No change for u-17s

Ronan Kearns has kept faith with the same starting 15 that defeated Dublin in the Leinster u-17 Special FC final for Wednesday night's All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone in Breffni Park, 7.30pm.

The u-17 championship is a special one-off competition intented to give championship football to those who will miss out on minor in 2018 because of the restructuring of the underage competitions.

However, the level of importance of the u-17 grade doesn't appear to rank highly on the list for the GAA authorities as the decision to schedule the semi-final in Cavan on a Wednesday evening shows little respect for either county.

Meath had to play Kildare in the Leinster semi-final on the Tuesday night because the Leinster final was fixed for the Saturday, five days later.

The alleged need for such urgency was because the All-Ireland semi-final was scheduled for Saturday 29th July, but Saturday 5th August was also mentioned.

However, as it transpired there was no need to rush the provincial final because the All-Ireland semi-final was put back to Saturday 12th August, the same day as the other semi-final between Roscommon and Kerry in Ennis.

That is not the end of the confusion. On Friday evening 28th July Meath GAA received notification that the semi-final would be played on Wednesday 9th August with a 7.30pm throw-in and the game must be played to a conclusion.

That means that if the teams are tied at the end of the hour there will be two 10-minute periods of extra-time. If they still can't be separated there will follow two five-minute periods of extra-time and if they remain deadlocked there will then be a free-taking shootout from the 45-metre line to determine the winners.

If the teams finish level after the five nominated kickers have taken their kicks then a sudden death shoot-out will determine the winner.

Tyrone already have experience of playing in Breffni Park as they claimed the Ulster title by defeating Cavan there by 3-14 to 0-16 on Sunday 11th June.

The Ulster champions will be fresher coming into the game having not played for almost two months while Meath, who only started their campaign on 28th June with a victory over Dublin, will have their third game in three weeks.

Maybe playing so frequently will benefit the young Royals and there is no doubting they are a special group of extremely talented young footballers.

If they can continue their winning ways it will bring more joy to the beleaguered Meath supporters.

The Meath team to face Tyrone in Wednesday evening All-Ireland u-17 Special FC semi-final at Breffni Park is - Lee Browne (St Colmcille's); Sean Bannon (Ballinabrackey), Sean Ryan (St Peter's Dunboyne), Michael Gavin (Simonstown Gaels); Oran Smullan (Na Fianna), Liam Byrne (St Peter's Dunboyne), Conal Courtney (Gaeil Colmcille); Colm Doherty (Skryne), Fergal Watters (St Peter's Dunboyne); Cian McBride (St Cuthbert's), Shane Walsh (Na Fianna), Patrick Matthews (Drumconrath/Meath Hill); Aaron Lynch (Trim), Jordan Morris (Nobber), Matthew Costello (Dunshaughlin).

Selectors - Ronan Kearns (manager), Daithi Whyte, Martin Blake, Martin O'Connell, Ger Robinson.