Meath determined to learn lessons from Derry draw ahead of replay

Meath and Derry cross swords once more at St Tiernach's Park today, having battled to a draw in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship final at Croke Park last Sunday.

The six-day turnaround is sure to be testing on mind and body but after the proverbial game of two halves, perhaps it is Meath that feel like they had the best chance of winning on Jones’ Road.

That said, they were seven points down at half-time and never led. But they made all the second-half running and had a late chance to win it, the otherwise excellent Aoife Minogue’s shot from a free drifting just wide. It wasn’t an easy one but when you’re that close to glory, it always stings a bit.

Maeve Clinch made a considerable contribution in locking Derry down as Meath made their second-half burst and was named the official player of the match afterwards. The St Peter’s defender is focusing on the positives that emerged from the outing, although she knows that the Royals cannot afford to put themselves in the position they found themselves again.

Once they did so, however, it was notable that they found the mental switch to turn the tide. And Clinch makes it clear that it was about an attitude adjustment.

"We came into the dressing room and said, 'Look, we’ve gone into a couple of games this year where we’ve downed tools, it hasn’t been our day and we just said we’d let it off', but in a final, you can’t do that. We all had a hard look at ourselves in the dressing room and said we wanna win it for the next person beside you. Even if you don’t think you can do it yourself, make those hard runs," Clinch declares.

"We’ve been doing so many running sessions and so much hard work has gone into this year, are we going to leave it behind us for the