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Tullamore, Sunday 22nd April, 1:15pm throw-in.
Seán Brennan
Seamus Lavin
Seán Rafferty
Brian O'Halloran
Donal Keogan
Seán Coffey
Ciarán Caulfield
Bryan Menton
Jack Flynn
Jack O'Connor
Ruairí Kinsella
Adam O'Neill
Jordan Morris
Eoghan Frayne
Aaron Lynch.
Subs: Billy Hogan, Killian Smyth, Ronan Ryan Cathal Hickey, Cian McBride, Charlie O'Connor, Oisín Martin, James Conlon, Jason Scully, Conor Duke, Keith Curtis.
So, despite the setback of Páirc Uí Rinn, we go into the last game of the league phase with destiny in our own hands. All we need is at least a draw against the worst team in the division and we're promoted and have a league final to look forward to. A position that we all hoped we'd be in at the start of the league.
Offaly are already down but they do seem to have improved and have a few players back that they were missing in the earlier games. They've also been able to cause other teams problems at times, without managing to turn it into a result (by the looks of it, they should have beaten Cavan last week). So it certainly won't be the case that we can just rock up and expect a handy win, we'll need to be professional. I'm sure Robbie has been drilling this into the team and any talk of promotion will have been parked until we get the result we need.
Offaly have the leakiest defence in the league (24 points is the fewest they've conceded in their 6 games). Given that we've been one of the highest scorers, we'd be expected to put up a big score. Also, in terms of the crowd, it'll basically be like a home game for us. Offaly supposedly had less than 300 supporters at their game last weekend. Given what's at stake for us, I'd expect there to be thousands of Meath fans at this. Weather looks dry with only a slight wind.
In the other games, Cork also need only a draw away to Tyrone to get promoted. If they lose, Derry are primed to take advantage due to their huge points difference, if they beat Cavan. Louth have an outside shot at promotion but need a number of results (including ours) to go their way.
Best of luck to the lads. I was sceptical about whether we'd have enough to be promoted this year and thought we threw away our chance last year. But, despite some hairy moments, we've gotten the results we needed to be in this position.
Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1466 - 20/03/2026 10:20:56
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Huge game. If we come out strongly and maintain our high standards we should do it. A slow start and suddenly things get nervy. Westmeath showed against Roscommon last year that an already relegated team can play with freedom and make things difficult . Albeit I think we're in a stronger position that Roscommon were at this stage, and Offaly in a weaker position.
Division 2 next year could have Dublin, Monaghan, Tyrone, Derry, Louth, Down next year. We could (hopefully) be getting out at just the right time!
MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 180 - 20/03/2026 10:56:33
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On all known form, Offaly shouldn't get within 10 points of us, but that been said we know that nothing is a certainty in sport and Offaly will be keen to give a good account of themselves to close out the campaign. Given the attendance in Tullamore last week was about 600, we probably will massively outnumber them.
Hoping for good conditions, just would be typical for there to be a Gail force breeze and Offaly steam ahead early doors like last year in Navan and doubt to start creeping in. Would expect a couple of changes from the 26 names. Matt Costello could be back and wouldn't be surprised to see Ronan Jones back in the 26.
But glorious opportunity here, we've been the most consistent team in the division and played to our level in every game. Others have been up and down but we've been consistently good. It will be a deserved promotion should we get it done, and we can look forward to a good crack at Leinster.
My prediction for the game is it'll be tight enough for a bit, but we'll go through the gears and Offaly with nothing to play for will probably just pack it in. Going for a 2-25 to 1-14 win and a trip to Croke Park the following week where it's likely we meet Derry or Cork.
Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 126 - 20/03/2026 11:39:27
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Replying To Cabbagepatch1667: "On all known form, Offaly shouldn't get within 10 points of us, but that been said we know that nothing is a certainty in sport and Offaly will be keen to give a good account of themselves to close out the campaign. Given the attendance in Tullamore last week was about 600, we probably will massively outnumber them.
Hoping for good conditions, just would be typical for there to be a Gail force breeze and Offaly steam ahead early doors like last year in Navan and doubt to start creeping in. Would expect a couple of changes from the 26 names. Matt Costello could be back and wouldn't be surprised to see Ronan Jones back in the 26.
But glorious opportunity here, we've been the most consistent team in the division and played to our level in every game. Others have been up and down but we've been consistently good. It will be a deserved promotion should we get it done, and we can look forward to a good crack at Leinster.
