O Meath win

helped us today.

‘We won this Leinster title the hard way, beating Dublin in the first round, and then it was sticky enough against Carlow despite the scoreline. The semi-final win against Kildare last Tuesday in Newbridge was really intense also, and then having to play Dublin again today.

‘It’s got to the stage today where the tackling and the intensity was as close to adult football as you can get. We worked it out that we had well over 40 contact tackles in the first half alone. That was the level of the intensity out there.

‘The All-Ireland semi-final is fixed for next Saturday, so it’s tough going, but winning helps also and we will prepare for the Tyrone game as best we can.

‘Some of the players are carrying knocks from today and the Kildare game, but nothing too serious and I’m sure everyone will want to play next Saturday. We have a very strong panel and that’s good for Meath football in the long term.’