An unenviable task for the All-Ireland B winners after an episodically impressive win over Wicklow in the last round. Meath were so impressive in dethroning Offaly that the talk has been of who can stop them winning the All-Ireland - never mind a Leinster semi-final. This is a local rivalry with a long history going back 50 years when the counties dominated Leinster between them so there'll be a certain bite to proceedings but the main danger to Meath will come from themselves as Louth are currently rebuilding and will be content with a solid performance.
Team Selection:
Louth - N O'Donnell; B Phillips, G O'Neill, N Malone; AN Other, J Donaldson, A Hoey; K Reilly, G Curran; O McDonnell, S Melia, C Kelly; S White, C O'Hanlon, A Doherty.
Meath - C Martin; M O'Reilly, D Fay, D Curtis; E McManus, B Callaghan, P Reynolds; N Nestor, J McDermott; J McGuinness, T Giles, G Geraghty; R Magee, B Reilly, T Dowd.
Team News: Meath are unchanged from the last day and so retain Barry Callaghan in the centreback position where he was surprisingly named against Offaly and where he played very well.
Louth have a couple of changes to the attack bringing in Ollie McDonnell and Stefan White and leave a vacancy at right wing back.
Declan O'Sullivan - originally selected for the Wicklow match - will be in the shake-up for selection as will a number of forwards with the option of Stephen Melia dropping back. John Donaldson has recovered from an injury at work and retains the centre-back spot.
Key Confrontation: It was generally accepted that Stefan White's introduction in the 33rd minute helped energise the Louth attack and 2-5 was scored in the seven minutes after half-time. He is named at right corner forward where Donal Curtis will mark him.
There will be more to it than that as any attack that tries to take on Meath with a short game has learned. White hasn't always been a model of consistency and will need exceptional back-up as well as another exceptional performance if he is to make an impact.
View From The Camps: "We've prepared as if we were playing Laois or Kildare but you can't get away from the hype. No part of Louth is more than 20 miles from Meath and there's a lot of interaction. You're left in no doubt as to who they are," - Paddy Clarke (Louth manager).
"We've had an uneventful few weeks, not as pressurised as before the Offaly match which was a big, all-or-nothing affair. The Louth match is as important but the hype isn't as big because we've no recent history with Louth the way we had with Offaly." - Frank Foley (Meath selector)
Verdict: Meath.
