Meath dismissal of Carlow has an ominous familiarity

NEW faces, but the same old story

NEW faces, but the same old story. Meath have a habit of bringing opponents back to reality and, while the green machine may have received a dab or two of fresh paint, there was something ominously familiar about the manner in which they dismantled Carlow's feeble challenge in the Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter final at Croke Park yesterday.

Carlow - with two wins over Wexford and Wicklow under their belts - marched to Jones's Road seeking their third successive win in a championship campaign for the first time since 1944, amid much talk of a new dawn. It proved to be unfounded. Their supporters on Hill 16 could, at least, use factor 20 to block against the sun's excesses, but the poor Carlow defence couldn't use any artificial means to protect them from Meath's clinical finishing.

Indeed, Meath effectively wrapped up this match within the opening 20 minutes, their forwards, a composition of the new and the old, cutting through the Carlow defence like a knife sinking into sun softened butter. It was just too easy, and eight points without reply in that spell tells its own story.

How good were Meath? Or, how bad were Carlow? Who knows? But Meath executed a thoroughly professional job and, perhaps, the most impressive statistic of all is that all six starting forwards scored at least twice. In fact, when Graham Geraghty landed a superb long range effort as early as the 27th minute, each one of the sextet had troubled the scorebpard operator. Impressive stuff.

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Carlow were very disappointing. The first half ploy of crowding centrefield and their own defence - more often than not leaving just two attackers inside the barren stretch from the 65 metre line to the Meath goal posts - was a complete failure, because Jimmy McGuinness and John McDermott still managed to lord it at midfield. And Meath's forwards knew exactly what to do with the ball when it came their way.

Meath's overall team performance resembled a side who have re discovered the right road. Yet, it was the half forward line which stood out. Geraghty's conversion from defence to attack appears more than justified, the Seneschalstown man combining ball winning qualities with some surprising subtlety; Tommy Dowd, as ever, led by example with a ferocious work rate, while Trevor Giles appears to have toughened up over the winter and was also composed (and accurate) with his deadball kicking.

If there was a downside to Meath's display, it was probably their failure to score a goal. But it wasn't for the want of trying. For Carlow, however, the whole "match was a salient lesson, although they weren't helped by an injury to centre half back Hugh Brennan, injured in the opening seconds of the match, and was eventually substituted.

It was a good day's work for Meath, especially the way the four newcomers settled into the side. As if to demonstrate this point, one of them, Callaghan scored the game's opening point which led to eight consecutive scores. and another, Mark O'Reilly, sallied forth from his corner back position for the game's final score, finishing a sequence of seven Meath points. How's that for confidence?

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times