Leinster SFC First round/ Meath 1-15 Louth 0-10: What a game, what a result, what a heartbreaker of an afternoon for Louth. Of all the major mistakes in championship football - panicking, stage fright, etc - the one you definitely won't get away with is not scoring in the second half.
In fact with the exception of one glorious goal chance, it was as if Louth didn't even appear for the second half. It must have felt like an out-of-body experience as they watched Meath destroy all the hopes of victory built on the opening 35 minutes when Louth couldn't put a foot wrong.
They'd hit 10 priceless scores and left Meath scrapping hard for their six. Then they totally disintegrated, allowing Meath to hit 1-9 without reply.
Meath meet Wexford in two weeks' time and if they start that one the way they finished here they will surely have a say in the destiny of the Leinster title.
Graham Geraghty's switch with Joe Sheridan was the masterstroke, but there were plenty of impressive displays elsewhere when the game reached decision time.
Yet it's hard not to first reflect on another killer defeat for Louth. Their supporters had filled a large part of the 37,426 that showed up in Croke Park yet few, if indeed any, had the stomach to stick around for the second game.
With the rain lifted and the pitch surface immaculate, Louth were soon producing scorching football. Meath scored first through Peter Curran, but Louth responded within seconds when a tornado run from corner back Jamie Carr ended with a point.
Great scores from Aaron Hoey and Darren Clarke followed, as Meath players struggled to get more than a split-second on the ball. Niall McKeigue withdrew before the start with illness but that doesn't fully explain the lack of cohesion in the Meath defence.
In any event, Louth made the most if it. After 20 minutes they'd had seven shots on goal and scored seven points. They were brilliant to watch and all Meath could do was try to stay in touch with points from Brian Farrell and Daithi Regan. Yet Louth were soon 0-9 to 0-4 up, oozing class and confidence.
Paddy Keenan and Martin Farrelly were collecting 90 per cent of the ball at midfield and chipped in with scores to reflect that.
Meath, in contrast, were short of leaders and worse still, Geraghty appeared to be losing his cool, with Colin Goss ensuring he saw precious little ball at full forward.
The first half ended with Keenan practically walking past Nigel Crawford to send over his point, while several Meath players were looking around, with arms aloft.
The interval talk of manager Eamonn Barry obviously turned Meath's whole attitude, but the turning point of the game came seven minutes into the new half when Clarke sent Mark Brennan clean through for a shot at the Meath goal. Against all odds, goalkeeper Brendan Murphy got the crucial foot to it, and the ball rolled wide. His only true save of the afternoon would prove invaluable.
Had Louth scored that goal they would have gone six points clear, and surely gained the extra confidence to win the thing. Instead it was like that miss immediately started to haunt them. They had no more than three or four more chances in the final 20 minutes, while Meath's fortunes rocketed like a lottery winner.
Frees from Regan and Farrell first settled their game, and when Regan missed a couple more he was replaced by Ray Magee. Within seconds, Magee's first free was sent cleanly over the bar, Meath were level, and suddenly relishing the 15 minutes left.
Geraghty's repositioning on the half-forward line was now working a treat, and he bombarded Sheridan with high ball into the full-forward position. Once such ball bounced right over the bar, and another one received the simplest of hand flicks from Sheridan to produce the Meath goal.
Within five minutes Meath had moved 1-12 to 0-10 clear. Louth had totally lost the plot, and remained stuck in their own half trying in vain to break Meath's absolute domination.
It was just as well for Meath Louth couldn't get going again, as a succession of misses for Sheridan brought their second half wide count to 10. That didn't matter a bit, though, as all the energy Louth displayed early on had evaporated, while late scores for Caoimhín King and Sheridan rounded off another remarkable chapter in the championship history of Meath football.
MEATH: 1 B Murphy; 2 N McLoughlin, 3 K Reilly, 5 S Mac Gabhann; 7 S Kenny (0-1), 6 C King (0-1), 18 J Donoghue; 8 N Crawford (capt), 9 M Ward; 10 P Curran (0-2), 11 J Sheridan (1-1, one free), 12 P Byrne; 13 D Regan (0-4, three frees), 14 G Geraghty (0-1, a free), 15 B Farrell (0-4, three frees). Subs: 24 R Magee (0-1) for Regan (55 mins); 21 B Lynch for Ward (64 mins); 17 T O'Connor for Donoghue (68 mins); 22 M Doran for Byrne (71 mins).
LOUTH: 1 S Reynolds; 2 D Brennan, 3 C Goss, 4 J Carr (0-1); 5 J O'Brien, 6 P McGinnity, 7 J Neary; 8 M Farrelly (0-1), 9 P Keenan (0-1); 10 C Grimes (0-1, a free), 11 M Brennan, 12 M Stanfield (0-1); 13 JP Rooney (0-1), 14 A Hoey (0-2), 15 D Clarke (0-2). Subs: 20 R Carroll for Rooney (49 mins); 27 H McGinn for Stanfield (68 mins).
Referee: J White (Donegal).
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