Meath Forum

Championship 2026

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Just booked a hotel in Cork-feck it, we might as well go for it. It's my birthday that weekend too, so even more reason. Decent draw overall. We know exactly what they're about, and we've time to prepare properly.

That said, the system is flawed-teams shouldn't know potential opponents before a provincial decider is even played.

Cork away will be tough, no doubt, but we're more than capable of holding our own. Chris Óg Jones and Stephen Sherlock-those are the names that need to be on the dressing room wall. If they get the same kind of freedom they had last time, then any criticism of the Meath defence will be justified.

royalcounty1 (Meath) - Posts: 88 - 04/05/2026 20:27:55    2670984

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Replying To Royalio11:  "Entitled to my opinion like everyone else.

Put into context, our last 2 championship games were a 5 point defeat to Westmeath and a 20 point defeat to Donegal. So, looking at provincial championship this year where we would avoided Louth/Dublin until a final it was a disaster to fall at first hurdle. That's not progress and sets us out of seeding for next year so there are considerable ramifications of our provincial campaign.

You would need to be deluded to have any encouragement or confidence coming into this All Ireland series. There is a serious fragility about our backs and I made reference to it after league final. These are issues that needed to be resolved 9 months ago, 6 months ago, 3 months ago and 3 weeks ago. They have not been sorted out and I cannot see them being sorted out before we play Cork.

At the end of the day, Championship is what matters and we are well off it. As I say, time will tell and we could well end up sharing a similar view soon.

."
Another ridiculous point - Our last two championship results, Donegal's last two results, lost to Down by 6 and lost to Kerry by 10. So are Donegal fans deluded to have any encouragement or confidence coming into this All Ireland series?

Faithfulmeath (Meath) - Posts: 66 - 04/05/2026 23:03:18    2671018

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Replying To royalcounty1:  "Just booked a hotel in Cork-feck it, we might as well go for it. It's my birthday that weekend too, so even more reason. Decent draw overall. We know exactly what they're about, and we've time to prepare properly.

That said, the system is flawed-teams shouldn't know potential opponents before a provincial decider is even played.

Cork away will be tough, no doubt, but we're more than capable of holding our own. Chris Óg Jones and Stephen Sherlock-those are the names that need to be on the dressing room wall. If they get the same kind of freedom they had last time, then any criticism of the Meath defence will be justified."
We will see ya down in Tom barry's pub on Saturday night so, Hopefully you and Meath both get lucky!!!

Cork playing in the hurling on Sunday- wonder will some gaa fans only go to one and pick the hurling over the football

Faithfulmeath (Meath) - Posts: 66 - 05/05/2026 14:57:59    2671132

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There is a huge difference in support between hurling and football in Cork. I would go so far as putting it 75/25 if not more. We should outnumber them 2 or 3 to one and that's no exaggeration.

royalproxy (Meath) - Posts: 63 - 05/05/2026 15:06:15    2671139

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I'm booking in for the cork trip as well I don't usually get down to cork matches in spring timr so I'm delighted with the draw tbh I think it's our best one. If enough Meath fans go down and could be a very special memorable match and weekend . We haven't ever had a big qualifier away day like this before have we?

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 951 - 05/05/2026 15:45:28    2671151

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Replying To royalcounty1:  "Just booked a hotel in Cork-feck it, we might as well go for it. It's my birthday that weekend too, so even more reason. Decent draw overall. We know exactly what they're about, and we've time to prepare properly.

That said, the system is flawed-teams shouldn't know potential opponents before a provincial decider is even played.

Cork away will be tough, no doubt, but we're more than capable of holding our own. Chris Óg Jones and Stephen Sherlock-those are the names that need to be on the dressing room wall. If they get the same kind of freedom they had last time, then any criticism of the Meath defence will be justified."
100% agree. We know what Cork are about - strong in midfield and have a few guys up front who can take their scores. Last time we played them down there in round 4 of the league they brought a huge intensity. We lacked intensity that day until late in the game and we lacked it against Westmeath so I expect we will bring it this time around. We had no Rafferty that day, McBride had to go off as he was unwell and we had no Costello. Conlon and O'Connor didn't start either. I expect an improved showing at midfield and up front so only question for me is whether we can limit their goal scoring opportunities. If we do, I expect we will have more firepower to get over the line. It will be tight though, don't expect there to be more than 2-3 points in it at the end. We haven't seen this Meath team play with its strongest 15 for 70 minutes at full intensity yet this season. If that happens, I can see them being very hard to handle.

gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 170 - 05/05/2026 16:50:58    2671168

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Replying To Royalio11:  "Entitled to my opinion like everyone else.

