Meath secured a convincing victory over a disappointing Carlow with first half goals from Padraic Harnan and Mickey Newman putting gloss on the scoreline.
Points from Thomas O’Reilly, Cillian O’Sullivan and a close range Mickey Newman free gave Meath the start they deserved as they led by 0-3 to 0-0 after five minutes.
Bryan Menton added to their tally before Carlow registered their first score of the game with 13 minutes on the clock thanks to a fine point from John Murphy.
They had found their rhythm and two fine scores from Darragh Foley left two between the teams after 20 minutes.
It was soon tied for the first when the composed Foley added another free but Meath responded perfectly with a free from Ben Brennan giving the Colmcilles man his first of the game and Meath’s fifth.
With thirty minutes on the clock Meath had the ball in the back of the net twice within two minutes to give themselves some breathing space at half time.
Donal Keogan found space down the left hand side of the pitch before a quick pass inside found Mickey Newman in front of goal who finished calmly past Robert Sansom to extend Meath’s lead to four points minutes before the break.
Within two minutes of their first, Donal Keogan again played the role of provider, this time finding Padraic Harnan close to goal who blasted past Sansom again from point blank range to give Meath a 2-7 to 0-4 lead at half time.
Carlow needed a strong start to the second half if they were going to get themselves back into the game and got the first two scores of the half within seconds of each other through Diarmuid Walsh and Sean Murphy.
Another fine score from play from Meath midfielder Bryan Menton and Darragh Foley’s fourth score of the game left the scores at 2-8 to 0-7 with twenty minutes remaining.
Things went from bad to worse for Carlow when midfielder Sean Murphy was awarded a straight red card for lashing out before Daniel St Ledger was shown a black card just moments later for also reacting badly to a tackle.
Substitute Graham Reilly and Mickey Newman took advantage of the extra man adding a further two scores for Meath to leave the score at 2-12 to 0-8 with ten minutes remaining.
It could have gone from bad to worse for Carlow when Meath were awarded a penalty with Graham Reilly being hauled to the ground close to goal.
Mickey Newman stepped up but Robert Sansom pulled off a fantastic save at full stretch to his right to deny the Meath sharpshooter his second goal of the game.
Mickey Newman and substitute James Conlan tacked on further scores in the closing stages to ensure a much more convincing win this time around defeating Carlow 2-18 to 0-9.
Meath: Andrew Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Conor McGill, Shane Gallagher; Padraic Harnan, Donal Keogan, Gavin McCoy; Bryan Menton, Adam Flanagan; Cillian O’Sullivan, Bryan McMahon, Ben Brennan; Sean Tobin, Michael Newman, Thomas O’Reilly
Subs: B Dardis for T O’Reilly (35), G Reilly for S Tobin (50), Ronan Ryan for Gavin McCoy (55), Darragh Campion for Cillian O’Sullivan (60), James Conlan for Ben Brennan (65), Ethan Devine for Bryan Menton (70)
Scorers: M Newman (1-6, 5f), T’O Reilly (0-1), C O’Sullivan (0-1), Bryan Menton (0-2), Ben Brennan (0-2, 1f), Shane Gallagher (0-1), James Conlon (0-3), Graham Reilly (0-2), Padraic Harnan (1-0)
Carlow: Robert Sansom; Liam Roberts, Shane Redmond, Conor Lawler; Jordan Morrissey, Daniel St Ledger, Ciaran Moran; Sean Murphy, Eoghan Ruth; Darragh O’Brien, Sean Gannon, Conor Doyle; Paul Broderick, Darragh Foley, John Murphy
Subs: Diarmuid Walsh for Paul Broderick (15), Danny Moran for Daniel St Ledger (53), John Murphy for Eoghan Ruth (60), Darren Lunney for John Murphy (61)
Scorers: J Murphy (0-1), D Foley (0-3, 3f), Diarmuid Walsh (0-2, 2f), Sean Murphy (0-1), Eoghan Ruth (0-1)
Referee: B Cassidy (Derry)
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