Minor Football Championship

Division 3 Semi Final

Seneschalstown 3-11 North Meath Gaels 0-7

Seneschalstown proved far to strong in in this MFC Semi Final in Simonstown on Friday night. Seneschalstown who had played at a higher grade all year were a slick outfit and while North Meath battled hard it was an uphill battle all the way.

The early exchanges where close with Dominic Yorke firing over his now customary long range free after 2 minutes as Seneschalstown then pointed on their 1st 2 attacks. Ryan Carry who had a fine 1st half leveled the game and the sides shared the next 4 scores Carry pointing from a free and from play to leave the 1st quarter ending all square 0-4 each.

A Seneschalstown point on 18 minutes put them ahead and they won this game in the last 10 minutes of the half by scoring 3-1 without reply to lead 3-6 to 0-4 at the break. 

Indeed the 2nd half was even enough with both sides sharing possession but those 10 minutes at the end of the half was really the difference between the sides. North Meath had a good 3rd quarter and held Seneschalstown scoreless  but had only 2 Daniel Byrne points to show and once Seneschalstown broke their 2nd half duck the game was out of North Meaths reach.

Seneschalstown weathered the mini storm and out scored North Meath 5 points to 1 for the last quarter as North Meath looked for goals but there was no way through a solid Seneschalstown defence.

North Meath Gaels; Eoin Muldoon; James McMahon, Conor Marry, Cathal Dunne; Kieran Slavin, Graham Boylan, Robert McEntaggart; Dominic Yorke (0-1), James Mooney; Thomas Duff, Ryan Carry (0-3), Dylan Dardis; Daniel Byrne (0-2), Cathal Bennett (0-1), Paul Carolan. Subs  Cathal Marry for McMahon, Paddy Matthews for Duff, Jack McMahon for Dardis.

Minor Football Championship

Division 3 Quarter Final

In Meath Hill

North Meath Gaels 3-15 Ratoath 3-9

Friday Night and Minor Football Championship in its rightful place with U18's from all over the County battling hard to progress their Club one more step.

Ratoath travelled which great support to Meath's most northerly pitch, Meath Hill,within sight of the Ulster Border and as the sunset views of Slieve Gullion and the mountain ranges of the Cooleys and the Mournes you could fault the Dublin border lads for feeling a little trip wary but no, they arrived in plenty of time and went through a rigorous warm up and hit the game in top condition with high hopes of seeing off the locals at the start of a massive and possibly momentous weekend for the Blue and Gold. 

Thomas Duff in his 1st Minor game pointed early on as it looked like Ratoath who blow the Gaels away as the attacked strongly from the off and had managed 4 wides before that opening few minutes but they soon made up for that with 2-2 without reply to lead by 7 with just 10 minutes gone. A win for North Meath looked as distant as the Mountains.

Fair play to the locals and a few switches and they set about reeling the visitors in with James Mooney in fine form and Conor Marry and Cathal Dunne getting more into the game.

Dominic Yorke Yorke fired over a 45m free from the ground to get things going as Ryan Carry and Robert McEntaggart pointed from play. Mooney himself pointed to narrow the gap to 3 points.

Two Daniel Byrne frees and another monster long ranger from Yorke where cancelled out by 3 from Ratoath as half time neared. Dylan Dardis with some good work found himself fouled inside the square and Yorke stepped up to level the game with an unstoppable penalty goal to leave the sides tied 1-8 to 2-5 at the break.

North Meath put in a fine second half display outscoring Rathoath 2-7 to 1-4 as Cathal Bennet put them ahead inside a minute. North Meath were never headed again as Byrne and Yorke both from play stretched the lead to 3 points.

Substitute Paddy Matthews with his 1st touch scored a fine goal and while Ratoath pulled 3 points back Matthews was again instrumental in setting up Byrne for another goal to give the Gaels a 6 point lead.

Paul Carolan another to have a fine game added a point from an acute angle to put his side 7 ahead and the scoring rate slowed down with no score for 8 minutes. 

