Take two in Breffni as Meath bid to go top of league

NFL PREVIEW

FERGAL LYNCH

After the jigs and reels in the spills of rain and driving snow of last weekend Meath’s NFL Div 2 clash with Cavan is expected to go ahead at Breffni Park on Sunday afternoon, 2pm -weather permitting.

Both counties were clearly frustrated that last Saturday night’s game was washed out following torrential rain and then the heavy snowfall overnight deemed the pitch unplayable again on Sunday morning leaving Mattie McGleenan and Andy McEntee’s plans up in the air.
Meath manager McEntee opted to let his players play for their clubs in the A FLs on Sunday afternoon and while he watched in disappointment as Shane Gallagher and Brían Conlon limped out of Simonstown’s Div 1 clash with Ratoath he will be lifted by the news that neither player is believed to have suffered sufficient injury that could rule them out of next Sunday’s refixture.
Most of the Meath players featured for their clubs last Sunday and by all accounts they produced decent performances, so if there is a silver lining to the debacle that was last weekend’s endeavour to play the NFL Div 2 game it is that the majority of McEntee’s panel got football into their legs.
Both side’s will look forward to Sunday’s game with plenty of optimism as other results in the division seemed to go their way in the three games that were played last Sunday.
Down’s surprise win over Roscommon and Tipperary being held by Clare might not have been the expected outcomes in Dr Hyde Park and Ennis respectively, but it means that a win for either Meath or Cavan next Sunday will see them climb to the top of the NFL Div 2 table. Cork scored their expected easy win over Louth in Pairc Ui Rinn and are joint top with Down on four points.
Meath are in with a great opportunity to stake a major promotion claim with a win in Breffni Park, but it won’t be easy.
Cavan bounced back from their opening day draw with Clare by hammering Louth, but it appears the Wee County are going through a barren time, so that line of form might not be the clearest indication of where Cavan are at in terms of progression.
They gave 12 players debuts in that draw with Clare, but welcomed back some more experienced campaigners for the win over Louth. Cavan do appear to be returning to full strength and Meath will have to be at their best to come away from Breffni with anything.
After recovering from the brink of a hammering to go four points up in injury-time against Roscommon in round one before blowing that lead and settling for a draw Meath bounced back with an emphatic second-half display that saw them build on a 0-6 to 0-4 interval lead to run out easy 0-21 to 0-7 winners over Clare - so will the real Meath please stand up.
Anything less than a complete 70 minute performance might not be good enough for Meath next Sunday, but confidence must be high after that exceptional showing against Clare and if they can turn that 35 minutes of excellence into a 70 minute showreel then Meath can take a giant leap towards securing elusive promotion to Div 1.