Meath 1-19 Antrim 3-23

Antrim Minor Hurlers faced Meath on Saturday in what turned out to be the first round of the Leinster B Championship in Páirc Tailteann Navan.

Both sides were informed the night before that their last Group Game would double up to be the Leinster B Knockout Championship.

Antrim with a slight breeze advantage raced into a 1-04 to 0-00 lead after the opening 8 minutes, the goal coming from Christy Leech.

In the next seven minutes Meath were back in the game out scoring Antrim by 1-03 to 2pts in this period.

The goal coming from a deflection that Antrim Keeper Liam Magee could do nothing about.

In the Final 15 minutes of the half Antrim took complete control and produced some brilliant team play and scores, 3 from from the Cadhan Crawford 3 from James McDonnell & 2 from the impressive centre half back Dylan McNaughton.

The second half was nip and tuck through the first 10 minutes, the breeze had lifted in Meath’s favour but strong defending from Antrim’s full back Conor McCann aided by Paddy Morgan & Aaron Quinn thwarted the danger and Meath were forced to shoot for scores from further out the field.

Antrim then fired in two goals, one from joint captain Cadhan Crawford which her fired to the top corner of the Meath net and one from vice captain James McDonnell. From then on Antrim were always in control and ran out winners in the end on a scoreline of 3-23 to 1-19.

Although the Leinster A comes to an end these young lads will go all out to try to win the B Competition.

The Opening Game in the A Championship against Offaly with some harsh decisions and a black card at a crucial time will feel like the game that got away from them this year.

They now face Kildare this coming Saturday at 2pm in Dowdallshill in the Leinster B Championship Semi Final

Saturday’s scorers were

Cadhan Crawford 1-07 4F

James McDonnell 1-04

Christy Leech 1-02

Sean Smyth 0-03

Ronan Taylor 0-03

Dylan McNaughton 0-02

Anthony Cochrane 0-01

Jay McAlonan 0-01