Published: Wednesday, 10th February, 2010 4:45pm

Another provincial title

Meath 2-15, Wicklow 0-6

Meath's Bryan McMahon under close scrutiny during Saturday's Leinster final at Parnell Park against Wicklow.

Meath captured their fourth successive Leinster VEC inter-county SFC title with a hard-earned victory over Wicklow at Parnell Park, Dublin on Saturday.

The 15-point winning margin might indicate that this was a facile victory, but that would be an unfair assessment of the game. The Meath players actually deserve enormous credit for the manner in which they recovered from a tentative opening quarter.

There was plenty to admire about Meath's performance, 14 points from play reflects well on the ability to take chances, but what really stood out was the level of improvement since the first game against Offaly at Dunganny last month.

The fluency of the performance and the potential for more improvement. On Saturday the team got a shock, they were on the rack for 15 minutes and survived.

Conor McHugh's reaction save in the 10th minute was a turning point. He was a proud Oldcastle teenager when he raised the cup shortly after 3.0 on Saturday afternoon.

"I was lucky I suppose, all the back were there to help me just in case anything went wrong, I didn't have to make too much of an effort, really," he told the Meath Chronicle as he organised the rest of the players for a celebratory team photo in the heart of Dublin GAA territory.

McHugh's save turned out to be crucial as Wicklow were in the ascendancy at that stage and would have opened up a five-point gap had they got the goal.

Eamonn Wolfe had Wicklow on the scoreboard with a point after only 25 seconds and although they failed to add to that for a further seven minutes, from a superb Conor McGraynor free, they looked capable of ending Meath's reign as the early exchanges developed.

Ratoath's Bobby O'Brien received a yellow card after only seven minutes when he tested the referee's resolve. The Ratoath student had received a lecture from Dublin referee Brian O'Shea for an earlier offence and on this occasion, the caution was a good antidote.

Wicklow looked certain to score a goal when Wolfe combined with Eoin Devlin, but the corner forward was denied by a smart reaction save from team captain and goalkeeper Conor McHugh who got a vital touch.

That reprieve boosted Meath who countered positively and a Danny McGovern point got them on the scoreboard.

The Royal County trailed by 0-1 to 0-2 at the end of a Wicklow dominated first-quarter which also produced five wides for the boys from the Garden County. That was a weakness which ultimately proved costly for the team that dumped Dublin out of the competition at the semi-final stage.

Under-pressure Meath got back on terms through an opportunist Bryan McMahon point as Wicklow increased their tally of wides and in the 21st minute the Royals hit the front with a Cian O'Brien goal.

There was a stroke of good fortune about that goal. O'Brien flashed the ball to the net after a Wicklow defender intercepted and then spilled Liam Tolan's pass into the path of the Ratoath student.

That gave Meath a good platform to build on and they finished the half strongest with points from Ryan Tighe, Andy O'Brien, Bobby O'Brien and Sean Sheridan for a 1-6 to 0-2 interval advantage.

Meath resumed smartly and had a fine point from Bobby O'Brien on the board inside a minute when he finished a six-man move which was initiated by corner back Alister Doyle.

Then Cian O'Brien gained the credit for a second Meath goal in the fifth minute after Liam Tolan did all the hard work.

Tolan's effort was heading for the net when O'Brien helped it across the line, just to make sure. That gave Meath an 11-point cushion which had increased to 2-10 to 0-4 by the end of the third-quarter.

There was no way back for Wicklow at that stage although they kept battling without ever posing any great threat.

The target now for this team is to achieve success outside the province and the next test will arrive on Saturday, 20th February when Munster champions Cork will provide the opposition in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Meath - Conor McHugh (Oldcastle); Alaister Doyle (Dunshaughlin), Conor McGill (Dunshaughlin), Graham Eiffe (Ratoath); Matthew Devine (Ashbourne), Paddy Haslam (Ratoath), Ryan Tighe (Oldcastle 0-1); Cian O'Brien (Ratoath 2-1), Phelim Dowling (Ashbourne); Bobby O'Brien (Ratoath 0-2), Danny McGovern (Kells 0-2), Sean Sheridan (Longwood 0-1); Bryan McMahon (Ratoath 0-2), Andy O'Brien (Ashbourne 0-1 free), Liam Tolan (Ashbourne 0-2). Subs - Colm McCullagh (Ratoath) for B O'Brien 45 mins, Anthony Owens (Nobber 0-1) for Haslam 51m, Paddy Kennedy (Dunshaughlin) for Dowling 56m, Oliver Sheridan (Kells) for Doyle 57m, Barry Farrelly (Kells 0-1) for Tolan 58m

Wicklow - P Miley; P O'Toole,P Geoghegan, J Byrne; S Ryder, H Douglas (0-2), T Smith; S Murphy, C McGraynor (0-1); D Healy, J Merrigan, C McKenna; E Devlin, E Wolfe (0-1), J Graham (0-1). Subs - C Lyons for Graham 12 mins, S Magee (0-1) for Devlin 33m, M O'Brien for O'Toole 42m, P O'Rourke for Lyons 57m

Referee - Brian O'Shea (Dublin).