Meath and Laois cross swords tomorrow in the 3rd round of the O'Byrne Cup at Pairc Tailteann. A win for the Royals is vital if they are to have any chance of progressing to the semi finals. Its always a tough game when we play the O'Moore County. Flash back to the last time we met the 14th March 2015 in a very important NFL Division 2 clash.

Sub Eamon Wallace's late point earned Meath a NFL Division 2 draw with Laois at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday night.

Meath ...... 0-13
Laois ........ 0-13

A strong Laois second-half rally that yielded seven scores on the spin that looked to have yielded a second win of the week for Tomas O Faharta's men.

With Mickey Newman leading the way, Meath moved 0-11 to 0-4 clear after 39 minutes.

Laois rallied with seven points in succession to level matters by the 56th minute through sub Paul Kingston.

Meath regained the lead through Brian Meade, but Laois responded with a brace of pointed free from Ross Munnelly and Donal Kingston to lead by 0-13 to 0-12 with 65 minutes again.

With normal time just up team captain Donal Keogan placed sub Eamon Wallace for the levelling score..

Ballinabrackey's Nicky Judge was a late replacement for wing-back Davy Dalton. While Newman's opening score was countered by Brendan Quigley, Meath went on to boss the opening half.

Newman put seven points to his name (five frees) in the opening half when Meath were playing into the town end. Bryan Menton placed him for the opening score in the second minute.

Menton accounted for Meath's fifth point of the first-half while Stephen Bray's contribution left it 0-3 to 0-1 after 12 minutes.

A fine Donie Kingston effort left Laois just a point off the pace, 0-3 to 0-2, midway through the first half.

Meath outscored Laois by 0-6 to 0-2 in the second quarter. Earlier Newman was just wide with a goal atttempt.

Laois had two goal chances in the second quarter. Meath 'keeper Paddy O'Rourke and team captain Donal Keogan combined to keep out John O'Loughlin's 32nd minute attempt.

Moments later O'Rourke smothered a Niall Donoher goal effort and the home side went on to lead by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break after Newman landed his seventh score of the half

In posting two scores within two minutes of the resumption, Meath weren't setting a trend for the half and went 25 minutes without scoring. With the game slipping away from them in the latter stages did well to salvage something from this fixture.

Scorers: Meath - Michael Newman 0-8 (6fs); Bryan Menton 0-2; Stephen Bray, Graham Reilly. Eamon Wallace 0-1.

Laois - Donal Kingston 0-5 (3fs); John O'Loughlin, Paul Kingston 0-2 each; Brendan Quigley, Conor Boyle; Darren Strong (45), Paul Kingston 0-1 each.

Meath - Paddy O'Rourke; Donnacha Tobin, Conor McGill, Mickey Burke; Nicky Judge, Donal Keogan, Brian Power; Bryan Menton, Adam Flanagan; Graham Reilly, Padraic Harnan, Andrew Tormey; Mark O'Sullivan, Stephen Bray, Mickey Newman. Subs - Damien Carroll for Harnan (59), Eamon Wallace (0-1) for O'Sullivan (60), Joey Wallace for Tormey (63), Sean Tobin for Menton (65), Simon Carty for Judge (70).

Laois - Graham Brody; Paul Begley, Mark Timmons, Gearoid Hanrahan; Darren Strong (0-1 45), Robbie Kehoe, Colm Begley; Brendan Quigley (0-1), John O'Loughlin (0-2; Niall Donoher, Conor Boyle (0-1), Gareth Dillon; Ross Munnelly (0-1f), Donal Kingston (0-5 3fs), Evan O'Carroll.Subs - Damien O'Connor for Hanrahan (10), Paul Kingston (0-2) for Dillon (26), Tom Shiel for O'Carroll (46).

Referee - Martin McNally (Monaghan)

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