American schemes hit Meath
MEATH football has been rocked by the loss of rising stars Ronan Jones and Ruairi O Coileain for 2018.
Jones, 20, impressed on his full Championship debut against Louth last June and remained in midfield until injury ruled him out of the qualifier loss to Donegal.
O Coileain, an All-ireland minor finalist in 2012 under current senior boss Andy Mcentee, played in all four of Meath’s Championship games this year and started the last two.
But both are unavailable for next season as Mcentee plans for the Royals’ Division Two campaign.
He said: “We have a few lads from this year’s panel who won’t be available next year. Ronan Jones is in the US as part of his college degree where he has to spend two years in Boston.
“Ruairi O Coileain has an internship with a legal firm in New York, so he is gone too for a year. But we will be bringing in a few new players.
“We will freshen things up a little bit and we have already contacted a few players we want in.”
Former Mayo and Sligo midfielder James Kilcullen could come onto Mcentee’s radar as a potential recruit.
The Ballaghaderreen native is living in Meath and threw in his lot with Simonstown Gaels this season, whom he helped to back to back county SFC titles on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Meath GAA chiefs have revealed plans for the beginning of upgrade work on their Pairc Tailteann base in Navan.
A planning application for Phase 1 of the project – the construction of a new 4,000 seater stand – will be lodged in the near future.