AN TUASCAIRT…0-17
MOYFENRAGH…2-09
Perhaps the following is down to the innate superstition which tends to shape a lot of the road yours truly travels in life, but, there’s still a part of me which fears that interest in and commitment to the Brady’s Skoda Regional Football Championship will wain and that it will be let dissipate and fade away like the Tommy Murphy Cup and the Railway Cup were shamefully allowed to and which would despicably also been the fate of the pre season inter county competitions had county teams themselves not kicked up about it.
Thankfully, though, the Meath Regional Football Championship appears to be in rude health for the time being at least. With, on Sunday last, An Tuascairt becoming the third different combination to lift the Richie Barry Cup since the competition’s inception at the end of 2022. Following on from Boyne Valley (2022 and 2023) and Bru Na Boinne last season.
Sunday’s result at the still open Pairc Tailteann – if it takes much longer for work to begin Paul Brady’s The Long Goodbye could be Christmas No. 1 – it was a case of final defeat for a second year in a row from the side comprised of players from the west of the county.
Even though it was actually the eventually vanquished who led by 1-05 to 0-06 when Duleek/Bellewstown whistler Stephen Murphy signalled the midway point had been reached.
The close nature of affairs continued in the second half to such an extent that with two minutes of normal time remaining. However, with extra time looming large and daylight fading to the minimum, Tadhg Boyle’s team tagged on a late couple of scores to add their name to the Regional roll of honour.
Mind you, aside from all the reasons outlined above pertaining to the value there is in the Regional Football Championship, the current incarnation of the contests for the Richie Barry Cup concluded under a devastating cloud of poignancy following the horrific road tragedy near Dundalk which claimed the lives of five young people. All of whom haled from a close knit triangle of parishes which straddle the Meath/Louth/Monaghan border.
Among them, Mr Alan McCluskey, a former player with Drumconrath GFC, who supplied several panel members for the winning north county outfit who, incidentally, were managed by Tadhg Boyle – a stalwart of the Meath Hill club which, for those not au fait with Royal County geography, is in the same parish as Drumconrath. Indeed, both clubs amalgamate and generate considerable success as a unit at underage grades. Though you can also be sure they were united in grief for their fallen comrade and the other victims also at this time of unspeakable tragedy.
At such times of impassable upset, there are always so many questions, so few answers. So few flickers of hope. Yet the latter have to be there. Somehow, somewhere. And though they may seem eons away and maybe even ill fitting, it is through sport a lot of them are often to be found.
And last Sunday’s action on the old home sod was no different. Because, with young talented footballers like Rian McConnell and Rian Stafford in the ranks, there’s always hope.
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