I thought Meath, after beating a fancied Offaly team, would be far better than that. I think they had a number of U-18's starting tonight. They'll probably be better next year.
Our forward unit didn't work in tandem tonight, especially in the second half. Whelan is a serious prospect, but his shot selection at times can be off. I'd say Kinsella was our best forward tonight, he works hard and utilises the ball well. A couple of other lads mixed the good with the bad. Owens has to be close to starting, he's looked very lively when he's come on the last few games.
Tyrell and Dunne are a good midfield partnership, both can offer something at senior level next year. That said, the Meath midfield were poor. I'd imagine Dublin will have midfielders in the make-up of Brian Fenton, big and mobile. They'll need to step it up for that.
Some of our backs were outstanding. The Portlaoise lad Dowling is small in stature but is very quick and well able to get stuck in. My man of the match would be Lacey though, won nearly every ball coming out and is well able to play ball as well. O'Flynn is a big plus to have at this grade as well. Also, Byron's distribution was very good, and he made a few good saves.
The final against Dublin will be a big step up on this, they won Leinster with that bunch at minor and probably should've made an All-Ireland final. Ciaran Archer I can remember ran the show when our U-17's lost to them last year, so Lacey will need to be at his best to stop him at full-forward.
Best of luck to the lads in the final, seem to be a talented bunch with good attitudes.