My prediction for the game is it'll be tight enough for a bit, but we'll go through the gears and Offaly with nothing to play for will probably just pack it in. Going for a 2-25 to 1-14 win and a trip to Croke Park the following week where it's likely we meet Derry or Cork." I would be surprised if they took any risks with Costello although could see Jones in the 26. If the first half goes well, I'd like to see some of the subs get 20/25 minutes - they should be well able to see the game out.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 127 - 20/03/2026 14:21:33
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Looking forward to the trip to Tullamore and hopefully a big Meath crowd travel to get the lads over the line.
While it's opposite ends of the table clashing, Offaly still have their pride to play for in a local derby and wouldn't want us coming to their home turf and getting promotion with an easy victory. I would expect them go all out to spoil the party.
Our lads just need to do as they have been doing all league, next game, and play their own way. That will be enough.
Personally, I would hope the game be killed off as early as possible with a strong scoring blitz and that lads get a run out but won't be surprised if it's a battling performance.
Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 833 - 21/03/2026 11:23:24
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The first thing Frayne mentioned in his interview last week was we lost last time we were down here, so I can't see any complacency creeping in. They also gave us right scare last year being up 10 points at half time. That being said Meath by 20+ if we can tighten up at the back a bit, our Forward play is just way too much for a team like offaly to handle. This is a division 1 team against a division 3 team.
Sheridan2010louth (Meath) - Posts: 313 - 21/03/2026 12:20:59
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Another derby to finish up the league.
I can see a lot of complacency in the county and the media at large around this one to be honest, but I think the team and management are too savvy to follow that line of thinking.
Wouldn't be surprised if Offaly turn up in a big way considering theyre relegated and have nothing to play for but pride, which they always have in spades. Meath will need to match that and start hard and fast. Hopefully a big crowd travels.
As always with any of our neighbours, this is a banana skin. I wouldn't be taking any risks - go guns blazing once more into the breach and we're into the big leagues.
Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 625 - 21/03/2026 12:29:17
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Well done playees and management great to be back at the top table. The major objective for this year achieved and still only March.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2244 - 22/03/2026 15:30:38
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Great achievement by all involved. Some really close games that we came out on top on which will also bring the team on
SheridansTry (Meath) - Posts: 182 - 22/03/2026 18:47:14
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Come on ! It's great to be heading back up!
I reckon we were the 2nd highest scorers across all the divisions and we were around average with score conceded and we easily could have been top scorers with the amount even just Morris left behind him today.
I was a little disappointed to not see gray get game time considering he was promoted to a sub spot in oneills absence.delighted for duke to feature he needs a confidence boost. Morris just could not hold the ball today, I would say he didn't play well and still came away with 1-3 or 4 but we do need him to sharpen up with his efficiency.
Kinsella and keoghan just a class above today. Keoghan is so important for us for short kickouts options.
I felt sorry for our neighbors with how poorly they were supported hopefully they can steady the ship, we genuinely out numbered them, which is a first for me anyway at an away meath game.
We have bigger fish to fry and I can't wait to see these lads in top of the ground championship football. Leinster has me anxious nothing between us, Dublin and louth.
royalcounty1 (Meath) - Posts: 63 - 22/03/2026 18:58:13
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Replying To royalcounty1: "Come on ! It's great to be heading back up!
I reckon we were the 2nd highest scorers across all the divisions and we were around average with score conceded and we easily could have been top scorers with the amount even just Morris left behind him today.
I was a little disappointed to not see gray get game time considering he was promoted to a sub spot in oneills absence.delighted for duke to feature he needs a confidence boost. Morris just could not hold the ball today, I would say he didn't play well and still came away with 1-3 or 4 but we do need him to sharpen up with his efficiency.
Kinsella and keoghan just a class above today. Keoghan is so important for us for short kickouts options.
I felt sorry for our neighbors with how poorly they were supported hopefully they can steady the ship, we genuinely out numbered them, which is a first for me anyway at an away meath game.
We have bigger fish to fry and I can't wait to see these lads in top of the ground championship football. Leinster has me anxious nothing between us, Dublin and louth." Agreed thought Morris very fidgety and finicky with his ball handling and was handed alot of ball which he lost. Still had 1-6 to his name in the end and will take that any day but needs to settle down a bit. Lynch actually was very sharp early on. Keoghan was very good all through and has improved as league went on after a shaky start. Good to see McBride back to his best too. Great options around middle now. Brennan may be better just hitting the three big men more often than trying to hit the bullseye along the sidelines. 2 pointers were hard to come by (only 1 from free) from play today with Offaly pushing out really hard on them. Each of our half backs scored. Good to see subs getting a run but pretty much expect team that started today to start again next weekend. Banty our best impact sub. Expect a different game and more of a shootout against Cork. Think they are the ideal team to play given they beat us last time plus we have Rafferty back since that outing.
