Last year Dunshaughlin were the best form team from the start of the championship. There is no team like that this year who are the bookies favourites from start to finish. When the winner of the Dunshaughlin/Summerhill semifinal is decided it will mean one of the teams to reach the Senior Final will have won only one of their three Group games. Skryne are the only team left that have won all four of their games and assuming Harry Rooney is fit to start, Skryne's school boys will get the better of an aging Ratoath. If Skryne put pressure on the Ratoath kickers and Ratoath don't nail their scoring chances early in the game, their confidence in their shooting could hit the floor again and they could end up racking up another very high tally of wides. Dunshaughlin with Daryl McKenna (starting) & Niall Byrne (on as sub) back the last day (against Wolfe Tones) have now given themselves a genuine shot of giving Summerhill a more competitive game than Summerhill got from Trim in the Quarter Final. The return of Dunshaughlins two backs frees up Costello & McDonagh to play in their more familiar attacking roles again. Both teams have strong midfielders with Gray & Flanagan both playing well in the QF's and both scoring a goal to top off their performances and will probably cancel each other out. McDonnell would be favoured to slightly win the other midfield battle. Form would suggest a Summerhill win considering they hammered Trim on Saturday by 10 points, while Trim defeated Dunshaughlin just two weeks earlier, but come the knockout stages form sometimes count for nothing and Dunshaughlin would not be expected to roll over like Trim as they are not as limited in attacking options. Ronan Ryan managed to do something, Meath Hill, Rathkenny & Dunshaughlin couldn't manage, mark Aaron Lynch tightly enough and nullified to a big extent Trim's main scoring threat. The battle between Ronan Ryan and Kinsella should be a great watch. So Skryne to win and even though people say Summerhill are stronger at the back and up front have the two Frayne's, Larkin, McCabe & McDonnell to get scores, I will go with my heart, Dunshaughlin to win.
Replying To Royalblufill: "22 wides was poor alright - but amazing that you still won! I thought it was significant to see McGill and Joe Wallace come on and get decent game time. I suspect you will better set for the semi final with those 2!
What about your other neighbours - we are facing O'Mahonys in the relegation playoff - I don't know i we will have any of our 'overseas' players back for that but one way or another it is a huge game for both teams! Mad to think that we could be junior next year when we were both Senior only a short while back!"
I hope ye stay up. Curraha lads are obviously a massive part of our hurling team's successes recently. It's a shame ye are in this position given that you were on the wrong side of two penalty shootouts in last season's relegation playoffs. Losing players abroad will hurt any club but for clubs with such a small playing pool anyway, it has a much bigger impact. If ye do stay up, I think NOM going down will make ripples nationwide given their status. But whoever goes down, you'd expect them to come straight back up the following year (though obviously not a given).
Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1412 - 18/09/2025 14:28:57
2636676
It doesn't really matter how you get to a semi as long as you're there. Teams with talent can always rise above poor form at the business end, so I wouldn't underestimate any of the four teams left. But I do feel that the Dunshaughlin hunger has returned, just at the right time. Four lads on a county panel that had a decent run, has its downside in fatigue terms, as other clubs have experienced. Yes, it's an excuse for poor performances, but there seems to be a freshness returning recently. We'll see.