Galway and Meath, the two counties with the most All-Ireland titles after Kerry and Dublin in the All-Ireland football championship roll of honour (Galway have 9, Meath and Cork have 7), will meet next weekend in this year's quarter-finals, following this morning's draw for the last eight. It will be the first championship meeting in 14 years between the counties and the 8th overall. Meath topped their group in this year's championship qualifiers following a fine win over Kerry, while Galway recovered from an opening round defeat to Dublin by drawing with Derry and then beating Armagh and Down to reach the quarter-finals.
The head-to-head record stands at 4-3 in Galway's favour, with Meath having won the last two meetings in the All-Ireland qualifiers of 2007 and 2011 (pictured). The great Galway 3-in-a-row team beat Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final of 1964 and the final of 1966, and John O'Mahony's Galway team of 2001 caused a big upset with a dominant win in the 2001 All-Ireland final that seemed to be the catalyst for a sharp downturn in the Royal County's fortunes in the All-Ireland Championship subsequently.
The rest of the All-Ireland quarter-final draw will see reigning All-Ireland champions Armagh play Kerry, Dublin meet Tyrone, and there is an all-Ulster clash between Donegal and Monaghan. Fixtures will be confirmed by the GAA this afternoon.
Galway v Meath - previous championship meetings:
1940 Galway 3-8 Meath 2-5 All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park
1964 Galway 1-8 Meath 0-9 All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park
1966 Galway 1-10 Meath 0-7 All-Ireland final in Croke Park
1970 Meath 0-15 Galway 0-11 All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park
2001 Galway 0-17 Meath 0-8 All-Ireland final in Croke Park
2007 Meath 2-14 Galway 1-14 All-Ireland Qualifiers Rd 3 in Portlaoise
2011 Meath 0-11 Galway 0-10 All-Ireland Qualifiers Rd 2 in Navan
