Meath 0-15 Cavan 0-13

Cian Ward turned in a man-of-the-match display as he inspired Meath to a fiery win over Cavan in tonight's NFL Division Two clash at Pairc Tailteann.

The free-taking corner-forward notched nine points – seven in the second half – as Cavan lost their grip on a 0-11 to 0-04 interval lead.

Seanie Johnston was Cavan's hero in the first half as he kicked 0-05 (2f). But with the wind at their backs and their great physicality at midfield, the Royals turned things around on the restart.

That all means that Cavan, who has been unlucky in recent games against Dublin and Monaghan, remain pointless and rooted to the bottom of the table.

The Breffni men did make an impressive start with Johnston landing a free and Dermot McCabe contributing a score from midfield.

Indeed, McCabe notched a brace of points during the first quarter of an hour - the second an excellent effort from far out on the left.

The pacy Johnston, who was terrorising the Meath defence at times, had kicked four points by the midpoint of the half - three scores from play adding to his early free.

Martin Reilly and Ger Pierson also got in on the scoring act for Cavan but crucially the home side got their challenge off the ground before the break.

A cluster of points from Alan Nestor, Peadar Byrne and Ward, who pointed a free after good work from Graham Geraghty, reduced the arrears to seven points for Colm Coyle's side.

Willed on by a vocal crowd, Meath continued where they left off in the first half. On the resumption, Ward kicked two frees and Nestor and Stephen Brady also pointed from play to get their side back within striking distance.

Cavan's lead was suddenly down to just two points by the 48th-minute as Ward bolstered his personally tally to 0-05.

Johnston then hit a much-needed reply for the visitors, taking them into a 0-12 to 0-11 lead, however Ward scored for the seventh time in the 63rd-minute make it all-square.

The Wolfe Tones clubman then pointed to push Meath into the lead for the first time, with six minutes to go.

That is how it stayed as a valiant Cavan came a cropper and Coyle's charges moved up to third place in the second tier standings.