Meath and Cork closed in on promotion to Division One with victories over Tyrone and Kildare respectively.

With a round of games left to play, the Royals and the Rebels remain in control of their own destinies, albeit with nothing yet confirmed. Cork are away to Tyrone in Round Seven in a fortnight, while Meath travel to Offaly...

Meath moved tantalising close to promotion when resisting a second-half Tyrone fightback to triumph by 3-24 to 2-22 at Croke Park.

While the win doesn’t guarantee them promotion just yet, the Royals are in a very strong position now, sharing top spot with Cork, both of whom are two ahead of Louth and Derry.

Jack O’Connor landed four two-pointers and a goal in the first half, while Aaron Lynch also netted as Robbie Brennan’s charges led by 2-12 to 1-11 at the break. It could have been even better for Meath had not Lynch’s late soccer-style goal been fired to the net just after the half-time hooter sounded.

Lynch’s first major gave the Royals a perfect start but the O’Neill County moved 0-5 to 1-0 ahead, with Ethan Jordan nailing three 45s and Meath 'keeper Sean Brennan pulling off a couple of brilliant saves. Jordan then sent a rocket to the top corner to give his side a five-point cushion but Ciaran Caulfield and O’Connor soon had the victors back on terms, 1-7 each.

In a rip-roaring contest, Ruairi Kinsella and Eoghan Frayne pushed Meath two in front before Lynch cancelled out Mattie Donnelly’s score. After Ronan Cassidy brought it back to a one-point game, O’Connor bagged his fourth two-pointer followed swiftly by his goal, Darren McCurry’s late brace ensuring that the margin was only four at the interval.

Frayne whipped over a pair of two-pointers inside the first five minutes of the second half and Lynch rolled home Meath’s third goal to make it an eight-point game 3-15 to 1-13. Kinsella also helped himself to a brace of two-pointers as the gap stretched to twelve, before Jordan replied with one at the other end and a Niall Devlin goal at the three-quarters juncture reignited Red Hands hopes – 3-19 to 2-17.

McCurry and substitute Darragh Canavan continued the revival as Tyrone registered 1-7 without reply, Sean Coffey and Bryan Menton pointing to steady the Meath ship … four in it with eight minutes to go. Sean O’Kane made a point-blank save to deny Jordan Morris and Tyrone were dealt a blow when McCurry picked up a late black card… but the tension mounted as the gap was halved by a Jordan two-pointer on 66 minutes!

But late pointed frees from Morris and Brennan (two-pointer) ensured that Meath claimed their fifth win of the campaign.

At Pairc Ui Rinn, Cork cruised to a 1-31 to 2-19 victory over Kildare, winning by nine points in the end having led by double that shortly after the interval.

The Rebels delivered a scintillating first-half display to lead by a whopping 16 points at the midway stage, 1-22 to 1-6.

The electric home side fired over no fewer than EIGHT two-pointers before the break – Stephen Sherlock with three, Chris Og Jones nailing a couple and Mark Cronin, Luke Fahy and Dara Sheedy also splitting the posts from outside the arc.

Og Jones registered the winners’ goal in the 28th minute, making it 1-17 to 1-3, substitute Brendan Gibbons having hit the first Kildare goal three minutes earlier. The Lilywhites refused to give up and Jack Robinson’s major had them back within eleven points on 55 minutes, the Leesiders having slotted three of the first second-half scores to lead by an insurmountable 18.

To their credit, Kildare kept going right to the end and took some great scores, forcing substitute home custodian Micheál Aodh Martin into a flurry of saves, but all of this with the game long over as a meaningful contest.

Louth had earlier thrown the promotion race wide open with a stunning 1-19 to 0-18 defeat of Derry in Ardee.

Gavin Devlin’s men produced a defiant second-half display into the wind to draw level with their opponents on the Division Two table with one game remaining.

With the backing of a strong Deeside breeze in the first half, the Wee County built up a 1-8 to 0-4 half-time lead. But, having held possession for long periods and restricted their opponents to just six executed scores, the 2024 league winners would arguably have been happiest going in at the break…

Derry would outscore the Leinster champions by 14 points to 11 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough…

Winning captain Sam Mulroy tucked away a twelfth-minute penalty for the only goal of the game to add to Dara McDonnell’s opening two-pointer and the hosts led by seven after McDonnell pointed and Paul Matthews thumped over a two-pointer from miles out. Conor Glass had opened the Oak Leaf account and two further points from Niall Loughlin kept them in touch.

It was a six-point affair on 30 minutes when Conall McKeever opted to take his point, 1-6 to 0-3, Mulroy quickly extending the advantage with an exquisite two-pointer off the outside of the right peg. Brendan Rogers had the final say of the half as Derry turned around just seven adrift. Both sides happy and everything still to play for…

Loughlin and Mulroy traded singles when the action resumed, the former’s two-point free reducing the arrears to four while a Niall McDonnell save from the same player buoyed the hosts before substitute Tadhg McDonnell and Kieran McArdle made it 1-11 to 0-8

Incredibly, McDonnell whacked over a two-pointer off the outside of the foot into the wind as Louth’s seven-point lead remained intact passing the 58-minute mark, 1-14 to 0-10. Shane McGuigan’s missed penalty summed up Derry’s day as immovable Louth, who cut them open time and time again in the second half but were happy to take their points, won convincingly.

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