Carlow v Meath, Dr Cullen Park, 3.30pm
Carlow v Meath, Dr Cullen Park, 3.30pm
Sunday, June 15
Leinster GAA Senior Football Championship Quarter-FinalCarlow v Meath, Dr Cullen Park, 3.30pm
The last two Leinster counties to get their 2014 Championship campaign underway meet at Dr. Cullen Park on Sunday afternoon, with a semi-final tie against Kildare awaiting the winners.
Meath have an imperious record against Carlow in the championship - the Barrowsiders have never beaten the Royals in the summer competition - although they came mightily close two years ago, when, despite being reduced to 13 men, they forced a draw in the quarter-final, 1-12 apiece, thanks to JJ Smith's late goal. Meath were comfortable winners in the replay, but the episode will ensure that Mick O'Dowd's side treat Sunday's game with the utmost seriousness.
That said, this is a huge ask for Carlow after an Allianz Football League campaign that could politely be described as "challenging." Carlow finished bottom of Division IV on three points, having recorded just one win out of their seven games against the lowest ranked sides in the country, that being a 3-15 to 2-17 win over Antrim on March 9.
Summers haven't been too kind to the Carlow footballers very often since 1944, the year they won their only Leinster football title, but in the year that Ted Joyce, the last surviving member of that famous team passed away, it would be fitting if Carlow were able to adequately challenge Meath on home turf on Sunday.
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"I would encourage everybody in Carlow to come out and wave the flag that they have and get behind the team," Carlow manager Anthony Rainbow said ahead of the game. "They have put an awful lot of work into it over the last couple of months.
"They deserve a big crowd to get behind them. If Meath come across the border and see the flags waving, that will intimidate them a small bit. Come and support the team. If you see them walking down the street, wish them the best of luck on Sunday, put out the flag and be proud of Carlow. It does raise the players."
While home advantage might be worth a point or two to Carlow, there is little denying that anything less than a Meath victory would be a massive shock. The Royals had had a long wait since their last league game on April 6, but the mood is good in the county after a solid Division II campaign, which comes on the back of Leinster final appearances in the last two seasons.
Mick O'Dowd's side finished third in a competitive Division II this season, a good showing given they were only promoted from Division III last season. Early defeats to Monaghan and Armagh were disappointing, but a draw away to Donegal was followed by wins over Laois, Down and Louth to leave the Royals just outside the promotion places.
Allied to the fact that Meath have come quite close to Dublin in the last two Leinster finals, there is a feeling that the All-Ireland champions' most natural rivals are rousing themselves to life after a decade of relative underachievement.
"All we can do is keep improving," said Meath captain Kevin Reilly this week. "We have a great management team in there, with Micko leading that. The lads have great ideas and they're putting everything in place for us to work towards that high standard that we need to be at.
"I think we're all the time improving and we're playing a nice style of football. We've some young lads in there as well that complement the established members just to drive on the standards. We'd be definitely hoping to do well"
Much of the focus around Meath so far this year is of their potential capacity, or not, to beat Dublin, but such talk is disrespectful to Carlow. Meath only need look back to their struggles in the quarter-final against Wicklow last year, and against Carlow the year before, to remind themselves that no match is won until it's won on the field.
There have been plenty of changes to the Meath team this season. Brian Farrell and Joe Sheridan are not on the panel this year, while the loss of talented youngster Eamonn Wallace early in the season to a cruciate knee ligament injury was compounded this week with the news that Meath midfielder Conor Gillespie suffered the same season-ending injury in a training session on Sunday.
Gillespie's midfield partner Brian Meade has recovered from a similar injury suffered last season and he partners Shane O'Rourke on Sunday. Caolan Young makes his championship debut at corner-back, while Ratoath's Bryan McMahon is another newcomer at centre-forward.
Rainbow has named his Carlow selection for Sunday, and the side shows a very large turnover of players from the one that took Meath to a replay two years ago. Only Daniel St Ledger, Brendan Kavanagh and Darragh Foley remain in place from that side. Brendan Murphy, Carlow's talisman, is not available as he is currently on duty with the Irish Army.
The winners of Sunday's game will take on Kildare in the Leinster semi-final on June 29 at Croke Park.
CARLOW: P Coady; R Mahon, S Mernagh, BJ Molloy; G Power, D St Ledger, B Kavanagh; H Gahan, D Foley; M Meaney, C Moran, D Bambrick; P Broderick, S Kinsella, C Coughlan.
MEATH: Paddy O'Rourke; Caolan Young, Kevin Reilly (capt), Mickey Burke; Padraic Harnan, Donal Keogan, Damien Carroll; Brian Meade, Shane O'Rourke; Donncha Tobin, Bryan McMahon, Andy Tormey; Graham Reilly, Stephen Bray, Michael Newman.
Preview: Arthur Sullivan
