Kilkenny next on the radar for Meath

For the fourth successive week Meath camogie players will take to the field on Saturday, this time in the quarter-finals of the National Camogie League Div 2.

Their opponents will be Kilkenny, who they last met in the league in March 2020, just before the first lockdown.

Meath won that game at Pairc Tailteann but just about, 0-9 to 1-5, although the home side did look reasonably comfortable until Kilkenny grabbed a late, late goal.

This Saturday Meath will travel to Birr to tackle the Kilkenny women, 1pm..

The clash is another stern test of Meath's credentials and to win it they will need to iron out some of the problems that came to the fore in Saturday's victory over Dublin.

There was, for instance, the high quota of frees that they conceded. They simply can't afford to give away so many against the Cats because they could easily end up paying a high price and losing out.

Quarter-finals can be games where there is little between the teams; so small things can mean the difference between defeat and victory.

Also Meath have to find a better return on the scoreboard from the amount of possession they are having in games. It is an issue manager Brendan Skehan has referenced in recent weeks.

It is something that will surely cost the manager and his selectors a great deal of thought this week as they decide on an approach to overcome Kilkenny.

Against Dublin, Skehan felt it was better to ensure the defence was well locked down. He was concerned, justifiably, by the way the team leaked three goals against both Kildare and Westmeath in earlier rounds. He was determined to shore up those avenues to goals against Dublin.

That resulted in players funnelling back to help out the defence. A consequence of that was that a forward like Grace Coleman was often left up in attack on her own. When the ball was played to her she was quickly surrounded by opponents.

The nearest Meath came to finding the net against Dublin was when Amy Gaffney had a penalty shot saved. While it's important not to give goals away at the back it would, no doubt, be a huge boost to the Meath cause against Kilkenny if they could get a goal or two.

Finding the 'right' balance between defence and attack, pushing on or staying back could mean the difference between victory and defeat on Saturday. That's the dilemma facing the Meath management this week. What strategy to employ against the Cats?

This is Kilkenny's second team and they emerged from a three-team Group 3 to get to the quarter-finals. They lost 0-14 to 1-18 against Wexford before defeating Laois 1-10 to 0-7. Aisling Curtis, Laura Greene and Roisin Phelan are among their cast of talented players.

Any team from Kilkenny yielding camans has to be respected but if Meath can translate more possession into scores they can win.

NEXT UP

Div 2 quarter-finals - Meath v Kilkenny; Cork v Down; Wexford v Westmeath; Galway v Antrim.