Meath GAA discussion thread

Royal Legend · 16-08-2025 11:58AM

Poor standard of refereeing in Ladies football, rules need to be looked at as well.

Dublin played on the edge, knowing what they would get away with, frustrating to watch. Walls hop ball for dissent was a game changer for me as well as the slight tug (foul) on her before the shot on goal early in the game. Ladies football at elite level deserves better referees rather than the castoffs from the mens game.

Hammer Archer · 18-08-2025 01:38PM

Football championships taking shape. After two rounds, looking like Wolfe Tones are probably favourites. Ratoath absolutely steeped to get out with a draw having been 8 points down with 13 minutes to go. Dunshaughlin need to beat Trim by 3 or more to make it to the knockout stages assuming Rathkenny beat Meath Hill (I think Rathkenny are through regardless if they win their last game). Dunboyne look like they'll be contesting the relegation playoff again unless they can win against Kells in the last game (which, depending on other results, may get them a knockout place).

IFC is wide open. Would have had Duleek/Bellewstown as one of the favourites after their win over NOM last time only for Castletown to beat them by 21. St. Pat's are looking impressive, I've heard Seán Emmanuel is having some great games. Looking worrying for Curraha, I see @rpurfield has refereed both their games. Are they missing players? Two heavy defeats in their games and possibly between them and Bective as to who drops to Junior.

Hammer Archer · 25-08-2025 11:02AM

Aaron Kernan joining Robbie Brennan's backroom team for 2026.

dixiefly · 25-08-2025 08:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123752019#Comment_123752019

Very interesting appointment. Could demonstrate that we are back in the big time when someone of his stature will come in when it's not for the top job. I wonder is there a chance that he is eyeing Robbie's job whenever he moves on?

Hammer Archer · 29-08-2025 11:01PM

Navan O'Mahonys go into the Intermediate relegation playoffs. Barring an absolute collapse, they'll stay up (looks like it'll be Bective based on their results so far) but it's an ignominious position for the most successful team in Meath to be in.

Hammer Archer · 01-09-2025 08:02AM

Some amount of drama in the senior championship over the weekend. Dunshaughlin were all but out having lost to Trim but were rescued by Meath Hill's wonderful two pointer after the hooter against Rathkenny in Navan. The result did nothing for Meath Hill but knocked Rathkenny out. Rathkenny must be kicking themselves as it's the second game in a row they've lost to a score with the last kick of the game. I'd have had Meath Hill as favourites to go down but with St. Colmcilles in all sorts of disarray, I wouldn't be as confident now. A 22 point loss, regardless of the fact that they were guaranteed to be in the relegation playoff, is a dreadful way to be heading into a dogfight.

Summerhill were also on the way out. Dunboyne hammered Kells by 12 points and Summerhill were 5 down to Skryne with 2 minutes to play. But they got 3 points in that time to get through to the quarter finals, ahead of Dunboyne by one point score difference.

Bracks made the quarter finals for the first time in their history as well, easily beating Seneschalstown.

Quarter Final draws are this evening.

Hammer Archer · 02-09-2025 08:52AM

Quarter final draws. Repeat of last seasons final along with two other local derbies. While Tones have been the most impressive team so far, I think they would have rathered avoiding Dunshaughlin.

Senior:

Ratoath v Donaghmore/Ashbourne

Wolfe Tones v Dunshaughlin

Trim v Summerhill

Skryne v Ballinabrackey

Intermediate:

Castletown v Drumbaragh

Kilbride v St. Pats

Moynalvey v Dunsany

Oldcastle v St. Michael's

Senior relegation semi finals:

Simonstown Gaels v Meath Hill

Gaeil Colmcille V St. Colmcilles

Intermediate relegation semi finals

Navan O'Mahonys v Ballivor

Bective v Curraha

Hammer Archer · 08-09-2025 09:39AM

Ratoath and Kilmessan straight through to the senior hurling semi finals. Ratoath's dual players will thankfully get a week's break after next weekend's football quarter finals. Kiltale v Na Fianna and Trim v Kildalkey in the quarter finals.

Rathmolyon and Kilskyre/Moylagh top of the groups in the Intermediate hurling championship. Dunboyne v Drumree and Donaghmore/Ashbourne v Gaeil Colmcille in the quarter finals.

Hammer Archer · 14-09-2025 08:54PM

You'd have to feel for Ballinabrackey. Two points ahead with a couple of minutes left only to give away a goal. Then having a 50m free to win only for it to hit the outside of the post. We (Ratoath) were incredibly lucky to get through after extra time. Think it was 22 wides we had over the 80 minutes.

Semi final draw sees Ratoath v Skryne and Summerhill against Dunshaughlin, both of whom made good use of their late reprieves last week.

