It wasn't a perfect performance by any means, but that won’t matter to Meath. What mattered was getting the better of Cork in their All-Ireland Senior Football Championship opener at Páirc Tailteann on Saturday and they did exactly that.
It was far from a classic encounter. With 12 minutes to go Cork found a spark. Trailing by five, sub Ruairí Deane pointed and a Mark Cronin two-pointer followed. Then Chris Óg Jones brought it back to a point, 1-10 to 0-12.
Meath’s wasteful shooting could have cost them. It should have.
But just as they had at the end of the first half, Meath hit their stride.
Mathew Costello converted a free and James Conlon added another after a slick one-two with Cathal Hickey. A goal between them with 70 minutes elapsed.
Cork cracked. Sloppy fouls, shaky kick-outs. Costello struck the decisive blow in the 71st minute – four points clear.
Every turnover, every tackle, every Cork wide was met with a roar from the Meath crowd. Cork never looked like troubling their opponents in the closing stages as the hosts triumphed.
Both teams were woeful in the opening 20 minutes. Cork for their inability to retain possession as they registered 10 turnovers in that period. Meath hardly fared better as shot after shot was met with wide after wide.
After 23 minutes, Cork were finally able to get the game’s first from play through a Jones effort. Then Cronin pointed a free before Jones kicked two more from play, set up by Eoghan McSweeney and Colm O’Callaghan, to leave it 0-05 to 0-02 after 27 minutes.
With the wind, Meath had put together some brilliant passages of play during the first half hour, though they had eight wides and two short – with three of those wides outside the arc.
But Cork continued with the sloppy turnovers. Meath finally punished them for it after half an hour.
First up was Costello, the wing-forward kicking their first point from play.
Then they carved open a goal chance. With Cork having only three beyond the halfway line, Jones could do little but watch his marker run free down the right flank. Meath moved with pace as Ciarán Caulfield picked out Jordan Morris. He cut in, shot off his left and fired his side 1-03 to 0-05 ahead.
A minute later, Costello raised another white flag. The final kick of the half was a free from Eoghan Frayne that sailed between the posts. As soon as Meath had got motoring and established a 1-05 to 0-05 lead, Cork were saved by the bell.
On the restart, Meath were misfiring again. They had five misses in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
By contrast, Cork started strongly. A fisted effort from Matty Taylor preceded a two-point free from O’Callaghan to leave one between them.
But their first-half failures crept in again. Going narrow when they should be wide, unnecessary turnovers, the same old story for the Rebels.
Meath made it count. They scored five well worked scores in a row.
By the 57th minute it was 1-10 to 0-08. Though Cork would get within one, Meath had an answer for everything thrown at them with defender Seán Rafferty exceptional as Meath began with a win.
Meath: Billy Hogan (0-01 '45); Séamus Lavin, Seán Rafferty, Ronan Ryan; Donal Keogan, Seán Coffey (0-01), Ciarán Caulfield; Jack Flynn, Bryan Menton; Conor Duke, Ruairí Kinsella, Jordan Morris (1-01); Mathew Costello, James Conlon, Eoghan Frayne.
Subs: A O’Neill for Coffey (inj), K Curtis for Frayne (both 46), C Hickey for Duke (50), S Walsh for Conlon (68), J McEntee for Kinsella (70+3 - 70+5, temp).
Cork: Mícheál Aodh Martin; Seán Meehan, Daniel O’Mahony, Maurice Shanley; Seán Powter, Brian O’Driscoll, Matty Taylor (0-01); Ian Maguire, Colm O’Callaghan (0-02, 1tp); Paul Walsh, Eoghan McSweeney, Mark Cronin (0-04, 2tp, 0-02fs); Seán McDonnell, Cathail O’Mahony, Chris Óg Jones (0-04).
Subs: R Deane (0-01) for Powter, R Maguire for McSweeney (both 51), E O'Hanlon for C O’Mahony (58), C Cahalane for Walsh (65), L Fahy for Taylor (68 inj), H O’Connor for Cronin (70+4).
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
