Tara

The Regional Football Championship began in 2022 with eight regional sides picked from junior and intermediate clubs. Tara’s early panels featured players from clubs such as Dunsany, Kilbride, Dunshaughlin, Blackhall Gaels, Bective and Moynalvey, with Ger Robinson managing in the first year.

For 2026 Meath GAA cut the competition to four teams, split by population centre, and opened it to senior, intermediate and junior clubs. Squads are 20 to 25 players, players of any age can be picked, and each team is managed independently. Tara is the Central region, covering Dunshaughlin, Ratoath, Walterstown, Skryne, Clann na nGael, Dunsany, Bective, Dunderry, St Ultan’s, Cortown and Navan O’Mahony’s. Meath senior manager Robbie Brennan uses the competition as a first look at potential, and the best performers can be invited into the senior or senior development squads.

Tara opened the inaugural 2022 championship by coming from behind to beat Moyfenragh 2-11 to 0-12, with second-half goals from Declan Smyth (Dunsany) and Tommy Kinsella (Dunshaughlin). A low-scoring semi-final in the rain at Dunganny went their way 2-2 to 0-7 against An Tuaisceart, Jamie McWeeney palming home a goal and Davy O’Leary kicking the winner. Boyne Valley were too strong in the first ever final at Ashbourne on 20 November 2022.

In 2023 Eoin Harkin of Dunsany scored 1-2 in a 1-9 to 0-6 win over Ardbraccan. The 2024 run ended in the group with a heavy 6-11 to 1-9 defeat to Loughcrew, and in 2025 Tara beat Brú na Bóinne 3-9 to 1-7 but lost to Moyfenragh and Boyne Valley.

Under manager Davy Nelson, with Trevor Giles, Stephen O’Rourke and Rob Wall in the backroom team, Tara started the new four-team format by beating Moyfenragh 3-12 to 1-16 at Dunganny on 1 November. Ben Corkery of Clann na nGael hit 1-3, and Seán Óg Tiernan and John Finnerty of Skryne also found the net. A week later Tara were level 0-6 each with reigning champions An Tuaisceart at half-time and pulled away to win 1-12 to 0-13.

Boyne Valley also won both games, so the third round was dropped. The final is Boyne Valley v Tara at Devenish Park, Dunganny, on Sunday 22 November 2026, a rematch of that first final in 2022.

The team takes its name from the Hill of Tara, near Dunsany in the heart of the region. Tradition makes it the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, and it holds the Lia Fáil, the Stone of Destiny used to inaugurate the Kings of Tara, along with the Mound of the Hostages, a passage tomb from around 3,000 BC.

This FanFile covers Tara as a regional team rather than one particular jersey. Check the crest, sponsor, manufacturer label and product code on your own shirt to identify its specific season and edition. A Tara GAA club also plays in London, so the crest is the best way to tell the two apart.

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• Meath GAA: New-look Regional Football Championship for 2026, regions and clubs
• Meath GAA: 2026 squads and management
• Meath GAA: Boyne Valley and Tara set for 2026 final
• Hogan Stand: Tara hold off Moyfenragh, 2026 round one
• Boylan Talks Sport: 2022 semi-final v An Tuaisceart
• Meath Chronicle: Boyne Valley win the first Regional FC final, 2022
• Hogan Stand: 2025 Regional FC round up
• Meath County Council: Hill of Tara

Facts checked: 11 November 2026.