Meath have had almost two weeks now to nurse the hangover from their Leinster SFC semi-final collapse against Westmeath - is there a sting left in the Royals?

Mickey Harte is certainly wary of the challenge that the visitors will pose to his side's hopes of progressing to Round 3B: "They are being berated at large for the fact that they under-performed in the second half. It was very un-Meath-like," the Red Hand boss remarked.

"Even if they weren't being berated, I think there would be a backlash anyway because they know they played good enough football to be in the Leinster final and they are not.

"It's a great chance for redemption to come up to Tyrone and beat us."

Harte has handed a first championship start of the year to Joe McMahon who replaces his injured brother Justin in the number 6 jersey. Goalkeeper Mickey O'Neill also misses out due to injury and his place goes to Niall Morgan.

Visitors Meath also have goalkeeping issues to contend with as regular number one Paddy O'Rourke is suspended. That means Conor McHugh steps up for his first championship start while goalkeeping coach Brendan Murphy has come out of retirement to provide back-up.

Elsewhere, Mick O'Dowd has reshuffled his deck to position Kevin Reilly at centre-back while Davy Dalton is preferred in the half-back line ahead of Mickey Burke.

Bryan Menton is relocated to midfield where he will partner Harry Rooney as the Royals look to restore some pride to the green and gold jersey.

Verdict - Tyrone.

Tyrone team: Niall Morgan; Aidan McCrory, Ronan McNamee, Cathal McCarron; Ronan McNabb, Joe McMahon; Peter Harte; Colm Cavanagh, Mattie Donnelly; Tiernan McCann, Ronan O'Neill, Rory Brennan; Darren McCurry, Sean Cavanagh, Conor McAliskey.

Meath team: Conor McHugh; James McEntee, Conor McGill, Donncha Tobin; Donal Keogan, Kevin Reilly, David Dalton; Bryan Menton, Harry Rooney; Graham Reilly, Padraic Harnan, Andrew Tormey; Eamon Wallace, Stephen Bray, Brian McMahon.

Match details: Saturday; Healy Park; 3pm; extra-time playable.

Referee: Ciaran Branagan

Odds: Tyrone 4/9; Draw 15/2; Meath 5/2.

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