There will be no in-depth analysis required on Graham Reilly's strengths and weaknesses by the Louth management ahead of this weekend's Leinster SFC quarter-final local derby.

Wee County boss Colin Kelly and selector Colm Nally are both well aware of the threat posed by the Meath captain as they have managed him at club level.

The latter guided Reilly and St Colmcille's to Meath and Leinster IFC success as well as last February's All-Ireland Club final defeat to Westport of Mayo at Croke Park.

That is an interesting sub-plot to next Sunday's game and it's safe to assume that he will be a marked man once the ball is thrown in by referee Barry Cassidy at 3pm.

He scored three points in the corresponding fixture 12 months ago when the team in green and gold recorded a 0-20 to 1-13 success.

"Anytime we play Louth I'm probably going to be face of Meath or whatever way you want to look at it because I'm so close to them and, obviously, because of Colin and Colm," Reilly remarked.

"They know quite a bit about me but look I'm looking forward to it. Meath versus Louth, it's going to be a full Parnell Park on a Bank Holiday Sunday. Sure what else could you want!"

The 28-year-old revealed he got a pleasant surprise when new Meath manager Andy McEntee approached him about taking on the captaincy of the team for 2017.

"When Andy asked me, I think it was the first week in January, I was a little bit shocked because I didn't expect it. It's an honour, obviously. I didn't think it would come this year, maybe in the next two or three years, but, I've taken it my stride. I'm trying to get into the best possible shape I can be to produce on the field.

"As I said to Andy at the time, I might not be the most talkative captain off the field but I like to do my talking on the field with my scores, with my work-rate, whatever I have to do."

The behind-the-scenes work that inter-county players go through to make sure they are in "the best possible shape" when they report for championship duty is something that is often overlooked by supporters and media alike when results don't go their way.

Despite the intense public scrutiny, 'Biggy' - who made his senior championship debut in 2010 - believes the positives of being an inter-county footballer far outweigh the negatives.

"Look, it's inter-county football, it's the way it's gone. If you don't like it, don't play it.

"For Meath anyway, every player on the panel wants to play with their county. If that means that they train seven nights a week, they train seven nights a week. That's just the way it is, that's the level it has gone to.

"I'm sure it's harder for different counties that maybe don't have the same support that we have from Owen (Brennan) and Devenish Nutrition, the County Board and Andy and his backroom team.

"That could be difficult but, in general, most county players want to play with their county and if they have to train that much, then they have to train that much."

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