That eagerly-sought Leinster Ladies' Senior Football Championship title eluded Meath again in 2004 when they lost by four points to Laois at the semi-final hurdle in Stradbally in July. It was a disappointing conclusion to the title race for Martin Connolly's side and, after notching a highly impressive personal tally of 2-5 in that match against the women from the midlands county, ace attacker Jackie Shiels surely had every reason to feel that she didn't deserve to end up on the losing team. Unfortunately, that's the way it worked out as Laois triumphed by four points on a 4-12 to 4-8 score line in a match that certainly kept the umpires waving the green flags busy for the hour. The Royal County must have gone into the provincial championship with high hopes of making a serious impact after they had enjoyed a very progressive National Football League Div. 1B campaign which saw them reach the quarter-finals where they went under to Cork. There were six counties in each section of the league, with the top four from both going through to the quarter-finals, so Meath had to seriously fancy their chances of safely making it through to the business end of the competition. They opened their campaign with a narrow defeat against Dublin, but their form after that initial loss suggested that they were moving in the right direction as they ran up a sequence of victories which elevated them to the top of their section. They bounced back from the loss to Dublin by getting the better of Laois by 3-13 to 1-7 at Simonstown on a day when Jenny Rispin helped herself to two goals and Elaine Duffy was top scorer with 1-7 and this was followed up by wins over Roscommon, Waterford and Tyrone, with the last of those successes surely leaving the players and all involved with the team very optimistic for the knock-out stages of the league and the upcoming championship campaign. The Royal County certainly brought their scoring boots with them for that assignment against the Ulster outfit and tallied no fewer than five goals as they won very comfortably by 5-11 to 3-5 to set themselves up nicely for the quarter-final clash with Cork. Unfortunately, that's where their National League ambitions ended as the Rebel County ran out very clear-cut winners on a 3-13 to 0-10 score line. Meath had it all to do when Cork moved into a 2-6 to 0-6 half-time advantage and five points was as close as they managed to get in the second period when Jackie Shiels had the misfortune to miss a penalty. Despite that loss it had still been a very good league campaign for Meath and they must have held high hopes as they prepared for the Leinster Championship. Reaching the semi-finals was never going to be much of a problem due to the make-up of the competition. Meath, Longford, Dublin, Louth and Laois battled it out in a league format, with the top four teams in the group advancing. So, only one team would ultimately fail to go through. Meath opened their bid for provincial championship honours with a very tough assignment away to 2003 beaten All-Ireland SFC finalists Dublin at Naomh Mearnog, Portmarnock, on Sunday, May 23 and it was a match the visitors must have felt very unfortunate to lose. Dublin came out on top narrowly by 0-10 to 0-8, but Meath really should have won it as they had a goal disallowed early in the game and the home county snatched victory with a brace of points deep into injury time. Katie O'Brien was the player who had that goal ruled out when the referee claimed Geraldine Doherty had thrown the ball and Dublin also led by two points at half-time (0-5 to 0-3). However, with the highly talented Shiels in magnificent form Meath found their rhythm after the change of ends when O'Brien and Duffy also proved to be increasingly influential. Meath responded well to the challenge and edged in front, but Dublin battled back, levelled the scores on the stroke of full-time and snatched the win with those late, late scores. After that setback it was very important that Meath bounced back and returned to their winning ways and that's exactly how it turned out as they entertained neighbours Louth at Simonstown and won by no fewer than 19 points (2-18 to 0-5). The Wee County failed to register a score in the opening half as Meath got off to a very productive start with four early points and a goal from a penalty by Shiels which helped them to a very comfortable 1-7 to 0-0 interval advantage. With such a healthy lead, the second-half was always going to be something of a formality, but Meath didn't exactly ease off and added a further1-11 to their tally as Katie O'Brien led the charge. Some very good defensive play by Debbie Mangan, Jane