Ratoath ended that when after a poor kick out they drove forward and found the home sides net and the game was back in the melting pot with 4 minutes left on the clock.

Up stepped Yorke to nail another long distance free again off the ground  and while Ratoath responded with a free of their own but North Meath closed the game out with the on fire Mooney cutting through and pointing and Carry knocking over a free in the 4th minute of injury to the delight of the North Meath supporters.

North Meath Gaels; Eoin Muldoon; James McMahon, Graham Boylan, Cathal Dunne; Kieran Slavin, Conor Marry, Robert McEntaggart (0-1); Dominic Yorke (1-4), James Mooney (0-2); Thomas Duff (0-1), Ryan Carry (0-2), Dylan Dardis; Daniel Byrne (1-3), Cathal Bennett (0-1), Paul Carolan (0-1). Subs Paddy Matthews (1-0) for Duff, Jack McMahon for McMahon and Paddy Halpin for Dardis.

Minor Football Championship Division 3

Round 2

In Meath Hill

North Meath Gaels 5-15 St Patricks 2-8

North Meath Gaels got their Championship aspirations back on track with a comprehensive win in this Knock out game in Meath Hill on Friday evening. This victory see's them now into the Quarter Final.

In what was a refixed game due to St Pats no show last week the game started in lively fashion with the sides sharing the first 4 scores with Dominic Yorke and Daniel Byrne (free) pointing for the home side.

North Meath took control for the rest of the half and totted up 1-8 without reply with Paddy Matthews scoring a fine goal and points from Byrne (4), Ryan Carry (2) as well as Paul Carolan and Cathal Bennett.

St Pats came out very sprightly in the second half and scored 1-2 by the 35th minute and looked like they were going to really make a game of it but 2 goals in quick succession from Byrne ended any realistic chance they had.

North Meath went further ahead with points from Byrne, Yorke and Bennett to lead 4-13 to 1-4 with 50 minutes gone. St Pats kept trying and added a second goal and some well struck points but a late flourish from the home side with Yorke finding the net twice and Byrne adding two further frees to end the game.

North Meath Gaels; Eoin Muldoon; Cathal Dunne, Graham Boylan, James McMahon; Kieran Slavin, Conor Marry, Robert McEntaggart; James Mooney, Dominic Yorke (2-2); Dylan Dardis, Ryan Carry (0-2), Paddy Matthews (1-0); Daniel Byrne (2-8), Cathal Bennett (0-2), Paul Carolan (0-1). Subs used Cathal Marry, Thomas Carolan and Jack McMahon.

Minor Footbal Championship

Division 3 Round 2

In Meath Hill

North Meath Gaels W/O St Patricks

Minor Football Championship 

Division 3 Round 1 

In Meath Hill

Walterstown 1-14 North Meath Gaels 1-12

North Meath welcomed Walterstown to Meath Hill for this Minor Football Championship match on Friday Night. Walterstown found their feet early on and pointed twice as there was concern that they might over power the home side but North Meath slowly got into the game with Dominic Yorke pointing a long distance free.

North Meath went on to point 3 more times from Daniel Byrne and a fine left footed effort from Dylan Dardis, but Walterstown got on top again and 1-7 without reply had them ahead coming up to half time the goal arriving on 21 minutes from a penalty.

Ryan Carry pulled one back for North Meath and from the kick out the same player ran at the Walterstown defence and he was impeded for a penalty that Daniel Byrne fired high and over the bar to leave 6 in it at the break 1-9 to 0-6.

Walterstown pointed on the restart but Carry hit a free and then after a number of blocks he then rattled the back of the Blacks net to narrow the gap to 3 points. James Mooney then narrowed the gap to 2 points with a fine point.

 Walterstown pointed twice from frees to go 4 ahead but Yorke reveling in his new mid field position fired over a fine point. This trend continued with Walterstown going 4 ahead and North Meath answering 1st tru a Daniel Byrne point from play and another from the same player this time from a free.

