GAELIC GAMES: Keith Duggan sets the scene for tomorrow's National League coming together of two of the game's greats, Meath and Laois

In Navan tomorrow, it will feel like two shows for the price of one. The last time Meath and Laois met in a competitive match was a championship qualifying game in Portlaoise last summer. It turned out to be a Saturday of unrelenting ugliness for the home team.

For Meath, it was the only day of the season that they truly looked on song. Neither county will remember last year with all that much fondness, but on the sidelines, as well as on the field, supporters from both counties will see reason for renewed hope.

From a Meath perspective, the optimism stems from the fact that Seán Boylan is still in charge. For Laois, the reasons for hope are tied up in the arrival of Mick O'Dwyer, the only man in the game to have put in more managerial years than Boylan.

The word legendary has been cheapened by over use but both these men genuinely qualify for the accolade in the eyes of many. Plotting and watching on the fringe of play, they are instantly recognisable and have the unqualified respect of all players.

News that they had landed O'Dwyer was like a Godsend to despairing Laois football fans wondering if all the underage success was ever going to reap any senior dividends. The drubbing they received in the championship last summer was so comprehensive it seemed to mock the fancy that the arrival of Laois football was imminent. From his homeland in Kerry to his long sojourn in Kildare, O'Dwyer brings to any set-up a sense of confidence and achievement.

"His being here really gives everyone a lift," says Niall Hanley of the Laois County Board. "The way the players have responded to training has been great and there is certainly a lot of momentum in the squad. I think people are really looking forward to the season ahead now."

O'Dwyer's move to Laois confirmed the long-held suspicion that the Waterville man just couldn't give up the game. His first match in charge, a dismal O'Byrne Cup game against Longford, marked half a century involvement in intercounty football.

"That's all it's been," he laughed that afternoon.

O'Dwyer has little patience for the past or more the reverence in which he is held and from that afternoon was talking about Laois as a medium-term project. His contract runs for two years but comparing his new team to Kildare, he reminded everyone that it took some time for the Lilywhites to cash in on potential in his time.

While O'Dwyer will always be primarily associated with Kerry, it is no longer strange to see him on the sideline for a different county. However, it is inconceivable Boylan would ever manage any team except his native Meath. He has been in charge since 1982 when he rapidly set about revitalising the football tradition in the county. Over the past few years, it was rumoured that this season would be the last. He deliberated for a long time before deciding to persevere with the post and was re-elected but, significantly, not unopposed.

Looking ahead to the new season, he recently confessed that it is the mundane repetition of the game - the endless training sessions, the driving, the banter with the players - that energises him.

O'Dwyer maintains it is the same draw for him and dismissed the suggestion he had reached the stage in life where he deserved to take it easy.

"As long as I am enjoying it I will keep on doing this," he has said.

They share a lot of similar traits; both successful in their personal lives, each a gifted raconteur and each afforded a degree of mystique. They don't like overstating things in Meath but ask any of his former players to sum up Boylan and they will allow that they have never encountered anyone like him. Although he is a natural talker, the subject of endless interviews and a recent book, there has always been the suspicion that the key to his phenomenal success has yet to be disclosed.

The task for O'Dwyer this year is simple: to take a major scalp in the Leinster championship or to emulate the achievements of Westmeath in the 2001 championship. Boylan's measure of success is less clear. While it is generally felt the current Meath team is in gentle decline, they have consistently bounced back over the years.

Both men must have lost count of the number of league games they have presided over through the years but tomorrow they will be as keen as ever for the win.