Meath vs Kerry Prediction: Preview, Odds - All Ireland SFC Round 2

🏆 Meath vs Kerry All Ireland Group 4 Round 2 Championship Prediction

Kerry are the clear favourites in this one and even the most loyal of Meath fans will be expecting defeat on Sunday afternoon. Kerry are a high-scoring team having scored 0-47 already in this year's championship and also ended with the third-highest score difference in Division 1 on +7, only finishing behind Derry and Dublin in this category. On the other hand, Meath have been shipping too many scores both in the league and in the championship. They ended their league campaign in 6th place just a point above relegation and with a score difference of -19. This shipping of scores continued in the championship and if anything has gotten worse.

Meath have started to ship too many goals conceding 3 goals in each of their three championship matches this season, conceding 3-12 to Longford, 3-19 to Dublin, and 3-10 to Louth. This will be worrying for Meath manager Colm O’Rourke and they will need to tighten up their defence if they are to have any chance against Kerry. This will be something that will be extremely tough for them to do considering the high-quality nature of Kerry’s forward line. This Kerry forward line would be a challenge for even the best defences in the country and considering Meath’s defence is at a low point it will be difficult to stop shipping high scores like has been seen throughout the year, as these Kerry forwards are unlikely to all have a bad day at the office.

💯 Meath vs Kerry All Ireland Group 4 Round 2 Championship Odds

The GAA football betting odds for this one are heavily in favour of the visitors Kerry. Kerry are in blistering form unbeaten in their last 6 games, having last tasted defeat at the hands of Dublin in the league all the way back on the 24th of February. Meath come into the game struggling for form and momentum off the back of a 16-point defeat to Dublin and a 10-point defeat to Louth in their last two games, with the latter being a major blow as Louth are a team that Meath always have their number over the last number of decades.

Kerry possess one of if not the best forward lines in the country, with Sean O’Shea, Paul Geaney, and Clifford brothers Paidi and David who all capable of producing high-scoring performances on any given day. This will be very difficult for Meath to deal with, especially considering that in their three previous championship games this campaign, Meath have conceded 3-10, 3-19, and 3-12 against Louth, Dublin, and Longford respectively.

It will be a long, tough day for those Meath defenders and the rest of the Meath players in general and this is reflected in the bookmakers' odds below which predicts Meath as huge outsiders with odds in the region of 9.00 to 13.00. Meath will need to have the full backing of their home support in Navan on Sunday but it is hard to see any other possibility than an easy Kerry win due to the quality they possess and the form that they are in currently.

🏅Meath vs Kerry: Match Winner

Here are what our recommended betting sites are offering:

Result
Meath to Win	9.50	11.00	11.00	9.00	12.00
Kerry to Win	1.03	1.03	1.02	1.05	1.03
Draw	21.00	26.00	17.00	21.00	26.00

✔️ Meath vs Kerry - Betting Tips

• Tip 1: Kerry Handicap -11: Meath have suffered heavy double-figure defeats in their last two championship games, 10 points and 16 points by Louth and Dublin respectively, and now they come up against one of the All-Ireland Championship favourites, last year's beaten finalists Kerry. One should expect more of the same if they are a Meath fan this Sunday. Meath are at an all-time low both in confidence levels and performance-wise, and it is something that was hard to see coming after their Tailteann Cup success last summer.
  
  It was believed that they would use that victory as a stepping stone to success in the league and championship this year, but this has in no way materialised. As a matter of fact, they are worse off than they were last year and they are probably playing for pride now more than anything else. It is unlikely that they will progress out of this group, especially if they suffer another heavy defeat at the hands of Kerry this Sunday, which I suspect will happen.
  
  Meath lost by 10 points last time out to Louth, and while Louth have become a good side in good form, they are not at the same high level as Kerry, so it will be worrying for Meath fans what could be coming Sunday. This should be routine for Kerry as it is a real mismatch on paper.
  
  The match sees high-scoring Kerry take on high-conceding Meath, so surely that can only mean one thing? Boylesports are offering a handicap of -11 for Kerry and at odds of 2.20 this has to be snapped up. All signs point to Kerry winning by a larger margin than this so this is a market I'd recommend to punters and could be a good chance to leverage free bets.

• Tip 2: Kerry to score the first goal: Due to the leaky nature of Meath’s defence, I expect this to be a high-scoring game with quite a few goals. Kerry have yet to score a goal in this year's championships, instead having high point-scoring performances with 0-24 scored against Monaghan, 0-23 against Clare, and 0-18 against Cork. I expect this to change since they are coming up against a Meath side who have conceded 9 goals in just three championship games this season.
  
  This should be enticing for the Kerry players especially their dangerous forward line of Paidi Clifford, David Clifford, Sean O’Shea, and Paul Geaney. I expect at least one, if not two, of these Kerry forwards to find the back of the net this Sunday. They will be brimming with confidence having contributed to 0-16 of Kerry’s 0-24 last time out vs Monaghan with Paidi Clifford scoring 0-2, David Clifford scoring 0-5, Sean O’Shea scoring 0-4, and Paul Geaney scoring 0-5.
  
  It will be hard for Meath to keep all these great forwards at bay throughout the game so expect goals from Kerry, including the first goal price of 1.5 at Boylesports.

• Tip 3: Kerry HT/FT: As mentioned countless times, this will be a routine win for Kerry on Sunday afternoon in Pairc Tailteann. Meath have zero form coming into this game conceding too many goals and points, whereas Kerry are coming into it in brilliant form, scoring for fun. The signs are not good for Meath and it would take an almighty upset for them to emerge from Sunday with even a draw, never mind being victorious in the game.
  
  Last weekend against Louth, Meath initially started the game strongly leading 0-1 to 0-3 after 8 minutes. However, from the 11th minute until the 25th minute they were outscored significantly by Louth, 3-2 to 0-1. It is clear after the first Louth goal went in on 12 minutes that Meath heads dropped, as a second goal was scored in the 17th minute with a third following shortly after in the 25th minute. This 13-minute period where they conceded 3 goals left them with an uphill battle for the rest of the game and ultimately cost them the game. If they start the game in a similar fashion against Kerry the same result will occur, the game will be over before it even has a chance to begin.
  
  Kerry were unbelievably strong in their first half versus Monaghan two weeks ago scoring a massive total of 15 points to Monaghan’s 2 points. If Kerry start the game in a similar vein, and Meath start the game similarly to last week, there will be no doubt Kerry will have a commanding halftime lead that they will be able to keep until full time. BoyleSports are offering a respectable price of 1.13 for this market.

1️⃣ Meath Update

Meath have no injury concerns.

2️⃣ Kerry Update

Kerry also do not have any injury concerns.

👕 Meath vs Kerry - Potential Lineups

✒️ Jack Guing – Expert Tipster

I am Jack Guing, a 23-year-old hailing from County Offaly in Ireland. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English and History from Maynooth University and a master’s degree in Sports Performance from the University of Limerick. I am a keen sports fan with an avid interest in GAA, soccer, and golf. My passion for performance analysis in sport offers a data-driven style to deliver informative predictions.