Galway 2-21
Meath 1-9

By Daire Walsh

The attacking triumvirate of Olivia Divilly, Leanne Coen and Róisín Leonard were all in fine form at Bective GFC on Sunday afternoon as Galway produced a strong second half performance to convincingly overcome Meath in Group 4 of the TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship.

Playing with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half, Meath initially created daylight in this contest when skipper Niamh Gallogly supplemented her breakthrough score in the third minute with a two-pointer moments later.

While visitors Galway got up and running with successive points courtesy of Coen and Divilly, the Royals showed their intent when Orla Finnegan fired home from close-range for an 11th minute goal.

The Tribeswomen responded to this set-back with three white flag efforts without reply from Divilly, the raiding Nicola Ward and Leonard, but Meath eventually added to their account with a well-worked score from Casserly on 19 points.

Ciara Smyth and Emma Duggan (free) also split the posts in response to contributions from Divilly and Leonard at the far end, but Galway finished the opening period strongly with Coen and Divilly both enhancing their personal tallies.

This meant Daniel Moynihan’s charges were back on level terms during the interval (1-6 to 0-9) and even though Meath kick-started the second half with quickfire points from Smyth and substitute Meadhbh Byrne, the Connacht champions subsequently turned on the style.

After Slevin had a 34th minute shot superbly tipped over the bar by Meath custodian Robyn Murray, Galway rattled the net twice in quick succession through the boots of Eva Noone and Leonard.

This suddenly left the westerners five points to the good and as the action progressed, they continued to attack in waves. Having previously joined Kate Thompson, Coen and Divilly in kicking consecutive scores, Leonard also converted a ‘45’ via the fingertips of Murray to earn herself an extra two points.

Wing-back Hannah Noone later added her name to the scoresheet with a fine point and while Meath finally disrupted Galway’s scoring flow with a successful Duggan free in the 58th minute, the Tribes rounded out the action with four additional points – including three for the outstanding Coen.

Next up for both teams in this group is a showdown with TG4 Ulster senior football championship finalists Tyrone with Galway hosting the Red Hand next weekend.

Scorers – Galway: R Leonard 1-5 (‘45’), O Divilly 0-6 (3f), L Coen 0-6, E Noone 1-0, H Noone, N Ward, K Slevin, K Thompson 0-1 each. Meath: N Gallogly 0-3 (1 2pt), O Finnegan 1-0, E Duggan 0-2 (2f), C Smyth 0-2, R Casserly, M Byrne 0-1 each.

GALWAY: L O’Halloran; B Quinn, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty; H Noone, N Ward, E Power; N Divilly, S Divilly; O Divilly, K Slevin, K Thompson; E Noone, L Coen, R Leonard. Subs: R Quinn for B Quinn (51), L Noone for Thompson, S Healy for Ní Loingsigh (both 54), S McGovern for Leonard, A O’Rourke for Slevin (both 56).

MEATH: R Murray; A Farrell, Á Sheridan, A Gaffney; O Sheehy, O Gore, Ó Smith; S Murphy, N Gallogly; L Woods, E Duggan, M Thynne; C Smyth, O Finnegan, R Casserly. Subs: M Byrne for Finnegan, K Bermingham for Smith (both h-t), O Mallon for Casserly (42), C Lawlor for Murphy, A Reilly for Thynne (both 50).

Referee: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan).

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