Quarter-final spot up for grabs

WITH all due respect to Tipperary and Waterford the intensity levels will likely to rise significantly when Meath take on Down in their Round 3 Tailteann Cup clash at Parnell Park this Saturday at 1pm.

This tie between two counties who, in the not too distant past, would have considered it unthinkable not to be competing for Sam Maguire was always likely to determine top spot in Group 2.

The big question from a Meath viewpoint is can they up their performance levels sufficiently to meet the demands of competing against one of the more fancied counties in the competition.

The Mourne men missed out on promotion from NFL Div 3 after finishing on the same number of points as Cavan but losing out to the Breffni men on the head to head.

Conor Laverty's side surprised Donegal in the quarter final of the Ulster championship before falling well short against Armagh in a last four tie.

They were probably a little more impressive in their Tailteann Cup campaign to date than Meath who mixed the good with the mundane in their victories over the same opposition.

Regardless of the oppositions those two wins should serve as a timely morale booster ahead of their sternest test yet.

Putting a poor league campaign behind them followed by a quick exit from the provincial championship can be soul destroying for any team but especially a young an inexperienced Meath side that contains so many players still finding their way at this level.

Hopefully those two victories will have helped them turn a corner and the performance rather than the outcome could be of more importance against the Mourne men.

Certainly Colm O'Rourke and his selectors will be a little wiser ahead of this clash and no one better than the manager will know the type of challenge and intensity that Down will bring into this clash.

Eoghan Frayne and John O'Regan were given his first taste of the action at this level against Waterford while the experienced James McEntee made a welcome return and also saw action.

Goalkeeper Sean Brennan has grabbed his opportunity with both hands while Sean Coffey has settled into the team seamlessly at wing back.

The same could be said of Conor Gray at midfield and the form of Mathew Costello, Aaron Lynch and Jordan Morris in attack has been another positive.

Diarmuid Moriarty who notched 1-12 with his club Curraha last week will also be knocking on the door for more game time.

Shoring up a leaky defence is still very much a work in progress while the ability to start on the front foot has also proved problematic.

The temptation will probably be to continue to blood new players but availing of as many experienced heads as possible could be the best option for this clash.

The winners on Saturday go straight to a quarter final while second placed in the group will have a home tie in a preliminary quarter final against one of the three best placed third place teams or New York.