An Mhí v Cill Dara

[Dinny Breen]

Ladbrookes are the only ones with odds up so far this game

Meath evens
Kildare evens
Draw 15/2

shows you how hard this is going to be to call

[Donnellys Hollow]

Theree'll be some craic around Kilcock, Maynooth and JTB/Enfield this week. The slagging and banter back in the late nineties was unreal.

I wouldn't read too much into the League encounter. It was a meaningless game really with both teams out of contention for promotion and safe from relegation. Dermot Earley was out injured and if I remember correctly it was only an awful blunder by Paul Flood in goal that turned the game for Meath.

It'll be interesting to see how the Kildare defence line up against the Meath forwards. I'd imagine young Kelly will be on Bray, Hughie will take O'Rourke, Andy Mac on Ward, Flanagan on Seámus Kenny, Bolton on Big Joe and Morgan Flaherty marking Reilly. The defensive unit has improved no end since the Louth match but this will be by far their biggest test. If Dermot and Flynner get the upper hand in midfield I'd be hopeful enough Kildare can limit Meath to a beatable score. It will all depend on the Kildare forwards winning enough ball in Kevin McStay's:

[Dinny Breen]

Hot Zone, I think McStay has crossed over into the

[Jinxy]

[Dinny Breen]

Hmm this thread is becoming a

[Donnellys Hollow]

[Jinxy]

Maybe the lads aren't eating the right stuff.

[Dinny Breen]

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/blog/post/2010/07/25/Cork-Kerry-Tyrone-and-Meath-to-be-the-last-four-standing.aspx

The most difficult quarter-final game to call is Kildare and Meath.

McGeeney has his side moving well and in the likes of James Kavanagh, Johnny Doyle, Eamon Callaghan, Alan Smith and Ronan Sweeney he has scoring forwards. Can the Meath defence hold them out?

Likewise, the Royals have some stellar talent up front and their 5-09 against Dublin showed what they can produce if they get their tails up. This has the makings of a fantastic game as both sets of forwards are in my estimation superior than the defences that will be marking them.

Nobody likes pundits who sit on the fence, but this is a tough one to call and should go down to the wire.

Eamon O'Brien's team might have the psychological advantage of going out to prove that they are better than they were in the Leinster final.

Few teams do siege mentality better than Meath and they will be pumped up to give a passionate answer to their critics who condemned them for not offering Louth a replay. I have concerns about the Kildare full-back line and for that reason I am going for a narrow Meath victory.

Ray Silke has given his verdict early, goes for Meath but his reason is mental, now against Louth our full-back line was cleaned out but it was completely rejigged with Kelly and McLoughlin introduced and Hugh McGrillan moved into fullback and they have been excellent since and has been our best line in the qualifiers.

Is the first rule of punditry - I must not research and watch games?

[AZOffaly]

Dinny, that's the reason why I think I'll be tipping Kildare. I have a feeling that Kildare will be able to nullify the Meath full forward line, and with Emmet Bolton at centre back and the midfield (What's the story on Earley's injury??) possibly winning their battles, I think Johnny Doyle, Kavanagh and Smith will be able to do the business.

I like Meath's full forward line, but I think they might have to do better than break even at midfield and the 40s to win the game, and I'm not sure they will.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Ray Silke - I think he's gone on record saying he won Dermot Earley an All-Star in 1998! 

Speaking of the big man, he'll be grand for Sunday AZ. The knee is in sh1t but he's been playing through the pain for the past two months. He didn't even take his place on the bench when taken off on Saturday. He stayed out on the sideline roaring encouragement. He went for a run down the sideline at one stage and seemed to be moving freely enough.

[Dinny Breen]

1-1 in the pundit stakes with Bomber Liston in tonights Hearld giving the nod to Kildare, to paraphrase the great man 'hard to call, Kildare forwards will get the better of the suspect Meath defence just about'

[Rossfan]

Is the first rule of punditry - I must not research and watch games?

Silke's an ********* so don't pay any heed to his nonsense.

[Dinny Breen]

Silke's an ********* so don't pay any heed to his nonsense.

Sure we know that....

What's Meath breaking ball ability like, if you can get parity with us here Kildare could be in trouble, against Derry we won 19 breaking balls to Derrys 8 and on Saturday it was 27 - 14 in Kildares favour. Kildare didn't win 1 clean catch on Saturday as our midfielders just broke ball after ball.

Against Louth we got cleaned out on breaking ball and we all know what happened there...

[Jinxy]

Louth won all the breaks in the 2nd half anyway.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kildare didn't win 1 clean catch on Saturday as our midfielders just broke ball after ball.

We had one IIRC. Leper caught one of Shorty's kickouts before going on his run that won the free for JD to put us ahead before HT. Shows how the game has gone that you can completely dominate midfield without fetching ball from the air. I really do think the GAA missed a trick by not giving the mark a try for the Championship.

I watched the Laochra Gael show from a few weeks back of the '97 & '98 games again this morning and there were some great catches from the likes of Nuxer, Dermot and McDermott. It would be a shame if such high-fielding became a thing of the past.