Meath hoping to reverse recent trends against Dublin

LADIES GAA

After a somewhat vagarious league campaign, Meath kick-start their Ladies Leinster SFC with a clash against old rivals Dublin on Saturday at 2pm in Pairc Tailteann, writes Tom Gannon.

These two have bumped into each other on a fair few occasions in recent memory and for the last couple of years Dublin have had Meath's number. Out of the last five meetings of the sides, Dublin have won on four occasions. The last three times the sides met, Dublin has won by 16, 18, and 20 points - ominous signs.

Meath will of course be hoping that they can change the tide this Saturday. When the two met in the league earlier in the year, the Royals were going through a bad run of form and the week before had been soundly beaten by Kildare.

Shane McCormack's side seemed to turn a corner in their last couple of games in NFL Div 1. A good performance in defeat against Kerry was followed up by a fantastic win on the road over Armagh.

Dublin finished out their league campaign with two wins over Kerry and Tyrone but against the Ulster outfit, they were less than convincing. They only beat the side who were relegated back to Div 2 by one point. There is no doubt that, even though only three teams are competing, this Leinster Championship will be the most competitive renewal in quite some time. You cannot underestimate a Kildare side who had a very successful league campaign so the winners of this weekend's game will have a huge weight of pressure lifted off their shoulders.

Obviously, on the evidence of the last few previous meetings, Dublin will be warm favourites, but Shane McCormack's side will be keen to avenge the last couple of drubbings that the Dubs have inflicted upon the Royals, and what a better place to do that than in front of your own fans.