With 3 minutes to go Cathal Bennett fired a shot off the post with the visitors Keeper beaten. Byrne did add 2 further frees after fouls on Paul Carolan and Dardis and late on Byrne had point and goal chances but both where snuffed out by the Walterstown defence.

Walterstown where mightly relieved to hear the Final whistle and North Meath will look to missed chances as the now face the back door to try and progress further in the competition.

Eoin Muldoon did well in goals as Conor Marry had a fine game at full back. Robert McEntaggart, Dominic Yorke, Paul Carolan, James Mooney and Jack McMahon all played well for the Home side.

North Meath Gaels; Eoin Muldoon; Cathal Marry, Conor Marry, Cathal Dunne; Robert McEntaggart, Graham Boylan, Kieran Slavin; Dominic Yorke (0-2), Cathal Bennett; Dylan Dardis (0-1), Ryan Carry (1-2), Paul Carolan; Jack McMahon (0-1), James Mooney (0-1), Daniel Byrne (0-6). Sub Paddy Matthews for Cathal Marry.

In Pairc Tailteann;

North Meath Gaels find that extra Puff to Take Title

North Meath Gaels 3-14

Blackwater Gaels 4-9

This was a fine game that was played before at good vocal crowd who came to support these North Meath clubs minor teams on the pristine Pairc Tailteann surface on a Sunny June Friday evening.

It was a close contest for the most part but wind assisted Blackwater hit the ground running and two quick fire goals in the 1st couple of minutes had them in the driving seat. North Meath Gaels refused to panic and on their 1st attack Paul Carolan got the White,Red and Blue on the score board.

North Meath defended well with Conor Marry and Kieran Slavin in good form and this was the secret to their success as Daniel Byrne pointed on 11 minutes and while Blackwater did not get their 1st minor on the 13th minute to lead 2-1 to 0-2 as the 1st quarter ended.

With Ryan Carry and Ryan Gillispie on holidays and Martin Shields out through injury the North Meath bench had an empty look to it with a number of U-15s added to the panel for the Final. 

Blackwater with Frank O'Reilly in good form pushed them 2 clear goals ahead again but James Mooney forced the ball over the line after Blackwater goalie Philip McDermott had saved his 1st attempt. North Meath had a stroke of luck as a rasping shot had struck their crossbar was was cleared to safety by Graham Boylan.

Blackwater responded well with 3 points between the 20th and 25th minute while Daniel Byrne had responded with a well worked point but there was concern on the North Meath side as they now trailed 2-5 to 1-3 but a good last five minutes as both sides shared 4 scores.The most significant one of them was a North Meath goal which really lifted the Drumconrath/Meath Hill/Kilmainhamwood lads. 

Byrne had pointed a free after a foul on Dylan Dardis but then James Mooney was hauled down and while Byrne's penalty was well parried by McDermott, Byrne reacted well to fire home the rebound from a tight angle as the sides retired with Blackwater leading 2-7 to 2-4.

James Mooney and Cathal Bennett had a battle royale with their Blackwater opponents but it was Blackwater who opened the 2nd half scoring with a point. This was to be 1 of only 2 points they would manage in the 2nd half the next one would not arrive until injury time.

Points from Byrne and Mooney narrowed the gap to 2 points but Blackwater beat Dominic Yorke for a 3rd time to give themselves a great boost. 

That score was cancelled out with 3 points from Byrne (free) who struck some fine scores off the scores off the ground, Mooney and substitute Paddy Matthews who had a big impact when introduced with 15 minutes to go. Blackwater again threatened the hospital goals but first Yorke and then Cathal Dunne made goal line clearances to keep the game in the mix as Robert McEntaggart now playing in defense was getting more into the game.

Blackwater got their 4th goal on 46 minutes and again looked to be in command as they led 4-8 to 2-8 but Bennett fired over a defiant point to lift North Meath again. Quick ball into Jack McMahon and Byrne was proving effective with Byrne pointing after a free on himself.

Matthews proved his worth with a goal on 52 minutes  to leave a single point between the sides and soon Byrne had the sides level 4-8 to 3-11.

