Dublin set to grasp shot at redemption

IT’S 20 years since Meath last won an All-Ireland minor football title but denizens of the county may find greater solace in their last final appearance, in 2002, when they were well beaten by a superb Derry team.

Of that 1992 outfit, Trevor Giles was the only member of the squad to really make his mark in the senior game – and what a mark – whereas talents such as Joe Sheridan, Brian Farrell and Caoimhin King all emerged from the ultimately unsuccessful campaign a decade later.

The lesson here is a simple one: minor success is all well and good, but the priority must be the grade’s ability to deliver players to the top of the inter-county pyramid and the likelihood is Meath will be grasping that far from insignificant straw come tomorrow afternoon.