Burke and Mary Sheridan helped restrict Louth to five points in that second period, while Doherty contributed two points from midfield and Shiels, Duffy and Eimear O'Carroll proved threatening up front. Duffy scored the second-half goal and Shiels finished with a fine personal tally of 1-7. Another victory followed against Longford, before Meath concluded the group stages of the championship with a meeting against Laois, by which stage both counties had already made it safely through to the semi-finals. As a result, the match produced little in the way of excitement as Laois won by 3-9 to 1-11. Meath, fielding a largely experimental team, didn't exactly get off to a good start and the O'Moore County pushed ahead by 1-1 to 0-0, before the losers started to settle into the contest. Elaine Duffy scored three points, but Laois had the upper hand and added a further 1-5 to their tally to retire at half-time with a very comfortable 2-6 to 0-3 lead. To their credit, Meath did well to bounce back with 1-8 in the second-half, including a goal from a Shiels penalty, but Laois held on. The dust had barely settled on that meeting of the counties when Meath and Laois clashed again, but this time the stakes were high, with a Leinster final place up for grabs. But, despite that fine personal contribution of 2-5 from Shiels and the fact that Laois were down to 14 players for the last 10 minutes following a sin-binning, Meath were four points adrift at the end and their dream of a ticket to the decider was dashed for another year. O'Carroll gave Meath a boost with the opening goal of the match, but Laois hit back with a scoring salvo to open up a six-point gap. However, Shiels notched the first of her goals to help Meath back to level terms, but the winners held a slender 2-5 to 2-4 interval cushion. Laois upped the tempo again in the second-half and pushed five points clear, but goals from Shiels and Edel McGrane helped Meath into a narrow lead which, unfortunately, they were unable to hold onto in the closing stages. "Losing the Leinster semi-final to Laois was a big disappointment," recalled Meath player Eimear O'Carroll. "It would have been great to get to the final. We came close and had a lot of possession, particularly in the second-half. But on the day they were the stronger team and won it by four points. "We were without Grainne Nulty, our midfielder, and Louise McKeever for the championship campaign and they were certainly very big losses to the team. They had gone to America and their absence was felt. Both of them are strong players and they were missed." But, looking to the future, Eimear remains optimistic that Meath can make the championship breakthrough. "I feel that the players are certainly there in the county," she added. "But it's a matter of co-ordinating it. "Meath have enjoyed successes in the under-age ranks and the players from those teams are still there. It takes a lot of organisation and commitment and it's just a matter of getting it together. But I would certainly be optimistic for the future." And Eimear believes that organisation has had a lot to do with Dublin's rise to power in Leinster where they have overtaken other counties. "Dublin are very well organised at all levels," she said. "That goes back to the club set-up and the County Board and it's reflected in their success. They have improved a lot and that is also to do with their discipline." The Meath team in the Leinster semi-final was - C. Griffin; S. Dooley, M. Sheridan, S. McCormack; M. Dunne, J. Burke, D. Mangan; G. Doherty, P. Sheridan; J. Rispin (0-1), J. Shiels (2-5), E. Duffy (0-1); E. O'Carroll (1-0), E. McGrane (1-0), K. O'Brien (0-1). Sub - A. Ennis for Duffy. Meath also reached the semi-finals of the Leinster Junior Championship, but suffered disappointment, going under by 1-6 to 1-16 to Wexford, also at Stradbally. The Royal County had earlier recorded wins over Westmeath (6-13 to 1-5) and Offaly (3-12 to 5-4), but lost heavily to Kildare. Wexford, who had been downgraded from senior at the end of last year, dominated the early exchanges in the final while aided by the wind and opened up a commanding 1-12 to 0-2 interval lead. Despite a goal from Julie Ann Scanlon and good performances by Orla Brennan, Ciara Dempsey, Aisling Ennis and Irene Munnelly there was no way back for Meath. The Meath team in the semi-final was - E. Murray; L. Lee, I. Munnelly, G. Davitt; S. Toher, C. Kennedy, E. Finnerty; O. Brennan, JA Scanlon (1-0); O. Sheridan (0-2), C. Dempsey, A. Ennis (0-3); C. Cunningham, L. Cunningham, L. Hutchinson (0-1). Sub - N. Rogan for L. Cunningham. Tweet

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