Barry: Win not a priority

Winning against DCU in his first competitive match in charge of Meath is "not a priority" for new Royal manager Eamonn Barry.

For the first time in 23 years of competitive football, Meath will not have long-time boss Sean Boylan on the sidelines, but Walterstown native Barry, who took over from Boylan in September, is playing down the significance of this weekend's O'Byrne Cup opener.

"I'm looking forward to Sunday's game, but I won’t get too excited about it yet because it will probably be more of an experimental side than anything else we will put out,” he told The Meath Chronicle.

“A lot of lads have put in a great effort since the trial period started two months before Christmas and even over the last two weeks. Those lads have staked a claim and deserve a chance in a competitive outing.

“We will take the game against DCU very seriously and we will be trying our best to win it, but it’s not a priority. It will be an opportunity for a lot of the new lads to play at that level," Barry added.

Barry welcomed Nigel Crawford, Anthony Moyles, Stephen Bray, Brian Farrell, Daithí Regan and Niall Kelly back to the fold in Monday's 1-14 to 1-11 challenge match win against the Green Stars.

The Green Stars side had to be patched up with players from the extended Meath panel after only eight of manager Jody Devine's selected team turned up at Simonstown.

Both Trevor Giles and Darren Fay, All-Ireland winners in 1996 and 1999, are still absent from Barry's panel and their participation for 2006 looks in some doubt. Graham Geraghty and Ray Magee are both currently sidelined by injury.

DCU will be without four of their inter-county stars, Dessie Dolan (Westmeath), Diarmuid Kinsella (Wexford) and Ross Munnelly (Laois) and Shane Ryan (Dublin), for Sunday's clash in Navan.

All four players were given a 12-week suspension last month by the Higher Education Council for breaching an eligibility by-law by playing for DCU in a third-level league match against Sligo IT in November.