Derry 1-20

Meath 1-24

JAMES CONLON KICKED 0-7 as Meath kept their championship summer alive and ended Derry’s in Saturday’s Round 2B showdown in Celtic Park.

After being pegged back by a resurgent Cork in the last round, Meath were eager to recover but faced a tough trip against a Derry team that lost to Armagh in their last game.

The teams were level at 1-9 apiece at half-time. Meath found the net early through their brilliant defender Donal Keogan, yet Derry bounced back with James Sargent bagging an excellent goal.

The opening period ended in drama with referee Sean Hurson producing black cards for Derry’s Conor Doherty and Gareth McKinless, and Meath duo Ronan Ryan and Cian McBride, as both teams began the second half with 13 players each.

A Brendan Rogers two-pointer left Derry 1-14 to 1-13 adrift during the third quarter but Meath then made a decisive burst to stretch clear.

Conlon was outstanding as he finished with seven points, while Keogan hit 1-2, and Jack Flynn and Brian Menton scored 0-3 apiece. Killian Smyth’s late point sealed success for Meath to put them into the Round 3 draw on Monday.

Derry bow out of the championship after a day when Shane McGuigan, Eoin McEvoy and Lachlan Murray all hit 0-4 each, and James Sargent scored 1-2.

Scorers for Meath: James Conlon 0-7, Donal Keogan 1-2, Bryan Menton 0-3 (1 2pt play), Jack Flynn 0-3 (1 2pt play), Sean Brennan 0-2 (0-2 frees), Mathew Costello 0-2, Jordan Morris 0-2, Eoghan Frayne 0-1 (0-1f), Jack O’Connor 0-1, Killian Smyth 0-1.

Scorers for Derry: James Sargent 1-2 (0-1 ’45), Lachlan Murray 0-4 (1 2pt play), Shane McGuigan 0-4 (0-2 frees), Eoin McEvoy 0-4, Ruairi Forbes 0-2, Brendan Rogers 0-2 (1 2pt play), Conall Higgins 0-1, Gareth McKinless 0-1.

Meath

Sean Brennan 

Seamus Lavin, Sean Rafferty, Ronan Ryan

Donal Keogan, Bryan Menton, Sean Coffey

Cian McBride, Jack Flynn

Jack O’Connor, Mathew Costello, Ciaran Caulfield

Jordan Morris, James Conlon, Eoghan Frayne

Subs

• Killian Smyth for R Ryan (47)
• Charlie O’Connor for B Menton (56)
• Cathal Hickey for J O’Connor (62)
• Keith Curtis for J Conlon (66)

Derry

Shea McGuckin

Padraig McGrogan, Brendan Rogers, Conor McCluskey

Conor Doherty, Gareth McKinless, Eoin McEvoy 

Conor Glass, Dan Higgins

Ethan Doherty, James Sargent, Ruairi Forbes 

Paul Cassidy, Shane McGuigan, Lachlan Murray

Subs

• Diarmuid Baker for C Glass (half-time)
• Niall Loughlin for P Cassidy (half-time)
• Niall O’Donnell for D Higgins (55)
• Sean Young for Forbes (57)
• Conall Higgins (0-01) for D Baker (61)

Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)

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