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 961 - 22/03/2026 19:41:34
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Replying To winatallcost: "Agreed thought Morris very fidgety and finicky with his ball handling and was handed alot of ball which he lost. Still had 1-6 to his name in the end and will take that any day but needs to settle down a bit. Lynch actually was very sharp early on. Keoghan was very good all through and has improved as league went on after a shaky start. Good to see McBride back to his best too. Great options around middle now. Brennan may be better just hitting the three big men more often than trying to hit the bullseye along the sidelines. 2 pointers were hard to come by (only 1 from free) from play today with Offaly pushing out really hard on them. Each of our half backs scored. Good to see subs getting a run but pretty much expect team that started today to start again next weekend. Banty our best impact sub. Expect a different game and more of a shootout against Cork. Think they are the ideal team to play given they beat us last time plus we have Rafferty back since that outing." Did we kick one or two attempts at pointers from play? I don't think we bothered to even try just picked off our scores and took the easy option.
I would say we played the game in neutral and entirely on our own terms. Other that a sloppy 10 minute period in first half we bossed the game and job was done at half time.
Nothing to learn or take from the game in my opinion. Easy to be critical of where things went wrong.
The league final, whilst not important from a seasonal perspective, requires a strong competitive approach to keep the momentum going.
Well done team, management and supporters for an enjoyable campaign. It's going to be a challenging Div. 2 next year!
Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 833 - 22/03/2026 20:52:22
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A positive day - we looked a bit lacklustre for 15 mins in the first half but thought the lads were very professional after that. We put them under a lot of pressure with their kickouts and got to grips with our own. McBride looked back to his best. Subs that came in all looked sharp. Our conditioning looks great. Sounds to me like Cork won't be going hell for leather next weekend so it could be a strange game. I think we should attack it but maybe freshen up the team a bit and make 2/3 changes to the starting 15.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 127 - 22/03/2026 23:00:31
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Replying To winatallcost: "Agreed thought Morris very fidgety and finicky with his ball handling and was handed alot of ball which he lost. Still had 1-6 to his name in the end and will take that any day but needs to settle down a bit. Lynch actually was very sharp early on. Keoghan was very good all through and has improved as league went on after a shaky start. Good to see McBride back to his best too. Great options around middle now. Brennan may be better just hitting the three big men more often than trying to hit the bullseye along the sidelines. 2 pointers were hard to come by (only 1 from free) from play today with Offaly pushing out really hard on them. Each of our half backs scored. Good to see subs getting a run but pretty much expect team that started today to start again next weekend. Banty our best impact sub. Expect a different game and more of a shootout against Cork. Think they are the ideal team to play given they beat us last time plus we have Rafferty back since that outing." Feel like Morris is always like that with his jinking, hopping and soloing. It's almost as if he's over confident and trying to do something incredible every time. Thought he did well today though and he's maturing into a really good player.
Promotion secured and another game next week in Croker can do us no harm. I'd be confident enough. Cork are decent and obviously beat us but we have to be happy with the trajectory we're on. I think we're on a collision course for another Leinster Final with Louth. I think they'll beat Dublin.
Any word when Costello will be back?
NYRoyal (USA) - Posts: 89 - 22/03/2026 23:48:37
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Brilliant achievement overall for the league. 6 wins out of 7 in a tough division 2 with no home games is superb. In 2019 we went up where we absolutely maximising our talent it felt like. This is a far more talented outfit and definitely has the capability to stay in division 1 for a while. In the meantime let's go after the Leinster to really cement the progress and where we're at as a team
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1580 - 23/03/2026 06:37:26
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Folks, just looking ahead to bigger challenges ahead - can someone tell me who we have to cover injuries in defence or even just to reduce the minutes some of the lads are having to put in every week? It seems to me that the vast majority of our subs are either forwards or midfielders. To me it is a glaring issue but I haven't heard much chat about it with any of the analysis. Don't want to be too negative about it because clearly Robbie is doing a great job but I assume it has to be a focus for the championship and Div 1 next year. I can't imagine any of the top teams are operating without at least 10 defenders in their extended squad of 30/31. If you look back over the 7 games in the league, how many times did a sub come on to play in defence? Must have been 2 or 3 times at most.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 127 - 23/03/2026 09:07:32
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What a brilliant achievement securing Division 1 football. This team are showing last year was'nt just a fluke and I would say there is more to come in Leinster and beyond. Was nice to hear Robbie after the match acknowledge Conor Gilespie & Shane Supple for keeping things going last year after the departure of Martin Corey & Joe McMahon. Robbie deserves credit also for replacing them with Conor Scully & Aaron Kiernan, it looks a pretty shrewd appointment now. I sat beside a wise Skryne man yesterday in Tullamore who told me he sees Scullys tactical fingerprint on the team already. Lastly it was heartening to see how we outnumbered our hosts in such big numbers in the stands & terraces yesterday. The times they are a changing...
