Trim 3- 12 Meath Hill 0-08

A bright but cool, first day of Spring, welcomed Meath Hill to Trim for an early season game on which nothing much depended, however still carried interest given that these 2 clubs are scheduled to meet in the first round of the championship in a few weeks. For Trim’s new management team, all these early games are important to establish new systems and introduce new blood in advance of the real heat of battle.

With a strong wind at their back the home team, from the throw in, secured possession and clinically passed the ball across the half forward line and into the waiting Eoin O Connor who rifled the ball low and hard to the Meath Hill net…….less than 2 minutes on the clock….game on. By the 5th minute O Connor had added another 2 well-taken points and Trim were already settling nicely while Meath Hill were still trying to find first gear. But eventually, the visitors did get hands on ball to launch an attack that was thwarted by Conor McGinley supported by good work from Ian Birmingham. Eventually on the 8th minute Meath Hill found space and converted a well taken point from a very awkward angle. In a situation playing out right across the country, both teams, officials and spectators were at times struggling with some of the new rules and this was best demonstrated when, in the 10th minute, Meath Hill goalkeeper and defender were unsure as to whether they could handle the ball – the resultant free was duly converted by Tom Carmody!

Working very hard, Harry Purcell made several strong attacks forward, while Sean Fitzgerald and Tadhg Carty dominated the middle of the field and refused to give room to Meath Hill to settle One of the encouraging rulechanges has been the introduction of the 2-pointer and this long range shooting skill was wonderfully demonstrated in the 13th minute when Trim’s Patrick Quigley fired over the bar from out on the left wing to put Trim up by an early lead of 7 points.

With a very solid defence of Quigleys, McGinley, Walsh and the elder statesman Gerry Dwane, Meath Hill were finding it difficult to gain any ground. By the 24th minute Carmody had added another 2 points to his tally while, a minute later, a brilliantly taken ballby Patrick Quigley released Sean Foley for another point. Minutes later, a jinking Conor Quigley, twisted left and then right before firing Trim’s 2nd goal low to the corner of the net. Despite a well taken Meath Hill point that was cancelled out on the 30th minute by another O Connor point, the teams went in at half time with few expecting to see anything other an eventual Trim victory.

Half time: Trim 2-09 Meath Hill 0-02

An early point by Meath Hill at the restart was quickly cancelled by another O Connor point. On the 7th minute,the most controversial moment of the game arose when a red card was shown to Conor Quigley for a tackle that was adjudged illegal despite the fact that the player seemed to slip. To be fair to the referee who had a good game enforcing multiple new rules, he seemed to be mainly unsighted and therefore guided by his umpire on the line – one would hope that a little bit of calm reflection might see the penalty lessened. It was also apparent that Meath Hill officials did not appear to react to any evident malice.

But sometimes the best way to respond to such incidents is to up the tempo further, which Trim duly did by delivering a high dropping ball into the Meath Hill goal mouth where Padraig Walsh soared highest to touch the ball over the oncoming goalkeeper’s fingers.

With the game effectively over, Trim continued to work hard with Dwane driving out repeatedly from defence and Fitzgerald delivering a great pass to Sean Foley who did an elegant swivel to pop the ball over the bar. A further free from Carmody in the 22nd minute, finished out the Trim scoring. With Trim rolling on substitutions, Meath Hill, to their credit, added 4 final points to put a more respectable shape on the scoreboard.

The game on Saturday afternoon is a far cry from what can be expected in the first round of the championship when the Meath Hill team sheet could look very different. But this was a useful run out for the Reds who are trying to establish a new pattern of play under new manager Ken Robinson.

Trim: E O Reilly; C McGinley;P Walsh (1:00); D Dowling;C Quigley (1:00); P Quigley (0:02); G Dwane; T Carty; S Fitzgerald; E O Connor (1:03); I Birmingham; T Carmody (0:05); H Purcell; S Foley (0:02)

Subs: D Lernihan for H Purcell; C McKeon for E O Connor; E Collins for I Birmingham; M Molloy for D Dowling; C Downes for P Walsh: M Dempsey for S Foley

Tweet

Most Read Stories