Meath 3-24; Tyrone 2-22
While Dublin and Kildare do little to increase the worth of Leinster football stock, neighbors Louth and Meath are leading the form lines as both seek to reach the promised land of Division 1 football next season.
No sooner had Louth shocked Derry in Saturday's early game than Meath used their temporary home base of Croke Park to chalk up an impressive five-point victory over Tyrone to leave them needing to beat bottom of the table Offaly in the final round to go up for the 2027 season.
Even a defeat should not prove fatal as they are already 10 points with Cork also with the same points but have a plus 20 points difference on Louth and Derry who now are two points behind.
Meath seem to like the temporary home ground and they certainly like the offer of two-pointers it affords as on this occasion they landed no less than eight, or 16 points in total, via this method.
Add those to the three goals they plundered the Red Hand for in the course of the 70 minutes plus injury time and you see that the constant scoring improvement under the leadership of Robbie Brenna is very real.
Newcomer Jack O'Connor is another Royal jewel unearthed these past months, and on this occasion, he raised four orange flags as well as shooting a green flag raiser as well.
Tyrone were everyone’s bet to yo-yo back up after coming down last season but they have failed to show any consistency in this Division 2 campaign. Indeed, they seemed to be leaderless in attack until Darragh Canavan made an appearance in the second half where he brought industry, guile and scoring prowess - he got five in less than half an hour.
The schemer was due to go to Australia for a month but saw those plans scuppered due to the Middle East conflict and was available to travel south with the squad. It wasn’t coincidental either that his appearance came when his side were 12 points in arrears and had reduced to two before Meath kicked on again.
Meath: S Brennan (0-2, tpf); S Lavin, S Rafferty, B O’Halloran; D Keogan, S Coffey (0-1), C Caulfield (0-1); B Menton (0-1), J Flynn; J O’Connor (1-8, 4tp), R Kinsella (0-5, 2tp), A O’Neill; J Morris (0-1f), E Frayne (0-4, 1tp), A Lynch (2-1) Subs: C O’Connor for O’Neill (50), C Hickey for O’Connor (54), K Curtis for Lynch (54), J Conlon for Frayne (57), J Scully for Flynn (67)
Tyrone: O O’Kane; A Clarke, P Teague, C Quinn; J Clarke (0-1), N Devlin (1-0), M Rafferty; B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O’Donnell (0-1), R Cassidy (0-2), C Daly; R Canavan (0-1), M Donnelly (0-1), E Jordan (1-9, 0-1f, 2tp, 4 ’45) Subs: D McCurry (0-4, 0-2f) for Canavan (27), M McKernan for Rafferty (31), D Canavan (0-2, tpf) for Daly (42), E McElholm for Cassidy (59), F Burns for Clarke (63)
Ref: N Cullen (Fermanagh).
Louth 1-19; Derry 0-18
They may be the Wee county (smallest in size in Ireland) and they may be depleted with injuries with five unable to line out in this fixture but you wouldn’t have thought it as they beat previously high-riding Derry at Defy Páirc Mhuire on Saturday afternoon.
The result and those elsewhere means both these sides now are on the heels of leaders Meath and Cork in Division 2 as they seek promotion to the top flight next weekend with Louth away to hot and cold Kildare and Derry hosting Ulster rivals Cavan in their final game.
Louth took the fight to their opponents with the wind in their backs and were well ahead when the Derrymen tried desperately to get back in the game. They were gaining ground in this two horse race until Niall McDonnell defied Sshane McGuigan from the penalty spot to turn the tide back in the home side’s favor once again.
His namesake Tadgh came off the bench to boost morale and ensure the Wee men were three ahead at the end to collect the precious two league points.
Louth: N McDonnell; E Carolan, D Campbell, D Nally; C McKeever (0-1), D McDonnell (0-3, 1tp), E Callaghan; T Durnin, C Early; P Mathews (0-2, 1tp), S Mulroy 1-6 (1tp, 0-1f, 1-0 pen), J Maguire; C Keenan, C McCaul (0-1), K McArdle (0-2) Subs: T McDonnell (0-3, 1tp) for Maguire (43), D McKenny for E Callaghan (58), S Callaghan for Durnin (62), C Branigan for D McDonnell (63), S Reynolds (0-1) for McCaul (65)
Derry: S McGuckin, D Baker, R Forbes, S Downey, C Doherty, G McKinless, P McGrogan, C Glass (0-3, 1tp), B Rogers (0-1), E Doherty (0-1), S McGuigan, D Higgins; P Cassidy (0-2, 1tp), N Loughlin (0-7, 1tpf, 0-1f), L Murray (0-01) Subs: N Toner for S Downey (47), M Downey (0-2, 1tp) for Higgins (53), E McEvoy (0-01) for Forbes (57), S Young for E Doherty (62)
GAA RESULTS
FOOTBALL
Division 1
Roscommon 2-20 Donegal 0-20
Galway 1-20 Monaghan 2-9
Kerry 2-29 Mayo 0-19
Armagh 2-24 Dublin 1-25
FL Division 2
Cavan 2-20 Offaly 3-15
Louth 1-19 Derry 0-18
Cork 1-31 Kildare 2-19
Meath 3-24 Tyrone 2-22
FL Division 3
Wexford 1-23 Clare 2-17
Down 2-25 Sligo 0-21
Fermanagh 2-13 Laois 1-14
Westmeath 4-21 Limerick 3-8
FL Division 4
Antrim 4-18 Waterford 0-11
Leitrim 3-19 Longford 1-15
Wicklow 3-19 Tipperary 0-13
London 1-20 Carlow 0-18
Munster U20FC Phase 1 - Round 1
Clare 1-16 Tipperary 1-11
Waterford 4-11 Limerick 2-7
HURLING
Division 1A
Tipperary 2-24 Waterford 1-23
CAMOGIE
League Division 1A
Cork 2-8 Tipperary 1-11
Waterford 2-10 Kilkenny 0-14
Galway 1-13 Antrim 1-11
League Division 1B
Limerick 3-13 Wexford 1-11
Clare 3-18 Down 1-9
Dublin 2-16 Offaly 0-9
League Division 3A
Roscommon 1-9 Kildare 0-8
