Meath leave it late to see off Tribesmen
The Tribesmen then had an opportunity to put the game out of sight when Jeaic O Cualain rounded keeper Charlie Finnegan but saw his rocket of a shot rebound off the underside of the crossbar to safety a minute later.
That was a fortunate let-off for the hosts who then made the most of their good fortune with a spirited revival in the closing minutes. That comeback was started by Charlie Gallagher with the big midfielder pointing on 56 minutes.
The Dunboyne club man, son of former senior intercounty keeper David, then hit two wonderful two-pointers to draw the sides' level and match-winner Byrne spurned a chance before lofting over the decisive score.
It was end to end stuff throughout with both sides' enjoying spell of dominance and nothing between the teams at half-time despite Meath pouncing for a brace of goals.
The opening goal arrived from St Colmcille's Cillian Murphy after seven minutes following good approach play involving Tadhg Foley and Declan Byrne. That left Meath leading 1-2 to 0-2 but it was back level at 1-3 to 0-6 following a point from Oisin O Neachtain on 17 minutes.
Meath struck for a second goal when wing back Foley set up Sean Smyth and the Skryne man produced a great finish from an acute angle to the corner of the net. That left the hosts five clear but with Barry Keating hitting his second two-pointer from a free and adding another one from play to take his tally to eight for the half Galway were back level 0-12 to 2-6 at the break.
The Connacht outfit were ahead twice in the early stages of the second half before Charlie Gallagher's opening two-pointer left it 2-9 to 0-14 after 38 minutes. However, by the end of the third quarter Galway were back in front after Jeaic O Cualain and Keating combined to set up Ryan Connolly for a well taken goal.
Sean Smyth who had an impressive outing had the sides' back level in the early stages of the final quarter. The visitors took control for a spell after that and seemed to be finishing the stronger of the two sides' with Ciaran O'Donnell and Cillian O'Toole both pointing and substitute Joey Cullinane adding a second Galway goal.
Then came that miss from O Cualain which would have left the game beyond Meath's reach and that gave Meath the opportunity which they grabbed with both hands.
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Meath: Charlie Finnegan; Conal Sheridan, Conall O'Sullivan, Glen Callaghan; Tadhg Foley, Eoghan McBrearty, Niall Lawless; Declan Byrne, Charlie Gallagher 0-7 (3 2p); Will Byrne 0-2, Cillian Murphy 1-1, Sean Delaney 0-1; Adam McEvoy 0-1f, Sean Smyth 1-3 (1f), Stephen Cahill 0-2. Subs: Max Condon for Foley (h-t), Jesse O'Rourke for McEvoy (46), Charlie O'Connor for Sheridan (48), Robbie Johnson for Delaney (53), Bobby Gaffney for Byrne (56).
Galway: Evan Burke; Eoin Gannon, Evan Cunningham, Conor Winston; Cathal Heavey 0-1, Jeremiah J Oifoh, Cillian O'Toole 0-1; Andrew Kehoe, Cian Hynes 0-1; Ciaran O'Donnell 0-2, Ryan Connolly 1-1, Oisin O Neachtain 0-1; Jeaic O Cualain, Dara Costello 0-1, Barry Keating 0-8 ( 1 2pf, 1 2p). Subs: Gavin Curran for Kehoe (36), Joey Cullinane 1-0 for O Neachtain (46), Cillian McPhillips for Costello (48), Adam Healy for Connolly (56).
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