Put into context, our last 2 championship games were a 5 point defeat to Westmeath and a 20 point defeat to Donegal. So, looking at provincial championship this year where we would avoided Louth/Dublin until a final it was a disaster to fall at first hurdle. That's not progress and sets us out of seeding for next year so there are considerable ramifications of our provincial campaign.

You would need to be deluded to have any encouragement or confidence coming into this All Ireland series. There is a serious fragility about our backs and I made reference to it after league final. These are issues that needed to be resolved 9 months ago, 6 months ago, 3 months ago and 3 weeks ago. They have not been sorted out and I cannot see them being sorted out before we play Cork.

At the end of the day, Championship is what matters and we are well off it. As I say, time will tell and we could well end up sharing a similar view soon.

."
Extreme POV.

Disaster in leinster, absolutely-one of the worst I've experienced as a Meath fan.

Are they any better than last year? Maybe not. Any worse? Probably not either.

Did they live up to expectations? No. But that's not because they're a worse team-it's largely the same group of players. For me, the issue was attitude.

There are also some clear areas of improvement: scoring, midfield, a more settled goalkeeper, and a stronger overall squad. Promotion, which counts for something.

I think there's a bit of truth in what you're saying about the defence in isolation-it is leaky and was at times last year too. If they concede heavily against Cork, then it's fair to say management and players aren't addressing that issue and may even have regressed there.

But is it deluded to have optimism? Not really. Plenty of teams have been caught or pushed close-only Armagh and Roscommon are really meeting high expectations so far.

I'm still optimistic we can get a result against Cork and beyond.

royalcounty1 (Meath) - Posts: 88 - 05/05/2026 17:10:38    2671176

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I think it's a tough draw.We will have to be at it from the start to win it.Cork sliced us open countless times in the league final and shouldve had at least 2 or 3 more goals.If we are that open again I dont think they will let us away with it and we will be punished.Im hoping Robbie and co have looked at the defence and have a plan.We have 4 weeks to put somewhat of structure in place.The flip side is Costello and Jones back playing which is a big boost.Jones to come on for Menton after 50 mins or so will really help.Costello starts if fit and great to have his presence on the pitch.1st game is a must win for me as it means you will have 3 games at least and a better chance of going through.Of course the draw is all about luck we could lose v Cork and then get Donegal or Kerry and that might be that.A win would drive us on confidence back and we would put it up to most teams.It will be a tight match and will be interesting to see how Cork get on the weekend v Kerry.

Proudroyal (Meath) - Posts: 418 - 05/05/2026 17:46:49    2671181

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Has the fixture officially been confirmed for the Saturday? I see it on the HS website down for Saturday with time TBC. Saturday makes sense with their hurlers playing on the Sunday.

men_of_49 (Meath) - Posts: 2024 - 05/05/2026 19:31:58    2671193

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Replying To men_of_49:  "Has the fixture officially been confirmed for the Saturday? I see it on the HS website down for Saturday with time TBC. Saturday makes sense with their hurlers playing on the Sunday."
Game in Pairc UI Rinn so it will be Sat.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2248 - 05/05/2026 22:29:07    2671210

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Everybody need to be positive now, forget the past as im sure Robbie and co are now honing in on everything Cork, nobody especially players need to be reading anythig negative from here on, stop mentioning names of those you feel should not be playing as i am sure players read this and they dont need commentary incl there names. Cork is not an easy draw but its a winnable game, lets punch the positive stuff here,

ParcT (Meath) - Posts: 46 - 06/05/2026 11:01:45    2671246

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Replying To seadog54:  "Game in Pairc UI Rinn so it will be Sat."
Ah, I was hoping for the Pairc. Haven't been to the new stadium yet.

men_of_49 (Meath) - Posts: 2024 - 06/05/2026 11:15:01    2671248

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Meath beat Mayo 1-17 to 0-14 in a challenge match in Ashbourne last night.

Both teams have strong teams out according to Davy Rispin from We are Meath, both Matthew Costello and Ronan Jones played but unfortunately Jones went off with a hamstring injury.

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 154 - 08/05/2026 11:22:44    2671580

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Replying To Cabbagepatch1667:  "Meath beat Mayo 1-17 to 0-14 in a challenge match in Ashbourne last night.

