MEATH… 1-11
LOUTH… 1-09
Not all that long ago, I referred to Mat Costello as a quiet leader and if ever there was a demonstration of same it was here. The extremely gifted Dunshaughlin player picking up possession on our own 45 metre line and slaloming toward the Louth goal before somehow contorting his body enough to plant a powerful shot beyond Niall McDonnell.
That left the home side clear by 1-11 to 0-09 with the regulation 70 minutes elapsed, and then some. However, not only would that not tell the story for the day, it didn’t even conclude the drama in the day’s proceedings.
On several occasions throughout the contest, Sean Brennan had performed heroics between the posts for Colm O’Rourke’s side to keep the structure upright when the scaffold looked to be at its shakiest. He could do little, though, about Tommy Jackson’s 74th-minute rocket which put the locals in for an unwelcome dose of squeaky bum time.
Now, Mayo referee Liam Devenney indicated four minutes of stoppage time, so you would have assumed Jackson’s thriller should have been the show stopper.
But no, the locals were left thinking ‘they don’t really care about us’ when the folically challenged whistler from the west came up with double the allotted time from locations unknown.
In the midst of which heroic defending from Brennan, Donal Keogan, Adam O’Neill, Sean Coffey and debutante Brian O’Halloran just about guaranteed the vital victory their guile, guts and belief in each other deserved.
It had all looked so unlikely for so long. Meath looked pedantic bordering on lethargic early on, Shane Walsh’s timid attempt at a free typifying a team that were doing things in hope rather than confidence.
Whereas in contrast Louth fizzed like a bottle of orange just after being opened. The only saving grace being that, while Meath did look like flat 7Up – but not as productive – flashes of inventiveness in attack from Walsh, Costello and Daithi McGowan meant they only trailed by one, 0-05 to 0-06, at the break.
Mind you, thoughts that there would be an awakening from the slumber immediately after the restart appeared to be well wide of the mark when in fact it was Ger Brennan’s visitors who got more AdBlue in their tank as the classy Tommy Durnin and Ryan Burns and the industrious but one dimensional Sam Mulroy registered fine scores.
There’s a bit of primal madness about a Meath team when their backs are to the wall. All of our best combinations had it. These lads mightn’t be fully stocked yet, but they’re getting there.
The signs? Lads putting their heads where others wouldn’t put a boot, winning balls they have nearly no right to go for let alone any chance of winning. But win them they did. As time and again Ciaran Caulfield, Darragh Campion and Sean Coffey effected turnovers.
Indeed, this writer must hold the hand up and admit that having watched the game again (several times) that both Caulfield and Campion made even more significant contributions than was thought to be the case in real time.
Thankfully, their admirable efforts got their just rewards as the outstanding McGowan, Walsh and Eoghan Frayne hauled the green and gold back from the brink before Mat’s majesty and that manic conclusion.
SCORERS – M. Costello (1-2, 2F), S. Walsh (0-3), D. McGowan (1M), E. Frayne and J. O’Connor (0-2 each).
MEATH – S. Brennan; D. Keogan, A. O’Neill, M. Murphy; C. Caulfield, D. Campion, S. Coffey; R. Jones, C. McBride; D. McGowan, E. Frayne, J. O’Connor; S. Walsh, M. Costello, R. Kinsella.
SUBS – C. Hickey for Kinsella, B. O’Halloran for Murphy, D. Dixon for O’Connor, A. Lynch for McGowan, A. McDonnell for Campion.
Referee – L. Devenney (Mayo)