Meath 1-14
Down 1-11

Meath maintained their improved form when a strong finish enabled them to defeat Down at Páirc Tailteann on Saturday night with late points from Stephen Bray (two) and Shane O'Rourke giving them a second successive win.

Earlier in the second half the Mourne men had looked the more likely victors but after Ambrose Rodgers fired their goal to give them a 1-9 to 1-8 advantage on 50 minutes, their scoring flow lessened.

That score was an immediate response to Meath's influential forward Graham Reilly raising the green flag with a cracking shot to regain the lead after the home side had been behind by 0-6 to 0-7.

Errors
The first half was littered with errors, with Down relying a lot on converted frees by Donal O'Hare for scores.

They had Conor Laverty black-carded in the early stages and team-mate Conor Garvey suffered a similar fate in the second period.

The standard improved following the switching of ends and Meath manager Mick O’Dowd described his team’s efforts as “a very composed performance”.

The Royals had 10 players unavailable because of injuries and O’Dowd reported that three more, Michael Newman, Sean Curran and Eoghan Harrington, are ruled out of next Sunday’s final round clash with Louth after being forced to retire.

Meath veteran Séamus Kenny helped to steady the defence after coming on near the break, while further upfield O’Rourke, Reilly, Bray and Damien Carroll made telling contributions.

Although recovering well from defeats to Monaghan and Armagh, third place looks the best that Meath can achieve, while Down’s hopes of making an instant return to the top flight took a knock.

MEATH: P O'Rourke; E Harrington, K Reilly, C Young; S Curran, D Keogan, D Carroll (0-2, one free); B Menton (0-1), S O'Rourke (0-2); D Tobin, G Reilly (1-2), A Tormey (0-2); D McDonagh, S Bray (0-3), M Newman (0-1, free). Subs: D Larkin for Newman (26 mins), S Kenny (0-1) for Curran (33 mins), P Gilsenan for Harrington (48 mins), D Bray for McDonagh (55 mins), M O'Sullivan for Tormey (70 mins).

DOWN: S Harrison; D McCartan (0-1), B McArdle, O Costello; R Boyle, A Carr, C Garvey; P Turley, K McKernan; C Laverty, M Poland (0-1), C Maginn; D O'Hare (0-6, six frees), N Madine (0-1), A Rodgers (1-0). Subs: J Johnson (0-1) for Laverty (9 mins, black card), P Devlin (0-1, free) for Rodgers (55 mins), B Coulter for Johnston (58 mins), D Rooney for Garvey (62 mins, black card), D O'Hanlon for Boyle (65 mins).

Referee: P O'Sullivan (Kerry).