Mick odowd and sean barry finalising senior and u21 panels

Meath senior football manager Mick O'Dowd (pictured) will be planning his 2015 campaign without the services of talented Rathkenny midfielder Brian Meade and Wolfe Tones defender Eoghan Harrington with the possibility of one or two more regulars also likely to be absent when the new campaign starts next January.

It is understood that the two players were absent from a panel meeting held by manager, having informed him that they will not be involved next year.

The decision by both Meade and Harrington to retire from inter-county football, along with Seamus Kenny, who announced his decision earlier this year, will leave the way open for some of the emerging players to stake a claim for a regular starting place.

O'Dowd and his selectors are currently in the process of finalising a panel for next year andthat process is expected to completed shortly.

With a number of players expected to return from injury - including Eamon Wallace and Conor Gillespie - there will be a lot of attention on the make-up of the panel for next year over the next few weeks.

There will also be the announcement of the senior and young player of the year awards later this month with the presentations scheduled to take place at the annual awards night at the Newgrange Hotel, Navan on Friday 21st November.

UNDER-21

Meath u-21 manager Sean Barry won't have much more time to get his panel finalised  ahead of the opening competition of 2015 - the Hastings Cup - which has now received the opfficial seal of approval from the GAA.

Meath will be in action on Saturday 3rd January with an away tie against Cavan.

Meath will be at home to Roscommon on Saturday 10th January

Meath will be away to Kerry on Saturday 17th January.

There will be four groups of four teams. The winner of each group will qualify for the Hastings Cup semi-finals.

The runner-up in each group will qualify for the Hastings Shield semi-finals. Third and fourth placed teams will have no further games in the competition.

Last year Meath got to the Hastings Cup final and were beaten by Roscommon.

Meath will play Westmeath in the Leinster u-21 FC quarter-final in 2015.