Congratulations to the Meath Under 14 Hurling Development squad who claimed top National Honours winning the Tony Forrestal All-Ireland B competiton in Newry on Sat 30th Aug. Captained by Rathkenny's Michael Dineen the A-Panel were victorious over Derry winning 1-07 to 0-08. The determined B-Panel Won their Semifinal.   However due to scheduling issues the final could not be played.

The Meath U14 hurling panel had a fantastic day out at the National Under 14 Hurling competition  hosted by Down GAA at various venues around Newry culmination in Finals at Pairc Esler Stadium.

There were 13 counties competing in the A competition and 6 teams in the B group, Meath were in the fortunate position to have large A and B panels participating.   The first team at Abbey Grammar School and the second team playing their games at Down headquarters.  Having topped their group the A team faced stiff opposition in what proved to be an exciting and tense semi-final versus the boys from the Mourne County.  The quality of hurling and scoring from both teams was immense considering the game was 15min a side, for both teams combined to score 32 points in 30 minutes shows how lethal both sets of forwards were in that game.

Group Game Round 1: 
Meath  2-11    v  Wicklow  0-06

Group Game Round 2:
Meath  2-09    v   South Ulster  1-02

Cup Semi-final: 
Meath  4-08   v  Down  3-03

Cup Final:  
Meath 1-07    v Derry  0-08

The Finals were all brought back to Pairc Esler, where Meath overcame a very strong and determined Derry side in the decider.  These teams were evenly matched and went point for point all the way trough this 20 min a-side game.   A well taken goal  proved the difference giving the Meath lads the honors and they took the Tony Forrestal back across the border for the second year in succession. 

The Tony Forrestal Cup was accepted by Meath Captain Michael Dineen on behalf of his team-mates
"We had a dry run at the competition three weeks ago and we knew that our lads would be in the running for top honors when this competition came around for real.   The skill level, work rate and veracious tackling, hooking and blocking from the Meath lads along with excellent decision making and score taking including some very classy scores paid dividends throughout.   We were also delighted with the B-Teams performance and we are confident that had their final been played they would also have emerged victorious.   We would like to thank all players for their efforts, they represented their county with distinction and  in a well behaved manner and we are very proud of each and every player…  In addition we would also like to thank the friends and family that came along to support the lads.   "  said Manager Paul McCann

Our thanks to Down GAA's Michael McCullagh and his team across 3 venues on the day.  The standard of competition was excellent and our two full panels enjoyed the occasion immensely.

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