Louth missed out on a place in the Leinster Junior Championship final after Meath staged a dramatic late revival to run out 2-11 to 0-16 winners at Drogheda last night.
The Royals had been five points down with eight minutes to go but corner back Chris O’Connor proved their hero as he popped up with the winning point on the stroke of full-time.
Despite seeing Kevin Ross hit the net for the visitors after eight minutes, Louth had led by 0-9 to 1-5 at the break but three good goal chances that were all missed proved costly in the end.
With James Califf and Ronan Holcroft leading the scoring, the Wee County opened up a 0-16 to 1-8 lead by the 52nd minute.
However, a Bobby O’Brien goal two minutes later threw Meath a lifeline and they registered three points in the final four minutes to snatch the win.
Scorers – Meath: K Ross 1-3 (0-2f), C Lynch 0-6 (1f), B O’Brien 1-0, S Crosby, C O’Connor 0-1 each.
Louth: J Califf (2f), R Holdcroft (1f) 0-6 each, J McEneaney 0-2, J Agnew, C McKeever 0-1 each.
Louth – C Lynch; K Toner, B Mulligan, C Lenehan; P McGrath, C Smith, D McComish; J Califf, J McEneaney; J Agnew, R Holdcroft, C McKeever; D Maguire, D O’Connor, G McSorley. Subs: P Kirwin for McSorley (37), D Quigley for Smith (BC 43), R Nally for Maguire (50).
