Momentum with Meath

Seven short months ago when Meath were getting hammered by Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh and losing to Fermanagh in Navan few would have predicted that on the second Sunday in August they would be contesting an All-Ireland SFC quarter-final in Croke Park. However, that is exactly the prospect that awaits them next Sunday when Mayo stand in the way of an All-Ireland SFC semi-final renewal with Kerry that could instantly spark memories of Meath's massive penultimate round victory over the Kingdom in 2001. Just as it was that day and in the early weeks of this year most are already writing off Meath's chances against the Connacht champions, but Mayo will fear the Royal rebellion and the momentum that is with Eamonn O'Brien's men at the moment will take some stopping. By virtue of their drubbings of New York (2-19 to 0-10) and Roscommon (3-18 to 0-7) in the Connacht SFC and their narrow win over Galway (2-12 to 1-14) in their provincial final Mayo will justifiably be favourites, but Meath have the benefit of games under their belts and that will stand to them. Three weeks without a game might seem like a blessing for Mayo, but in that same period Meath have enjoyed competitive outing against increasingly better opposition in Roscommon and Limerick and they should be more battle hardened for the challenge that lies ahead. There is no doubting the outstanding quality of the Mayo team this year. Unlike other campaigns they don't seem fragile in any sector and their full-forward line is one of the best in the business, even though Barry Moran is ruled out because of a broken hand. Meath too will be without their talismatic attacker Stephen Bray. The Navan O'Mahonys man was red carded against Limerick and is unlikely to win an appeal without substantial video evidence, although the decision did seem very harsh by Armagh referee Padraig Hughes. Without Bray Meath will be missing their best link man. A lot of scores have come from the captain's creativity in recent weeks and if no one can step into his boots then Meath might struggle. However, manager Eamonn O'Brien is confident that his panel will stand up and be counted for against a Mayo side that he confesses he knows very little about other than what he has seen on television. "I haven't thought much about Mayo," he said in the immediate aftermath of Saturday's win over Limerick. "I don't know if John O'Mahony will be a worried man. We will be prepared the best we can for next Sunday and we will look at Mayo next week. "We only saw them so far this year on the television, but we saw how much they dominated in Connacht. We will enjoy tonight and then focus on Mayo tomorrow, but we will prepare properly for the challenge. "It is nice to be back in Croke Park. It is not the route we would have chosen at the start. We would have taken a more direct route, but we are there now again and in the last eight and that was one of our objectives at the start of the year. We will see where it takes us," he said. Pundits in every sector of the media have written off Meath's chances. Dara O Cinneide believes that Meath lack the pace to trouble Mayo, while other RTE Sunday Game pundits believe that Mayo will be too strong. Those 'experts' are entitled to their opinions, but Meath have sufficient quality of their own to quell the threat of Aidan Kilcoyne, Conor Mortimer and Aidan O'Shea and Mayo manager John O'Mahony is not expecting an easy game from Meath. "The reason we won the Connacht final is because we stayed focused on what we could do," explained O'Mahony. "Are people forgetting that Limerick nearly pushed Cork over the cliff in the Munster final? And Meath ran Dublin to two points in Leinster. "It's amazing how perceptions change but reality stays the same. I've never been involved in any easy quarter-final in my time in football. Plus, Meath will have a huge momentum." If Meath can compensate for the massive loss of Bray with players like Brian Farrell, Cian Ward, Peadar Byrne and Joe Sheridan needing to play at 100 per cent then they will trouble Mayo. Defensively O'Brien's charges need to be a tighter. In some games this year Meath have allowed the opposition to stay in touch instead of killing ther game when they had teams at their mercy. Limerick almost made Meath pay for not exerting their dominance on the scoreboard and ensured a tense few moments in the closing stages. The Meath full-back line tend to play their direct opponents from in front and that leaves them prone to the long ball in behind where Mayo will hope to reap rewards. It is a catch-22 situation for the defenders. If they play from behind they are surrendering possession, but play from the front they could be exposed in behind. However, Meath have enough experience at the back to cope with the situation. The midfield pairing of Nigel Crawford and Brian Meade has been a revelation and with Seamus Kenny, Cormac McGuinness and Caoimhin King winning breaking balls there should be enough ammunition for Meath to end the interests of Mayo, but expect another tough uncompromising contest between these old foes.