O'Byrne Cup Meath 1-8 Louth 0-11:There was late drama in the refixed O'Byrne Cup match in Navan last night, with substitute Jim McEneaney earning Louth a deserved draw after a Paddy Gilsenan goal appeared to give Meath victory.
After dense fog caused a postponement the previous day, there were no weather problems as the home side came close to reversing the result of the previous clash between the sides at the venue last April when Louth sent the Royals tumbling to Division Three.
Since then both counties have changed managers and both Mick O’Dowd and Aidan O’Rourke continued in experimental mode with wholesale changes from the formats which proved successful against Longford and UCD respectively four days earlier.
After Joe Sheridan gave Meath the lead after five minutes, the home side only registered once more in the first half as Louth took control to build up a 0-8 to 0-2 interval advantage. With the returning duo of Shane Lennon (play and free) and Paddy Keenan sharing three points, Louth were 0-6 to 0-1 to the good after 20 minutes. Damien Carroll fisted the home side’s second score but Eoin O’Connor and Brian White got the visitors back in scoring rhythm.
Louth faded out in the second half and it took them 24 minutes to scores with Lennon slotting over a free. The visitors looked destined for another win when Neil Gallagher saved a Damien Carroll penalty, awarded for a foul on Joe Sheridan after 69 minutes.
Meath responded with Paddy Gilsenan firing to the net to leave them leading for the first time since the early stages. However, there was still time for McEnaney to keep Louth in contention for a semi-final place.