Both teams have strong teams out according to Davy Rispin from We are Meath, both Matthew Costello and Ronan Jones played but unfortunately Jones went off with a hamstring injury."
Ah no way,Jones has no luck at all.Thats a real shame as he would have been a good option off the bench.Good to get a win even if it is only a friendly.Do you know was there many changes from the Westmeath game?

Proudroyal (Meath) - Posts: 418 - 08/05/2026 14:03:19    2671628

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Replying To Proudroyal:  "Ah no way,Jones has no luck at all.Thats a real shame as he would have been a good option off the bench.Good to get a win even if it is only a friendly.Do you know was there many changes from the Westmeath game?"
Mayo started full strength I heard anyway, including Kobe McDonald, think we were pretty much the same from what's been said in the grapevine anyway. Billy Hogan started in goals, and Diarmuid Moriarty, Ronan Ryan, Jamie Murphy and Killian Smyth all came off the bench

Yeah unfortunate for Jones, just can't catch a break, played well too apparently and scored our goal. No clue the extent of the injury or whether it was just precautionary, but hamstring is being mentioned anyway.

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 154 - 08/05/2026 15:18:26    2671649

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Replying To Cabbagepatch1667:  "Mayo started full strength I heard anyway, including Kobe McDonald, think we were pretty much the same from what's been said in the grapevine anyway. Billy Hogan started in goals, and Diarmuid Moriarty, Ronan Ryan, Jamie Murphy and Killian Smyth all came off the bench

Yeah unfortunate for Jones, just can't catch a break, played well too apparently and scored our goal. No clue the extent of the injury or whether it was just precautionary, but hamstring is being mentioned anyway."
Desperate news for Jones. Is there a suggestion Hogan could win his spot back over Brennan? Or was just in for the challenge game?

NYRoyal (USA) - Posts: 137 - 09/05/2026 18:37:09    2671834

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Replying To Cabbagepatch1667:  "Mayo started full strength I heard anyway, including Kobe McDonald, think we were pretty much the same from what's been said in the grapevine anyway. Billy Hogan started in goals, and Diarmuid Moriarty, Ronan Ryan, Jamie Murphy and Killian Smyth all came off the bench

Yeah unfortunate for Jones, just can't catch a break, played well too apparently and scored our goal. No clue the extent of the injury or whether it was just precautionary, but hamstring is being mentioned anyway."
Thanks for the info,interesting Hogan starting in goals while Brennan had a couple of shaky moments you could hardly just pick him out from the last day.Murphy coming off the bench wonder will he see some game time in the next couple of games?Hopefully Jones is precautionary but the lad has had some amount of injuries.

Proudroyal (Meath) - Posts: 418 - 11/05/2026 09:32:55    2672223

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Replying To ParcT:  "Everybody need to be positive now, forget the past as im sure Robbie and co are now honing in on everything Cork, nobody especially players need to be reading anythig negative from here on, stop mentioning names of those you feel should not be playing as i am sure players read this and they dont need commentary incl there names. Cork is not an easy draw but its a winnable game, lets punch the positive stuff here,"
Positivity is fine when deserved no doubt . My take is that the player we need should have the right ATTITUDE. That means simply he will give of his best at all times In his DNA he feels it a massive honour to be awarded the county jersey That drives him to contiue to seek to improve. If he underperforms for maybe the last 3 matches .for example as a defender he stands back too often and half hearted when trying to defend .The coach if fully justified in replacing him during the game Thats the reality because its a team sport . We have made good progress but we have hit a flat spot with poor defending in the last couple of matches Who can deny that? That has been something that i assume is being dealt with in training, and selectors will be looking at options and righly so. Being positive just for the sake of it not constructive at times .... credit where credit is due thats the agenda There is plenty of credit due we earned our way to div 1 no question We want to continue to improve because we need to, and lets call a spade a spade . This punter wants to see defenders defending like their lives depended on it . Midfield being like vultures for the breaking ball .Our runners going at their defence directly and having a go for 2 pointers We have at least 4 players who have great potential for long range shooting ....go for it i say Give it your best lads ...no standing back. You have the jersey . Have no regrets

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1307 - 11/05/2026 14:09:40    2672346

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Any update on Ronan Jones did he come off against Mayo with another hamstring injury??

Royalmc (Meath) - Posts: 33 - 11/05/2026 19:40:56    2672453

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Heard Liam Kelly has been brought in, outstanding underage career but hasn't really gone to script since. He's still so young, he has the potential to be an important player for Meath if he puts the head down and works hard. Conor Gray has dropped himself off the panel, think he's going to America for the summer.

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 425 - 26/05/2026 11:43:07    2675675

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