Meath should advance to a Leinster final

Meath will go into Saturday's Leinster MFC semi-final against Westmeath at Cusack Park, Mullingar (7.0) with every reason to be confident following solid performances in the previous two rounds where they recorded victories on the road against Offaly in the quarter-final and Longford in the opening round. Manager Andy McEntee has assembled a talented panel backboned by some of last year's squad, but augmented by a sprinkling of new faces. Despite a long break, due to exams, since the victory over Offaly at O'Connor Park, the manager reports that preparations are going well and that Meath played a good challenge against Tipperary last week. Saturday's assignment at Cusack Park will provide the manager and his selectors with another big test, but Meath certainly possess the potential for a third successive away win and a place in the provincial decider against Dublin or Kildare in the curtainraiser on Leinster final day at Croke Park on Sunday 22nd July. McEntee is not reluctant to make changes either as he demonstrated in the last round where Meath recorded a nine-point (3-11 to 1-8) victory over Offaly at O'Connor Park, Tullamore. He made five changes to the team that negotiated Longford in the opening round and had to pleased with the outcome as his players displayed tremendous resilience against a strong and well-regarded Offaly team. Goalkeeper Jack Hannigan, James O'Malley, Niall Kane, Paul Donnellan and Fiachra Ward all started the quarter-final. Robert Burlingham, David Toner, Stephen Coogan and Jason Daly were relegated to the bench while Eamonn Wallace was unavailable due to his involvement with athletics although the manager did not wish to comment on the matter after the game. Wallace has now left the panel and will not be in contention for a starting place although he made a big impact in the opening round victory against Longford. A player who is likely to start, Ruairi O Coileain (pictured) has changed club following his successful transfer from Dunsany to Navan O'Mahonys last month. O Coileain is one of a number of influential players in the panel along with Declan Smyth, a former colleague at Dunsany, Brian Power, Padraig Harnan, Barry Dardis, Ward and Cillian O'Sullivan. Westmeath will provide a stern test for the Royal County and will be playing on home turf for the first time in the championship this year after taking what could be described as the scenic route to the last four. Westmeath lost the opening round against Louth at Haggardstown by a solid 10 points (0-6 to 2-10), but then re-grouped and negotiated Carlow after extra-time at Dr Cullen Park in the back door section. Westmeath won that game by 0-19 to 1-13 before recording a similar margin of victory (0-10 to 0-7) in the quarter-final against Wicklow at Aughrim. However, a form guide from the Leinster MFL suggests that Meath should be capable of negotiating their neighbours on Saturday evening. Westmeath were defeated by Offaly in the opening round last March (1-3 to 2-9) and also lost against Dublin (0-8 to 4-16). While Meath also lost to Dublin in the decider, the margin of defeat was only four points (1-9 to 2-10) and those statistics should be enough to confirm Meath as likely winners next Saturday evening.