With wins over Dublin and Kerry, it’s fair to say Meath are officially back. Ironically, the last time the Royals defeated Kerry, by 2-14 to 0-5 in the 2001 All-Ireland semi-final, has been identified by some as the day the Meath rot set in.
In the closing stages, with Meath in complete control, their fans began to rub it in; after all, they had just qualified for a 10th All-Ireland final appearance (including replays) in 14 years.
“With 10 minutes or so remaining this ‘Olé’ started ... It took the goodness out of it,” recalled full back Darren Fay in Philip Lanigan’s 2013 book Four Kings.
“For that 10 minutes, for the first time I’ve ever experienced, and probably the first time Meath football experienced, an arrogance became part of Meath football. An arrogance to the players from the supporters.
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“That’s when Meath football started showing an arrogance and it’s never recovered from it ...” Fay reckoned.
“I remember John McDermott saying to all of us, ‘That is actually going to do Meath more harm than it will Kerry’. And he didn’t say us, he said Meath. And you look at what happened. Meath haven’t got within an ass’s roar of winning an All-Ireland and Kerry have won what, four?”
Newspaper coverage confirms the suspicion.
“Make no mistake about it, this defeat will damage the Kingdom severely,” reckoned the Meath Chronicle, whose headline on the piece read simply “King Dumb”. Ouch.
Has Meath’s struggle been an identity issue?
Speaking about Meath’s revival, another theory put forward for their decline over the years was that the county’s identity had been diluted due to demographic change, with the population of the county rising by almost 65 per cent between the 2002 and 2022 censuses.
When the Royals beat Kerry 24 years ago, they used 19 players; on Saturday, it was 20.
Skyrne had the highest representation in 2001 with three players (John McDermott, Trevor Giles and sub Mick O’Dowd). St Pat’s had two and Blackhall Gaels, Simonstown, Carnaross, Kilmainhamwood, Drumree, Walterstown and Ballinlough all had one each. It’s striking that none of those nine clubs were represented on Saturday.
St Ultan’s, Dunsany, Donaghmore Ashbourne, Ballinabrackey, Na Fianna (two), Curraha (two) all had players in action at the weekend, along with Cavan club Kingscourt Stars.
Meath are only the third Leinster county to beat both the Dubs and Kerry in the same championship, having done it twice; Kildare also managed it in 1998 and 1927 and Offaly did it in 1982.
Of the non-Leinster counties, Tyrone in 2008 and 2005, Armagh in 2002 and Cork in 1989 all did it – and all won Sam afterwards.
Cavan must hate the sight of Tyrone
At this stage, Cavan must hate the sight of Tyrone. Since 1980, the counties have met 53 times in all competitions at senior level; to put that in context, Derry are next on the list of counties Cavan have played the most in that period (40 times).
Tyrone have won 41, with two draws and most of Cavan’s wins coming in the McKenna Cup.
The Breffni boys are without a win in the championship over the Red Hands since 1983, stretching to 13 meetings. In that period, Tyrone have also beaten Cavan in two Ulster finals and two National League finals (Division 1 in 2002 and Division 2 in 2016).
Since 2018 alone, Tyrone have beaten Cavan six times in championship football, by a combined total of 48 points. Sunday’s 0-31 to 0-18 defeat was the third widest margin in the last 20 years; Tyrone won by 21 points in 2005 and 16 in 2019.
Aidan O’Shea’s scoring scarcity
“Aidan O’Shea shows up all the time, tries his best and contributes in many ways, albeit not regularly on the scoreboard,” wrote Colm O’Rourke on Sunday.
At first reading, that smacked of damning O’Shea with faint praise but the stats do tend to back O’Rourke’s point up. The Breaffy man, who will turn 35 later this month, featured in 12 matches this season, playing at least 40 minutes in 10 of those.
His best days in terms of scoring – and that’s not really his role – were when he hit 1-3 in the Connacht championship against Sligo, 0-3 in the league final against Kerry and a late goal against Cavan. He was held scoreless in four matches, including on Sunday against Donegal, and scoreless from play in one other.
O’Shea’s total for the season is 2-10 (one free); he has yet to score a two-pointer.
Number: 4
Successive championship meetings between Galway and Armagh which had an Ulster referee in charge; Seán Hurson officiated at both clashes last year, Joe McQuillan was in charge in 2023 and Noel Mooney on Saturday.
Quote
“Dean Healy has been a mainstay of this team for so long, he’s soldiered for so long, and now he gets a big day in Croke Park. He’s our leader and who else would you want taking on that shot?” – Oisín McConville on the Wicklow veteran who kicked the winner against Westmeath.
