Fight to go on for Kilbride and Simonstown

Forty eight years since they last appeared in the Meath SFC Kilbride have endured a harsh lesson about life back at the top table and if they want to opportunity to learn from those lessons then they must find a way to win one of their next two games.

Back in 1978 Kilbride were relegated from senior after a spell that saw them win four Keegan Cups between '67 and '71. That year they picked up a couple of points after receiving a walkover from Ballivor, so they have to go back to May '77 and a 1-12 to 0-9 win over Wolfe Tones to recall their last win in senior football.

For Na Fianna they returned to senior football in 2014 and contested the senior final the following year. In 2022 they reached the semi-finals where they lost out to Ratoath, but since then they have lost players to emigration, retirment and injury and have found themselves in relegation trouble on a number of occasions.

On each of those occasions Na Fianna have had enough to avoid the drop relatively comfortably and that should well be the case again here against a Kilbride side that have found the going very tough, finishing their group with a -35 scoring difference. Verdict - Na Fianna.

The two clubs in close proximity to Navan, Seneschalstown and Simonstown, will both hope to avoid a relegation final and secure their SFC status when they meet in Skryne on Friday at 8pm.

Neither side will be pleased that they find themselves in this situation but Seneschalstwon in particular will have a lot of regrets around their performance against Ballinabrackey in round two. They only lost that game by two points but they trailed by nine at the break and kicked 12 wides in the first-half. That loss ultimately decided their fate.

Simonstown have not really got going at all in this year's championship. They have some talented players and they were in quite a competitive group but they will admit themselves that their performances in the group stages were not up to scratch and they suffered three comprehensive defeats. On current form, it is hard to predict anything other than a Seneschalstown victory. Verdict - Seneschalstown.