Cavan - 1-16 Meath - 0-7:While Cavan were pre-match favourites for this clash of neighbours at Breffni Park yesterday, the winning margin may have been surprising but was thoroughly deserved such was the emphatic grip they held throughout the 70 minutes.
A crowd of over 6,000 came in anticipation of a typical local derby. But Cavan exuded supreme confidence which was sky high after their win over Kildare and was maintained with the same vigour and skill.
It was a case of former Meath star and now Cavan coach Mattie Kerrigan teaching the more experienced and successful Seán Boylan a lesson in fitness, skill and spirit.
The key to Cavan's success was once again their attack where, thanks to the support from midfield of Dermot McCabe and Pierce McKenna, the speedy Jason Reilly, Mickey Graham and Larry Reilly had the Meath defence in trouble from the throw-in.
By half-time, Cavan were leading 0-9 to 0-3, with Gerald Pierson, Larry Reilly, Jason Reilly, Mickey Graham and defender Anthony Forde all finding the target.
Daithi Regan, from frees, and Evan Kelly contributed to Meath's first-half total. At this stage the Royal County badly needed the leadership of someone like Trevor Giles, who has just returned from a spell in New Zealand and whose presence in the team in coming weeks will be welcomed.
Boylan rang the changes for the second half and Meath raised the tempo, scoring two points from Regan frees to reduce the lead to four points after six minutes.
But that was as close as Meath came to upsetting Cavan's momentum as the home side, full of running, applied the pressure and in 19 minutes scored 1-5, which included four McCabe frees and a goal in the 47th minute from Mickey Graham.
A measure of Meath's struggle to make an impact was that they managed only four points in the second half, three from frees. Their miserable afternoon was complete when centre-half back Mark O'Reilly was sent off 10 minutes from the end.
An understated Kerrigan expressed his delight with Cavan's victory with his opening comment: "We were pleased to win."
The former Meath player added: "Any day you meet Meath you will always be involved in a keen contest. Seán Boylan may be short a number of key players at the present time and the team have also been involved in heavy training in preparation for the championship and this was apparent today. But any day you beat Meath it is a good result.
"We were pleased with our performance, especially with the manner in which we created scoring opportunities, most of which we converted, and I was happy with this aspect of our game."
Boylan was forthright in his comments. "We got a football lesson from Cavan. They played some lovely football and were much fitter, stronger and more committed."
CAVAN: A Donohoe; C Collins, T Prior, J Jordan; A Forde (0-1), P Reilly, M McKeever (0-2); D McCabe (0-7), P McKenna; P Brady, L Reilly (0-1), J Clarke (0-2); J Reilly (0-1), M Graham (1-1), G Pierson (0-1). Subs: K Fannin for J Clarke, P Galligan for L Reilly, S Maguire for M Graham.
MEATH: C Sullivan; C Reynolds, D Fay, N McKeigue; T O'Connor, M O'Reilly, H Traynor; N Crawford, C McCarthy; E Kelly (0-1), A Kenny, J Cullinane; D Regan (0-6), S McKeigue, O Murphy. Subs: P Reynolds for H Traynor, D Curtis for A Kenny, D Gallagher for C McCarthy, J Sheridan for J Cullinane.
Referee: G Kinneavy (Roscommon).
