The Jacks are back – and Meath are as good as

MEATH… 3-24

TYRONE… 2-22

Barring an catastrophic development commensurate with Thierry Henry getting away with the most blatant hand ball in football history, Meath have one foot in the doorway to Div. 1 of the National Football League following this ballsy victory over Tyrone at Croke Park.

Every one of us aspires to start anything as we mean to go on, but, after one of the most unique starts to a game I’ve seen in 36 years – Tyrone’s first three scores in the match being 45s – Aaron Lynch gave a taster of what was to come for the remainder of the half when getting on the end of a brilliant move before blasting beyond Oisin O’Kane in front of Hill 16.

The away team then took over and rattled off 1-7 without riposte with the electric Ethan Jordan getting the goal and the majority of the points as Malachy O’Rourke’s players opened opened up a lead of 1-09 to 1-05.

Then, somewhat unbelievably, Meath repeated Tyrone’s feat of hitting 1-7 on the spin, the cumulative effect of which was Meath leading by 2-12 to 1-11 at the break.

That, however, would only tell a fraction of the story. Put simply, Jack O’Connor produced the best single half of football ever logged by a Meath player. The Curraha clubman registering 1-8 from play out of that initial 2-12.

In a great endorsement of the modern incarnation of Gaelic football, both teams almost managed the exact same score in the second half as they had before the short whistle.

Tyrone actually doing so, while the Royals tacked on another 1-12. The goal being a second of the night for liveware Lynch. Indeed, the Trim terrior could, and in all honesty should have had a hat trick.

That which would have brought up the triumvirate being ruled after it was adjudged (rightly) that the hooter had gone before the pocket rocket had planted it in the onion bag.

If you wanted to be uber objectively analytical, it could maybe be said that the attacking team could/should have transitioned the ball up the field quicker in the final phase of play.

But you couldn’t blame Lynch, or you couldn’t even blame the admirably sensible match referee Niall Cullen. The good referee is the one you don’t notice. You wouldn’t have to look too far to find shapers who think it’s all about them.

Whistlers can only within the parametres they are assigned. Though one thing that does often frazzle me is the “The referee had no option but… “. Eh, why, had somebody a gun to the official’s head?

So no, you couldn’t fault the Fermanagh man here. The problem is with the dictum. Change for change’s sake is never good.

None of the changes to the original FRC proposals were remotely necessary or helpful. The five-point goal and two pointer for converted 45s could have been left alone.

And, if there’s a need for the damned Hooter at all, for God sake revert back to the old way of ending matches – wait until the ball goes dead.

What if the Aaron Lynch scenario manifested on a different occasion with different circumstances? Meath were in a decent position against a team you always felt they’d the upper hand on, but what if a team are striving to save themselves from exiting or otherwise losing a competition?

Are they to lose out just because they were two seconds too late taking a shot (that ended up being a ‘score’)? That’s not hard luck, that’s sadistic cruelty. Like telling a soul on the gallows they’ve been granted a stay of execution and then kicking the stool out from under them.

The GAA season does not need to be run like an episode of Countdown.

Anyway, I digress. Gaels of a certain vintage might recall a video brought out around 33 years back, entitled Decade Of The Dubs. Which though it began with Heffo’s Army defeating Galway in the 1974 All Ireland, mostly revolved around the storied clashes between the Dubs and Kerry.

Mind you, what brought the compilation back to mind as I rolled out of Croker on Saturday night was the soundtrack which rolled with the opening and closing credits – The Jacks Are Back.

How lucky are we to have our two Jack aces back in the pack and what a contribution the lads continue to make as we inch back towards the top table at the National League banquet.

Scorers – J. O’Connor (1-8, 4 x 2PT), A.  Lynch (2-1), R. Kinsella (0-5, 2 x 2PT), E. Frayne (0-4, 1 x 2PT), S. Brennan (0-2, free), S. Coffey, C. Caulfield, B. Menton and J. Morris (0-1 each).

Meath – S. Brennan; S. Lavin, S. Rafferty, B. O’Halloran; D. Keogan, S. Coffey, C. Caulfield; B. Menton, J. Flynn; J. O’Connor, R. Kinsella, A. O’Neill; J. Morris, E. Frayne, A. Lynch.

Subs – C. O’Connor for O’Neill, C. Hickey for J. O’Connor, K. Curtis for Frayne, J. Conlon for Lynch, J. Scully for Flynn.

Referee – Niall Cullen (Fermanagh).