Grave moments of immaturity by two of Meath's most experienced players, Paddy Reynolds and Graham Geraghty, had a crucial bearing on the outcome of a tetchy clash of keen rivals at Ballina yesterday. That Sean Boylan was obliged to cobble together a team lacking a number of key players was bad enough, but for half back Reynolds and attacker Geraghty to commit the unforgivable was downright careless.
Reynolds got himself sent off within two minutes of the restart for decking Mayo midfielder David Brady with an elbow blow just when he was going to be awarded the free anyway. Before the second half was 15 minutes old, and with Meath trailing by four points, Geraghty sent a toothless penalty virtually into the hands of Mayo goalkeeper Peter Burke, who couldn't believe his luck.
Had one of a number of fledglings in the Meath team performed in this way there might have been some excuse on the grounds of naivety. Both incidents helped to wave Mayo through to the semi-finals.
Boylan agreed these incidents had a profound bearing on the outcome, but felt that the general performance on his team was poor. "We dropped too many balls. They had far more of the ball than us and took their chances well.
"Let's face it," he added, "a tally of 18 points is a massive score at this time of year. It's a backs-to-the-wall league situation for us from this point."
Trevor Giles, playing in his first intercounty match since the championship last June due to a back injury, and Darren Fay were a most unusual midfield partnership for Meath. Up front Geraghty often proved a handful for Mayo full back Kevin Cahill and scored four points, three from play. But Mayo always looked likely to remain at the top of the league table, with clever scheming in attack, largely inspired by this season's new boys - James Gill, Trevor Mortimer Ronan Loftus and Marty McNicholas.
Mayo midfielders David Brady and Colm McManamon had their best moments during the first half. Giles and Fay played themselves into the game and contributed effectively to their team remaining in serious contention up to the last few minutes, during which Mayo delighted their followers with a grandstand finish. Meath's failure to score for an 18-minute spell in the first half led to their 0-7 to 0-11 half-time deficit. However, they were only two points adrift with five minutes remaining before Mayo turned on the style with four classy points, one from a 45 by McNicholas.
Gill, a former minor and under-19 rugby international, unerringly picked off his fourth point and Mortimer added two more to the utter dismay of the Meath camp.
Mayo manager Pat Holmes empathised with the Meath men. "They put in so much hard work to stay with us after losing a player that the effort took its toll on them in the closing minutes."
Giles said: "It was hard on us losing a player but they (Mayo) played really well."
Holmes was not quite so impressed. "We have reached the semi-finals, which was our aim from the start, but we are far from being the finished article," he said.
Apart from sending Reynolds off for an early shower, Armagh referee Jimmy McKee booked five players for mean tackles and, in addition to the brawl that followed the Reynolds incident, a further scrap erupted midway through the second half.
Alan Roche, the Mayo centre back, had a fine game even before he was afforded the role of loose man. Ray Connelly and Aidan Higgins also proved to be key figures in Mayo's corner back positions. With the Mayo rearguard reacting with notable sharpness, Meath's attacking strengths were largely diluted.
However, the penalty chance, awarded after Geraghty was held down by Peter Burke following a defence-splitting pass by second-half substitute Ollie Murphy, had the potential of turning the game.
MAYO: P Burke; R Connelly, K Cahill, A Higgins; F Costelloe, A Roche, G Ruane; C McManamon, D Brady (0-1); J Gill (0-4, three frees), D McDonagh, T Mortimer (0-4); M McNicholas (0- 4), R Loftus (0-4, three frees), S Carolan (0-1).
MEATH: C O'Sullivan; M O'Reilly, H Traynor, P Shankey; P Reynolds, A Moyles, N Nestor; D Fay, T Giles; E Kelly, R Kealy (0-5, two frees), D Curtis; R Magee (0-2), G Geraghty (0-4, one free), J Callinane. Subs: O Murphy (0-1) for Magee (halftime); C Murphy for Kelly (half-time); N McKeigue for Moyles (60 mins); E Kelly for Curtis (63 mins); C McCarthy for Cullinane (66 mins).
Referee: J McKee (Armagh).
