All-Ireland ladies football final: Will Meath complete their remarkable rise or will Dublin reign supreme?
Dublin and Meath face off in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship final on Sunday (throw-in 4.15pm), with Mick Bohan's charges hot favourites to retain the Brendan Martin Cup. However, Meath are bidding to complete a remarkable rise
Sunday 5 September 2021 13:01, UK
There was some talk in the build-up to Meath's successful and dramatic TG4 All-Ireland semi-final victory over Cork that the Royal County were genuinely capable of toppling the Lee-siders.
Indeed, former inter-county stars Michelle Ryan (Waterford), Caoimhe Morgan (Armagh) and Denise Masterson (Dublin's 2010 All-Ireland winning captain) all plumped for Meath in advance, with Michelle even predicting an extra-time win.
You'd have got long odds on Meath finishing the job with a minute left on the clock, however, before that stunning late comeback yielded two goals to take the tie to extra-time.
Whether Meath are good enough to topple Dublin at Croke Park remains to be seen - but they're here on merit.
Their recent history is worth talking about, to illustrate the magnitude of what they've achieved to get this far.
In August 2015, Meath lost to Cork by 40 points in a TG4 Senior Championship fixture, 0-3 to 7-22 the final score.
Six years later, they ran Cork to two points in the group stages, before beating them in that thrilling semi-final.
In May 2019, Meath eased past Sligo to win the Lidl NFL Division 3 crown. 2020 and Covid stalled their League progress, with the competition halted after five rounds, but they were back for more League glory in June, defeating Kerry at Croke Park to land the Division 2 title and promotion to the top flight.
And consider, too, that this is a Meath team that won the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate title last year, to regain senior status.
Back in 2005, Armagh won the junior title and appeared in a senior decider 12 months later.
In similar fashion, and in the space of just nine months, Meath have moved from intermediate champions to senior contenders.
They last played Dublin in a senior championship game in 2016, in Leinster. Dublin won by 18 points on that occasion but Meath will feel that if they can reel in a 40-point gap in six years, 16 is more than achievable.
That's a simplistic view, of course, when you consider that Dublin were just about to embark on a period of sustained dominance. After losing a third successive All-Ireland final to Cork in 2016, they cracked the code against Mayo in 2017 and have held the Brendan Martin Cup from then until now.
On Sunday, Dublin could emulate the feats of former Cork and Kerry teams and join an elite band of five-in-a-row winners.
After Cork did six on the trot from 2011-2016, Dublin have been in command ever since.
This is a golden age for Dublin, under the astute guidance of Mick Bohan. They were already very good but then along came Hannah Tyrrell, the former Ireland rugby international to bolster their ranks.
Tyrrell, a former Dublin goalkeeper, has been sensational in attack and she is Dublin's leading scorer in the 2021 championship with 0-19.
Dublin managed to get past Mayo with relative ease at the semi-final stage, even without injured trio Carla Rowe, Niamh McEvoy and Niamh Collins.
There's an impressive squad depth and back came Sinead Goldrick following a lengthy period out with a serious hamstring injury.
The Dublin machine rolled on and now there's another title within touching distance.
Meath have produced some special displays on their journey to a very first senior final but it would take something extraordinary for them to get their hands on silverware on Sunday.
That's not to say it can't be done - far from it, as this is a Meath team that likes nothing more than defying the odds. The Leinster rivalry and the neighbourly feel to proceedings will add some spice, too, and this final is one to savour.
Dublin won't have faced anything like Meath during their recent period of dominance but the opposite also applies. In terms of how far they've come, this is the acid test for Meath.
Dublin (v Meath): C Trant; M Byrne, N Collins, L Caffrey; S Goldrick, O Carey, O Nolan; J Dunne, L Magee; H Tyrrell, L Davey, C Rowe; S Aherne (capt.), N Hetherton, S Killeen.
Meath (v Dublin): M McGuirk; E Troy, M.K. Lynch, K Newe; A Leahy, A Cleary, S Ennis (capt.); O Lally, M O'Shaughnessy; O Byrne, S Grimes, N O'Sullivan; V Wall, E Duggan, B Lynch.
