Meath 0-18
Wexford 0-13
MEATH HAVE BOOKED their place in a second successive Leinster SFC final after defeating Wexford at Croke Park.
Mickey Newman kicked half of the Royal County’s 18 points from free-kicks as they came from behind in the second half to seal victory.
In team news, Mick O’Dowd made two changes with Padraic Harnan and Seamus Kenny coming in for Mickey Burke and Ciaran Lenehan.
The Model County, meanwhile, brought in Rob Tierney and Shane Roche in place of Lee Chin and James Holmes.
And it was Wexford who got out of the blocks first through Ciaran Lyng, who scored their first two points. Newman got one down the other end but Wexford edged in front thanks to scores from Ben Brosnan, Adrian Flynn, PJ Banville and Brian Malone. Meath were able to stay in touch, however, and trailed by a single point at half-time.
After the interval, Newman’s dead ball ability propelled Meath into the lead as Wexford were left to rue a number of wides.
The corner forward, who only made his senior championship debut against Wicklow earlier this month, was excellent from set-pieces and ensured they will meet either Dublin or Kildare in the Leinster final.
Scorers for Meath: Mickey Newman 0-9 (0-9f), Graham Reilly 0-4, Stephen Bray, Peadar Byrne 0-2 each, Eamonn Wallace.
Scorers for Wexford: Ciaran Lyng 0-5 (0-3f), Ben Brosnan 0-3 (0-2f), Brian Malone 0-2, PJ Banville, Redmond Barry, Adrian Flynn 0-1 each.
MEATH: Paddy O’Rourke; Donal Keoghan, Kevin Reilly (Capt.),Bryan Menton, Padraic Harman, Caoimhin King, Seamus Kenny; Brian Meade, Conor Gillespie, Peadar Byrne , Damien Carroll , Graham Reilly; Eamonn Wallace, Stephen Bray, Michael Newman.Subs for Meath: Joe Sheridan for Wallace, Andrew Tormey for Meade, Ciaran Lenehan for King, Bryan McMahon for Graham Reilly.
WEXFORD: Anthony Masterson; Michael Furlong, Graeme Molloy, Rob Tierney; Brian Malone, David Murphy, Adrian Flynn; Daithi Waters, Rory Quinlivan; Shane Roche, Ben Brosnan, Aindreas Doyle; Ciaran Lyng, Redmond Barry, PJ Banville.
Subs for Wexford: Paddy Byrne for Roche, James Holmes for Doyle, Kevin Gore for Banville, Kevin O’Grady for Brosnan.
