Carlow 1-22
Meath 1-21

Martin Kavanagh struck for 1-13 as Carlow held off Meath’s late rally in this afternoon’s Joe McDonagh Cup third round clash at Netwatch Cullen Park.

Having been held to a draw by Antrim last weekend, Colm Bonnar’s side edged the one-point victory here despite the Royals hitting an unanswered 1-2 in the closing stages in their attempts to snatch a result.

Damien Healy’s goal off the bench had the heat on Carlow in injury-time but they did just enough to secure the victory in what was an enthralling encounter.

The sides went into the first water break all square on 0-6 apiece as Meath held their own with the hosts, but they’d concede a penalty soon afterwards which Kavanagh converted.

From there, the Barrowsiders increased their lead and had a 1-13 to 0-10 advantage at half-time, with points from Chris Nolan (2) and Jack Kavanagh putting them further adrift of the visitors after the restart.

Meath battled back though with marksman Jack Regan hitting half a dozen points throughout the second-half to keep them in contention.

Darragh Kelly also grabbed a brace and in the closing stages it was Regan’s frees and Healy’s goal that had them right there in the seventh minute of injury-time.

Time ran out on the Royals though as Carlow avoided another late draw on home turf for the second weekend running.

Carlow - B Tracey; M Doyle, P Doyle, G Bennett; G Coady, D English, D Byrne; J Kavanagh (0-2), P Coady; J M Nolan, J Nolan (0-2), E Byrne (0-1); M Kavanagh (1-13, 1-0pen, 0-10f, 0-1'65), K McDonald, C Nolan (0-4). Subs: A Amond for J M Nolan, C Tracey for G Coady, R Coady for J Kavanagh, E Hosey for J Nolan.

Meath - M McCormack; M Burke, S Brennan, S Geraghty; S Whitty, D Kelly (0-3), K Keoghan (0-2); P O’Hanrahan (0-4, 3f), P Conneely (0-1); J Walsh (0-2), S Morris, A Douglas (0-1); A Gannon (0-1), J Regan (0-6, 4f, 1'65), E O Donnchadha. Subs: D McGowan (0-1) for E O Donnchadha, J Kelly for P O'Hanrahan, C McCabe for S Morris, D Healy (1-0) for J Walsh, J McGowan for P Conneely.

Referee - R McGann.

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