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Club Championship 2025

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Replying To Cabbagepatch1667: "I think the Intermediate final is going to be a cracker. Two attacking teams who play good football, and will be a massive story for whoever wins. Neither will get a better opportunity to go to Senior. Although Castletown have always been a fairly solid Intermediate team, they haven't won it since the mid 1970s, and their first final appearance since 2007. They played Junior football 3 years ago. Similar story for Kilbride, they played Junior B football a few years ago, and won the Junior championship the year after their opponents Saturday week. So a massive turnaround for both teams to get to this point. Castletown will be favourites and I think deservedly so. They came through a very tough group on paper with St Michael's, Duleek B/town and Navan O'Mahony's and after shaky start the opener, they've been fairly flawless since. They were absolutely outstanding at the weekend, and destroyed a Moynalvey team who had ran through everyone. Rian McConnell and Killian Smyth are two brilliant players, and will surely be training with the Meath senior team next year. As for Kilbride, I always thought it was hard to gauge their form and I stand by that. Their group was a gimme. Very impressive against St Pat's who we know are a good team, and against St Michael's really shouldn't have been in a semi final so they beat them in extremely impressive fashion. They've a lot of talent with the likes of Andy McWeeney, Finn Whyte and Josh Harford - they're a big physical team who will be well up for it. So I think it's going to be a cracker, and will be a shootout. I'm leaning towards Castletown at the minute as they've been my pick all year, but Kilbride are very dangerous opponents." Why shouldn't have St Michael's been in a semi final? Talk about Castletown coming out of a tough group, the Michael's came through the same group. Draw with favourites Castletown, lose to NOM, win over duleek, win over Oldcastle. You don't get to a semi final for no reason and with them teams they faced it doesn't get much tougher than that. Definitely deserved their place. talkingproperwallop (Meath) - Posts: 1 - 30/09/2025 17:24:02 2638007 Link
Replying To talkingproperwallop: "Why shouldn't have St Michael's been in a semi final? Talk about Castletown coming out of a tough group, the Michael's came through the same group. Draw with favourites Castletown, lose to NOM, win over duleek, win over Oldcastle. You don't get to a semi final for no reason and with them teams they faced it doesn't get much tougher than that. Definitely deserved their place." Dunshaughlin and Summerhill won one game in their respective groups and were in semi finals at the weekend so your statement re Michaels doesn't add up. Standards of referees has been very inconsistent over past two rounds Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1513 - 30/09/2025 22:13:48 2638042 Link
Replying To talkingproperwallop: "Why shouldn't have St Michael's been in a semi final? Talk about Castletown coming out of a tough group, the Michael's came through the same group. Draw with favourites Castletown, lose to NOM, win over duleek, win over Oldcastle. You don't get to a semi final for no reason and with them teams they faced it doesn't get much tougher than that. Definitely deserved their place." Because when you get beaten by 22 points in a semi final, you probably were a bit out of your depth. They were there on merit, sure. But you can't say with a straight face that there wouldn't have been a handful of other teams who would have actually given Kilbride a game on Sunday. Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 01/10/2025 11:22:24 2638103 Link
Replying To Cabbagepatch1667: "Because when you get beaten by 22 points in a semi final, you probably were a bit out of your depth. They were there on merit, sure. But you can't say with a straight face that there wouldn't have been a handful of other teams who would have actually given Kilbride a game on Sunday." Don't forget Meath got beaten in semi final this year by 20 points , was still a good achievement to get there and was earned Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1513 - 01/10/2025 13:01:09 2638126 Link
Replying To Analyst: "Don't forget Meath got beaten in semi final this year by 20 points , was still a good achievement to get there and was earned" No I fully agree, brilliant achievement, a lot of people would have had them as relegation candidates. They got to where they did on merit, and if you read back I actually tipped them to beat Oldcastle. But a bit like Meath, when push came to shove, they were out of their depth and found out. It's like Meath beating Kerry, would we do it again when it mattered? probably not. Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 01/10/2025 14:48:34 2638147 Link
