A DING-DONG IN ROSCOMMON IS PURE TOP DRAW

MEATH still have an automatic quarter-final place to play for when they play Kerry in a fortnight, after Sean Rafferty’s tackle on Ben O'Carroll denied Roscommon a post-hooter winner at the end of a roller coaster contest last night.

- BY KEVIN EGAN

Both sides will have their regrets, though for the few neutrals in attendance, a draw was a fair reflection of the action.

Meath will wonder how they allowed Roscommon to pick holes through their defence so easily in the opening 15 minutes.

Brian Stack fluffed his lines when he pulled his shot wide of the target from 13 metres out, but thenext two chances, all created from measured passes over a defender into space in the small arc, both fell to corner-forwards.

Diarmuid Murtagh and Ben O'Carroll each produced corner-forward finishes into the bottom left corner, though Roscommon needed that early cushion as in the second quarter, a wind-assisted Meath caught fire.