GILES96 (Meath) - Posts: 4 - 07/08/2026 11:16:08    2688945

I've written about the Kilbride match last night about three times now and each time it hasn't been sent! Raging.

To put in short, Kilbride ran out of steam and Summerhill showed their class. Kilbride also had zero depth while Summerhill's Conor Frayne ran riot off the bench. There are encouraging signs for Kilbride for the first half performance but they will struggle to stay up as two players - including Finn White - went off looking like they did their hamstring. Referee got a few calls wrong but Kilbride ultimately capitulated in the second half. They got cleaned out in midfield and lacked creativity, and then the heads dropped and that was that. Kilbride only made about two substitutions which demonstrated their lack of depth. Kilbride only scored once in the second half and totaled four attacks. There was a significant breeze during both halves and Kilbride were very wasteful when they had it. It'll be interesting to see Ratoath play in Dunshaughlin later on. Kilbride were never going to keep the pace and with their injuries staying up will be much harder

RoyalStalwart24 (Meath) - Posts: 85 - 07/08/2026 12:40:16    2688959

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 181 - 07/08/2026 13:08:28    2688967

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 1040 - 07/08/2026 15:57:11    2688997

I attended the Kilbride vs Summerhill game yesterday in Dunganny. Kilbride were relatively impressive in the first half although you could blame that on sloppiness from Summerhill's point of view. Kilbride had a strong wind in the first half but had multiple two pointer opportunities drop short or go wide - they worked very well particularly around the half back line and got the ball forward quickly. They weren't afraid to kick the ball and were very brave. Summerhill were on the ropes after controlling the first 20 minutes and Kilbride really kicked on, and they cut right through them and deserved to be leading at halftime. Summerhill clearly went up the gears in the second half though - I think the turning point was when Kilbride's great goal chance at the start of the second half to put them 8 up was saved by the Summerhill keeper. All the momentum went to the senior champions from then on and Kilbride weren't able to wrestle it back.

Summerhill's experience and depth were telling. They brought on Conor Frayne who was a handful at full forward (Eoghan Frayne had played FF in the first half but played deeper when his brother came on), scoring I'd say about 1-1. They dominated midfield and Kilbride were destroyed on breaking ball. It was a relentless wave after wave attack. Even when Kilbride got the ball, they promptly lost it with sloppy passes and they clearly ran out of steam and let the heads drop. They also had very little impact off the bench and half their substitutions came from injuries - concerningly, Finn White was taken off injured. Apparently he's recovered but if that isn't true they are in trouble. McWeeney also got injured Wednesday and is gone for the year. They'll have some job staying up but they did test Summerhill and that is an encouraging sign. They will need to beat Rathkenny or Dunboyne to avoid the relegation stages.

Dunboyne blessed to get a draw out of the game, I hear Rathkenny should've won it earlier. Rathkenny are an intense workforce and with the likes of Keogan in the team that are capable of driving forward at a defense. Heard Dunboyne young lads did well but they are missing a few good players. That makes Group A very interesting. I saw Ronan Ryan had his arm in a cast on the sideline.

It'll be interesting to see how Ratoath get on this evening. They are second favorites and will want to get onto a good start. It's a similar story for the Tones.

It's refreshing to feel the familiar breeze of the club championships again, one of the best times in the year and it's certainly going to be interesting. Some good football is being played, too!

RoyalStalwart24 (Meath) - Posts: 85 - 07/08/2026 17:41:23    2689008

No very competitive games tonight. I was at the Skryne game, Skryne started well and deserved their lead midway through the half but it was a total systems failure after that and Ratoath performed a textbook demolition job on them. Good crowd at the game, primarily Skryne I thought. I'd say Skryne could be under pressure to stay up too -- for example, based on the two performances I would think Kilbride would beat Skryne.

Solid win for the 'Tones, bad news about Sean Coffey though. Hopefully he's alright and recovers quickly. I think the four contenders are so far cementing themselves, particularly the top two -- the teams that can win it, in order from likely to least likely, are Summerhill, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, and Wolfe Tones.

(My messages haven't been sending for ages so tried different device)

RoyalStalwart24 (Meath) - Posts: 85 - 07/08/2026 23:22:19    2689035

Was at the Ratoath and Skyrne game this evening, fairly poor all around, once Ratoath found their way Skyrne just gave up and Ratoath ran riot. Jack Flynn didn't play either so Ratoath are probably the team to beat the minute.

A couple of good performances for Ratoath, the Liam Kelly and Darragh Campion matchup was interesting, Campion had a good first half but went out like a light in the second half - Kelly was very good going forward, big physical player who looks like he could easily play 6 for Meath. Will definitely be involved next year you feel

Daithi McGowan was brilliant in patches, but you always feel like he has more to give but we just don't see it. Ben McGowan was very good in midfield too, had hands on everything around the middle.

Was looking forward to see Devon Burns who previously played at underage level for Kerry, a lot of people are saying he'll be in with Meath next year to challenge the two goalkeepers. Thought his kickouts were brave, and was willing to go short which is good to see. Nothing spectacular though.

Adam Ducie was lively too, and looks good for his age. All in all a very easy win for Ratoath, Skyrne were really poor - I don't think they'll be in a relegation battle but they're going nowhere this year anyway based on that performance.

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 181 - 07/08/2026 23:38:53    2689037

Heard Sean Coffey picked up a bad knee injury last nite for the bracks,a speedy recovery if it's true

royal1967 (Meath) - Posts: 296 - 08/08/2026 16:58:18    2689099

Poor fair in Walterstown last evening.