I'm really looking forward to this weekend; Inter and senior look like a coin flip. What do people think? are Ratoath possibly just too big? Summerhill just gets it done, dont they and have serious experince coming off the bench. Inter- Really would be a step back for the people of north meath if they didnt have any senior team again after Meath hill relegations!! Can castletown perform to the same level again? Meathfootball12 (Meath) - Posts: 19 - 08/10/2025 21:56:23 2639001 Link
Replying To Meathfootball12: "I'm really looking forward to this weekend; Inter and senior look like a coin flip. What do people think? are Ratoath possibly just too big? Summerhill just gets it done, dont they and have serious experince coming off the bench. Inter- Really would be a step back for the people of north meath if they didnt have any senior team again after Meath hill relegations!! Can castletown perform to the same level again?" Sorry this is a ridiculous comment, are kells not a north Meath team ? What do you mean "the people" Faithfulmeath (Meath) - Posts: 33 - 09/10/2025 08:41:29 2639017 Link
Replying To Meathfootball12: "I'm really looking forward to this weekend; Inter and senior look like a coin flip. What do people think? are Ratoath possibly just too big? Summerhill just gets it done, dont they and have serious experince coming off the bench. Inter- Really would be a step back for the people of north meath if they didnt have any senior team again after Meath hill relegations!! Can castletown perform to the same level again?" Just FYI, Tones are North Meath, their parish boundary touches Castletown. Kells are North Meath, Rathkenny are north Meath etc.. But regarding the games, I suspect Ratoath will probably be too strong. Summerhill haven't looked particularly good, and have hobbled to the final. Ratoath have a lot of experience, and a stronger bench too. They should get it done in my opinion At intermediate, yeah it's a complete toss up. Castletown definitely have the form running through Moynalvey, but Kilbride have been pretty flawless too. Can either team reach the level again they produced in the semi? Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 09/10/2025 11:57:44 2639054 Link
This obsession with what part of Meath players/clubs come from is very weird. Summerhill are very slight favourites with the bookies though it's as close to a toss up as you can get. If Flanagan is back, that'll be a massive boost for Summerhill. If we have a similar performance as in the quarter final, we'll be beaten out the gate. Perform like we did at times against Skryne, and we should win. Weather looking like it'll be perfect. Dry and calm all weekend which should allow for a good final. The 2023 final was an excellent one. Going to try to get to the intermediate final as well and hopefully cheer on a local double with Kilbride. Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1425 - 09/10/2025 13:58:28 2639083 Link
Noisy neighbours back in two senior finals, again! Fair play aghref (Meath) - Posts: 153 - 09/10/2025 14:01:00 2639084 Link
Absolutely brilliant intermediate final. One of the games of the year. Congratulations Kilbride! For a long time during the second half, it looked like Castletown were going to pull away but they could never get more than two ahead before Kilbride pulled them back. Then Kilbride's youth seemed to come to the fore in the last 10 minutes or so where Castletown failed to score. Commiserations to Castletown and to Kevin Ross who had a great game despite the last gasp miss. There's gonna be some craic in Sweeneys tonight! Even more craic next season with the potential for some tasty local derbies. Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1425 - 11/10/2025 20:08:04 2639366 Link
Replying To Ratoath Royal: "Absolutely brilliant intermediate final. One of the games of the year. Congratulations Kilbride! For a long time during the second half, it looked like Castletown were going to pull away but they could never get more than two ahead before Kilbride pulled them back. Then Kilbride's youth seemed to come to the fore in the last 10 minutes or so where Castletown failed to score. Commiserations to Castletown and to Kevin Ross who had a great game despite the last gasp miss. There's gonna be some craic in Sweeneys tonight! Even more craic next season with the potential for some tasty local derbies." Agreed, absolutely cracking game of football, edge of the seat stuff. Though Castletown probably threw it away, they had chances towards the end and will feel hard done by not getting a free which would have been to go 2 up late on. Their first defeat of the season which is a crazy stat when you think about it (23 games - 1 draw -1 loss) Kilbride were really good, really impressed with Conor McWeeney and Josh Hartford. Young team who can definitely be competitive at senior level. Unlucky for either team to lose but a cracker none the less Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 12/10/2025 02:43:56 2639414 Link
