Derry and Meath played out a thrilling 2-12 apiece draw at blustery Owenbeg this afternoon.

The visitors seemed to have produced a vintage Meath finish when knocking over five unanswered points between the 60th and 69th minutes to lead by one, but Ryan Bell clipped over an injury-time free to rescue a draw for the hosts and leave Mick O'Dowd's men in the thick of a relegation quagmire with one round remaining.

The Royals led by 2-4 to 1-6 at the end of an exciting first half which saw the initiative swing first one way and then the other.

Despite top scorer Michael Newman's tenth-minute goal, the Oak Leaf County led by 0-6 to 1-2 after 20 minutes, with Mark Lynch and James Kielt their scorers in chief at that stage. A Newman free tied the scores up with eleven minutes left before the break and Sean Tobin converted another free a couple of minutes later to edge the Royals ahead.

However, in the 30th minute, Danny Heavron found the back of the net with a brilliant finish to propel the hosts into a two-point lead after Niall Loughlin's effort had rebounded off the crossbar. Amazingly, on 32 minutes, Meath hit back with their second major - Cillian O'Sullivan rather fortuitously on target to restore his side's lead, 2-4 to 1-4.

The hosts had the better of the third quarter, outscoring their opponents by 1-4 to 0-2 to assume a 2-10 to 2-6 advantage. Loughlin hit their second goal six minutes after the restart and Sammy Bradley, Benny Heron (2) and Kielt sent over four successive points, bookended almost inevitably by Newman frees.

When Heron found the target from another free on the hour, his side led by 2-11 to 2-7. But Meath are never a beaten docket and they reeled off five unanswered points to edge back ahead, with Andrew Tormey posting what looked like being the winner a minute from the end of normal time.

But Bell had the last say after a foul on Karl McKaigue.

Derry - T Mallon; O Duffy, C McKaigue, K McKaigue; G McKinless, B Rogers, D Heavron (1-0); C McAtamney, M Lynch (0-2, 1f); J Kielt (0-4, 2f), C Bradley (0-2), B Heron (0-3, 2f); S Heavron, E McGuckin, S L McGoldrick. Subs: N Loughlin (1-0) for S Heavron, R Bell (0-1) for N Loughlin (BC), C O'Boyle for E McGuckin, C Murphy for J Kielt, E Bradley for M Lynch.

Meath - C McHugh; D Keogan, C McGill, M Burke; S Lavin, C Finn, D Tobin; H Rooney, P Harnan; S Tobin (0-2, 1f), C O'Sullivan (1-0), J McEntee; D Lenihan, A Tormey (0-1), M Newman (1-6, 0-2f). Subs: D Smith for S Lavin, D McDonagh (0-3) for D Lenihan, C O'Brien for D Tobin, C Downey for S Tobin, A Douglas for C Finn.

Referee - S McLaughlin.

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