McEntees see red as Roscommon punish Meath's slow start

Another slow start cost Meath dearly as Roscommon underlined their Division 2 promotion prospects with a gutsy win in Navan.

Led by Conor Cox – who struck 0-07 – and the Smith brothers, Enda and Donie, the Connacht men hit Meath hard and early to open up a nine-point half-time lead and held on in the face of a late Meath rally.

Conor Heneghan struck the crucial Roscommon goal and finished with 1-01 while another bad day for the struggling Royals ended with straight red cards for manager Andy McEntee and nephew James McEntee after a late melee.

Anthony Cunningham's Roscommon played into the stiff wind in the second half but held on for the win that leaves them sitting pretty with a 100% record ahead of their round three hosting of Clare on 20 February.

Meath, who host Down next, are in real bother after back-to-back defeats to western opposition with Galway holding McEntee's men scoreless until the 45th minute at Pearse Stadium last Sunday.

They trailed by ten points after 44 minutes but fought back with an unanswered 0-07 to reduce the gap to three points in stoppage time.

They lost James McEntee after a shove on Ultan Harney, sparking a melee that ended with referee Jerome Henry also showing a straight red card to Meath manager Andy McEntee.

Meath badly needed a pick-me-up after the result in Galway but played into a stiff wind again, like they had in Salthill, and were once again overrun which ultimately cost them the game.

They kept pace with the Rossies for the first 20 minutes with Cunningham's men only leading by 1-05 to 1-03 at that stage.

Mathew Costello scored Meath's goal after eight minutes after being played in by Jordan Morris, who was recalled to the line-up after coming on as a substitute last weekend.

Morris had