Meath 0-17 Cavan 0-14: The Meath and Cavan rivalry is very much alive and well. A charged 9,000 Páirc Tailteann crowd were treated to roller coaster fare in a classic example of what these counties are capable of bringing out in each other.
Trevor Giles eventually put the game to bed in the closing minutes with two points, the first from a 45, followed by a free just two metres shorter.
Adding to the intrigue was Meath's failure to capitalise on second-half wind advantage after leading 0-9 to 0-7 at half-time.
Cavan's Gerald Pierson was behind his team's stunning recovery which saw the sides on level terms, 0-13 apiece, 21 minutes into the second half.
The drama was high pitched at this stage and Galway referee Ger Kinneavy came under pressure to keep matters under control.
A hostile atmosphere developed momentarily and there were big hits. Cavan wing back Anthony Gaynor received a yellow card for a crash tackle on Daithi Regan. This happened in a hectic final quarter and, from the resultant free, Regan put Meath back into the lead once more, 0-14 to 0-13, 11 minutes from time.
Ollie Murphy was greeted by the loudest cheer of the day when replacing Joe Sheridan after 64 minutes. The Carnaross favourite instantly paid his way when off-loading to Nigel Crawford for an important 15th Meath point to leave two points between the sides with eight minutes remaining.
Two minutes later John Tierney kept Cavan very much in it with a point to close the gap to one before Giles stepped up to centre stage with that brace of massive points off.
Anthony Moyles then put a padlock on the Meath defence with a sterling display and Nigel Crawford's first-half display was a match highlight in itself.
Meath manager Seán Boylan was delighted with his team's performance. He said: "It's really nice to be back in the top division again. It was a great team effort. We had players in there today playing in their first crunch match and they did themselves and us proud."
His counterpart Eamonn Coleman said: "They took their chances. We didn't. But I can tell you Meath and Cavan will cause a few stirs in the championship."
MEATH: D Gallagher; N McLoughlin, A Moyles, S McGabhann; T O'Connor, D Crimmins, C King; N Crawford (0-3), C McCarthy; N Kelly, J Sheridan (0-4, three frees), P Byrne (0-1); D Regan (0-5, two frees), T Giles (0-3, one 45, one free), G Geraghty. Subs: B O'Reilly for O'Connor (21 mins), M Burke (0-1) for C McCarthy (18 mine), M O'Reilly for Kelly (60 mins), O Murphy for Sheridan (64 mins).
CAVAN: J Reilly; M Hannon, D Rabbitt, K Fannin; K Crotty, P Reilly, A Gaynor; D McCabe (0-1), S Maguire; A Ford, M McKeever, F O'Reilly (0-3); J O'Reilly, J Tierney (0-2), G Pierson (0-6). Subs: L Reilly (0-1) for J O'Reilly (half-time), N Walsh for S Maguire (31 mins), L Mulvey for McKeever (52 mins), P Brady (0-1) for C Crotty (45 mins), G Collier for Fannin (62 mins), A Crotty for Gaynor (yellow card).
YELLOW CARD: Cavan: Gaynor.
Referee: G Kinneavy (Galway).
