Joe Sheridan found himself back in the green and gold recently, but on Saturday he hopes the Meath senior footballers find themselves back to winning ways after suffering two consecutive championship defeats.The Royals, who lost their last two outings against Westmeath and Cork, travel to Celtic Park this Saturday to face Derry in Round 2B of the All-Ireland series (7pm). There are no safety nets left for either side – defeat will lead to championship elimination. Sheridan is one of the main instigators behind forming Meath’s first masters football team and last weekend the 2010 Leinster winner was in action as he helped them to a third consecutive championship victory with an eight-point win over Kildare.But all eyes are on Robbie Brennan’s side this weekend as they try to kickstart their championship campaign.“I was listening to James O’Donoghue [on the Football Pod] before the draw was made and he was on about how even Kerry would hate to get Derry away,” says Sheridan.“So it’s a tough draw, it’s just a tight place to play and I don’t think we ever won up there in my time anyhow.“But I think there’s a lack of confidence with Derry at the minute so it depends how we start and if we can get going and get a bit of a run at them, really go at them from the first 15-20 minutes, it could allow us to kick on.”Meath’s two main targets this year would have been league promotion from Division 2 and trying to win a first Delaney Cup since 2010. They ticked the box with regards promotion, but came up short in their search for a Leinster titleMeath's Jordan Morris with Conor Dillon of Westmeath in 2026 Leinster quarter-final. Photograph: Grace Halton/©INPHO Reframing their goals now would appear to be the challenge for management because the Royals seem to have hit a lull following their provincial exit. Still, if the likes of Mathew Costello, Eoghan Frayne and Jordan Morris can hit form, they have the forwards to trouble most defences.“If you look back at the Westmeath game, I think another five minutes and we probably would have won the match. Maybe Meath just took the eye off the ball,” says Sheridan. “We weren’t expecting the intensity level Westmeath brought and that happens. It’s probably the one disappointment of the last two years, with the big increase of quality of the team, that we haven’t won a Leinster. “But I think with Robbie, he’s never too high or too low whether you win a game or if you lose a game. He tries to keep the lads very balanced. Going into the Derry game, I think he will have them reset.”Gaelic football has undergone a reset over the last two years as well with the new rules and Sheridan believes the Football Review Committee have helped revive the big-ball code. As an inside forward, he can see the benefit to attacking play.“The new rules are great, they’ve made the game again. You’re going to watch matches now. Three years ago, I wouldn’t go to a Meath game because you couldn’t watch the match, it was terrible football,” says the Seneschalstown man.“There was nothing to it. The new rules have just transformed the game. We’ve got the game back.”[ Jack McCaffrey closes a chapter with Dublin, but not the doorOpens in new window ]To be back playing for Meath is something, in truth, Sheridan believed was in his rearview mirror. Indeed, with Meath not having an over-40s team until this season, Sheridan last year lined out at masters level for Cavan – his dad’s home county. “We’d still have relations down there and dad won an Ulster minor with Cavan back in 1974. He played with the seniors as well, so there’s a good connection,” he says.“So it was nice to do that. The fact there was no Meath team I didn’t feel I was stepping on the wrong side or anything.”He is back now, though, and helped form the Royal County’s first masters team. And for an extra dollop of nostalgia, Kepak have come onboard as sponsors of a retro Meath jersey.Kepak’s association with the Meath men’s senior football team under Seán Boylan between 1991–2005 remains one of the most iconic sponsorships in Gaelic games.And having sponsored the county’s ladies football team for the last six years, Kepak are now returning to a Meath men’s senior team for the first time in two decades.Joe Sheridan celebrates Meath’s win over Dublin in 2010. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho “The jerseys are a real throwback to another era when we were all that bit younger and probably up in the stands supporting the team. Just looking at the jersey brings back a lot of memories,” says Sheridan.“It’s a historic jersey, there’s a lot of history there and we spoke about that at the beginning of the year.”In Celtic Park on Saturday, Robbie Brennan will be hoping Meath’s year is not approaching its final destination.