Dubs on double trail

Dublin will aim to record successive provincial titles when they encounter near neighbours Meath in the Electric Ireland Leinster MFC final at Croke Park tomorrow (2pm).

The same counties came face-to-face 12 months ago with the Dubs prevailing comfortably by 2-18 to 1-11 but a much tighter spectacle is predicted tomorrow given how few of Dublin’s main protagonists remain from that 10-point win.

Ciarán Kilkenny, Jack McCaffrey and Emmet Ó Conghaile were key contributors in Dublin’s All-Ireland U21 triumph earlier this spring and that exceptional talent is not available to Dublin manager Dessie Farrell on this occasion.

With only Eric Lowndes and Cormac Costello still eligible Farrell surprised many by dropping full-forward David Campbell against Kildare. But his decision was vindicated by the displays of both Costello and fellow hurler Conor McHugh, who shared 2-6 from play.

That is unlikely to be repeated against a physically powerful Meath unit who have also progressed serenely to the final following respective wins over Longford, Offaly and a 13-point hammering of Westmeath in the semi-final.

Barry Dardis has been their goalscoring talisman, having found the net in all three games but he is not the only scoring threat as 12 players contributing to the team’s scoring so far would suggest.

With both teams guaranteed an All-Ireland quarter-final, irrespective of tomorrow’s result, Farrell insists Dublin have too much respect for their opponents to take anything lightly.

“It is very important that the players realise the significance of appearing in a Leinster final as they don’t come along too often in any player’s career,” he said.

“They should enjoy the occasion and the experience of playing in front of a big crowd and I’d be very much of the opinion that once you get to a final, you very much want to win them. We will have to up our game if we are to do so though.

“We may have won the Leinster league final [in April] but we were very lucky to do so and this Meath team has gone from strength-to-strength since then and they may have last year’s experiences as added motivation against us too.

“As always, a Dublin versus Meath clash has a life all of its own and I expect Sunday to be no different,” said Farrell.

Dublin (probable): L Molloy; E Mullan, D Byrne, R McGowan; E Lowndes, C Mulally, M Mac Donncha; S Cunningham, S Carthy; R Gaughan, G Burke, N Walsh; C McHugh, C Costello, N Scully.

Meath: J Hannigan; D Smyth, B Power, S Gallagher; P Kennelly, S McEntee, R Ó Coileáin; A Flanagan, P Harnan; C O’Sullivan, J Daly, J McEntee; B Dardis, S Coogan, F Ward.