Amongst what is a fairly vast memorabilia collection in Boylan Talks Sport HQ, it’s presumably only natural that some artefacts therein command greater reverence than others. In no particular order, Brendan Reilly’s jersey from the 1990 All Ireland SFC Final, the replica of the Feis Cup presented to the late Tom Yourell by St Peter’s GAA Club in 1959, the photo of the JHC winning team from 1956 on which my late father was a corner back and finally the Minor hurling combination from 1958/’59 who garnered back to back county titles and with whom my late uncle Jimmy was a selector.
Being honest, outside of the replica of the Feis Cup which takes centre stage on my book case, it’s the photo of the Minor hurling team which tends to be retrieved from the archives most regularly. I was never quite sure why, until the most recent weekend. It was definitely a case of fishing for hope after a particularly trying set of circumstances. As, for the first time in 25 years, our main adult hurling team have unfortunately made the drop to Intermediate for the 2025 season.
That such is the case comes – to this observer at least – as a jolting shock. Partly because, after a quarter century dining at hurling’s top table in the county, there had been an air of safety to our status. Particularly after winning the county Minor Championship last year. The thought process would have been that the infusion of talent from same would’ve provided an air of stability going forward.
Because it wasn’t always that way. Not by a long shot. Slightly before my time and for a good time since my time when it wasn’t uncommon for our hurlers to be known as a yoyo team. Perhaps harsh but hard to argue with at the same time when it’s considered that the black and ambers won the Meath IHC title in 1982, ’86 and ’89. But having ‘survived’ in senior for a quarter of a century, hope and expectation would have been that the revolving door days were behind us.
Sometimes, though, demographics don’t have the expected or desired impact. Certainly not as quickly as is needed or required. Like everything, there are two sides to that story, too. On one hand, you have the exponential rise of Ratoath which coincided with the population explosion in the area, while, just miles out the road, Donaghmore/Ashbourne still await their reunion with the Keegan Cup, despite the massive development in terms of facilities and playing numbers within the environs of Killegland West.
Yet that is exactly why thoughts returned to the Minor successes of nearly 70 years ago. For you see, in the same way the members of those teams had backboned Dunboyne teams which contested three SHC Finals in the mid 1960s, the hope remains that those who brought the Minor title back to the club last year will be the ones to lead us to the end of what must be the longest title famine anywhere and annex our first Jubilee Cup success since 1914.
The most fervent hope now would be that whatever structures or adjustments need to be made or rejigged to secure a return to the senior grade are commenced post haste.
The morsel of positivity to which hopes are being pinned is, naturally, last year’s Minor win. Nothing is guaranteed though. Either quickly or at all. I can recall a period when a brilliantly talented Dunboyne team – comprised of players such as O’Connor, Davin, Neville and Leo Reilly, Justin Barron and Diarmuid Byrne.
As happens with the cycle of these things, naturally, those lads became the core of the club’s adult team. Even with that, though, it still took another five years for them to return to Meath hurling’s top table. However, thereafter, again, backboned by the aforementioned, three more Jubilee Cup deciders were contested but ultimately defeat was our lot.
For now though, focus will surely be honed on trying to get back to where it would be felt we should be. Obviously, hopes will be pinned on last year’s minors being the catalysts for that to happen. If our past has taught us anything, it’s the vibrance of competition at Intermediate level and how tricky it is to escape from.
So you could say the challenge facing Dunboyne from a hurling perspective is twofold. Moulding a new team to firstly have the stability to firstly get themselves back to where they ought to be and to stay there for the longest time.
Learning from the pitfalls of the past, hoping not to repeat them. A tough day for the black and amber. Personally, I cannot help thinking of two people in particular. Both of whom did so much to literally keep hurling afloat when last dark days were visited upon hurling in Dunboyne, and who would, if it were possible, be to the forefront of the rebuild ahead.
The most recent turn of events are a right kick in the guts which I, at least, didn’t see coming. At this juncture, we must believe the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
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