Meath strike late to salvage draw against Offaly

The dearth of quality on display for long stretches of this afternoon's contest at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park illustrated why these two teams are mired in relegation trouble at the bottom of Division Two of the Allianz Football league, but the drama and tension in the closing stages more than made up for it in terms of a spectacle.

In the end it was a hotly-disputed Joey Wallace goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time that ensured a share of the spoils, a result that will leave neither team entirely happy this evening.

Wallace palmed the ball in after Paddy Dunican blocked a punched attempt on goal from Eoin Harkin, with Offaly defenders screaming for a square ball decision. Referee Fergal Kelly consulted his umpires and allowed the goal to stand, and that was to be the last action of the game.

It may have felt like heartbreak, but Offaly had Dunican to thank for even getting to that position, as he had made a host of wonderful stops over the course of the 80-odd minutes of action.

In the first half, Meath were probably the happier side as they got to the interval just a point behind, 0-06 to 0-05, despite playing into a very strong, albeit swirling wind. The Royal County enjoyed plenty of possession but since anything more that 25 metres out from the Park Avenue end goal was out of range, they found it difficult to create clear-cut scoring chances and instead were solely reliant on dead ball scores in the first half.

Offaly, understandably, had more and better chances of scores, but some desperately poor shooting ensured that there was never more than a point between the sides. Jack Bryant got the home side off the mark with a superb point from play, cancelling out an early free from Shane Walsh, but three terrible wides