Meath 1-12
Tyrone 1-10

by Daire Walsh

Meadhbh Byrne helped herself to a haul of 1-2 at O’Neill’s Healy Park in Omagh on Saturday as Meath edged out Tyrone to secure their spot at the quarter-final stage of the TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship for the sixth year in succession.

Both teams came into this Group 4 contest on the back of comprehensive defeats to Galway, but it was Tyrone who broke the deadlock in a tentative opening when Slaine McCarroll split the posts with just under five minutes gone. The Red Hand restored their one-point lead when a Niamh O’Neill free cancelled out a similar effort by Emma Duggan at the opposite end, but Meath hit the front for the first time when Byrne and team captain Niamh Gallogly knocked over quick fire scores.

Yet Tyrone’s inside forwards O’Neill and Sorcha Gormley found the target either side of a well-worked Ciara Smyth point for the Royals, before Meath wing-back Katie Bermingham and Chloe McCaffrey traded scores in what was now turning into a lively encounter.

However, it was Meath who pushed on in the closing stages of the first half with Byrne, Bermingham, Orla Finnegan and Gallogly all raising white flags in contrast to McCaffrey’s single effort for Tyrone.

This provided the Royals with a 0-9 to 0-6 interval cushion, but this buffer was reduced to the bare minimum when dead-ball specialist O’Neill registered a superb two-point free on 38 minutes.

While this left the tie delicately poised, Meath reinforced their authority when Byrne fired into the bottom left-hand corner of the net after she was picked out by raiding defender Amy Gaffney in the 40th minute.

Even though Caitlin Campbell was on hand to bag a Tyrone point, Finnegan and Duggan later found the range to leave Meath five in front moving into the closing quarter. Swapped efforts between O’Neill and industrious Royal forward Lauren Woods meant this lead remained intact with the final whistle fast approaching, but Tyrone offered themselves a lifeline when substitute Maeve Maxwell slotted home a penalty on 58 minutes.

This was as close as Darren McCann’s charges came to pulling off a major victory and whereas Meath can now embark on the knockout rounds of the Brendan Martin Cup, 2025 TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football champions Tyrone will now enter into the relegation play-offs.

Scorers – Meath: M Byrne 1-2, E Duggan 0-2 (1f), K Bermingham, N Gallogly, O Finnegan 0-2 each, L Woods, C Smyth 0-1 each.

Tyrone: N O’Neill 0-5 (1 2ptf, 3f), M Maxwell 1-0 (pen), C McCaffrey 0-2 (1f), C Campbell, S McCarroll, S Gormley 0-1 each.

MEATH: R Murray; A Farrell, Á Sheridan, A Gaffney; O Sheehy, O Gore, K Bermingham; S Murphy, N Gallogly; L Woods, E Duggan, M Thynne; M Byrne, C Smyth, O Finnegan. Subs: Ó Smith for Byrne (47), R Casserly for Finnegan (48), K Kealy for Farrell, C Lawlor for Gore (both 52), A Sherlock for Duggan (57).

TYRONE: L Kane; E Quinn, G McKenna, J Hearty; C Canavan, M Corrigan, C Campbell; M Mallon, A McHugh; E McCanny, C McCaffrey, S McCarroll; N O’Neill, C McNamee, S Gormley. Subs: KR Muldoon for McCanny (47), M Maxwell for McNamee, J Barrett for Hearty (both 52), E McCrossan for Gormley (55), E Conroy for Canavan (58).

 

Referee: Philip Conway (Armagh).

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