Shane McAnarney netted as Meath made a solid start to their Allianz Football League Division Two campaign by beating Monaghan by six points.
Seamus McEnaney’s Royal County defeated his former team by 1-15 to 1-9 in Navan, with Stephen Bray bagging 0-6 against the men relegated from the top tier last spring.
Bray sent over 0-4 in the first half, while the trimmed-down Graham Reilly accounted for 0-3 as Meath led by 0-10 to 1-6 at half-time at Pairc Tailteann.
They held onto their lead despite seeing their flow interrupted by a deflected James Turley goal after the Farney man had burst through the heart of the Meath back line. Monaghan were also aided by good scoring from captain Darren Hughes and Eoin Duffy.
Cian Ward and Paddy Gilsenan were other Meath men on the mark in the first half, with Bray and Gilsenan adding to their lead after the restart. Sub Joe Sheridan then put four between the sides as Monaghan began to lose track of their shooting boots.
Hughes eventually ended their long scoring drought, and Meath got nervous when Paul Finlay made up for some bad earlier misses to bring the gap back to two. However, Meath killed off Farney hopes when Bray and Ward combined to create the chance for centre-back McAnarney to find the net.
He did just that to push his side into an unassailable lead, and not even the sending-off of Gilsenan for a professional foul could help Monaghan thereafter.