After a huge kickout from Dominic Yorke that cleared the midfield area Matthews ran onto the loose ball and wisely pointed to give North Meath the lead for the 1st time with 5 minutes to go. 

Jack McMahon pointed after good work from Matthew and Paul Carolan and while OReilly pointed a free on the 60th minute to cut the lead to a single point a foul on Paul Carolan earned a free for Byrne who tapped over on the 2nd minute of injury time to secure victory as they won this trophy for the 2nd year in a row.

Afterwards Meath County Board Vice Chairman Peter O'Halloran was given the honour of presenting Co Captains James Mooney, Cathal Bennett and Daniel Byrne with the Trophy won after this close fought game played in good spirit and well refereed by Duleek/Bellewstown's Liam Reddy.

North Meath Gaels; Dominic Yorke; Graham Boylan, Cathal Dunne; Kieran Slavin, Conor Marry, Matthew Carolan; James Mooney (1-2), Cathal Bennett (0-1); Paul Carolan (0-1), Robert McEntaggart, Dylan Dardis; Jack McMahon (0-1), Daniel Byrne (1-7). Subs; Paddy Matthews (1-2), Eoin Muldoon, Jamie McMahon, Cathal Marry and Martin Shields.

U16 Division 2 Semi Final

In Meath Hill

Drumconrath/Meath Hill 2-19 Navan O'Mahonys 2-11

Drumconrath/Meath Hill progressed to the U16 Football Championship Division 2 Final with a fully deserved win over the Aristocrats of Meath Football Navan O'Mahonys in a competitive  Semi Final  in Meath Hill. Indeed the records show that this was probably only the 3rd clash between these Clubs as OMahonys did beat Drumconrath/Meath Hill in an U-16 Division 1 Final way back in the early 70's.

In the earlier Rounds the Navan side had defeat the Country lads but on this occasion DMH after the visitors had led 1-2 to 0-0 early in the game after the impressive  Sean Murray had the first shot for a point after some quick play but sent it wide. OMahonys were then awarded a penalty after their player been fouled just inside the area which they scored them they add a further 2 points one from play and one free.

Murray opened the home sides score sheet when there was a scramble in the penalty area when the ball came off the bar and he poked it in and DMH added two more points from Dean Martin and Kieran Slavin.

NOM then pointed to go one ahead some great blocking from Darragh Dunne  and  another block from Thomas Duff mid way through the half kept the game in the mix. Midfielder Duff got injured from the block and was replaced with Jamie O'Neill points from the stylish Jack McMahon and excellent Paddy  Matthews seen DMH go 3 ahead only for OMahony's  to send over three unanswered points to leave the sides tied 1-07 each at half time 

Early in the 2nd half DMH went a point ahead from the  throw in with McMahon tipping it over after a fine run form Paddy Halpin. OMahonys then went two points clear but DMH where still strongly in the game and  pulled one back with the lively Halpin scoring. 

OMahonys then scored there 2nd goal after a short free kick was wasted and the visitors moved the ball quickly up the field and into the fired to the DMH net.

That left 3 points between the sides but a fine point by Kian Myles in the 9 min and another Sean Murray goal on 10 mins swung it back in DMH's favour.

Thomas duff came back on mid way through the half  and 4 unanswered points from DMH followed from Matthews, Halpin, McMahon and Kieran Slavin  put the Red and Blue in firm control. 

Navan did add 1 more point  only in the half while McMahon (2) added another 2 points with Duff, Carolan and Slevin and a point from substitute Cathal McEvoy rounded off the game final score 2-19 to 2-11. 

This was a fine team display from Drumconrath/Meath Hill and after topping the table after the League stages can now look forward to the Final.

