Meath overcome Donegal to pick up first win of Lidl National League title defence

Meath proved too strong for Donegal in Letterkenny with the current Lidl NFL Division 1 and All-Ireland champions crossing the line with five points to spare in the end.

In a contest where scores were hard earned, both sides went in at the break all square at 0-03 apiece.

A brace of Suzanne White efforts, including one from play, as well as a Katie Long point appeared like it was going to send Maxi Curran's charges in with their noses in front at the midpoint.

But with Stacey Grimes posting a late free to go alongside earlier scores from Niamh O’Sullivan and Niamh Gallogly, matters were deadlocked at the changeover.

Quickfire efforts from Grimes and O’Sullivan following the restart then helped push Meath in front for the first time in the contest as they went 0-05 to 0-03 clear. Ciara McGarvey got Donegal going once more on 37 minutes.

However, just past the three-quarter mark, David Nelson’s side stole a real march when Mary Kate Lynch’s speculative effort from out the park dropped in and over the head of Aoife McColgan. White responded for Donegal and just that green flag split the teams.

Meath did lose Máire O’Shaughnessy to a sin bin going into the last ten minutes. But they closed out matters for their first win of the campaign with Meadhbh Byrne and substitute Ailbhe Leahy adding late points to seal a five-point victory and condemn Donegal to a second successive loss.

Meath: M McGuirk; Á Sheridan, M Kate Lynch (1-00), K Newe; N Galloghy (0-01), S Ennis, A Cleary; M O’Shaughnessy, A Minogue; M Thynne, M Byrne (0-01), C Smyth; O Callan, S Grimes (0-02, 2f), N O’Sullivan (0-02). Subs: S Melia for Callan (42), R Casserly for Smyth (50), A Leahy (0-01) for Thynne (59).

Donegal: A McColgan; K Dowds, E McGinley, E Gallagher; A