Meath off to a winning start in the Gerry Reilly FT

Meath 3-17 Longford 1-16
Meath had to battle hard to see off Longford in this Rd.1 game of the Gerry Reilly U-16 FT played in Millbrook, Oldcastle on Sunday evening. With wind advantage in the first half, Meath had 3 points (Luke Mitchell (2) and Brian O’Hanlon) on the scoreboard before Longford’s Cian Dooner pointed from a free. Two more Meath points had them leading (0-50 to (0-1). But then it was Longford that saw them add 3 points to their tally. Points were exchanged before Colin Hawdon pointed t put 2 points between the sides. Meath’s Conor Farrelly came to the rescue to block Longford’s goal attempt.
Down at the other end, Brian O’Hanlon pointed as he shot on goal. 3 Longford points on the trot had the sides level. But then the turning point before the break was a point and a converted penalty by Cian Dooner to give Meath a 4 point lead.
H/T: Meath 1-9 Longford 0-8
Longford pulled 2 back to leave 2 points between the sides. Meath then had a great spell ad saw Adam Reilly’s goat attempt to hit the crossbar before Luke Mitchell got Meath’s second goal to lead by 2-11 to 0-10 by the 45th minute. By the 51st minute, Meath had led by 9 points. Longford reduced the gap with 2 points. Longford did not give up and when they converted a penalty, they went all out to close the gap further. But when Meath’s Sean Commons found the net when it looked like he was going for a point, there was no way back for Longford.

It was a terrific game, played with great spirit and determination by sides and much appreciated by all in attendance.

Meath’s Adam Reilly was presented with the Respa ‘Man of the match’ award by John Farrelly (Oldcastle GFC)

Meath: Sean Brennan, Conor Hetherton, Harry O’Higgins, Conor Farrelly, Colin Hawdon (0-2), Luke Newe, Jeaic Timmons, Adam Reilly, Killian Hogan, Adam Treanor, Zak Fitzsimons, Dylan Morgan (0-2), Adam Kelly, Luke Mitchell (2-4), Brian O’Hanlon (0-5)
Subs: Darragh Swaine for Fitzsimons, Luke Kelly for Newe, Bryan McCormack for Reilly, Sean Commons (1-0) for O’Hanlon, Joe Moore (0-4) for Kelly

Longford: Paddy Murray, Mark O’Neill, Eoghan Smith, Cian Murphy, James Moran, Eoghan McCormack (0-1), Peter Dempsey, Euan Finneran, Aidan O Ceallaigh, Cian Ó Nualláin (0-1), Darragh O Connell (0-3), Reece Leonard (0-2, 1f), Daniel Reynolds (0-1), Reece Reilly, Cian Dooner (1-7, 5f)
Subs: Conor Farrelly for Murphy (inj), Jake Taylor (0-1) for Leonard, Cian Belton for Reilly, Jonathan Borland for Reynolds, Sean Horgan for Dempsey, Tadhg McNevin for O Ceallaigh

Ref: Margaret Reilly (Cavan)