Since Louth’s last championship win in this fixture in 1975, Meath have busied themselves with finding new and dastardly ways to break Louth hearts.
Even without the 2010 episode, they have suffered at the hands of their neighbours. But in Inniskeen, decades of frustration came pouring out. From pillar to post, Louth were, by some distance, the better team. More organised and better drilled to the point where they punched holes in Meath almost at will, they finished the day with three goals. It could well have been more.
Under the most difficult of circumstances, where tragedy hit the camp in the hours before the game, Meath made a decent start, leading 0-3 to 0-1 after ten minutes.
In Patrick Kavanagh country, their first score was poetic. On Saturday morning, Paul Costello, father of Meath player Mathew, sadly passed away. Mathew opted to play with a sombre moment’s silence observed before throw-in in Inniskeen. And in Meath’s first attack, Mathew opened the scoring, a point nudged inside the post by the breeze.
However, Louth looked more potent from early on and plundered three first-half goals, two of which came in a breathless and pivotal five-minute spell.
First, they won a Meath kick-out and developed the opportunity to get the ball into the hands of talisman Sam Mulroy. The Naomh Mairtin man walloped to the net.
Meath replied with a point through Cathal Hickey, but in Louth’s opening attacks, there were signs that Meath were porous. Louth sensed the vulnerability. This time, Craig Lennon came into the line perfectly and rode a tackle to slam to the Meath goal.
And if their first two goals were about patience and timing, the third was obeying the adage of following the ball in. A Mulroy point attempt came off the post and possession fell to Lennon, who grabbed his second to put Louth 3-3 to 0-4 up on 27 minutes.
Cillian O’Sullivan, making his first start of the year, replied for Meath with a mark, but Louth were in total control. Lennon brought his haul to 2-1 for the half after, once again, choosing his moment perfectly before Bevan Duffy wrapped up the scoring for the half. Ger Brennan’s men went in leading 3-5 to 0-5 at the break and to a standing ovation from supporters in the main stand.
Meath needed something otherworldly to get back into the game. They kicked the first score of the half, through Eoghan Frayne, before Duffy picked up an unnecessary black card with Louth’s goal in no real danger.
But perhaps that ten-minute period, where Louth were down to 14 men, summed up the game best. Even with numerical superiority, Meath couldn’t break Louth’s defensive web and were outscored in that period by 0-1 to no score.
By 55 minutes, Colm O’Rourke had used all his subs and played his hand, but they made little impact. With Kerry next on the list, they have much soul-searching to do. Louth head for Clones to an out-of-sorts Monaghan. On this form, a giddy summer beckons.
Scorers – Louth: S Mulroy 1-6 (6f); C Lennon 2-1; C Downey, C Keenan, B Duffy 0-1 each. Meath: E Frayne 0-3 (2f); M Costello, C Hickey, R Jones, C Caulfield, S Coffey, C O’Sullivan (1m) 0-1 each.
Louth: N McDonnell; D McKenny, D Corcoran, P Lynch; C McKeever, A Williams, C Lennon; T Durnin, B Duffy; N Sharkey, C Keenan, C Grimes; R Burns, S Mulroy, C Downey. Subs: C Byrne for Duffy (54), L Grey for Lennon (60), P Mathew for Burns (63), C Early for Keenan (68), D Campbell for Corcoran (72).
Meath: B Hogan; D Keogan, A O’Neill, R Ryan; H O’Higgins, D Campion, S Coffey; R Jones, C McBride; C Caulfield, C O’Sullivan, C Hickey; J Conlon, M Costello, E Frayne. Subs: B O’Halloran for O’Higgins, C Gray for McBride (both HT), J O’Connor for O’Sullivan, J Morris for Conlon (both 45), M Murphy for Coffey (55).
Referee: P Faloon (Down).
