Meath 2-12 Fermanagh 0-11

Fermanagh's hopes of securing promotion to Division One were ended in Navan today as Rory Gallagher's side suffered a seven point loss to Meath.

The promotion race was taken to the last round of fixtures but this result ensured that Meath clinched top spot in Division Two with Donegal's win over Kildare seeing them bag second spot as Fermanagh finished third in the table.

There will be obvious disappointment that Gallagher's side were unable to get over the line but third place in a highly competitive Division Two is a fine achievement and there are plenty of positives to take forward into preparation for the championship encounter against Donegal.

Fermanagh, with the wind at their backs in the first half, got off to a flying start to the game as they dominated the early exchanges.

Conall Jones landed their opening score with a good effort from the left in the second minute and by the fourth minute they had added another three points with Ciaran Corrigan, Ultan Kelm and Sean Quigley registering.

At this point, Fermanagh were dictating matters in the middle third and they continued to create scoring chances but for the remainder of the half they were wasteful in front of the posts.

Indeed, Fermanagh kicked 11 wides in the first half, five of those coming in the opening ten minutes when they should really have been extending their advantage.

With Fermanagh failing to make the most of their dominance, Meath slowly began to work their way into the game and after the excellent Cillian O'Sullivan slotted over their opening score in the 16th minute, they went on to hit 1-02 without reply to go two ahead.

Ben Brennan converted a free before Barry Dardis finished to the net after Bryan Menton fed the ball across the goal.

O'Sullivan then fisted over to make it 1-03 to 0-04 before Sean Quigley notched Fermanagh's first score in 30 minutes from a free.

And the sides exchanged points at the end of the half with Michael Newman  knocking over a Meath free before Corrigan clipped over for Fermanagh to leave it a one point game at the interval, 1-04 to 0-06.

Ryan Jones did level up proceedings early in the second half but Meath, with the advantage of the breeze, took control on the scoreboard as they hit the next 1-04.

Shane McEntee, Menton, James McEntee and Dardis fired over points before James McEntee raced in to net the home side's second goal to make it 2-08 to 0-07.

Conal Jones and Ryan Jones landed points for Fermanagh after this but on each occasion O'Sullivan answered before Newman and James Conlon pushed the lead out to nine points, 2-12 to 0-09.

Fermanagh did account for the final two points of the game through Ryan Jones, his third of the half, and a Darragh McGurn free, but they were only consolation scores as Meath deservedly sealed their place in the Division Two final and a spot in Division One for next year.

Meath

A Colgan; S Slavin, C McGill, R Ryan; J McEntee (1-1), D Keogan, S Gallagher; B Menton (0-1), S McEntee (0-1); C O’Sullivan (0-4, 1f), B Brennan (0-1, 1f), B Dardis (1-1); B McMahon, M  Newman (0-2, 1f), T O’Reilly

Subs – G Reilly for Brennan, D Campion for McMahon, A Flanagan for S McEntee, G McCoy for Gallagher, J Conlon (0-1) for T O’Reilly

Fermanagh

J McGrath; L Cullen, C Cullen, K Connor; U Kelm (0-1), J McMahon, C Corrigan (0-2); E Donnelly, R Jones (0-3); J Cassidy, D McCusker, A Breen, R Lyons, C Jones (0-2), S Quigley (0-2, 1f)

Subs – P McCusker for Lyons, D Teague for Kelm, D McGurn (0-1, 1f) for C Jones, T Clarke for Donnelly, C McGee for Breen