Venue confirmed as revenge on the cards for Royals

Stephen Sheil’s Meath have had plenty of time to reflect and put behind them the Leinster Intermediate Camogie defeat to Westmeath ahead of their All-Ireland Intermediate series opener against the same opposition this Sunday at 3.30pm in Ashbourne.

Four weeks ago, Megan Dowdall’s goal in the first quarter proved decisive as the Royal camogs lost out in the semi-final of the provincial championship. Two weeks later, Westmeath came up short against Laois in the decider. Meath had the measure of both Westmeath and Laois on the journey to the National Camogie League Div 2 final and coincidentally, they are Meath’s first two opponents in the All-Ireland series.

The Royals need to regain some of that momentum that they had early on in the league when they were playing fast and fluent hurling.

Players in the middle third were delivering ball early into the dangerous full-forward line that included the tricky to handle Emma Regan and the prolific Ciara Foley.

In their last outing against their neighbours, the Royals at times failed to deliver that type of play that was working so well for them earlier on in the season.

Defensively, Meath have remained consistent and with the likes of Sophia Payne and Abbye Donnelly in their ranks, Sheil does not have too much to worry about in the backs as Payne and Donnelly in particular are will always deliver.

Aoife Minogue made a substitute appearance against Westmeath and her return to the panel is sure to have a positive influence.

On Sunday, a lot will be riding on how well Meath can transition into attack and how well the Royals can take the opportunities afforded to them.

If Sheil’s side delivers from an attacking perspective, they have a great chance of overturning that Leinster semi-final result and making a winning start to the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie series.