The bench proved crucial as Meath staged a strong final quarter rally to overcome a dogged Westmeath by the minimum in this NFL Division 2 north opener at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday

Meath ............. 0-16
Westmeath ..... 0-15

Andy McEntee's men outscored Westmeath by 0-7 to 0-2 from the 50th minute with four subs contributing. Overall, the Meath bench had a big bearing on the outcome. Westmeath were found wanting in this regard.

The improving weather conditions helped Meath find their scoring range.

Westmeath were greatly hindered by the temporary absence of midfielder Sam Duncan following his black card in the 50th minute. Jack Cooney's were clinging to a slender lead when he returned.

Goalkeeper Andy Colgan's 68th minute free levelled matters for the sixth andfinal time, 0-14-each.  Points from Ratoath subs Bryan McMahon and Eamon Wallace earned Meath the lead they took to the finish.

Playing into the town end, Westmeath made better progress in the early stages despite falling behind briefly to an excellent Cillian O'Sullivan point that left it 0-2 to 0-1 to the home side after four minutes.

Two Luke Loughlin 45s kept Westmeath on terms before they enjoyed a profitable spell that saw them go 0-4 to 0-2 clear with eight minutes gone.

Bryan Menton and Ronan Ryan created the opening for Matthew Costello to cut the gap to the minimum in the ninth minute.

The quality football continued over the remainder of the opening quarter. Ger Egan moved Westmeath two clear again but Meath closed the opening quarter with points from O'Sullivan (forward mark) and wing-back Eoin Harkin to leave the sides tied for the third time at 0-5 each.

Meath improved as the half wore on but let down by seven first-half wides with Westmeath missing just two.

The scoring rate halved in the second-quarter during which the sides were level twice. Points from Jordan Morris (free)and Darragh Campion saw Meath hit the front for the second time, 0-7 to 0-6, in the 29th minute.

John Heslin (free) levelled matters before the same player sent over a close range award - in the second minute of stoppage time to leave the visitors 0-8 to 0-7 ahead at half-time. 

Westmeath resumed on the front foot moving four points clear by the 50th minute with Luke Loughlin completing the sequence.

As the half wore on the Meath bench made their mark with four getting on the board. Dropping Cillian O'Sullivan deep also helped as the home side finished stronger.

Next Sunday - Down v Meath (at Armagh), Westmeath v Mayo

Scorers: Meath - Jordan Morris 0-3 (2fs), Cillian O'Sullivan (1 forward mark), Bryan McMahon 0-2 each; Thomas O'Reilly, Matthew Costello,  Darragh Campion, Eoin Harkin, Eamon Wallace, James Conlon, Fionn Reilly, Shane McEntee, Bryan Menton 0-1each.

Westmeath - John Heslin 0-7 (5fs), Luke Loughlin 0-3 (2 45s), Ger Egan 0-2; Ray Connellan, Luke Loughlin, Ronan O'Toole 0-1 each.

Meath - Andy Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, Ronan Ryan; Eoin Harkin, Shane McEntee (C), Donal Keogan; Bryan Menton, Padraic Harnan; Ethan Devine, Darragh Campion, Matthew Costello; Jordan Morris, Thomas O'Reilly, Cillian O'Sullivan. Subs - Bryan McMahon for O'Reilly (ht), James Conlon for Campion (ht), James Scully for Costello (51), Fionn Reilly for Harkin (51), Eamon Wallace for Devine (59), Jack O'Connor for Morris (67), David Dillon for O'Sullivan (70). Black card - Ronan Ryan (70)

Westmeath - Jason Daly; Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire (C), Boidu Sayeh; James Dolan, Ronan Wallace, James Gounod; Sam Duncan, Ray Connellan; David Lynch, Denis Corroon, Ger Egan; Ronan O'Toole, John Heslin, Luke Loughlin. Subs - Lorcan Dolan for Smith (54), Lorcan Dolan for Kieran Martin for Lynch (63), Brandon Kelly for Egan (64). Black card - Sam Duncan (50)

Referee - Brendan Cawley (Kildare)

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