Strong Meath make their chances count

Meath 3-10, Monaghan 0-12:Greater physical strength and the ability to capitalise on their scoring chances saw Meath book their place in the Division Two final at the expense of a wasteful Monaghan in Croke Park on Saturday.

Meath got off to a flying start with two goals in the space of three minutes as Joe Sheridan and Stephen Bray exploited some poor defensive work to put Monaghan on the back foot right from the start.

By the end of the first quarter Meath had opened an eight-point lead but then came under increasing pressure in the second quarter, but Monaghan's inability to finish off scoring chances still left the advantage with the Leinster county.

Paul Finlay pulled back a point for Monaghan in the 21st minute but they were not to score again until the 34th minute despite dominating play and by then their wides tally was nine.

And in the final minutes of the first half Tom Freeman pulled back two points to give Meath a half-time lead of 2-4 to 0-5.

Monaghan started the second half with renewed purpose and a point by Paul Finlay in the third minute hinted at better things to come. Ultimately, though, it proved a false dawn as Meath again took control.

Peadar Byrne scored their third goal and points from Byrne (two) and Kevin Reilly along with an earlier brace from Brian Farrell effectively sealed the issue.

MEATH:B Murphy; E Harrington, D Fay, N McKeigue; C King, A Moyles, S Kenny; M Ward, N Crawford; N McLoughlin, K Reilly (0-2), P Byrne (1-2); S Bray (1-1), B Farrell (0-4), J Sheridan (1-0). Subs: G Geraghty (0-1) for Sheridan; P Curran for McLoughlin; C Ward for Farrell; M Burke for Byrne.

MONAGHAN:S Duffy; D Morgan, C Flanagan, G McQuaid (0-1); D Mone, V Corey, JP Mone; D Clerkin, P Finlay (0-4); C Hanratty (0-1), S Gollogly (0-2), C McManus; T Freeman (0-2), S Smith (0-1), D Freeman. Subs: B McKenna for Morgan; R Woods for Clerkin; C Hughes for Flanagan; P Meegan (0-1) for Smith; D Hughes for McManus.

Referee:M Duffy (Sligo).