Meath hoping to bridge 16-year gap
In a repeat of their last meeting in the Ladies NFL Div 1 semi-final 16 years ago Meath will hope to claim their place in the league decider when they face Mayo in Clones on Saturday, 3pm.
The hero of that 1-13 to 1-9 win over Mayo in Ratoath in April 2006, Irene Munnelly, is still involved with Meath as a goalkeeping coach and undoubtedly she will have to ensure Monica McGuirk is at her best to help secure Meath's passage to a third league final in four years.
Munnelly was beaten for a second time in that game from a 13-metre Cora Staunton free, but the Meath goalkeeper had thwarted the Mayo superstar on countless occasion to secure the place in the final against Cork, which Meath lost.
Mayo are the form team ahead of next weekend's semi-final double-header after finishing their group unbeaten with a scoring difference of a whopping 41 points from their three games.
The Connacht side scored 15 goals in their campaign, including six against Galway and seven in their opening round win over Westmeath.
While Group A of Div 1 wasn't considered to be the most competitive, mayo still proved too strong for a fancied Donegal side, claiming a 2-7 to 1-7 win to book top spot and a semi-final against Meath.
In contrast Meath were in the toughest of the two Div 1 groups and finished with a scoring difference of just plus nine following a narrow win over Cork, a comfortable eight-point victory in the mud over Waterford and a minimum margin defeat at home to Dublin.
It is that performance in defeat against Dublin that will give Meath manager Eamonn Murray most confidence ahead of next Saturday's semi-final.
"We are under no illusions about the size of challenge we face next Saturday, but these girls are in flying form and we just can't wait to play the game now," said Murray.
"Last year we won the league and the All-Ireland, but we only used a small panel of players. This year we have proved we have much more depth in our squad and that is the big plus for us in the league.
"We used 23 players in the game against Dublin and ran them until the last kick of the ball. The girls starting every game now know that we have players to come off the bench that can finish off the job, that is huge for us.
"Mayo are a very fine side. You don't score six goals against Galway without doing something right. They are clinical and look to be getting back to their very best.
"In Sinead Walsh and Shauna Howley they have two prove goalscorers, but they have class all over the field from Sarah Mulvihill, Lisa Cafferky, Fiona McHale and plenty of others.
"We know we have plenty to do following the loss to Dublin and this will be a huge test of just where we are at this time of the year, but the girls are loving the journey and hopefully we can get back to Croke Park again," concluded Murray.
Meath will be hoping to maintain their remarkable journey that saw them win Div 3 in 2019. They were flying high before Covid halted proceedings in 2020, but they continued that good form by winning the All-Ireland IFC in late 2020. 2021 brought the NFL Div 2 title before they won the All-Ireland SFC crown and now they are bidding for a place in the Div 1 final, 16 years on since Munnelly and Co achieved that feat for the first and only time 16 years ago.
The Meath team that played Mayo in the NFL Div 1 semi-final in Ratoath in 2006 was I Munnelly; S Dooley, J Burke, S McCormack; J Rispin, L McKeever, E McGrane; E Lynch, L Keenan; M Sheridan (0-1), K O’Brien (0-1), G Nulty (0-3); G Doherty (0-2), G Bennett (0-6), E Duffy. Subs - S Bennett for Keenan, C McAuley (1-0) for Duffy, M Dunne for McGrane, A Thompson for O’Brien.