Drumconrath/Meath Hill; Eoin Muldoon; Cathal Marry, James Carolan, Thomas Carolan; Darragh Dunne, Ryan Carry, James McMahon; Thomas Duff (0-1), Paddy Mathews (0-2); Paddy Halpin (0-3); Kieran Slevin (0-2), Kian Myles (0-2); Dean Martin (0-2), jack McMahon (0-6), Sean Murray (2-0)
Subs Jamie 0'Neill for Duff, Duff for Martin, Oisin Kelly for Murray ,Cathal mc Evoy (0-1) for O'Neill and Ryan Shekleton 

Minor Football League

Division 4 Semi Final

In Bohermeen

North Meath Gaels 3-13 St Cuthberts 0-9

North Meath quailified for their 3rd successive Minor League Final with an easier than expected Semi Final win over hosts St Cuthberts in Bohermeen on Friday evening. In the League part St Cuthberts had defeated North Meath but in truth in this game after the early exchanges it was clear that the visitors had the upper hand.

Daniel Byrne had pointed on the 1st attacked and the lively Paul Carolan added a second. St Cuthberts responded with their 1st score but further points from Byrne (2) and impressive midfielder Cathal Bennet (2) had North Meath up 0-6 to 0-2.

Cuthberts added 2 points but Daniel Byrne banged in 2 goals in 4 minutes and when Bennett and Byrne added further points North Meath led 2-8 to 0-4 at the break.

St Cuthberts started brightly but found Conor Marry and Cathal Dunne on top in their defensive duties and with Graham Boylan, Kieran Slevin and Matthew Carolan also in good form they found scores hard to come by. When they did break through Dominic Yorke proved unbeatable with some fine stops.

The sides swapped 6 points by the end of the 3rd quarter with Byrne pointing from play and hitting 2 frees one a delightful score off the ground from 35m.

Substitute Jack McMahon fired home after good work from Dylan Dardis and James Mooney and late on Mooney and Bennett cancelled out 2 St Cuthberts points.

North Meath Gaels; Dominic Yorke; Graham Boylan, Cathal Dunne; Kieran Slevin, Conor Marry, Matthew Carolan; Cathal Bennett (0-4), James Mooney (0-1); Ryan Carry, Robert McEntaggart, Dylan Dardis; Paul Carolan (0-1), Daniel Byrne (2-7). Subs; Jack McMahon (1-0) for Dardis and Cathal Marry for Carry.

In Ballivor

North Meath Gaels 2-16

Ballivor 1-8

North Meath Gaels made the trip to Ballivor on Friday evening and came out with 2 points to seal a semifinal spot. The Gael’s started well racing into a three point lead thanks to points from Paul Carolan, Matthew Carolan and Cathal Bennett. Ballivor hit back with a point of their own but the North Meath team hit a scoring patch with Daniel Byrne scoring two points in quick succession and Kieran Slavin adding two more with Ryan Carry scoring one.

The North Meath men continued their scoring form with Daniel Byrne finishing the first half with 6 points from play to leave the score at 0-12 to 0-4.

The second half began in much the same way as the first half ended with Daniel Byrne hitting 1-1 in the first 5 minutes. Ryan Carry was then fouled in the square when through on goal and he dispatched the penalty nicely into the bottom corner of the net. Ballivor then grew into the game hitting 4 unanswered points and were unlucky not to find the net but were denied twice by good defending from Cathal Dunne and Robbie McEntaggart.

They did eventually find the net late on following a good save from the Dominic Yorke the ball ricochet around the square before being tapped into the net. Daniel Byrne rounded off his scoring for the night with another fine score from play before Dominic Yorke scored a 45 to finish the scoring for North Meath Gaels.

Best for the Gaels were Daniel Byrne, Cathal Dunne, Kieran Slavin, Cathal Bennett and Kieran Slavin.

North Meath Gaels: Dominic Yorke (0-1 45), Graham Boylan, Cathal Dunne, Matthew Carolan (0-1), Conor Marry, Kieran Slavin (0-2), Cathal Bennett (0-1), James Mooney, Dylan Dardis, Robbie McEntaggart, Ryan Carry(1-1), Daniel Byrne(1-9), Paul Carolan (0-1).

Subs: Cathal Marry for Dylan Dardis.

