Meath 1-13 Limerick 2-09:For nearly an hour in Portlaoise there looked little doubt that it would be Meath who will meet Mayo in the fourth All-Ireland quarter-final next week, but two late goals from Limerick ensured a nervy finish that the Royal county barely saw out.
Meath were cruising with a six-point lead when Seanie Buckley evaded five defenders and smashed the ball into their net in the 47th minute. It halved the deficit but Meath were quick to strike back through Chris O’Connor’s second point.
Just when they looked to have avoided the banana skin, Jim O’Donovan appeared to get the last touch after Stephen Kelly dropped a 56th minute free into the square.
Suddenly it was a two-point game and there were signs of panic in the Meath ranks, compounded by Stephen Bray’s dismissal for an off the ball incident, but they stumbled over the finish line with a point to spare.
Until O’Donovan’s strike, Meath were rarely troubled.
Cian Ward found his range early with two in the first nine minutes and he held off the challenge of Johnny McCarthy before slotting the rolling ball past Sean Kiely in the Limerick net three minutes later.
Stephen Bray added two quickfire points for a five-point lead.
Limerick had to wait until the 18th minute for their first from play through Kelly after Ger Collins and Ian Ryan had pointed a free each.
Kelly added another as Meath endured an 11-minute barren spell but they were scoring again through a fisted effort from Stephen Bray and a first for his brother David.
Kelly did well to find a point off his right boot for a four-point deficit at the break.
The teams shared four points at the start of the second half before The Royals put three together to move into three-point lead.
Normal service appeared to have resumed until Limerick captain Buckley gathered a high ball cut back inside, wrong-footed the defence and dug out a quality finish.
Meath took that blow in there stride but O’Donovan’s effort prompted some sloppiness as Ward missed a kicakable free and Bray was dismissed.
Limerick, though, lacked the nous to take advantage.