Meath Hill play Colmcilles in the relegation final. Meath Hill were incredibly unlucky to fall to Simonstown after penalties. St. Comcilles however are having such a disastrous season. Given their upward trajectory, it would be a nightmare for them to drop back to Intermediate.

In the Intermediate, O'Mahonys are one defeat away from Junior football. They were hammered by Ballivor while Bective surprisingly beat Curraha. We'll either end up with Curraha going from senior to junior in successive seasons or have the most successful team in Meath playing at Junior level in 2026.

For the Intermediate championship itself, looks like it's between Moynalvey and Castletown. Moynalvey had a huge win over Dunsany in their quarter final while Castletown beat Drumbaragh by 8. Kilbride are facing into their first Intermediate semi final since probably the 1960s on their way to 5 senior titles. They scraped by St. Pat's while St. Michael's won by 2 against Oldcastle, who had another disappointing season.

Castletown will face Moynalvey in the semi final with Kilbride against St. Michael's in the other one.

snowgal · 15-09-2025 12:51PM

was at pairc tailteann on saturday. Summerhill really ramped it up in 2nd half. the 2 semis will be great games….

Technophobe · 15-09-2025 04:01PM

Hopefully Summerhill are timing it right..Some below par displays in the Group stages and scraped thru but were much better last Sat..

Trim very poor for a team that went unbeaten in thier group! Never showed at all…

Hammer Archer · 23-09-2025 07:26AM

Kiltale easily accounted for Na Fianna in the hurling quarter finals with a 25 point win. Trim were cruising into the semi finals 8 points up with injury time approaching. But Kildalkey hit two quick goals to make it a nervy ending for them. Kiltale play Kilmessan while Trim play Ratoath in the semi finals. Both look too close to call.

Good to see Donaghmore/Ashbourne competitive in Intermediate. It wasn't long ago that they were in danger of relegation to the JHC. Looking like it'll be between Rathmolyon and Dunboyne for the Intermediate title but Kilskyre/Moylagh seem to be having a bit of a renaissance. Hard to see them having enough for Dunboyne though.

Hammer Archer · 25-09-2025 09:38AM

Rafferty, Caulfield, Costello, Kinsella and Morris all nominated for All Stars. Thought Menton and/or Keoghan may have done enough for a nomination. Of the five, Rafferty is a shoe in for our first All Star since Stephen Bray but doubtful we'll get more than that.

Hammer Archer · 25-09-2025 09:39AM

Kilmainham relegated to Junior B. With Newman and others in their golden generation retiring, it was always going to be difficult for such a small club to maintain the same heights.

Hammer Archer · 26-09-2025 10:25AM

Navan O'Mahony's survive, just about, after a one point win over Curraha meaning Curraha go from senior to junior in successive seasons. You feel it could have been different had Curraha not been missing so many of their big players.

windy shepard henderson · 27-09-2025 12:32AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123851619#Comment_123851619

i was keeping an eye on this , that was o'mahoneys first team i take it , surely that would have been as big a shock , some rise and fall in 10 or 12 years for the 'ha'

enricoh · 27-09-2025 08:01AM

Convincing win from the cilles last night to stay up. On previous form they were already gone but fair dues.

Hammer Archer · 27-09-2025 08:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123854114#Comment_123854114

Yeah, they were relegated from senior a few years ago. They only lost the Intermediate final last year but had a dreadful season this year. Had they gone down, it probably would have made the headlines nationally. They haven't been at the Junior ranks since the 1940s. Their B team were only in the Junior final in 2011.

Curraha is a very small village with a small pick of players. They've had a golden generation recently with a number of county players but a lot of them are travelling this year which meant they were always going to struggle.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123854266#Comment_123854266

Had a feeling they'd come good but didn't think they'd win so convincingly. Rathkenny really must be kicking themselves having thrown away their group game and qualification.

Hammer Archer · 27-09-2025 11:20PM

Ratoath back in the senior final with a massive 11 point win against Skryne. Really got our shooting boots on today and I think the week off for the dual players really benefitted us.

Castletown with a huge 9 point win against Moynalvey in the first Intermediate semi final. Castletown were 12 up early in the second half only for Moynalvey to pull it back to 4 just 10 minutes later. Then Moynalvey got a straight red card and failed to score in the last 10 minutes.

St. Vincent's are through to the Junior final, beating Ballinlough after extra time.

Summerhill and Dunshaughlin in the other senior semi final with St. Michaels against Kilbride in the Intermediate semi final tomorrow in Navan. Slane and Clann na nGael in the other Junior A semi final. St. Marys against Moynalty in the Junior B final in the first game of a triple header in Navan.

dobman88 · 28-09-2025 12:02AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123857247#Comment_123857247

What's the thoughts about Galvin in Ratoath?

