Meath are the only team left in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship without a previous Sam Maguire winner in their squad.
Indeed, Sunday will be the first time any of the Meath players line out in an All-Ireland SFC semi-final. The county hasn’t been at this stage since 2009.
Meath still haven’t won a Leinster senior title since 2010 and until this season, they had been on a nine-game championship losing streak to rivals Dublin, stretching back 15 years.
During that period there were six double-digit defeats to the Dubs, including a humiliating 21-point loss in 2020. There have also been championship defeats in recent years to, among others, Longford, Offaly and Clare. Just two summers ago, Meath were competing in the Tailteann Cup. Only once since 2006 have they spent a season playing Division One league football.
During commentary of Meath’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Galway, Tomás Ó Sé posed a question many in the country had been pondering: “Where in the name of God have these Meath players come from?”
In short – the 15 starting players against Galway came from 11 different clubs. There were no players involved from two of the county’s largest traditional towns, Navan or Kells, while there were just two players from Trim in the squad.
The average age of the starting team against Galway was 25.
Meath have won six championship games this year (beating Carlow, Offaly, Dublin, Cork, Kerry and Galway). It is the first time since their Sam Maguire-winning seasons of 1949 and 1954 they have amassed six championship wins.
There is a sense of a county reawakened, but who are the players that jolted Meath from its slumber?
The Goalkeeper
Billy Hogan (Longwood)
Age: 21
Championship debut: 2024
He was the goalkeeper for Meath’s 2020 Leinster minor championship winning team. His father, Mick, won an All-Ireland under-21 hurling championship with Tipperary. Billy’s brother, Harry, is one of three goalkeepers on the panel all vying for the number one spot – itself a unique sibling rivalry.
The Backs
Seamus Lavin (St Peter’s Dunboyne)
Age: 30
Championship debut: 2016
Lavin is enjoying his second coming as a Meath footballer having returned to Ireland after a four-year stint working in Canada. He was a member of the Meath team that reached the 2012 All-Ireland minor final.
Seán Rafferty (Na Fianna)
Age: 25
Championship debut: 2025
Rafferty never played minor or under-20 for Meath. He was on the senior panel during Colm O’Rourke’s tenure but only made his league and championship debuts this year. Following in Meath’s proud lineage of producing eye-catching full backs, Rafferty has been in All Star form during his maiden campaign.
Ronan Ryan (Summerhill)
Age: 28
Championship debut: 2019
A talented hurler, Ryan has won All-Ireland under-21 B titles with Meath and has also claimed several county senior hurling medals with Kiltale. He was voted Meath Young Hurler of the Year in 2018. He was part of Summerhill’s 2023 senior football championship winning team, alongside twin brother Ross who was also previously involved with the Meath squad.
Donal Keogan (Rathkenny)
Age: 34
Championship debut: 2012
Meath’s most consistent and important player for more than a decade . Keogan has made 181 appearances for the Royals – 172 as a starter. He is the only outfield player to have played every single minute of the 2025 season. Keogan captained Meath to the Tailteann Cup in 2023.
Seán Coffey (Ballinabrackey)
Age: 23
Championship debut: 2023
He was wing back on Meath’s 2018 Leinster minor football championship winning side. Coffey suffered a wrist injury earlier in the season but has returned to nail down the centre back spot with his astute game-reading abilities.
Ciarán Caulfield (Trim)
Age: 21
Championship debut: 2023
Despite his age, Caulfield was appointed vice-captain of the team this season. A natural leader, he captained DCU to win the Sigerson Cup in February – the first Meath footballer to achieve that feat since Gerry McEntee (UCD) in 1978. Caulfield was also voted 2025 Sigerson Player of the Year.
The Midfielders
Bryan Menton (Donaghmore Ashbourne)
Age: 34
Championship debut: 2011
Having stepped away from the panel after the 2022 season, Menton was recalled to the squad by Robbie Brennan this year. Physically strong, his return to the Meath midfield has been a pillar of the team’s return to form.
Adam O’Neill (Wolfe Tones)
Age: 24
Championship debut: 2023
The versatile O’Neill has found a home for himself at midfield this year having spent most of his Meath career in the full-back line. He was named at corner back on the 2023 Tailteann Cup Team of the Year. He won a Meath SFC with Wolfe Tones in 2021 and a Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta medal with the club two years later.
The Forwards
Conor Duke (Dunshaughlin)
Age: 20
Championship debut: 2025
Duke was a key member of Meath’s 2024 Leinster under-20 football championship winning side. In his first senior season with the Royals, his workrate around the middle third has been huge in terms of gaining possession. Duke helped Dunshaughlin win a Meath SFC in 2024.
Ruairí Kinsella (Dunshaughlin)
Age: 22
Championship debut: 2024
Kinsella was voted Meath Young Footballer of the Year in 2022 in a season he helped Dunshaughlin win the county intermediate title. He added a senior medal to his haul in 2024. A talented playmaker, Kinsella was centre forward on Meath’s 2020 Leinster minor championship winning team.
Mathew Costello (Dunshaughlin)
Age: 24
Championship debut: 2020
A towering presence in the Meath attack, Costello missed the Kerry game because of a hamstring injury but returned to the starting team against Galway. He scored 1-2 in Dunshaughlin’s Meath SFC final win last October. Costello was voted Tailteann Cup Player of the Year in 2023.
Jordan Morris (Kingscourt Stars)
Age: 25
Championship debut: 2020
Morris suffered season-threatening injuries to his left leg during Meath’s league defeat to Louth in March. He fractured his tibia and scans showed grade two ACL and PCL tears. However, he managed to return for the Leinster final in May and was man of the match in the All-Ireland quarter-final win over Galway, scoring 1-6. A player who brings the x-factor.
Keith Curtis (Rathkenny)
Age: 24
Championship debut: 2023
He was top scorer in the 2024 Meath senior football championship and is nephew of two-time All-Ireland winner Donal Curtis. Keith has been on the panel since 2020 but has only really established himself as a key part of the attack this season.
Eoghan Frayne (Summerhill)
Age: 22
Championship debut: 2023
At just 22, Frayne is one of the youngest senior intercounty captains in the country. He previously captained the Meath minors to the Leinster title in 2020. Frayne is Meath’s top scorer in this year’s championship with 0-36.
The Squad
Meath have lost some significant players to injury for the rest of the season including James Conlon (who had scored 1-16 in the championship before suffering a hamstring problem prior to the Kerry game), Ronan Jones, Jack Flynn and Jack Kinlough.
Cathal Hickey, Conor Gray, Shane Walsh, Aaron Lynch, James McEntee, Diarmuid Moriarty, Cian McBride and Brian O’Halloran have all made positive impacts.
