Meath won their 7th All-Ireland football final when they denied Cork the double in Croke Park this afternoon. The game was played in good spirit and was close throughout but Meath’s resilience and experience took them through in the end.
Cork had an amount of possession but their shooting and passing accuracy was poor. They only scored two points from play while Meath scored 1 – 6 from play, captain Graham Geraghty scoring three of those, all in the second half. In terms of possession it was a game Cork really should have won but when the game became a battle Meath’s graft always kept them in the driving seat. Once again the talent of Trevor Giles was very evident and his influence on proceedings was immense, especially after Meath introduced Richie Kealy at centre forward freeing Giles from the shackles of Owen Sexton. Much of the first half was very low scoring but after Ollie Murphy got away from Anthony Lynch in the 25th minute to score a great goal Meath went in at half-time with a three point advantage 1 – 5 to 0 - 5.
The second half started at a hectic pace and within a minute Meath had a penalty. Trevor Giles stepped up but failed to put the ball past Kevin O’Dwyer who saved low to his left. Immediately Cork broke down the field and captain Phillip Clifford reduced the deficit to two points. Three minutes later Cork took the lead. A marvellous goal from Joe Kavanagh - after which he faded out of the game - should have put Cork in the driving seat. Instead Meath dug in and refused to lie down. It was tit for tat for a while but after that Meath were more efficient with their chances while Cork continued to kick wides.
In the end Cork will wonder how they managed to lose but the qualities entrusted in this Meath team by legendary manager Sean Boylan again proved their worth as their hunger and confidence brought them back the Sam Maguire.
In today's curtain-raiser at Croke Park Down beat favourites Mayo by 1-14 to 14 points in the All-Ireland minor final. The only goal of the game came from Down in the first half and was the difference between the sides in the end.
