Meath make up for shortcomings of recent past

Meath 0-11 Fermanagh 0-9:While Meath advanced to the last 12 of the All-Ireland football championship for the first time since 2002, the Páirc Tailteann tussle marked the end of the road for Fermanagh manager Charlie Mulgrew as he stepped down after four years in the position.

In 2002 Donegal ended Meath's run and a big improvement on this showing may be needed next time out against Galway. The Meath squad has had a couple of turbulent weeks behind the scenes and in competitive action they have only impressed in short passages in their last two games.

Fermanagh, who showed Meath the exit door in 2003 and 2004, soon showed that they were well up for making it a treble success. While matching their opponents in many facets of play, the Ulster side fell down badly in their attempts to score from play.

Ciarán O'Reilly was the only one of the visitors' front men to raise a flag from play while five of Meath's forwards managed that feat.

Brian Farrell kicked over six points with three of them being put over from play and two of the frees were converted from difficult positions.

Fermanagh never led but were on level terms twice in the early stages.

Some of the home side's scores delighted their supporters in the 15,000 attendance and efforts from Shane O'Rourke and Stephen Bray in the early stages augured well.

Midfielder Mark Murphy put Fermanagh on the board after three minutes but they only managed three points from play after that.

With Darren Fay and Niall McKeigue especially effective, Meath gave little away at the back although they were fortunate not to concede a goal 16 minutes into the second half when a big hole appeared in the middle of their defence and Mark Little had Brendan Murphy beaten only to see his shot come back off the upright.

Meath had led by 0-7 to 0-4 and appeared to be on the way to a comfortable win when they extended their advantage to five points, 0-10 to 0-5, with 12 minutes gone in the second half after points from Farrell (free), Peadar Byrne and Anthony Moyles.

Then Meath went 18 minutes without registering a score and play was scrappy with misses at both ends before Farrell broke the deadlock with a vital point on the hour mark and his side held out in a tense finish.

"While we worked hard all over the pitch, the overall display left a lot of room for improvement. Still it was good to lay the Fermanagh bogey as they can be difficult opponents with their fast running game," said Meath manager Colm Coyle.

As Coyle looks ahead to the next round, Mulgrew said: "It's time for someone else to come in with fresh ideas, I thank the players for their efforts."

The highlight of his four years with Fermanagh was the wonderful run to the All-Ireland semi-finals in 2004.

MEATH: B Murphy; E Harrington, D Fay, N McKeigue; S Kenny, K Reilly, C King; M Ward, N Crawford; P Byrne (0-2), A Moyles (0-1), N McLoughlin; S Bray (0-1), S O'Rourke (0-1), B Farrell (0-6, 3 frees). Subs: C Ward for O'Rourke (46 mins), P Curran for McLoughlin (57 mins), C McCarthy for Crawford (65 mins).

FERMANAGH: C Breen; S Goan, B Owens, N Bogue; P Sherry, S McDermott (0-1), T McElroy; L McBarron, M Murphy (0-1); M Little, J Sherry, E Maguire; C McElroy, C O'Reilly (0-4, three frees), R Keenan. Subs: T Brewster (0-3, three frees) for C McElroy (20 mins), S Lyons for P Sherry (32 mins), S Doherty for Keenan (47 mins), H Brady for McBarron (60 mins), R Johnston for O'Reilly (67 mins).

Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).