MEATH…1-25
OFFALY…0-21
When under the black cloud that is depression, sometimes something as simple as a comedy on the television can start the engine running to start the wheels turning again. However, where people of a certain age group might go for an episode of Friends or The Big Bang Theory or, Lord help us and save us, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia yours truly would seek out Only Fools And Horses or Last Of The Summer Wine or Are You Being Served or my absolute and eternal favourite, Dad’s Army.
Maybe living a life entwined in all things Meath GAA, that shouldn’t be that big of a surprise. After all, a line like “Don’t Panic” is always going to come in handy! Over the years, our heroes in green and gold have patented the practice of extricating themselves from seemingly stodgy quicksand.
How far does one wish to go back by way of sourcing examples? For me, the earliest which comes to mind is the drawn All Ireland Final of 1988. David Beggy somehow convincing referee Tommy Sugrue to give him a free to earn the Royal County another day out. 1991 – again, the green and gold manage to extricate themselves from the quicksand in three of the four games against Dublin and then constructed the greatest goal ever scored in Croke Park to swing the fourth encounter their way.
Onto 1996. Colm Coyle’s Hail Mary ball which bounces in the square and over the bar. Giving himself and his colleagues another crack at Mayo. 1997, Jody Devine, enough said. So then we head to 2001. Twelve minutes to go in the Leinster quarter final against Westmeath. Two annoyingly noisy Kildare lads STANDING in front of the disabled viewing ‘facilities’ in the Cusack Stand grotesquely proclaim “Christ it’s great to be here to see the last of (Sean) Boylan”. If only they knew there was another one two feet away from them!
Anyway, much to the chagrin of my quiet, peaceful father, there was no way I was taking that sitting down without a riposte. “Here lads, there’s 12 minutes to go, we’re not dead yet”! To which I could hear the elder lemon purposely audibly muttering in the direction of yours truly “Will ya be quiet, we’ve no chance”. The rest, as they say, is history!
Jump forward another 12 months. An occasion which goes very close to rivalling July 6th 1991 as the greatest Meath comeback of them all. You remember it, Ollie McDonnell and Mark Stanfield fired goals that had those who were then Paddy Carr’s charges foot loose and fancy free. Until Messrs Kealy, Murphy and Geraghty had other ideas!
And so we arrive at Sunday last. Yes, I believe Meath’s astonishing recovery effort which nearly began the redevelopment of Pairc Tailteann ahead of schedule as the roars of the crowd which greeted the deeds of those clad in unfamiliar navy heroically reeled in the Faithful County in a fashion which cast the mind back to days which will warm the heart for an eternity.
To get the ugliness out of the first, having lost the toss, Robbie Brennan’s charges found themselves playing into the stiff breeze. And, while they would have of course expected Offaly to make the most of having said elements at their back, giving them an eight point head start absolutely wouldn’t have been in the script.
Yet through Cormac Egan and Keith O’Neill and Dylan Hyland and Jack Bryant and Shane Tierney, that’s exactly what happened before Eoghan Frayne belatedly woke the locals from their unwanted slumber.
The thing is, though, even once the skipper notched that solitary score, there was never any need for panic. In this seat anyway. Indeed, a bit like the buses, once the duck was broken, a volley of a few more quickly followed via the returned Sean Coffey and three from the menacing Mat Costello.
Again, without wanting to seem in the least bit blasé about the situation, in the moderation iteration of Gaelic football, a ten point deficit is not the insurmountable Everest it once was. Especially given the demeanour of a returning Meath team which one wouldn’t need to have had been Hawking-esque in intellect to deduce that they weren’t exactly pleased with their first half punching of the clock.
As if to demonstrate as such, Bryan Menton grabbing the second half throw-in and and driving over a mighty score wasn’t bad as a statement of intent which was followed by an amazing spell of football in which the 2023 Tailteann Cup winners scored nine points in a twelve minute blitz, courtesy of Conor Duke (2x2PT), Costello (2x2PT) and Frayne (1x2PT) before the introduced James Conlon within 20 seconds of being introduced tested the load-bearing capacity of the roof on the much maligned stand in old ground when lofting over a somewhat incredible equaliser.
Then, in a real hark back to days of old, Brennan’s brigade made the best of their way home. Firstly as a monstrous effort by Jack Flynn from out around Garlow Cross gave Meath the lead for the first time with exactly ten minutes left.