Hopefully Adam McDonnell can transfer club form too county. Hes a unique player. southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 1032 - 12/10/2025 17:32:38 2639505 Link
Congratulations to Summerhill a superb first-half performance and, in my view, they always looked like the likely winners on the day. It's often said that a bit of luck is needed along the way, and Summerhill certainly had their share. However, when the knockout stages arrived, they raised their game significantly after a very sluggish group stage. I'd imagine it's the first time a team has lifted the Keegan Cup after losing two group matches ? but that won't matter to them now. Ratoath what can you say? An outstanding club that continues to compete year after year in both codes. Truly admirable. I don't recall too many dead rubbers this season. There were some fantastic contests across all groups, in both the knockout rounds and the relegation battles. The decision to change relegation to affect the bottom-placed teams was a smart move this year. Hopefully, we'll see a seeded draw introduced soon perhaps announced next year and implemented by 2027. thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1127 - 12/10/2025 18:21:22 2639528 Link
Replying To southmeathgael: "Hopefully Adam McDonnell can transfer club form too county. Hes a unique player." Agreed, can do a bit of everything. His versatility and football brain would be hugely beneficial. Hopefully given the chance and patience to get up to speed again to the county game. He was in for a bit a couple of years ago and would know alot of squad from underage. winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 817 - 12/10/2025 19:34:12 2639548 Link
Congratulations Summerhill. They did just enough to get out of the group and never looked back. Really disappointed at how we performed. It was a promising start, we fairly dominated the first 10 minutes but only had a point to show for it. Then, we didn't really play again until 10 minutes from the end. At that stage, we were 9 down. While we did get it back to 2, we'd left it too late. Had a handful of goal chances and weren't able to convert them, uncharacteristically. Again, very disappointed, but the amount of work the dual players have gone through this season is ridiculous and that's bound to have had an effect. Hopefully the hurlers can get the job done next weekend. Best of luck to Summerhill in Leinster. Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1425 - 12/10/2025 20:13:31 2639568 Link
Congrats to summerhill, what a club they are in fairness. Seemed like they struggled to motivate themselves for the group stage games but became different animals in the knockout games. Hoping they can represent meath well in leinster now. I'd imagine they would be strong favourites to beat the Longford champs in 3 weeks. Assuming they would then play Naas in the quarter final where they would be big underdogs. redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 419 - 12/10/2025 20:26:25 2639575 Link
How many finals have ratoath lost in football in the last few years? Is it just 2023 + 2025 ? I know in hurling they had lost 3 until last years win hurlit (Meath) - Posts: 437 - 13/10/2025 08:32:45 2639652 Link
Replying To hurlit: "How many finals have ratoath lost in football in the last few years? Is it just 2023 + 2025 ? I know in hurling they had lost 3 until last years win" Could have won more. 24 they gave away 4 goals to dunshaughlin in strategy final. In 23 lost to Summerhill in final.A close game and strategy was poor. This year cockiness was the downfall. There was a wish to win 2 finals ,and they wanted to win without the best 2 players. The Wallace brothers were fully fit but not started. The game was lost when they were let on.and they nearly turned it. Ashrules (Dublin) - Posts: 587 - 13/10/2025 10:05:38 2639677 Link
Replying To Ashrules: "Could have won more. 24 they gave away 4 goals to dunshaughlin in strategy final. In 23 lost to Summerhill in final.A close game and strategy was poor. This year cockiness was the downfall. There was a wish to win 2 finals ,and they wanted to win without the best 2 players. The Wallace brothers were fully fit but not started. The game was lost when they were let on.and they nearly turned it." And so the annual blame game begins in Ratoath if they dont win the championship. Incorrect strategies Incorrect team selection or ludicrous claims like they wanted to win it without their 2 best players playing and only put them on when the game was lost . 6 points down at HT playing with a wind in the 2nd half is hardly a lost cause and EW came on at HT. Could it not just be that they were beaten by the better team on the day and perhaps the better team overall this year and particularly in the knockouts stages Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1085 - 13/10/2025 11:49:53 2639711 Link