Joe McDonagh Cup round one: Down 3-24 Meath 0-25
An eight-point win doesn’t really reflect the dominance of Down’s second half display as Meath, trailing by five points at the break, were kept to just two points from play for the remainder of the game.
Padraig O’Hanrahan gave a near flawless exhibition in free-taking throughout the day, with an impressive 16 dead ball conversions from all angles and distance as he kept Meath in the contest when their attack had sputtered and faltered to a halt.
By contrast, their hosts’ teamwork and defensive performance built a winning platform as a happy Ronan Sheehan heaped praise on his charges after the game.
“The boys were excellent. They used the ball really well to create five clear goal chances,” said the Down manager
“Overall our defence was excellent, particularly the full-backs with Matt Conlon outstanding, highlighted by the fact we only allowed Meath to just two points from play in the second half.”
Meath opened the scoring when the lively Eamon Óg Ó Donnchadha slotted over from the narrowest of angles inside the first minute.
Pearse Óg McCrickard levelled shortly after from a free, before Meath’s Padraig O’Hanrahan had his first placed ball completion to help the visitors to a slight advantage, that is until Tim Prenter sprinted clear after 15 minutes to smash high to the Meath net and level the contest, 1-3 to 0-6.
From there, Down never looked back and points from the Sands brothers, Paul Sheehan and half-backs Tom Murray and McCrickard gave Down a well-deserved 1-15 to 0-13 half-time lead.
O’Hanrahan and Finn Turpin traded scores in the opening few seconds of the second half, but when Prenter raised a second green flag with two minutes played, Down was now out of sight.
Nicky Potterton and Simon Ennis got second half scores for the Royals, but as Down’s free count started to escalate, O’Hanrahan kept the Royals within touching distance with another 10 placed balls.
Sheehan added: “We’d be disappointed with the free count and our discipline needs to be better.
“I think if the game had been closer then some of those frees probably wouldn’t have been called, but no doubt we can’t concede 15 frees the next day out.”
Although looking stronger as the game approached the final quarter the hosts still only had a four-point advantage, until Paul Sheehan played a crossfield ball to Daithí Sands who, despite being heavily marshalled by Sean Geraghty, managed to slip free and get his shot in passed Charlie Ennis for Down’s third green flag and a comfortable seven-point cushion.
Looking forward to next week’s trip to Tralee to take on Kerry, Down manager said: “It looks like we have clean bill of health from today and Pearse Óg got some game time, after his injury against Laois while we are hoping to have Danny Toner and John McManus back for the trip.”
" I’m delighted with the win today, it’s a massive step towards our primary goal of McDonagh Cup safety.”
Down: S Keith, M Conlan, C Cassidy, D Mallon, T Murray (0-1), R McCrickard (0-1), C Taggart (0-1), D Hughes (0-1), L Savage (0-1), P Sheehan (0-5, 0-3 frees), P Óg McCrickard (0-3, 0-2 frees), E Sands (0-3), D Sands (1-2), F Turpin (0-1), T Prenter (2-2)
Sub: C Egan for P Og McCrickard, P Savage for Turpin, O MacManus (0-2, 1f) for E Sands, M Fisher (0-1) for Sheehan, B Trainor for Prenter
Meath: C Ennis, J Ennis, S Geraghty, D Shine, K Gorman, J Toher (0-1), J Kelly, S Ennis (0-2), N McLarnon (0-1), T Shine, S Quigley, S Martin (0-1), P O’Hanrahan (0-17, 0-15 frees, 0-1 65′), N Potterton (0-1), E Óg Ó Donnchadha (0-2)
Sub: A Kelly for Martin, J Walsh for T Shine, M Burke for J Ennis, L Leavy for McLarnon
Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim).