Second-half goals see Royals overcome Rebels while Clare deny Louth late on
January 29, 2023
Cork's Mattie Taylor and Cillian O'Sullivan of Meath ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Meath came up with the goods in the second-half to power past Cork and pick up their first win in Division 2 of the Allianz Football League on opening weekend.
It finished 3-14 to 0-19 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, where Colm O’Rourke’s men scored 2-8 into the breeze in the second-half to ensure that the points were coming home with them.
It was Cork that had dominated large portions of the opening half, with ace attacker registering eight points for them as they took in a 0-11 to 1-6 lead come the interval.
Shane Walsh (1-7) had netted the Royals’ first goal six minute in but they wouldn’t kick on with the wind at their backs over the next half-hour.
However, a huge boost would come the visitors’ way on 52 minutes when Jordan Morris fired to the Leesiders’ net and points from Diarmuid Moriarity and Walsh followed before Cillian O’Sullivan raced through to fire in a third goal that wrapped up Meath’s victory.
Morris goal edges Meath ahead of Cork on ‘51
— Tommy Rooney (@TomasORuanaidh) January 29, 2023
This though was the first NFL score of the Colm O’Rourke era - great to see Shane Walsh get it, super footballer who broke on the scene in 2019 during Super 8s - bundles of talent, as illustrated by this finish https://t.co/5yqEBbtC9P pic.twitter.com/o5512mLjXT
In Ennis, Clare kicked four points in injury-time to snatch a 0-13 to 1-9 win over Louth to get their Division 2 campaign off to a winning start.
After leading by 0-6 to 0-3 at the halfway stage, the visitors looked to have held off a comeback from the Banner that saw Jamie Malone giving the latter the lead (0-9 to 0-8) on the hour mark.
Mickey Harte’s men responded with a Shane Matthews goal two minutes later that had the points within their grasp.
Scores from Emmet McMahon and Gavin Cooney levelled things up however, and more points would follow from Cian O’Dea an Malone to give Clare the victory.
TweetClare score the last 4 points in a 5 minute injury-time period to get the victory over Mickey Harte's men 👏👌
— Whats The Scór (@WhatstheScor) January 29, 2023
Allianz Football league Division 2 FT;
Clare 0-13
Louth 1-9#Gaa #ClareGaa #LouthGaa #allianzleagues pic.twitter.com/H2Jbkcdash
