Slane look set to be crowned top cats again
TOM GANNON
In the past, the Meath JFC has served as a springboard for young sides looking to reach the peak of Meath football.
Ratoath, Wolfe Tones, Curraha all claimed the junior crown in the relatively recent past and those sides have developed into established senior sides.
This year's championship has the potential to be one of the most intriguing renewals seen for quite some time.
There are so many stories of retribution ready to be told.
The last nine beaten finalists are still competing in this year's Meath JFC. While Dunsany can take credit for a good portion of that statistic, it does show how this championship can imprison good solid teams for years.
One thing is for certain, nothing can be taken for granted and come October the eventual winners of this competitive championship will have rightfully earned their spot in the 2025 Meath IFC.
On that note, a good place to start is with last year’s finalists, Clann na nGael.
The 2019 champions held their own in the intermediate grade for a couple of years but were eventually summoned back down to this fortress of the Meath JFC.
Wides cost Clann na nGael in last year's finale as they were outclassed by a strong Kilbride side. However last year's championship showed that Niall McLoughlin’s charges have the capabilities to compete at this level and will certainly have a say come the business end of the championship.
Despite the aforementioned stat above, beaten finalists do have an extremely good record of getting back into the final the following year for another crack at glory and Clann na nGael also had a solid Div 3 league campaign.
Before last week's A FL Div 5 final, Slane wwere unbeaten in 2024. The Tailteann Cup winners made light work of Div 5 and were odds-on to claim the title. Things didn’t go to plan on the day and they were stunned by Moynalty.
Nevertheless, Slane are a side that everyone will be fearful of heading into this Junior championship. The Junior B champions have massive depth to their squad and they seem to have the required balance between youth and experience. If Des Teeling’s side finds a rhythm in the championship early on, they will be hard-stopped.
St Vincent’s are a side that has won this championship in recent years but were unable to maintain their intermediate status for very long.
Paul McManus’s side is full of individual game-changers. Conor Harford and Mark Crawley have been fantastic servants to the club as have the Hand brothers. However, Ardcath’s real secret weapon is the extraordinarily talented Michael McIvor.
Still only a teenager, McIvor is one of the most talented young footballers in the county. Regardless of what happens in this campaign, McIvor has a bright future ahead of him, but he is talented enough to carry St Vincent’s deep into this championship.
Last year's quarter finalists Syddan are not to be discounted. Throughout the years Syddan have a history of making life difficult for sides that may possess higher quality of players. The obvious stand-out player among the Syddan ranks is Daire Rowe, who at one stage was being hailed as the saviour of Meath football. In the last 12 to 18 months, it seems as if Rowe has recaptured his love of the game. Along with his brother Thomas, Daire’s impact will have a big say in how far Syddan reach in this year's championship.
Ballinlough had quite a solid 2023 campaign reaching the semi-final. Ken Rothwell’s side will come into the championship full of confidence having reached a Div 4 league final. In terms of the make-up of their team, Ballinlough are not too dissimilar to the fancied St Vincent’s side in that they have fantastic individual talent. Their half-forward line of Harry Ryan, Daire Shine and Benji Smith is eye-catching. Unfortunately for them though they find themselves in the group of death along with Dunderry and St Vincent's.
Following on from a dismal 2023, Dunderry return to the junior ranks. They are off the back of a very mediocre A FL Div 3 campaign. Kevin Dowd has some solid reliable players in the likes of Conor Leavy and Dermot Kelly. Have we seen enough from this side though to suggest that they can bounce straight back up to Intermediate? Probably not.
2022 Junior B champions St Brigid's certainly left their mark on last year’s championship. In their very first year in the grade, the north Meath men only just missed out on a final when they were beaten by eventual winner Kilbride in the semis. They may struggle this year though in a tough group.
Dunsany and Kilmainham are two solid junior sides with the former having a good track record of making it into the finals. Both sides are fortunate enough to be in a three-team group as one will likely make a quarter-final. However, neither has the quality to progress much further than that.
No relegation this year adds a bit of spice to the action in that even the weaker sides have the freedom to go for broke in every game with not a whole lot of risk on the line, but as is almost always the case the cream will rise to the top and Slane look set to be the top cats once again.