Experimental Louth team under new reign of Ger Brennan suffer defeat to Meath

O'Byrne Cup

Louth 1-7 Meath 2-13

An experimental Louth side began life under new manager Ger Brennan with a defeat to Meath in the opening round of the O’Byrne Cup in Ashbourne on Saturday night, with the Wee County noticeably minus several key players, including Sam Mulroy, Conor Grimes, and Tommy Durnin to name a few.

As is generally the case with these pre-season competitions, several players who may have been on the fringes of the squad got a chance to impress, with Niall McDonnell, Cameron Maher and Wayne Campbell handed debuts by Ger Brennan, while players like Oisin McGuinness, Peter McStravick, Jonothan Commins, Dylan McKeown and Kyle McElroy were also handed opportunities to stake a claim for a starting birth in the league and championship beyond.

Other players making their Wee County debuts were second half subs Ben Collier and Chris O’Neill, while Sean Marry also returned to kick a fine second half point.

Ultimately for this game however, Louth can have no complaints about the outcome, as aside from a terrific early effort from Ryan Burns with the outside of his foot, Louth were largely playing catchup in Ashbourne, as they struggled to handle the Royal physicality, with 15 of their 33 attacks being turned over in this encounter.

Following Burns’ early strike inside the opening minute, Meath took charge, Colm O’Rourke’s side included eight of the starting 15 which lined out against Down in last year’s Tailteann Cup triumph, with Jack Flynn who impressed in the middle of the park, levelling things up, before Mathew Costello who was integral to that Tailteann success, putting Meath ahead with a close range free.

Meath looked dangerous when they moved the ball through the hands, and took the ball off the shoulder as they advanced menacingly towards the Louth goal, and it was Cathal Hickey who combined with Jack O’Connor to set up the lively Aaron Lynch to slap the ball to the net for the opening goal, to make it 1-2 to 0-1 in Meath’s favour inside 10 minutes.

Cathal Hickey’s direct running was a thorn in the Louth side, and another move involving Hickey saw Louth keeper Niall McDonnell tip Sean Coffey’s effort onto the bar.

Ryan Burns ended Louth’s 20 minute wait for another score with a free, trading placed kicks with Mathew Costello to leave five between the sides.

However, Louth soon took advantage of Meath being reduced to 14 men when Jack O’Connor was sent to the sin bin, as the Wee County enjoyed a late purple patch, which brought their best move of the game, when Peter Lynch combined with Burns to set up Dan Corcoran to finish calmly to the net to leave just two between the sides after 26 minutes.

That major was the first penetrative move put together by the Wee County, who struggled to break down their opponents. But some more slick passing through the hands saw Conor Early and Cameron Maher combine to set up debutant Wayne Campbell to put just a point between the sides, before Ardee’s Jonothan Commins landed his first point in inter-county football to draw the sides level at 1-4 apiece with five minutes left to the break.

Debutant Cameron Maher finished with 26 possessions over the hour, while Dreadnots’ Dermot Campbell also put in a commendable shift at centre back, finishing with 22 possessions.

The lively Aaron Lynch had the final say of the half with a close range free as Meath led by 1-5 to 1-4 at the break.

Second Half:

The second half saw Louth get off to the worst possible start, with Cathal Hickey’s direct running once again paying dividends for the Royals in earning a penalty which saw Mathew Costello convert to give his side a four point cushion.

Despite Meath making a number of substitutions, including six half time alterations, the outcome of this clash was never in doubt from Costello’s penalty onwards.

With Meath imposing their physicality, and putting the squeeze on Louth, the Royals won 9 out of 15 on the visitor’s kickout, with the likes of Jack Flynn again influential, while lively second half sub Ruairi Kinsella had an impressive cameo hitting 0-3, with fellow subs Adam McDonnell, Diarmuid Moriarity, Keith Curtis, and Cathal Finnegan also chipping in with fine scores in that second period.

It took Louth eight minutes from the end to register a score, which arrived via sub Sean Marry, while fine strikes from Peter McStravick, and Ryan Burns (45) put some scores on the board for Louth who face Westmeath in the O’Byrne Shield next time out.

Louth: Niall McDonnell; Dan Corcoran (1-0), Peter Lynch, Cameron Maher; Conall McKeever, Dermot Campbell, Oisin McGuinness; Conor Early, Wayne Campbell (0-1); Peter McStravick (0-1), Tom Jackson, Jonathan Commins (0-1); Ryan Burns (0-3) (1f) (1’45), Dylan McKeown, Kyle McElroy. 

Subs: Ciaran Murphy for McKeever (40), Leonard Grey for Corcoran (45), Chris O'Neill for McStravick (45), Sean Marry (0-1) for McElroy (48), Ben Collier for Commins (54), Donal McKenny for Campbell (67).

Meath: Sean Brennan; Michael Flood, Adam O'Neill, Michael Murphy; Ciaran Caulfield, Ronan Jones, Sean Coffey (0-1); Jack Flynn (0-1), Cathal Hickey; Daithi McGowan, Eoghan Frayne, Darragh Campion; Aaron Lynch (1-1), Mathew Costello (1-3) (1 pen) (2f), Jack O'Connor. 

Subs: Billy Hogan for Brennan (HT), Adam McDonnell (0-1) for Caulfield (HT), Daire Rowe for Lynch (HT), Donal Keogan for Jones (HT), Ruairi Kinsella (0-3) for Campion (HT), Diarmuid Moriarty (0-1) for Frayne (HT), Conor Gray for Costello (45), Shane Walsh for Flynn both (45), Conor Farrelly for Coffey (50), Cathal Finnegan (0-1) (1f) for O'Connor (52), Keith Curtis (0-1) (1f) for Flood (58)..

Referee: Ian Howley (Dublin).