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Meath delighted to silence those who wrote them off as they advance to last four

Meath delighted to silence those who wrote them off as they advance to last four

Ruairi Kinsella said sticking it to those who wrote Meath off and finishing so strongly at Croke Park was sweet.
The Royals winced as a six-point lead with 56 minutes on the clock suddenly turned into a three-point deficit at the hour mark.
Galway had all the momentum at that stage and appeared to be finally delivering on their favourites tag after slamming in two goals.
But Meath, the only Division 2 team still alive in the Championship, dug remarkably deep to conjure the scores late on to win it.
Attacker Kinsella said: "When Galway scored that second goal to go three up, I'd say 90 percent of the country wrote us off then, there and then.
"It shows the character in the team, the belief we have that we came back, how hard we've worked all year. We just stayed calm, looked after the ball, and we went again. It was next ball, next ball, next ball. And we came out the right side."
Kinsella praised forward colleague and Man of the Match Jordan Morris, describing the Kingscourt man as unstoppable when on top form.
And he said the team as a whole is brimming with confidence and belief.
Kinsella said: "Yeah, I think that's the main thing, belief really. The boys who have come in in the management have just instilled that belief into us. I feel like over the years we've had the quality, we've had the players, but the belief just wasn't there.
"I think we didn't have the confidence to say, 'Oh yeah, we can beat these teams'. Whereas this year it's a completely different story, we've gone into every game thinking, 'Yeah, why can't we win this game?' So yeah, we've shown that so far in the Championship this year and hopefully we can keep that going."
Galway boss Padraic Joyce was frustrated with a couple of big decisions. Like referee Martin McNally waving play on when Daniel O'Flaherty was stripped of the ball in the buildup to Meath's first goal. And how Eoghan Frayne was able to run down the clock with the last play of the game.
"Connor (Gleeson) had a ball thrown down to kick it in the last two seconds and he just blew it up," said Joyce. "I don't know, he kicked it short to himself. Just frustrated with a few decisions that went against us. That happens, we have to move on and take it."
Joyce said the bottom line was that Galway 'didn't get to the energy levels of the game'.
"I think we conceded 2-6 or 2-7 in turnovers," he said. "I thought it was a harsh free given against Dan O'Flaherty which resulted in Meath's goal as well. Some days you get them, some days you don't."
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