Late surges sees cavan denied in navan

Meath 0-14
Cavan 0-12

Paul Fitzpatrick
at Páirc Tailteann

So, Cavan won't be going up to Division 1 next season – but they so nearly could have won this match.

The Blues were left to rue some truly appalling shooting as they left Navan empty-handed, having kicked 15 wides over the hour and dropped a further half dozen attempts into the grateful arms of Meath goalkeeper Paddy O'Rourke.

Cavan also created three clear-cut goalscoring opportunities but Martin Dunne blazed wide, Cian Mackey's attempt was blocked and Michael Argue went for a flick when he was all alone and had time to catch the ball and pick his spot.

The only consolation was that Meath's shooting was as bad, or worse – the Royals landed 16 wides in all.

Cavan trailled by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break but when Martin Reilly slotted over a magnificent free from the right sideline with 12 minutes to go, they found themselves 0-12 to 0-9 in front and looking the likely winners.

However, Meath finished strongly with five unanswered points to seal the win.

 

Meath: P O'Rourke, D Tobin, C McGill, J McEntee (0-1), M Burke (0-1), D Dalton, B Power, C Gillespie, A Flanagan, G Reilly, P Harnan, S O'Rourke (0-2), M Newman (0-7, 3f), S Bray (0-2), M O'Sullivan
Subs: B Menton (0-1) for McEntee (20 mins), J Wallace for O'Sullivan (27 mins), E Wallace (0-1) for O'Rourke (56 mins), D Carroll for Harnan (69 mins)

Cavan: C Gilsenan, J McLoughlin, R Dunne, R Flanagan, J McEnroe (0-1), F Flanagan, D O'Reilly (0-1), T Corr (0-1), G McKiernan (0-1), D McVeety (0-1), K Brady, M Reilly (0-3, 1f), C Mackey, M Dunne (0-3, 2f), B Fitzpatrick
Subs: C Conroy for K Brady (ht), M Argue for Fitzpatrick (45 mins), N Murray (0-1) for McEnroe (52 mins), T Hayes for M Dunne (60 mins), J Brady for R Flanagan (66 mins),

Ref: B Cassidy (Derry)

* Full report and reaction in this Wednesday's paper.