Jack McMahon - North Meath Gaels

Drumconrath Meath Hill 4-16
Donaghmore Ashbourne 1-12

Yes you read it right Drumconrath/Meath Hill a club from the Parish of Drumconrath which is County Meaths most Northley village, one of only 2 Parishes in Meath to see a drop in population in the last two Census beat the might of Donaghmore/Ashboure in Round 5 of the Meath U16 Division 2 Football Championship.

Drumconrath/Meath Hill though short in numbers at this grade have a fine team and having won the Division 3 U15 League last Autumn were promoted to Division 2 and now sit proudly on top with 4 wins from their 5 games. The club normally plays in the lower Division's and not since the the U14's won the Division 2 Championship exactly 10 years ago in 2005 has the club played at such a high level and indeed numbers dictated for the past 4 years joined with neighbours Kilmainhamwood to form North Meath Gaels to ensure there were sufficient numbers to get a team out.

This was a close fought game for the 1st half but with Cathal McEvoy finding the net and some fine points from Jack McMahon, Kieran Slevin and Ryan Carry Drumconrath/Meath Hill led 1-8 to 0-6 at the break.

The 2nd half continued in a similiar vein with the home side keeping the noses in front and when Donaghmore/Ashbourne scored a goal they had narrowed the gap to 4 points. Patrick Halpin had scored DMH's second goal at that stage.

Drumconrath/Meath Hill's Paddy Matthews then netted his sides 3rd goal and when the visitors had a player sent off for a second yellow card the Red and Blue pushed on for victory as substitue Oisin Kelly got the 4th goal in injury time to concrete a fine victory for the home side who played a lovely brand of open football and fully deserved their win.

Drumconrath/Meath Hill;Eoin Muldoon; Jamie O'Neill, Cathal Marry, Thomas Carolan; James McMahon, James Carolan, Kian Myles; Paddy Matthews (1-1), Kieran Slevin (0-2); Dean Martin (0-2), Ryan Carry (0-2), Jack McMahon (0-6); Cathal McEvoy (1-1), Thomas Duff (0-1), Patrick Halpin (1-1). Subs Oisin Kelly (1-0) and Ryan Shekleton.

Minor Football League Div 4

Round 4

In Carnaross

19/03/15

Blackwater Gaels 3-09

North Meath Gaels 5-10

North Meath's blow stronger than Blackwater in as late Gusts see them home

North Meath Gaels came away from Carnaross on Thursday night with two points after a 7 point victory over Blackwater Gaels. It was the hosts who started the game stronger and found themselves 1-2 to no score up before Daniel Byrne scored the first of his 5 points with a free. James Mooney and Jack McMahon then scored the next 2 points for NMG as they narrowed the Gap to 2 points. Blackwater then got their second goal before two good points from Daniel Byrne.

NMG started the second half better and got their reward through a Kieran Slavin goal. The game ebbed and flowed as both teams traded scores. NMG then got two goals in quick succession from Ryan Carry and Cathal Bennett. 

The hosts then hit back with a goal of their own as they were awarded a penalty which was brilliantly saved by Dominic Yorke who was unlucky to see the ball rebound to the on rushing Blackwater player who tapped into the back of the net. Coming into the last 5 minutes NMG found themselves 1 point down but pulled a result out of the bag as two more goals both from Ryan Gillespie and two Paul Carolan points gave them a 7 point victory.

North Meath Gaels: Dominic Yorke, Graham Boylan, Cathal Dunne, Kieran Slavin(1-0), Conor Marry, Dylan Dardis, Cathal Bennett(1-0), James Mooney(0-1), Ryan Carry(1-0), Paul Carolan(0-2), Jack McMahon(0-2), Ryan Gillespie(2-0), Daniel Byrne(0-5).

Subs: Patrick Matthews for Dylan Dardis.​

Round 2

Minor Football League

In Meath Hill

North Meath Gaels 3-11
Slane 2-14

North Meath and Slane servered up a fine minor football game despite the sheet and wind on the always top class Meath Hill pitch


Three  1st half goals helped wind assisted North Meath goals had the home side looking good at the break leading 3-6 to 0-4
Paul Carolan Ryan Gillispie and Jack McMahon had found the net.

