Michael Meehan does not believe it is a formality the two All-Ireland senior football semi-finals will necessarily play out as expected this weekend.
Kerry (v Tyrone) and Donegal (v Meath) are both tipped to advance from their respective fixtures but Meehan wouldn’t be surprised if the weekend produced an upset or two.
“There are going to be two obvious favourites but I don’t think you could rule Meath or Tyrone out, to be honest,” says the former Galway forward.
“The championship has kind of taken on a script of its own and I wouldn’t rule out a surprise because I just think the momentum and the freshness of youth and the swagger that we know Meath and Tyrone teams bring when they get a few big results make them dangerous opponents.
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“Yes, they’ll both come in as underdogs but that will probably suit them and I think we’re set up for two massive games.
“To see what Kerry did against Armagh was absolutely phenomenal and it’s probably ominous, but at the same time Tyrone always raise their game when they play Kerry.
“As for Donegal, they have been very impressive but again I’m old enough to remember Meath teams in the 90s and when the green and gold are on the Hill you just get that sense of a traditional county back at the business end of things again.
“Meath are a big footballing county and they’re back now probably where they feel they should be. I suppose they’ll feel they’ve woken from their slumber.”
Meath’s progress to this stage of the championship came at the expense of Meehan’s native Galway – with the Royals beating Pádraic Joyce’s Tribesmen in a quarter-final two weeks ago.
Joyce was non-committal on his future when asked about it after that defeat but Meehan hopes he remains at the helm for a seventh season. Either way, Meehan believes the call on whether to stick or shift will be Joyce’s alone.
“I think he deserves the right to make his own mind up on it and I’m sure that’s how it will go,” says Meehan.
“I suppose with everything that they’ve done as a group I don’t see an appetite for change, really. They have obviously looked to bring in different coaches over the years and add players to the playing group as well.
“You always need to continue evolving and changing. It will be another year down the line under the new rules; there’s a chance now to reassess and say, ‘Okay, what can we do better, what do we need to improve?’
“Every coach is going to be doing that because everything is so new. We are seeing patterns of play develop now but it’s still very early in terms of the whole development of teams and their styles of play under the new rules. So, there are challenges there but I think it’s something he’d like to be part of.”
One of the constant frustrations of Galway’s season was the inability again to get both Damien Comer and Shane Walsh on the pitch and fully fit at the same time.
Comer’s impact when introduced off the bench against Meath in the latter stages of the quarter-final demonstrated the havoc he could have caused if injury did not curtail his involvement in 2025.
Walsh did manage to play more football than Comer but again the season wasn’t without its challenges for him and not having their two best forwards injury-free this year was difficult for Galway.
“It definitely would have an impact on the group but I suppose it’s not a new thing for this squad either,” adds Meehan.
“Pádraic would have been at pains to point that out and try move on from it. But it still would have an impact on the group because when the new rules were announced and you were wondering who’s going to benefit the most out of this, you’d be looking at the Galway forward division.
“But while Shane did manage to put a string of games together, Damien never got going at all. Just everything was so stop-start for him, he played so few minutes in the league and similar in the championship.
“I feel Damien definitely would have excelled with the new rules so hopefully we will get to see him in full flow next year.”
The fear in Galway is that this group of players is now on the verge of missing their chance at getting hold of Sam Maguire. Having contested two of the last three finals, there was a sense that this season might see Galway get over the line but the quarter-final loss to Meath raises fresh doubts if they will ever manage to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand.
But Meehan still feels there is an All-Ireland in this Galway squad.
“It was an opportunity for everyone to kind of step up and grasp it this year because there was no outstanding candidate, but that has come and gone for Galway.
“But that opportunity will be there for teams again next year. I’m sure Galway will add to the group in terms of players, try improve performances and keep developing.”
Michael Meehan was speaking as part of Solgar’s Golden Moments campaign. Solgar, a leading provider of high-quality nutritional supplements, earlier this year announced a three-year partnership to become the official vitamin partner of the GAA and GPA.
