It came down to a brace of first-half goals as Meath held off a tenacious Mayo in this Ring Cup opener at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday. PHOTOS

Meath …….. 2-20
Mayo ……… 0-24

Seoirse Bulfin’s side were never headed in this fixture but will need to be more ruthless in front of goal if they are to add to the league silverware recently annexed.

Eamon Og O Donnchadha and Jack Regan were the goalscorers that fended off an incipient Mayo rally that saw them cut a four point deficit to the minimum by the 20th minute.

Defensive laxity by last year's runners up, in particular for the second goal, contributed greatly to both scores that proved decisive in the final outcome.

Some of referee Caymon Flynn’s decisions irked the home side but they had the wherewithal to focus on the task in hand and were duly rewarded.

For such a competitive encounter, the sides were never level during the course of the game. Five points was the widest margin between the sides.

A lead Meath enjoyed twice in the run-up to half time. They never looked like adding to their goal tally which left the door ajar for Mayo.

The sides shared 26 scores in the opening half, but two Meath goals gave the home side the edge at the break.

Meath were never headed in the first 35 minutes having moved 0-6 to 0-2 clear by the mid point of the half.

A trio of Cormac Phillips points trimmed Mayo’s deficit to the minimum (0-6 to 0-5) with 20 minutes on the clock.

Eamon O Donnchadha’s 22nd minute goal at the old swimming pool end moved Meath four clear, 1-6 to 0-5, with 22 minutes on the clock.

Sub Joe McManus kept Mayo in the game with a number of points. However, the 31st minute proved calamitous for the visitors with overplaying the sliotar leading to Jack Regan’s goal that put Meath four clear again.

With Cormac Phillips’ accuracy keeping Dave McConn and Tom Phillips’ side in touch they were just four off the pace at the break when the board read, 2-11 to 0-13.

Regan and Phillips were to the fore in the scoring stakes as the second-half moved on. Mayo upped their game after the change of ends and trimmed the deficit to the minimum, 2-17 to 0-22, by the 63rd minute.

A great Regan point kept Meath on the front foot while the game was in stoppage time when James Kelly pointed the home side’s final score.

Mayo needed a  goal to salvage something from this fixture but all they managed was Phillips’ 12th point, from a free on his own 65.

Mayo can take a lot from this fixture while Meath know improvement is required to progress in this competition.

Scorers: Meath - Jack Regan 1-11 (0-7 fs); Eamon Og O Donnchadha 1-2; Padraig O'Hanrahan 0-2; Mikey Cole 0-2; Sean Geraghty 0-1; James Kelly 0-1; Simon Ennis 0-1. 

Mayo - Cormac Phillips 0-12 (10fs); Joe McManus 0-4; Michael Farrell 0-3; Fergal Boland 0-2; Adrian Phillips 0-1, Jason Coyne 0-1; Eoin Delaney 0-1.

Meath - Charlie Ennis (jc); Gerard Dwane, Shane Brennan, Brendan McKeon; Niall McLarnon, James Toher, Simon Ennis; Sean Geraghty, Martin Healy; Stephen Morris, Jack Regan (jc), James Kelly; Mikey Cole, Eamon Og O Donnchadha, Padraig O'Hanrahan. Subs - Daire Shine for Morris (38), Tom Shine for Cole (58), Conor Shirren for Kelly (63), Paddy Barnwell for Healy (66), Evan Fitzgerald for O'Hanrahan (69).

Mayo - Bobby Douglas; James Lyons, Ger McManus, Conor Murray; David Kenny (c), Joe Mooney, Danny Hill; Daniel Huane, Cormac Phillips; Sean Kenny, Fergal Boland; Adrian Phillips, Jason Coyne, Eoin Delaney, Shane Boland. Subs - Joe McManus for Boland (11), Michael Farrell for D Kenny (43).James Murphy for Hill (54)

Referee - Caymon Flynn (Westmeath)

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