This should be a real championship battle. And not on reputation alone. Meath have more in them than what we saw against Wicklow and Westmeath. Maybe this is a better path than another heavy defeat to Dublin.
Take the opening 50 minutes of the Leinster semi-final in splendid isolation. Mick O’Dowd looked to be on to something. Stephen Bray was his old self, while Eamon Wallace’s pace and Brian McMahon’s finishing suggested that Meath would genuinely trouble Dublin if they could tighten up their defence.
In the end Meath looked naive, badly in need of leaders and not like their former selves at all. But, as O’Dowd noted afterwards, they are a young team learning to acclimatise at championship altitude. Same as Tyrone, just more so. The return of Joe McMahon can only improve their ability to squeeze the life out of Meath’s half-forward line.
McMahon might bottle up Padraic Harnan or Andrew Tormey. That none of the All-Ireland under-21-winning Tyrone side can force a way into Mickey Harte’s starting line-up tells us something in itself. They are not a spent force yet. And anyway, they are regenerating if needs be.
Has to be Tyrone but expect a dying kick from Meath. Expect a serious game.
Verdict: Tyrone
