Meath's Jamie Queeney is challenged by Longford's Francie McGee during Sunday's senior football challenge at Kilmainhamwood. Photo: John Quirke photography.

McEnaney closer to his starting 15

Published: Wed 11 May 2011, 5:30 PM

Seamus McEnaney may be thankful that he has four weeks to iron out the chinks in Meath's armour as he prepares for their Leinster SFC opener against Kildare or Wicklow on Sunday 5th June. Last Sunday evening's disappointing defeat by Longford in a challenge at Kilmainhamwood, hot on the heels of defeat by Monaghan six days earlier, suggests that McEnaney will have his work cut out if Meath are to defend their provincial title this summer. The manager believes that he is close to his starting 15 for the June test at Croke Park, but supporters may still be scratching their heads as Meath have now played nine games since the NFL started in February and won just once. Such form ahead of the championship is worrying and the confidence gained following the NFL Div 2 draw with Tyrone appears to have drained from the side. Meath laboured against the NFL Div 4 champions Longford on Sunday evening and the one-point defeat, 2-12 to 2-13, flattered the hosts. The deployment of Na Fianna forward Jamie Queeney at full-back backfired and that will be one lesson learned for the former Monaghan boss who has a lot more work on his hands. There is still four weeks to the start of the campaign for Meath, but McEnaney's preparations will be hindered by another round of club championship fixtures this weekend. "Thank God we have four weeks to go until we play in the championship," the manager told the Meath Chronicle after watching his side slump against Longford. "The third round of club championship matches next week is an awkward one. I understand that the CCC want to get the championship played, but its difficult for us because we lose the lads for another week of the build-up. "The opposite side of the coin to that is that at least we have them for three uninterupted weeks after that. We are not 100 miles away from knowing what our starting 15 will be for the championship. "If you go back over our last three games, the team has been piecing together nicely. The challenge game against Longford was for trying out new things . "I was quite happy with some performances, but we would have liked to have won the game. "Longford will be playing two weeks ahead of us in the championship. We have a good bit of work to do yet, but we have time. "It would be good to get a winning run going, one win will turn things around for us and the matches we want to be winning are in the championship. "The game on 5th June in Croke Park is the game we want to win and I have no concerns about that at all," concluded the manager. Meath's Leinster SFC quarter-final against either Kildare or Wicklow will be live from Croke Park on RTE on Sunday 5th June at 2.0 as will a potential Leinster SFC semi-final against Laois, Longford or Dublin on Sunday 26th June, 4.0. McEnaney will join the RTE commentary team for next Sunday's Ulster SFC game between Antrim and Donegal.