Slane as expected had a bigger say in the second half and looked to have taken the points but a late James Mooney point salvaged a draw for North meath dho lined out with Daniel Byrne and Matthew Carolan

North Meath Gaels: Dominic Yorke, Cathal Dunne, Graham Boylan: Dylan Dardis, Conor Marry. Martin Shields: James Mooney (0-2), Cathal Bennett (0-2). Ryan Carry (1-0), Paul Carolan (0-2), Kieran Slavin (0-1), Ryan Gillispie (1-0), Jack McMahon (1-4). Sub Paddy Matthew for Carry (BC)

Minor Football League

Round 3

In Kilmainhamwood

North Meath Gaels 3-7 Nobber 3-6

Following their draw on Monday night North Meath collected all points in this closely fought Minor League match on Friday night.

Nobber played well in the 1st half and lead 2-4 to 1-2 at the break with Paul Carolan getting the North Meath goal.

Carolan added another goal early in the second half and the game stayed in the balance as both sides swapped the lead. As North Meath had to rearrange their team after Dylan Dardis recieved a Yellow when it looked that a Black Card might be the penalty.

When Carolan scored his hatrick it lloked good for North Meath but Nobber responded with a similar score to level the game until a late Ryan Carry free edged North Meath home as Daniel Byrne took a late Black Card for the team

North Meath Gaels; Dominic Yorke; Cathal Dunne, Graham Boylan; Ciaran Slevin (0-1), Conor Marry, Martin Shields; Dylan Dardis, Cathal Bennett; Ryan Carry (0-2), Paul Carolan (3-1), Jack McMahon (0-2); Ryan Gillispie, Daniel Byrne (0-1). Subs; Robert McEntaggert for Shields and Paddy Matthews for Dardis.

Minor Football League

Division 4 Round 1

In Meath Hill

North Meath Gaels 4-12 Bective/Dunsany 3-8

North Meath got their Minor League campaign off to a winning start with this  hard working display ensuring they came out on top over a gallant Bective/Dunsany side who never gave up the ghost.

Ryan Carry got North Meath off to a good start with a fine point and this was followed by Two more points from James Mooney. Bective/Dunsany got into the game in the 2nd quarter and pointed twice but enter Jack McMahon who fired home two fine goals in quick succession to put North Meath in the driving seat. 

Bective/Dunsany added two points but McMahon hit the last point of the half to leave the score 2-4 to 0-4 at the break to the home side as Bective/Dunsany had a penalty saved by the excellent Dominic Yorke now back to full fitness after a long term niggling injury.

McMahon continued to give the visitors defense a torrid time and within 15 second of the start of the second half when he again found the net.​ Points from Daniel Byrne, Ryan Gillispie, Kieran Slavin and McMahon again gave North Meath a 3-8 to 0-5 lead with 12 minutes gone in the 2nd half.

Bective/Dunsany came to life and hit 3-2 in ten minutes to leave just a single point between the sides and the game really in the melting pot at 3-8 to 3-7 and indeed only for some fine saves by Yorke the North Meath boys could have been in arrears.

Paul Carolan pointed to stop the rot and further points from Gillispie and Slavin who was having a fine game gave North Meath some breathing space and when Gillispie netted with 4 minutes to go the home side felt the winning post was in sight.

McMahon capped a Man of the Match performance with a late point but North Meath had many stars in Yorke, Cathal Dunne, Slavin, Paul Carolan and the lively Ryan Carry.

North Meath Gaels; Dominic Yorke; Cathal Dunne, Conor Marry; Kieran Slavin (0-2), Martin Shields, Dylan Dardis; Matthew Carolan, James Mooney (0-2); Paul Carolan (0-1), Daniel Byrne (0-1), Ryan Carry (0-1); Ryan Gillispie (1-2), Jack McMahon (3-3). Subs; Paddy Matthews for Dardis, James McMahon for Slavin, Cathal Marry for Dunne, Bernard Reilly for Carry, Luke Owens for Carolan and Ryan Reilly for McMahon.