Countdown to historic Super 8s tie at Pairc Tailteann

Injury concerns will be the main source of worry for Meath manager Andy McEntee ahead of Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC Super 8s showdown against Kerry at Pairc Tailteann, 6pm.

The biggest game of the year for Meath, perhaps the biggest in a decade, from a Meath perspective with levels of expectation more to do with the performance of the team on Saturday evening than the result.

Accessing any information from either the Meath or Kerry camps has proved impossible with neither McEntee or his Kerry counterpart, Peter Keane, willing to talk to the Meath Chronicle, or any media, if the information from the respective PROs is accurate.

Meath PRO Ciaran Flynn suggested that while there wasn’t a ban on the media, manager McEntee was not keen to do any interviews, instead opting to concentrate fully on the preparations for the visit of Kerry.

The Meath PRO did confirm that Mickey Newman was making good progress and could be fit enough to be considered for selection with the same description applied to Ben Brennan and Ronan Ryan.

Newman limped out of the second round tussle with Mayo last Sunday week at Croke Park on the stroke of half-time and the Kilmainham man faces a race against time to make the starting 15 this weekend.

Kerry PRO Leona Twiss had a similar tale to tell when contacted by the Meath Chronicle at the weekend.

The Kerry manager would not be doing any media interviews and would, instead, be concentrating on the preparations for the trip to Navan.

Kerry manager Peter Keane

The Kerry PRO did confirm that the Munster champions would not be taking the challenge of Meath lightly in what is a must-win game for the Kingdom.

On the level of support that Kerry can expect to bring to Navan on Saturday she suggested that as it was a Bank Holiday weekend that a sizeable number of fans would be “making a weekend out of it” and perhaps taking the opportunity to visit attractions like Tayto Park after Saturday’s encounter in Navan.

However, David Moran is back in the Kerry line up for the game  fafter missing the draw with Donegal due to a foot injury.

With all that subterfuge surrounding the build-up to what is a fairly straightforward encounter, what are the expectations that Meath need to satisfy by 7.25pm on Saturday evening.

Firstly, the majority of GAA supporters in the Royal County will accept that Meath go into the game as massive underdogs. 

Secondly, they would also accept that the most likely outcome will be a win for Kerry.

Against that background what can the Meath players hope to achieve in what will be their last competitive game of 2019.

Planning for the next assignment and the NFL Div 1 in 2020 will be the main item on the agenda and a victory on Saturday for Meath would be a tremendous boost to the prospects of making an impact next year.

Saturday’s tussle with Kerry will mark the first visit of the Munster men to Pairc Tailteann since 1996 and a first clash in a decade since the 2009 All-Ireland SFC semi-final at Croke Park.

The landscape in Meath football has changed a lot since that 2009 game, but after almost a decade in the doldrums, Meath football is in the ascendancy again and manager McEntee and his backroom team of Gerry Cooney, Donal Curtis, Finian Murtagh and Colm Nally deserve credit for what they have achieved.

Another rousing performance on Saturday will be greatly helped by substantial support in the old stadium.

Supporters leaving the ground afterwards will surely have plenty of reasons for optimism as they start to look forward to next January when the focus will be very much on consolidation in the NFL Div 1. 

Already there has been a significant boost for manager McEntee with the return last week of Donal Lenihan to action with his club Dunboyne.

Lenihan helped Dunboyne to victory against Donaghmore/Ashbourne in the B FL Div 1 final.

Last year he was the top scorer for both his club and his county and in last week’s decider claimed 1-5.

That suggests he hasn’t lost any of his sharpness.

Not a bad set of circumstances to start planning for next year.

TEAMS
Meath - not available yet.

Kerry - Shane Ryan; Jason Foley; Tadhg Morley, Tom O'Sullivan; Paul Murphy, Gavin Crowley, Shane Enright; David Moran, Adrian Spillane; Gavin White, Sean O'Shea, Stephen O'Brien; David Clifford, Paul Geaney, Killian Spillane. 

CHAMPIONSHIP FACTFILE
LEINSTER 
First round - Meath 1-13, Offaly 0-14.
Quarter-final - Meath 2-18, Carlow 0-9.
Semi-final - Meath 3-13, Laois 0-11.
Final - Meath 0-4,  Dublin 1-17.

MUNSTER 
Semi-final - Kerry 1-15, Clare 0-12.
Final - Kerry 1-19, Cork 3-10.
ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIER
Fourth round - Meath 2-16, Clare 1-18.

ALL-IRELAND SUPER 8S
First round - Kerry 1-22, Mayo 0-15; Donegal 2-19, Meath 1-13.
Second round - Kerry 1-20, Donegal 1-20; Mayo 2-17, Meath 0-14.
NEXT UP
Third round - Meath v Kerry, Mayo v Donegal.

STANDINGS
               P    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
Kerry       2    1    1    0    48    38    3
Donegal  2    1    1    0    48    39    3
Mayo       2    1    0    1    38    39    2
Meath      2    0    0    2    30    48    0