FOR the first time in four seasons Louth will not have a January final to look forward to.

After reaching the O'byrne Cup decider for the last three successive years the Wee County bowed out tamely at the opening hurdle against their near neighbours at Pairc Tailteann last Sunday.

And with no O'byrne Shield competition to fall back on the Reds face a distinct disadvantage in their preparation for their forthcoming NFL campaign which commences with the visit of Westmeath on the first Sunday of February.

A lack of competitive outings at this stage could well work against Peter Fitzpatrick's men in their efforts to make an impression in the league or even hold on to their division two status.

This was January football at its worst and indeed neither manager could have drawn much comfort from their sides' display. It tends to be crazy stuff at this time every year anyway and this game was no different - borne out by the level of expectation and excitement among the home attendance at the prospect of 'Golden Oldie' Graham Geraghty being introduced.

The 38-and-a-half-year-old made a number of cameo warmups before eventually being let loose with 15 minutes remaining. The stand almost came tumbling down such was the reception of the home support as the 1999 All-ireland winning captain galloped into the action. He failed to make a Kauto Star impression on his return, but the excitement levels heightened every time he came anywhere close to the action.

A home semi-final outing against DCU this Saturday evening will have satisfied Seamus Mcenaney even if some of his side's play, particularly their finishing left a lot to be desired.

David Collier, Cathal Bellew, Eoin O'connor and Ronan Holcroft all made their competitive debuts, but Louth were never in with a chance of causing an upset, mainly because of their inadequacies in attack. A lightweight forward division got little change from more seasoned opponents and they also produced some woeful finishing at times.

A Holcroft point on 28 minutes was all Louth had to show for their opening half efforts. Meath led 0-5 to 0-1 at the break after Louth kicked seven first half wides and that lead stretched to seven points in the third quarter.

Apart from the wide tally, a number of other efforts dropped harmlessly into the hands of Meath keeper David Gallagher as Louth attempted to dust off the cobwebs. The visitors did show improvement throughout the second half and had a cracking effort from substitute Darren Clarke not come off the underside of the crossbar on 44 minutes Louth might have at least made a contest of it.

Meath started with just one change from the Wexford match. Chris O'connor replaced Ciaran Lenehan, and just as they had done against the Model County they made a promising start with points from Graham Reilly (two) and Paddy Gilsenan inside eight minutes.

Reilly went on to produce a man of the match display with five excellent points from play while Gilsenan, though not as conspicuous in the second half showed an enormous appetite in the winners' attack. Stephen Bray replaced the injured Alan Forde after 10 minutes and while it took him quite a while to find the range he eventually finished with a tally of three points.

'Keeper Duane Crosbie saved David Collier's blushes by making an excellent block from Gilsenan after the full back played a ball straight into the path of the unmarked Bray on 19 minutes.

Liam Shevlin, Andy Mcdonnell, Ray Finnegan and Paddy Keenan were all guilty of poor finishing before Holcroft eventually got his side off the mark with a good score under pressure from a Derek Maguire pass.

Both sets of forwards continued to show rustiness before Bray and Gilsenan increased the Meath lead coming up to halftime.

Louth introduced Darren Clarke, Mark Brennan and Gerard Hoey at the start of the second half but it was a much sharper Meath who continued to set the pace with Reilly adding to his tally on 38 and 45 minutes to increase the lead.

Substitute Clarke was unlucky to see a great strike come off the woodwork before Keenan added to his side's solitary score with a pointed free.

Meath replied immediately through Bray and corner back Mickey Burke then got upfield to add another for good measure. The game was well over as a contest at that stage and Andy Mcdonnell and Reilly exchanged scores before Geraghty brought a Jedward-type hysteria to proceedings when replacing Mark Ward.

The visitors outscored the hosts in the final 15 minutes with Ronan Carroll and Darren Clarke, from a free, on target for a Louth team who were a beaten force long before the final whistle.

- SEAN WALL at Pairc Tailteann