While effort and intensity was there the standard of football was really poor, To be honest if either of these teams where relegated it would be a shock both are mid to top of Senior grade but outside say the top 4.

Meath Club football is continuing in a poor state and really having 16 Senior teams needs to be looked at.

Stayed for the 2nd game between the 2nd teams of both clubs and it was dire stuff so not much chance of any improvement for these Clubs coming

Brownepat (Meath) - Posts: 535 - 09/08/2026 08:14:33    2689132

RR (Meath) - Posts: 193 - 09/08/2026 13:43:47    2689171

I watched the Dunshaughlin game yesterday on Clubber as I couldn't make the game in person, and the standard was also fairly poor but Dunshaughlin eventually went up the gears. Conor Gray grew into the game as it went on but still did little to inspire and was by no means a top performer. Aaron Murphy was on fire with 0-13 to his name and some think he should be in consideration for county. I'm sure Brennan's management team have taken note but it's hard to say for certain if he could do this against good teams. Simonstown were absolutely dreadful and their two penalties but gloss on the scoreboard. All the same, giving away two penalties in one match isn't a great look for Dunshaughlin and they'll have to work on discipline as they are very aggressive as a team, which can be to their benefit or detriment.

Charlie O'Connor was also immense in midfield -- I think he played centre-half back for most of the game, occasionally drifting out into the half forward line. He had some unreal catches and got his hands on a lot of ball, feeding Murphy and Duke well. He did fade out of the game as time went by but his work was done.

Conor Duke was absolutely unreal too. He played full forward and because of his height dominated the long balls in. He probably should've scored a few good goal chances that went wide but 0-7 isn't to be sniffed at -- hopefully, for Dunshaughlin and Meath's sake, he can kick into top form again. He's a very good footballer who's still very young and I'm certain has a long future ahead in the Black and Amber and the Green and Gold. Similar to Murphy, it remains to be seen if he's as good as he seems -- we'll have to wait until the next few games.

Didn't see any of the other games, but seemingly good results for Trim, and the two Colmcilles. It's been an interesting club championship but I agree with the others here that the standard in some of the games is poor and splitting senior in two similar to the Hurling Championship might be something we should have on the cards.

RoyalStalwart24 (Meath) - Posts: 85 - 09/08/2026 16:46:44    2689200

I'm becoming more convinced that we may have to split the senior championship in two. The standard and quality just isn't there for competitive games in the early stages. For many teams, the Championship is annual battering season. It worked well with the Hurling!

RoyalStalwart24 (Meath) - Posts: 85 - 10/08/2026 10:31:02    2689272

Intermediate Championship Power Rankings after round 1-
1 Meath Hill
2 Oldcastle
3 Moynalvey
4 Castletown
5 St. Pats
6 Duleek- Bellewstown
7 Walterstown
8 Clann na nGael
9 Longwood
10 Navan O'Mahonys
11 Blackhall Gaels
12 Dunsany
13 St. Michaels
14 Bective
15 Ballivor
16 Drumbaragh

GoalsWinGames (Meath) - Posts: 324 - 10/08/2026 14:34:08    2689319

The general consensus for most is that the senior championship quality is just really poor - it would definitely benefit from lowering the number to 12. But the problem is 12 is unless you eliminate the 1/4 finals, you're playing 3 rounds of fixtures to eliminate 4 teams, and there's very little jeopardy in the group stages.

So maybe do 4 groups of 3 teams. Top 2 from each go to 1/4 final with a group winner playing a runner up, and then the bottom 4 go into a relegation semi.

The quality just isn't there at the minute, and something needs to change.

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 181 - 10/08/2026 15:01:02    2689322

GILES96 (Meath) - Posts: 4 - 10/08/2026 15:15:17    2689327

TigerKing (Meath) - Posts: 47 - 10/08/2026 16:35:43    2689344

Ratoath
Summerhill
Dunshaughlin
Wolfe Tones
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Gaeil Colmcille
Donaghmore Ashbourne
Dunboyne
Trim
St Colmcilles
Rathkenny
Skryne
Simonstown
Seneschalstown
Ballinabrackey
Kilbride
Na Fianna

Tinchy1 (Meath) - Posts: 71 - 11/08/2026 10:16:18    2689409

GILES96 (Meath) - Posts: 4 - 11/08/2026 10:43:08    2689418

Well done to everyone on a great weekend of championship football.
The Meath G.A.A. website with all the team lineups for every championship game and previews were very good.
Also to the match officials in some case refereeing one game and doing sideline in a second game in different venues on the one day.
The top five teams in SFC all won their games, some more handy than others.

Of the seven SFC teams who topped the two-pointers scoring table, only won team of the seven won their game.
The top five favourites (Ratoath, Summerhill, Dunshaughlin, Wolfe Tones & Kells) who all won their games were not very reliant on two pointers.

2 Pointers:

5: Seneshalstown, Trim & St. Peters Dunboyne,
4: Na Fianna
3: Ratkenny, Simonstown, & Ballinabrackey
2: Dunshaughlin, Summerhill, Gael Colmcille, Skryne,
1: Ratoath, Wolfe Tones, Donaghmore/Ashbourne & Kilbride
0: St. Colmcilles

madmeath (Meath) - Posts: 114 - 11/08/2026 14:51:10    2689460

madmeath (Meath) - Posts: 114 - 11/08/2026 15:23:13    2689462