Mickey Harte Feels Meath's Donegal Hammering Shows Big Issue With New GAA Rule

Donegal have cruised past Meath 3-26 to 0-15 in the All-Ireland Football semi-final to book their spot in the final against Kerry in a fortnight's time.

It was a gallant showing from the overachieving Royal County, who for the best part of the first half went toe-to-toe with Donegal, defending Jim McGuinness's side resolutely, and returning enough danger of their own to head down the tunnel five points worse off, having missed their share of two-pointers.

Much like in the closing stages of the first half, however, Donegal came roaring back out of the Hogan Stand, piling the pressure onto Robbie Brennan's men, for whom the dream of an unlikely All-Ireland final began to fall apart.

By the time Oisin Gallen fired Donegal's first goal home in the 41st minute, the Royals trailed by seven and had lost even the faintest glimpse of momentum.

Oisín Gallen's fabulous finish results in a goal for Donegal

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— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 13, 2025

From there, things only went from bad to worse. Some seven minutes later, Ciaran Moore added Donegal's second goal, earning Donegal an eleven-point lead that, after that, never slowed down. McGuinness's men would add another 13 points before the full-time whistle blew - a stark contrast to the six points Meath scored in the second half.

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While there was little doubt about who the better team was on the day, the score line was from reflective of the football Meath played on Sunday afternoon, especially in the opening 25 minutes, where a relatively unsuccessful decision to take on two-pointers in favour of goals cost them dearly and gifted Donegal a taller lead than perhaps they'd deserved.

That trend continued into the second half, where Meath wasted away chances from outside the semi-circle, claiming just five points and finishing the game with 14 wides.

Speaking on BBC NI at half-time, former Tyrone boss Mickey Harte said that Meath's decision to prioritise two-pointers only cemented in his mind why they're such a bad idea.

I think it's convincing me even more that the two pointer is not a good idea, because it takes us away from trying to score goals. I've said that before, and there's an example of it. They're shooting these two pointers and you could say yes you get a little run on them, but there's other days they're not going over.

They have the people inside who if you popped in a nice pass there's goal chances on, so you kick this two-pointer or you kick a couple of them fine, but then you don't get the next five or six and it's soul destroying.

On the other side of the affair, Donegal fired three goals into the Meath net, the opening two of which proved game-changing in how they swung all momentum and moved the game out of Robbie Brennan's grasp.

While a reliance on the two-pointer may not have got Meath to the All-Ireland final, it did see them enjoy their most fruitful run of the decade, where they claimed scalp after scalp as they went all the way to the final four.

For Brennan's men, however, the road is now over. Donegal will face Kerry in the All-Ireland final in two weeks time.