LEINSTER U-20 TEAM NEWS

McCarthy’s u-20s on red alert for visit to Longford

The Meath team for today's Leinster u-20 FC clash with Longford is - Billy Hogan (Longwood); Mossie Corbett (Ratoath), Liam Kelly (Ratoath), Ciaran McCarrick (Dunshaughlin); Mark Coffey (Ballinabrackey), Josh Carolan (Simonstown), Ciaran Caulfield (Trim); Jamie Browne (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Conor Gray (Dunshaughlin); Shane Smyth (Skryne), Diarmuid Moriarty (Curraha), Sean Emmanuel (St Patrick's); Niall Finnerty (Skryne), Eoghan Frayne (Summerhill), Ruairi Kinsella (Dunshaughlin). Subs - Dean Pluck (Ballinabrackey), Fursey Blake (Dunshaughlin), Adam McDonnell (Summerhill), Evan Quinn (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Jack Kinlough (Dunboyne), Daragh O'Reilly (St Ultan's), Alan Bowden (Duleek/Bellewstown), Pearse Sheridan (Oldcastle), John O'Regan (Skryne).

MATCH PREVIEW

Meath beware. That's surely the message as John McCarthy and the rest of his management team put the finishing touches to the preparations for the Leinster u-20 FC quarter-final clash between the two counties at Pearse Park on Saturday, 2pm.

For some time now McCarthy has been focusing on the first round of the championship and there's no doubt he will be making the players fully aware of the immense threat Longford pose - because this is knock-out. There are no second chances.

To underline his point all he has to do is point to the clinical, ruthless way Longford despatched Wexford in the opening round of the championship last week. 'Despatched' might be too soft a term to describe how that game panned out. 'Pummelled' might be more appropriate in describing how Longford dealt with the Wexford challenge.

The midlanders won by a resounding 4-9 to 1-7 and by all accounts it probably should have been a lot more. Jack Duggan finished with 2-5; he will clearly need to be closely watched by the Meath defence on Saturday. Keelan McGann and Ciaran Scanlon were others who found the target for the blue and golds.

Meath's preparations for Saturday's game have been underway for some time now and they included a number of games in the u-20 Football Development League. They kick-started their campaign in that competition back in February losing 0-17 to 2-14 to Dublin.

Having guided Meath to the 2020 Leinster MFC (which was played last year) McCarthy's task now is to now bring some of the players from that panel up to another level - and a sustained run in the u-20 championship would be an ideal way of doing just that.

The results in that Development League weren't at all encouraging with the Royals finishing bottom in a table that was topped by Dublin with Kildare and Laois finishing in that order.

Afterwards McCarthy talked about unforced errors that cost his team against Dublin and a goal that was gift-wrapped but he wasn't too concerned about all that. His view was the Development League was the competition to make such mistakes. The important thing is that the players learn from them is is motto.

Meath will look to players like Diarmaid Moriarty to finish off scores. He got nine points in that Dublin game and in general was a tormentor-in-chief as far as the Sky Blues were concerned. Eoghan Frayne is another Meath forward who is well capable of turning chances into scores.

In goals for the u-20s this season is Billy Hogan, brother of Meath senior team stopper Harry Hogan. Both have shown an aptitude for the number one position and, of course, both play for Longwood.

Likely to start at midfield is the formidable combination of Sean Emmanuel and Conor Grey. With his surging runs and an ability to pick out a pass Emmanuel is a big player for Royals while Grey brings height and considerable skill to Meath's central section.

The Meath defence will need to be on fully alert to deal with the threat the Longford attack clearly carries and which was underlined in the way they ransacked the Wexford backline.

McCarthy is full aware of the need for his team to make a bright start, cut out the unforced errors while also focus on producing high-quality football.

"We all make mistakes but we are going to continue to encourage them to play football, just some days the mistakes are punished harder than other days," he said after the Dublin game.

He and his player will be hoping Saturday is not one of those days.