Resilient Meath one step from unlikely glory

Young Royals still in hunt for minor success

The story of 2026 so far in Meath GAA has to be that of Trevor Giles and the incredible journey of his minor side. This Friday, the Royals will bid to win a first Leinster MFC title since 2021 when they take on Kildare in the final at Portlaoise at 7.35pm.

Of course, Giles himself was one of, if not THE, greatest player to ever wear the green and gold of Meath. The Skryne native was no stranger to success at minor level himself as a player. He was part of both Meath squads that reached two All-Ireland MFC finals in a row in 1992 and 1993.

Giles scored 1-2 in the 1992 final victory over Armagh while the 1993 crop that also included the likes of Ollie Murphy, Darren Fay, Paddy Reynolds, Barry Callaghan and Hank Trainer lost out in the decider to Cork.

Given that Giles was a crucial player in probably Meath’s greatest ever minor crop, it is only fitting that he should be in charge of this year’s talented group.

If bookies were still allowed to offer odds on minor football, the Royals would have been big outsiders to reach a Leinster MFC final after two convincing defeats to Louth and Kildare early on in the campaign. However, a superb performance in their final group game against Laois proved to be a real turning point for Giles’ young army.

That convincing win over Laois was backed up by superb performances against Wicklow and Offaly before the Royals were made to battle hard for their victory over Dublin in the Leinster MFC semi-final last Tuesday at Parnell Park. In their last four outings, Meath have registered a massive combined tally of 19-75.

At the forefront of this proficient Meath side is their leader and captain, Navan O’Mahony’s Haary McGuirk. McGuirk, who generally dons the six jersey but plays more of an energetic midfield role, has a serious engine and is constantly dictating play. He also has a brilliant knack for two-pointers having raised five orange flags already during the campaign.

Meath’s underage sides over the last couple of years always have physically powerful attackers in the spine and this year’s minors are no different as Conn Brennan and Milo Stafford have been dominant at centre forward and full-forward.

Along the flanks, Liam O’Donoghue and Niall Smyth have been bombing forward and linking up play fantastically while corner-forward Cormac Walsh has proved to be a handful formost defences this year.

Their opponents Kildare will provide Meath with a stern test. While the Royals have made significant improvements since their last outing against the Lilywhites, it should be noted that Kildare were full value for the victory that evening in Skryne.

Since that outing, Kildare’s progress hasn't exactly slowed down either. They were comfortable winners over Westmeath in the quarter-final and probably upset the odds slightly when they got the better of a well-thought-of Louth side in the semi-final last Tuesday.

Kildare have plenty of attacking threats but as shown over the last few outings, so too do the Royals. From the evidence so far, this could be a high-scoring contest and if Meath are still in touch within the last quarter, they have every chance of lifting the Larry Murray Cup as they will finish strong.