With just a draw needed to clinch promotion back to Division One, Jim McCorry’s men had everything to play for on what should have been an evening of celebration at Pairc Esler.

But they fell flat and crashed to a seven points defeat at the hands of a Royal side battling to avoid being drawn into a relegation dogfight.

All credit to Mick O’Dowd and his men, who travelled north with a resolve and a belief in their own ability.

Late collapses have been a feature of their season, but on this occasion, it was Meath who drove for home with a second half burst that produced goals from Bryan Menton and Padraic Harnan.

Paul Devlin converted an early free, which was cancelled out when Padraic Harnan latched on to a short kick-out to intercept and score.

Kick-outs continued to be a problem for the Mourne men, allowing their opponents to gain cheap possession that they turned into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead by the tenth minute, with Mark O’Sullivan converting a couple of frees.

Devlin’s second free narrowed the gap, and the Royals had goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke to thank as he came off his line to deny Mark Poland, who had been sent in by Donal O’Hare’s neat flick.

A scrappy encounter was bogged down and almost suffocated by mistakes on the part of both sides, particularly Down, until Shane O’Rourke - making his first start of the season - swung over a fine point to make it 0-5 to 0-2 in Meath’s favour on 20 minutes.

Gillespie, whose fielding was the source of plenty of primary possession for the Leinster men, curled over a gem from wide on the right

The normally reliable Donal O’Hare was guilty of a handful of bad misses as Down’s wide count rose, but Graham Reilly was equally culpable at the other end.

Down finally registered their first point from play through defender Darragh O’Hanlon in the 33rd minute and it was stoppage time before they got a score from a forward, Kevin McKernan narrowing the gap to 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.

O’Sullivan landed his third free, and goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke drove a ’45 into the wind and between the posts as the Royals went 0-8 to 0-4 ahead early in the second half.

And Meath squandered a goal chance when Adam Flanagan sent Eamon Wallace in, but his punched effort lacked conviction and was easily dealt with by Stephen Kane.

Down lost Poland to a black card on 45 minutes, but they narrowed the gap with two Donal O’Hare frees.

And Meath defender Brian Power was also dismissed on a black card during a spell of intense pressure, with the home side, now just a point behind, building momentum.

However, the Royals struck for a goal in the 56th minute, three subs combining for Bryan Menton to finish low following a neat build-up involving Stephen Bray and Mickey Newman.

Menton punched over a point to cancel out Jerome Johnston’s effort, and it was the visitors who led by 1-9 to 0-8 going into the final ten minutes.

They made sure of the points when Harnan latched onto a loose ball to punch to the net three minutes from the end, leaving Down to pick up the pieces and regroup for that final push for promotion against Laois next weekend.

Down: S Kane, G Collins, L Howard, D Turley, P Devlin (0-3, 2f), D O’Hanlon (0-1), C Maginn, P Turley, R Mallon, C McGovern, K McKernan (0-2), M Poland, C Laverty, A McConville, D O’Hare (0-2, 2f).

R Johnston for Maginn (42), C Mooney (0-1) for McConville (42), J Johnston (0-1) for Poland (BC, 45), B McArdle for P Turley (57).

Meath: P O’Rourke (0-1, ’45), D Tobin, C McGill, D Keogan, M Burke, K Reilly, B Power, C Gillespie (0-1), A Flanagan, G Reilly, P Harnan (1-1), J McEntee, E Wallace (0-1), S O’Rourke (0-1), M O’Sullivan (0-3, 3f).

Subs: M Newman for S O’Rourke (h-t), B Menton (1-2) for K Reilly (h-t), D Dalton for Power (BC, 52), S Bray for Wallace (54), J Wallace (0-1) for O’Sullivan (62), S Tobin for Gillespie (69)

Referee: B Cassidy (Derry).