Clare and Meath clash for the second time this year when they meet at Cusack Park in Round 1 of the All-Ireland football qualifiers (6pm).
Earlier this year the sides met in Division 2 with Meath coming away with a 0-10 to 0-09 win. The Royals ended up finishing just ahead of Clare in the Division 2 table – 4th and 5th place.
This is only the second time they have met in the championship. In 2019 Meath had a one point win over the Banner so Colm Collins side will be hoping it’s third time lucky this evening.
Clare were knocked out of the Munster Championship in the quarter-finals by Limerick. The game ended in a draw after extra-time and penalties decided the tie. Limerick’s Robbie Bourke had converted a 75th minute free to bring the game to extra-time.
Limerick scored their first four penalties while Clare missed their first two, effectively sealing their fate. It was a disappointing result for the Banner and Collins will be looking for a reaction.
The Banner were without injured goalkeeper Stephen Ryan for that game with Limerick and he’s in a race against time to be fit for the visit of Meath. Keelan Sexton and Cathal O’Connor who also missed that quarter-final game through injury are back training and in contention for the Meath game.
It was all too easy for Meath in their Leinster quarter-final game with Wicklow. The Royals scored four goals; Jack O’Connor scored their opening goal within seconds of throw-in. The Garden County scored a consolation goal near the end as the game finished 4-13 to 1-12.
Meath were found wanting in the semi-final when they came up against Dublin who went in at the break 15 points ahead. The game ended 1-27 to 1-14 in favour of Dublin. Meath ended the game with 13 players after Jack Flynn and Jordan Morris were shown red cards.
Morris has been cleared to play against Clare after winning his appeal but Flynn will miss the game after his appeal was thrown out. Having Morris is a huge boost for manager Andy McEntee.
Deniese O'Flaherty
Deniese is a freelance sports journalist/broadcaster. She has worked for several local and national media outlets. GAA and soccer are her great loves and she also follows rugby league and snooker. She's a big supporter of her local clubs St. Mary's GAA Granard and Longford Town. She also follows Celtic, Liverpool and Leeds Rhinos. She presented and produced a popular sports podcast last year where she interviewed Ray Houghton, Chris Kamara and John Hartson. Deniese is currently Head of Communications for Boccia Ireland