When Aaron Lynch and Conlon pointed, again, leaving the ebullient locals four clear, temptation might have been to breathe a little easier, but in the modern game that isn’t an option.
A converted 45 from Offaly’s mercurial netminder Paddy Dunican left just a lengthy kick of the ball between the sides.
Until, that is, the swings and roundabouts of the modern Gaelic football world were seen in all their chaotic glory. Billy Hogan rapidly finding Jack Flynn who in turn located Lynch out under the stand. The Trim clubman duly dispatching a Garryowen in the direction of the Navan O’Mahonys clubhouse as Dunican dashed back like a woman who smells her cake on fire in the oven but couldn’t get there before Conlon beat the nearest Offaly defender to the jump and ensured the Dubs will be coming into view on the horizon.
Against Roscommon who, there’s no shame in admitting are at least a few rungs ahead of us on the ladder, Meath played the best football seen from a team in green – particularly against a higher ranked opponent – in quite a while.
But still, when endurance, obduracy and a bit of grunt were needed against Westmeath, they had that too. So now we arrive at the perhaps unanswerable question – what would represent a good outcome from a Royal County viewpoint in Portlaoise on Sunday week? Can we entertain realistic ambitions of beating the men who can’t be moved?
Well, while with the greatest of respect to the Garden County, we should be at the very least capable of giving them as much of a rattle as Wicklow did, I wouldn’t be making bold predictions either way. For the simple reason that Meath’s season doesn’t need to and shouldn’t be defined but just one match. We currently occupy different airspace in the GAA galaxy.
There’s not a thing wrong with that being the case either. Regardless of what transpires in the midlands, we’re guaranteed three more games which will undoubtedly stand to the lads going forward. Of even greater importance though, at the time of typing at least, our underage teams still have a whirl of momentum behind them. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but at least they had the foundations in.
Scorers – M. Costello (0-9, 2x2PT, 2x2PTF), J. Conlon (1-2), C. Duke (0-4, 2x2PT), E. Frayne (0-3, 1x2PT), B. Hogan and J. Flynn (0-2 each), S. Coffey, B. Menton and A. Lynch (0-1 each).
Meath – B. Hogan; S. Lavin, S. Rafferty, B. O’Halloran; S. Coffey, D. Keogan, C. Caulfield; J. Flynn, B. Menton; C. Duke, R. Kinsella, K. Curtis; D. Moriarity, M. Costello, E. Frayne.
Subs – A. Lynch for Moriarity, S. Walsh for Curtis, J. Conlon for Kinsella, R. Ryan for Rafferty, A. O’Neill for Lavin, C. Hickey for Frayne.
Referee – Sean Lonergan (Tipperary).
Surely Meath are at the very least entitled to consider themselves as having that much done at this stage in their developmental journey. Because, as much as detractors might seek to label it excuse-making, with the admittedly notable exception of Donal Keogan, the vast majority of this ensemble are still very green and serving their collective apprenticeship at this level of competition.
But then, the flip side of that coin is that younger players don’t pay any attention to form lines or piseogs or whatever other people think of their chances of victory. You might even get away with going so far as to say they mightn’t even know a whole pile about the players that they will be directly up against. Certainly at club level and it drives me insane.
Now, you’re no doubt thinking there’s no way that could be an issue with Dublin, but, when it is taken into consideration there are so many household names – like Fitzsimons, McCarthy, McCaffrey, Fenton and Mannion – no longer in the ranks. Thus, not only is there far greater onus on the likes of Davy Byrne, John Small, Brian Howard, Niall Scully, Colm Basquel and Cormac Costello. That’s taking Ciaran Kilkenny and as read by the way, it also means that Dessie Farrell et al are working with as many troops with low championship mileage as is the case on the Meath side.
As stated above, I am not foolhardy enough to start making bold predictions one way or the other in regard to April 27th. But in terms of the overall picture, I am drawn to a quote from Captain Mainwairing as he was attempting to rally the platoon in Dad’s Army:
“At last men, help is at hand, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. A very dark tunnel, very faint light, but it’s there”.
And, if you wanted to continue with a similar theme, you could say “We’re in hell right now, gentlemen. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell”.
It’s very easy and heartening to see which option this Meath team have taken. Who knows how long the climb will take, but, equally, who cares? Let’s get behind them and keep the journey going. Don’t stop believing.
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