Meath will dip into 2025 barrel of hurt, says Robbie Brennan

Meath manager Robbie Brennan said there may have been a bit of 'yerra' in Ciaran Whelan said the Royal County are favourites for the Leinster title. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Meath manager Robbie Brennan says they'd be foolish not to tap into the hurt of last year's Leinster SFC final loss.

The in-form Royals, who backed up last year's march to the All-Ireland semi-finals by winning Division 2 recently, will begin their provincial campaign against Westmeath on Sunday.

It's the first of what Brennan hopes will be three steps to heaven with Meath desperate to win a first Leinster title in 16 years.

Meath were beaten by Louth in last year's Leinster final and while Brennan believes Dublin deserve to be the overall favourites for the Delaney Cup this summer, he's hoping last season's hurt can drive Meath.

"It is a real thing because it did hurt obviously," said Brennan of losing last year's final. "You were watching some of the Louth celebrations afterwards and the joy it brought them. And rightly so, they'd been a long time waiting as well, no more than ourselves.

"So you kind of feel jealous of that and you'd love to be able to taste a little bit of that. You'd be using that. Really, it's the mental side of things to say, 'This is where we're trying to get to and this is what we have to do'. We'd certainly be dipping into that if, please God, we continue on that path down the Championship. I think we'd be foolish not to use it."

Meath will be the highest ranked Leinster county in National League terms in 2027 after their promotion to Division 1, allied to Dublin's relegation.

Meath also defeated Dublin in last year's Championship, the first time anyone had beaten the Dubs in the province since Meath previously beat them in 2010, though Brennan reckons the Sky Blues deserve to be favourites to regain the Leinster title.

"I'm sure Dublin are still the favourites for Leinster," said the man who guided Kilmacud Crokes to Dublin, Leinster and All-Ireland club successes before taking over Meath. "They'd say that in the bookies and that's what you'd expect it to be, you'd expect that to be the case."

Brennan was reminded that Dublin great Ciarán Whelan recently installed Meath as the Leinster championship favourites during his analysis work for RTÉ TV.

"I saw Ciarán's bit alright," smiled Brennan. "There was a bit of 'yerra, yerra' in it. I wasn't sure if he was from Kerry, the way he pitched it! Ah look, at the same time, it's fair to say our lads should be in the conversation for having a good crack at Leinster.

"And I don't think the noise piece will be hard to keep away from the lads. So far, up to this, they haven't got carried away with anything, whether it was a couple of good wins last year throughout the season, or even now after the win in Division 2.

"It's always just been 'What's next, what's next?' for them. They're a great bunch like that. I'd be disappointed if suddenly they started running away with themselves. I don't think they're that type at all. That should be okay. It'll be down to whether we're good enough or not, I think, ultimately."

Meath and Westmeath will travel to neutral Tullamore for Sunday's Leinster quarter-final. O'Byrne Cup holders Westmeath are fresh off their big Round 1 win over Longford when they made light of banana skin talk by rocking the Division 4 finalists with five goals.

"We played Limerick in a challenge earlier in the year and we were well beaten, then you look at Westmeath and their huge win over Limerick in the League," cautioned Brennan.

In broader, national terms, Brennan said that Donegal 'are showing everybody how to do it'.

Asked if he noticed much of a difference in quality between the Division 2 final that Meath won, and the subsequent Division 1 decider between Donegal and Kerry, Brennan focused on Donegal's ability to retain the ball.

"Their lack of turnovers is frightening at the minute," he said of the Ulster champions. "I watched the Division 1 final back a couple of times, to be honest with you, just to see what you can pick up.

"I'm not so sure necessarily (about any difference) in the level of intensity or things like that. But certainly in ball retention. I thought the pace of some of the Donegal attacks was frightening. No matter what team you are, you're going to find it hard to defend that."