Northroyal55 (Meath) - Posts: 24 - 23/03/2026 09:26:49
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We were poor from around the 10th minute until the 20th minute, but apart from that, we never really looked troubled.
Agreed about Morris, he came out with 1-6 but lost a lot of ball unnecessarily and also probably could have laid the ball off to another player in a better position at times. But we can't really complain much with that return, but something for him to work on. One thing to mention about Morris is that, for about 15-20 minutes (at least as that's how long I stayed) after the game, he was signing autographs and posing for pictures with kids. I'm sure he (and the management team) would have much preferred him to warm down, but he didn't seem to want to disappoint anyone, so fair play to him.
Excellent spread of scorers as well with 12 different players on the scoresheet. Thought Aaron Lynch did really well and pressed high up the pitch in the first half when we were struggling a bit, resulting in a turnover and a score. Keogan and Caulfield very good while Conlon was very busy after coming on.
Good to get another run out in Croker with a chance at silverware. But we need to start focusing on Leinster. Last time we got promoted, we put in a good performance in the division 2 final but almost came a cropper in our first game in Leinster. Assuming it's Westmeath (though Longford had an excellent league), they'll be hurting after their failure to reach the division 3 final and will be looking to cause an upset.
Well done to all on the achievement. It's something that everyone had earmarked at the start of the year and the players delivered which is a mark of more progress being made under this management team.
Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1466 - 23/03/2026 11:23:34
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Replying To gwanyagudthing: "Folks, just looking ahead to bigger challenges ahead - can someone tell me who we have to cover injuries in defence or even just to reduce the minutes some of the lads are having to put in every week? It seems to me that the vast majority of our subs are either forwards or midfielders. To me it is a glaring issue but I haven't heard much chat about it with any of the analysis. Don't want to be too negative about it because clearly Robbie is doing a great job but I assume it has to be a focus for the championship and Div 1 next year. I can't imagine any of the top teams are operating without at least 10 defenders in their extended squad of 30/31. If you look back over the 7 games in the league, how many times did a sub come on to play in defence? Must have been 2 or 3 times at most." Just off the top of my head from recent 26-man match panels you have Ronan Ryan, Killian Smyth, Adam O Neill and Cathal Hickey as four defensive backs.
I think the league panel simply comes down to match selection as opposed to cover. It's been deemed more important to load the bench with midfielders and attacking forwards than backs - particularly given the type of games we have played this campaign but cover is still there with a full back, two half backs and an auxiliary full/centre back.
From No. 2 to No. 7 we have settled players who have earned their jersey throughout the league. In my opinion they are the best we have and will play better as a unit the more they play together.
I would agree with you though and say that we are quite thin in the backs overall and could very quickly lose cohesion if we had to start filling gaps as championship progresses through injuries to key players and that's just where squad depth comes into it. We need to trust that there are 3 or 4 lads training away just waiting for a moment to step in. They might lack serious Inter County experience but they will be drilled into the bigger system and know their job when called upon.
Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 833 - 23/03/2026 11:56:55
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Replying To Royalio11: "Just off the top of my head from recent 26-man match panels you have Ronan Ryan, Killian Smyth, Adam O Neill and Cathal Hickey as four defensive backs.
I think the league panel simply comes down to match selection as opposed to cover. It's been deemed more important to load the bench with midfielders and attacking forwards than backs - particularly given the type of games we have played this campaign but cover is still there with a full back, two half backs and an auxiliary full/centre back.
From No. 2 to No. 7 we have settled players who have earned their jersey throughout the league. In my opinion they are the best we have and will play better as a unit the more they play together.
I would agree with you though and say that we are quite thin in the backs overall and could very quickly lose cohesion if we had to start filling gaps as championship progresses through injuries to key players and that's just where squad depth comes into it. We need to trust that there are 3 or 4 lads training away just waiting for a moment to step in. They might lack serious Inter County experience but they will be drilled into the bigger system and know their job when called upon." Thanks for the response - they were the 4 names I was thinking of too and you could probably add Ronan Jones as cover for centre back so maybe that's fine for now on the assumption that there are a few more guys training away in the background. One other minor gripe from yesterday - we won a free outside the arc, Brennan came up to take it but was waved away and Flynn ended up taking it and completely mis-kicking it and it went wide off the hand of one of our lads. It was at a time too when Offaly were still in the game. Presumably the thinking was that Flynn might be better off taking them from the left hand side but Brennan has successfully kicked them from that side already in the league so I would have thought he should just take all of them? It was the lack of a clear strategy that seemed odd to me.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 127 - 23/03/2026 12:28:01
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