Kerry up next for O Bric's boys

Two big clashes between Meath and Kerry on the horizon

The Royals against the Kingdom. We are likely to get an intriguing double header in that particular age-old rivalry in the coming weeks.

Meath are likely to face Kerry in the Sam Maguire All-Ireland SFC series while the Royal County u-20s will definitely take on their counterparts from the Kingdom in the All-Ireland semi-final at that level.

That was confirmed last night after Kerry defeated Cork 1-15 to 0-12 in the Munster u-20 final at Austin Stack Park. The All-Ireland semi-final will take place on Saturday week.

Meath, of course, secured a place in the All-Ireland u-20 semi-final when they defeated Louth 3-13 to 0-12 in the Leinster decider at Parnell Park on Monday night with Jamie Murphy helping himself to 1-5 and Eamonn Armstrong 1-2 while Tadhg Martyn also found the net.

The victory represented a big breakthrough for Meath as they claimed their first provincial title at that level for 23 years.

"This is huge. Dublin and Kildare have dominated this competition for the last 14 years, I think Offaly are the only team to break that stranglehold and we needed to rewrite Meath's football history a little bit here," said Meath manager Cathal O Bric after the victory.

Now he and the players can turn their attentions to defeating the Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The Kingdom will present a huge challenge for O'Bric and his boys. Kerry were dominant against Cork last night and have host of talented players including Daniel Kirby, Tomas Kennedy, Aidan Crowley and Cormac Dillon.

In the Sam Maguire All-Ireland series Kerry (who are expected to be Munster champions will play Meath on the June Bank Holiday weekend (either Saturday 1st or Sunday 2nd June),

Meath will open their Sam Maguire campaign with an away game against the Leinster SFC runners-up, which, barring a miracle of miracles, will be Louth. It is likely that game will be in Croke Park on the weekend 25th/26th May.

This week the Meath players, who will also face Monaghan in the Sam Maguire series, departed for a five-day warm weather training camp.

There they will prepare for a few weeks of hectic action.

This week there was a real sense that, at last, Meath football is going places - in more ways than one.