Meath 11-24   Fermanagh 2-6

Meath Ladies still smarting from their Leinster quarter final defeat to Wicklow arrived in Clones for the TG4 All Ireland Intermediate Championship - Round 1 game with a point to prove and prove it they did. Many speculated that the Meath scoring machine of the early rounds of the league had been silenced! But in true Meath form the girls upped the ante and went on to amass a huge score. To be fair the girls never let their guard down and fought tooth and nail till the very end.

Meath were first out of the blocks with Aoibheann Leahy splitting the posts for the first score of the game. Fermanagh not to be outdone won the kickout and went on to score the first goal of the game courtesy of Joanne Doonan who sent the ball into the back of the net. It looked then that this was going to be a close enough contest.

Meath after several misses eventually found their scoring boots and Niamh O'Sullivan coolly slotted the ball passed the Fermanagh keeper for the first of many Meath goals. Meath settled very quickly after that and went on what can only be described as a ''scoring fest''. Goals and points rained in and Fermanagh were finding the going tough. Within thirteen minutes of the start Meath had 1 - 04 to 1 - 01 on the score board. The next 15 minutes saw Meath Ladies lay siege to the Fermanagh goal and they racked up 5 goals (Marion Farrelly x 2 - Vikki Wall, Emma White and Stacey Grimes 1 apiece) and 8 points to no score. Fermanagh managed a point just before the break.

The second half saw much of the same with the Ernesiders opening the scoring. But once again the girls from the Royal County had managed to score another three goals by the 8th minute of the restart. When Niamh O'Sullivan was fouled in the square Stacey Grimes had no hesitation in putting the ball in the back of the net from the resultant penalty. The white flag man was busy again as point after point flew over the black spot. Indeed the man with the green flag didn't have much of a rest either. Fermanagh were finding scores hard to come by but managed to pop over a couple in the meantime. With time rapidly running out for Fermanagh and the game all but over Lisa Maguire managed to tag on a goal at the end.

All in all a very satisfying win for the girls but a much tougher test will come next Saturday in the form of Roscommon. The Rossies have already beaten Meath early on in the league and will not be daunted by the scoreline of todays game. The game is in Kinnegad on Saturday July 21st  and throws in at 1.30pm

Meath: Monica McGuirk, Katie Bellew, Orlagh Lally (0-02), Dee Blaney, Aoibhin Cleary (1-02), Shauna Ennis, Megan Thynne (0-01), Maire O'Shaughnessy (0-02), Kate Byrne, Aoibheann Leahy (0-02), Niamh O'Sullivan (2-02), Stacey Grimes (2-02 (2F 1P), Marion Farrelly (3-03 (1F)), Vikki Wall (1-02), Emma White (1-02). Subs: Fiona O'Neill (0-01) for Vikki Wall, Niamh Gallogly (0-01) for Shauna Ennis, Siofra Cleary for Megan Thynne, Orla Byrne for Kate Byrne and Laura Dempsey (1 - 02) for Niamh O'Sullivan.

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