It might be December but there is great excitement around clubs in Meath this weekend as the Quarter Finals of the Under 20 Football Championships and the Under 21 Hurling Championships get underway. A lot of very appetising games on offer but tonight’s football game in Dunshaughlin where St. Colmcille’s are the visitors is right up there as a potential thriller. Both teams would have been fancied to do well in the competition but only one will survive after tonight.

Competition for places on both teams will be fierce as both starting line ups will undoubtedly include an array of former underage stars. St. Colmcille’s have the luxury of picking a starting 15 from a pool of players taken from the four teams that contested the last four Division 1 Minor Championship Finals, two of which they won in 2019 & 2021 (Dunshaughlin denying them the perfect three in a row by beating them in the 2020 final).

Dunshaughlin themselves won’t be short either when it comes to a pool of emerging talent to call upon having won that Division 1 Minor Championship last year and in the two years prior to that capturing the Division 2 Minor Championship.

There will be quality young players on display throughout the field on both teams, but the quality in both forward divisions would get hard to be matched at any club game this weekend.

Neither club have released team information yet but with the pool of forwards available to both clubs at Under 20, if they are all available and fit to play in their normal accustomed positions we could be in for a feast of scores.

In the case of St. Colmcille’s you could have a situation where you could see them line out with all six of their forwards having previously played with Meath underage, 4 of those 6 players having won Leinster MFC, 3 of those players having won All-Ireland MFC and 2 of those players having won Minor All-Stars.

Not to be outdone, Dunshaughlin themselves could potentially line out with all six of their forwards who also would have played underage for Meath, 5 of those 6 players having won Leinster MFC and 2 of those also having won Minor All-Stars.

It will be an opportunity for the St. Colmcille’s players to impress the recently appointed new Senior management of Sean Kelly and Sean Barry. After the disappointment of being relegated from Senior football a few months ago, the Dunshaughlin club have not yet announced an appointment of a new management team but a good performance tonight by the Dunshaughlin young guns might be of assistance in enticing quality candidates to seriously consider taking on the role.

Sean Gahan throws the ball in at 8pm, one would find it hard to get better value anywhere else for the €5 admission fee this evening, the weather forecast is good for a December night, so wrap up warm, keep your distance and enjoy the game.

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