Meath GAA Football League Round-up – Divisions 1 & 2
Title holders Summerhill lost further ground on the leading pack in the race for a semi-final spot in Division One of the Meath Football League when held to a draw by visitors Dunshaughlin in a Round 8 match at the weekend.
It was a game the 'Hill needed to win to have a chance of a top four spot and they put themselves in a great position when leading 0-15 to 0-8 at the three quarter way stage. However, their challenge faltered after that as Dunshaughlin came storming into contention and the county champions preserved their unbeaten run with a last-gasp goal from Sean O'Neill to draw the sides' level 2-11 to 0-17.
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Irish Independent
2 days ago
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Meath GAA Football League Round-up – Divisions 1 & 2
Title holders Summerhill lost further ground on the leading pack in the race for a semi-final spot in Division One of the Meath Football League when held to a draw by visitors Dunshaughlin in a Round 8 match at the weekend. It was a game the 'Hill needed to win to have a chance of a top four spot and they put themselves in a great position when leading 0-15 to 0-8 at the three quarter way stage. However, their challenge faltered after that as Dunshaughlin came storming into contention and the county champions preserved their unbeaten run with a last-gasp goal from Sean O'Neill to draw the sides' level 2-11 to 0-17.
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After kick-starting their campaign against Galway in Tuam Stadium later on today, the Premier will also face Donegal in a home encounter on 21 June. "We've kind of just been surviving the last few years, coming close and not making it," McGuigan said. "Last year was tough because we drew with Armagh, who obviously won Division One last year and they were in the All-Ireland semi-finals. Losing to Meath by three points as well. "Even though we had probably two of our better games of the year, you're still facing relegation after that. It's definitely hard to take. We're really pushing to try and get into a quarter-final this year. "It has been a huge goal to try and make it, and not just survive and stay up in senior. You want to try and improve every year. We'll really be hoping to make a quarter-final." With 11 wins from as many games thus far in 2025 between their victorious campaigns in Division 2 – including an opening round win over the Premier – and the Connacht championship, Galway come into today's game against Tipperary as one of the country's in-form teams. From Tipp's perspective, they followed up a third-place finish in the same division of the league with consecutive defeats to Waterford and Cork in Munster. However, the final round of the latter competition saw Ed Burke's side playing out a 1-06 apiece draw with current Brendan Martin Cup holders Kerry and McGuigan saw this as an ideal confidence booster coming into the All-Ireland series. "That was huge because I think we weren't really performing well. We'd lost badly enough to Waterford and Cork in the first two matches, so we really needed something out of the Kerry match and it was a good performance. Originally from the Sliabh na mBan club in Tipperary, McGuigan is arguably one of the most well-travelled Gaelic footballers in Ireland. Having joined the Defence Forces upon leaving school, she found herself doing a cadetship in The Curragh. This brought her face-to-face with Grainne Kenneally, the former Waterford footballer who kick-started the second chapter of her inter-county career with Kildare in 2020. She had already been lining out at club level with Eadestown by that point and McGuigan went on to join her in their ranks for the 2021 club season. After amassing 1-03 in their senior football championship final win against Leixlip in the same year, McGuigan registered an outstanding 1-07 as Eadestown retained Kildare's top club crown at the expense of Sarsfields in 2022. "She was my second in command while I was in cadets. I had a good relationship with her. She was quite scary during cadets, but we became good friends after! She's also an exceptional footballer as well. Although she transferred back to Sliabh na mBan in April 2023, McGuigan is actually set to don the club colours of St Sylvester's in Dublin this year. As there is an option within the army to spend time in college at a certain point if you don't have a degree, McGuigan has studied sports science at TU Dublin for the past few years. She has played O'Connor Cup on a consistent basis with the capital-based college (albeit a fractured fibula kept her sidelined earlier this year) and lined out alongside some notable figures from the inter-county game. One such player was former Dublin star Niamh McEvoy – a five-time Brendan Martin Cup winner during her time with the Jackies. Along with the likes of Sinead Aherne, Nicole Owens, and Kate Sullivan, McEvoy has long been a stalwart of Sylvester's. While she did take some persuading, McGuigan completed a transfer to the Malahide club at the beginning of April and is looking forward to aiding their cause in this year's Dublin senior championship. "She [McEvoy] was doing a PhD in TUD and she had ended up playing two of the O'Connor Cup weekends with us. She is obviously an unbelievable footballer, but we got on really well personally as well," McGuigan added. "She was always hinting at me joining Sylvester's and I was kind of fobbing her off, but then this year it's just a lot of travelling up and down for training. She brought me to lunch one day and she sold it really well. A year of giving it a good go with Sylvester's. They were obviously in the county final last year and they've just serious talent there."