Hammer Archer · 28-09-2025 10:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123857358#Comment_123857358

Not living in the area any more so not 100% on the feeling. Not mad on big named appointments from outside the county and there were rumours of trouble at the start of the championship. But he's gotten us into another senior final and he does seem to be keeping his head down and just getting results. If he wins another Keegan Cup, then happy days!

It's Summerhill, again, in the final. This will be our fifth final. Four of them will have been against Summerhill. Dunshaughlin really seemed to throw it away. They were 6 up early in the second half and didn't score again for nearly 25 minutes. Even then, Summerhill needed a two pointed free after the hooter to force extra time.

Kilbride into their first Intermediate final since their golden era team won it in 1962. They absolutely blew St. Michaels away, 3-26 to 13 points. They'll undoubtedly be underdogs against Castletown who seem to be on a mission, but they've such an exciting forward line, they certainly have a chance. Conor McWeeney got 2-5, Josh Harford got 1-5 and David O'Leary got 9 points. McWeeney particularly could be in with a shout with the Meath seniors. Would love to see them win it, the craic in Sweeneys would be mighty. Anthony Moyles is manager there and seems to have a good managerial head on him. As he said in the post match interview, they lost the Junior B final to Ratoath's second team in 2020 and they could be facing them at senior 6 years later if they win the final.

St. Mary's won their first silverware in 46 years, beating Moynalty by two points (2-9 to 0-13) in the Junior B final. LMFM put a video of the celebrations at the final whistle and it's brilliant to see what a victory like that means to a club.

Clann na nGael join Vincents in the Junior A final, beating Slane by 7 points.

Inforapenny · 29-09-2025 12:22PM

@Hammer Archer you seem to be well up on the Meath club scene.

I watched Dunshaughlin v Summerhill, is it me or is the quality of the club game getting worse in Meath? Even compared to 2/3 years ago.
Some of the decision making in the game yesterday was dreadful, lots of brain farts.

On one hand Dunshaughlin will be disappointed they didn’t score more in the second half but then on the other Summerhill would have been sick if they didn’t go through with the amount of chances they had in the second half.

Summerhill will presumably have Flanagan back for the final which will help them.

I presume Ratoath will fancy their chances?

Hammer Archer · 30-09-2025 09:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123860945#Comment_123860945

I'd argue our senior club championship has never been a very high quality compared to the rest of Leinster. It's 21 years since a Meath team last made the Leinster club final while I've only ever seen the great Dunshaughlin team of the early 2000s win Leinster in my lifetime. Even when our county team was at its peak, we didn't win a Leinster club title at all. Our clubs have generally been more competitive in junior and Intermediate.

The 2022 final was of dreadful quality (though my own club won so I didn't care). Though this year's been a bit of an odd championship alright. Both Summerhill and Dunshaughlin are extremely lucky to even have made the knockouts, having only gotten 2 points in the group stages. Meanwhile, the teams that had 100% records in the groups both had extremely limp exits in the knockouts. Thought we were in line for an unusual pairing in the final this year but instead it's more of the same.

Hammer Archer · 04-10-2025 07:20PM

Big result in the Intermediate hurling with Kilskyre/Moylagh beating Dunboyne. No idea what's going on with hurling in Dunboyne. I know they never won a championship in anyone's lifetime, but they were always there or thereabouts in the 2000s/2010s and probably would have won at least one were it not for that great Kilmessan team.

Rathmolyon did enough to get over Donaghmore/Ashbourne in the other semi final so it's a novel pairing in the final.

Clann na nGael relegated to Intermediate while St. Pats and Trim have a replay to decide who's relegated to Junior after drawing in dreadful conditions.

Senior semi finals in hopefully better conditions tomorrow.

dixiefly · 05-10-2025 07:55PM

Very well done to Kiltale and Ratoath in the senior hurling semi finals. I only saw the Ratoath Trim game and it was mostly a very close game. The difference lay in Ratoath ability to create and convert goal chances which Trim never really looked like doing despite playing some good hurling for much of the game. Red card for James Murray was the nail in the coffin.

Hammer Archer · 06-10-2025 11:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123880603#Comment_123880603

I think that was the sort of game we would have lost in previous years. That was two games in a row that Trim fell away in the final 10 minutes or so. They just about scraped past Kildalkey in the previous game.

Hard to say how the final will go. Ratoath will be huge favourites but Kiltale seem to have been steadily improving since losing the first group game to Ratoath and have put up some huge scores. They'd also have a good amount of players used to winning senior finals so won't be exactly fearing Ratoath.

Meath GAA discussion thread

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