Festive cheer and gloom for McEntee

There's good news and bad this festive season for new Meath manager Andy McEntee with Moynalvey's Padraic Harnan expected home from New Zealand this month, while Curraha's James McEntee is set for another spell on the sidelines.

Harnan went to New Zealand in the summer to take up a work placement on a farm owned by former IFA President Tom Clinton from Carlanstown, but he has now returned home and could be expected to join the Meath panel for training ahead of the start of the NFL in February.

However there is disappointing news on the injury front for the new manager with the news that his nephew James McEntee suffered further injury to his hand in a recent SF challenge match against Louth and has undergone surgery.

McEntee broke five bones in his hand making a block in training last summer and was a huge loss for Meath, and this latest injury setback is another blow for Meath just weeks before they open the defence of their O'Byrne Cup with a home game against Wicklow on Sunday 8th January in Navan, 2pm.

The Curraha star, who was highlighted as 'one to watch' by national GAA observers at the start of 2016, broke another bone in the same hand in the challenge match against Louth and is expected to miss several weeks following successful surgery to repair the damage.

Meath have no more challenge matches planned prior to the start of the O'Byrne Cup, but Andy McEntee and his selectors Gerry McEntee, Finian Murtagh, Donal Curtis and Cormac Sullivan, are expected to use the competition as a final trial process before finalising their panel ahead of the start of the NFL Div 2 campaign against Kildare in Navan on Sunday 5th February.