Proud Banty determined after defeat

Meath manager Seamus McEnaney was in determined mood after his side's three-point defeat to Dublin in the Leinster GAA Football Championship final on Sunday, and said the team will fight "tooth and nail" to get to the All-Ireland quarter-finals now.

"We want to be back. We want to be back in an All-Ireland quarter-final and we will do anything to be back in an All-Ireland quarter-final in two weeks time," he said.

Meath will play their Round 4 Qualifier clash against Laois next Saturday, but a visibly determined Banty says he does not fear the dreaded 'six-day turnaround', which often sees teams beaten in provincial finals struggle to recover in less than a week.

"I can tell you one thing, this group of players is going to test that six-day turnaround. There's serious spirit in the dressing room. There's great character in it and we are going to fight. I can tell you one thing, we will fight tooth and nail to get back here in two weeks time."

Meath were losing by ten points at one stage in the second half, but only lost by a goal in the end after a brave comeback. McEnaney admitted he was disappointed with how much possession his side gave over to Dublin.

"We'd be very disappointed with some parts of our performance. We kicked away a lot of ball. Things we hadn't been doing. We probably gave away more ball today than we have in the last two or three games.

"That part of our performance was disappointing. The two minutes from the 35th minute to the 37th minute was a critical blow to us (when the two Dublin goals went in), but we promised each other at half-time that we would fight tooth and nail until the end."

McEnaney emphasised his pride at Meath's performance overall.

"I'm immensely proud of the Meath players. They did fight tooth and nail until the very end. Even had an opportunity at the end to draw the game, but listen, we gave it everything.

"We played 20 players, it came up short on the day. This is a fantastic Dublin team. They are worthy All-Ireland champions, and obviously are a very, very good team."

Meath are likely to be favourites against Laois but McEnaney says this won't affect his side's preparation, as they don't care what anyone outside their dressing room thinks.

"It won't affect our preparation because we don't really pass any remarks of what people think outside our dressing room. We only worry about what happens inside our dressing room.

"It has been good to us to stay loyal to the people inside our dressing room and what they think inside our dressing room. What the bookies thinks or what the media thinks or what the public outside thinks is really irrelevant to us.

"At the end of the day, history is one thing. We can't live in yesterday but we can live in tomorrow."

Banty also confirmed that Meath full-back Kevin Reilly, who went off injured in the first half, will be out next weekend as he has suffered a recurrence of his Achilles injury.

"Kevin Reilly will definitely be out for the game. He hurt his Achilles again," he said.