’t hang their heads and that was massive today.
‘Really this was a stepping stone for the championship and getting the extra time was great because we found out a little more about ourselves in that last 20 minutes. The extra time was an opportunity for the guys to show what they could do.
‘In the grand scheme of things championship football is what it’s all about, but you can only deal with what is put in front of you on any given day and we entered this competition to do our very best and give a performance in each game and if that meant winning it, great.
‘I was very encouraged with our honesty, our workrate. A lot of our football has to improve, we know that, this won’t paper over some things, but we know Westmeath are a hell of a team, they work very hard, they are organised and fit. We know we have a hell of a game in front of us there, but it was great to win today.
‘I would be very optimistic about the talent emerging in Meath. We’ve done well at underage the last couple of years, there’s a lot of good lads there.’
Meath made the worst possible start when conceding a fourth-minute penalty which was converted by Nigel Rabbitte, but the opening Meath goal arrived when Conor Moriarty finished to the net on 26 minutes.
A crucial factor in the win was the sharpness of corner forward David McLoughlin, who contributed 2-3. The Moynalvey man showed just how promising a player he is with his strong running and rarely missed an opportunity.
His opening goal on 55 minutes was an excellent score - arguably the score of the game. It came at the end of a sweeping move with Eamon Mac Donnachadh who surged forward before off-loading to Thomas O’Reilly who neatly passed to McLoughlin. The Moynalvey player skilfully angled his shot across the Longford goalkeeper and into the far corner.
In the first minute of the second half of extra time McLoughlin struck again. This time he latched onto a neat pass from Thomas O’Reilly before somehow finding a little space in a crowded Longford goalmouth to score.