Meath 0-23; Dublin 1-16
This was like Leinster in the rare ould times when Dublin and Meath games were cherished as derby encounters to rival Armagh and Donegal up north, Galway and Mayo out west or Kerry and Cork down south.
After 15 years of boredom, the Eastern province came alive at the semi-final stage on Sunday when Robbie Brennan’s Meath put on a master class of two-point shooting to set Dublin the impossible task of coming from 12-points down at half-time at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.
To the credit of Dessie Farrell’s men, they gave it one helluva lash and actually got the margin down to two but this young Meath team didn’t turn up to be another flock of lambs to the slaughter. Instead they showed great composure and got the key scores at the end, which allowed them to run out winners by four points.
This win and Louth’s three-point victory (1-18 to 0-18) over Kildare in Tullamore on Sunday means we will have a re-enactment of the Meath-Louth Leinster final of 2010 when a Joe Sheridan goal/try led to calls for a replay, to which the Royals didn’t concede. So no bad blood heading into this one between two neighbors for sure!!
Meath football, despite the best efforts of former greats like Colm O’Rourke, assisted by the legendary Sean Boylan, had been going through the doldrums over the past few decades with the odd exception like their victory against Dublin in 2010.
When the final whistle sounded in O’Moore Park, it was as if the followers in white had won Sam himself such was the outpouring of joy at the four-point victory against their greatest foes in the game.
The foundation of this win was very much laid in the first half when a series of accurate kicks saw them bring a 12-point advantage to the dressing-room at the break.
Eoghan Frayne led his side from the front with no less than 11 points as the Royals set up a Croke Park clash with Louth on May 11. The longer the wait, the better the result as it was 15 years since they put five past Pat Gilroy’s team - since then despite a final appearance five years ago, it has been rich picking only for the Dubs in the Leinster campaigns.
From the throw-in Meath had Dublin on the back foot and with massive performances from James Conlon, who scored 0-5, and the marauding Mathew Costello. Not far behind in terms of effectiveness were Brian O'Halloran and Ciaran Caulfield in defence while big Bryan Menton was magnificent and his two pointer capped a fine midfield performance. Not bad from a man who had retired but decided to come back to give it one more go this season.
Don’t write off Dublin either. They were missing players like Eoghan Murchin and while losing a title is always a disappointment as manager Dessie Farrell accepted afterwards, you could see he can’t wait to regroup and have a right crack at qualifying for the later stages of the Sam Maguire series.
Dublin were thwarted by the energy of Meath in chasing down Stephen Cluxton’s kick outs but even so they refused to panic and despite wasting three more two-point attempts in the third quarter, the kept reducing the deficit enough to make the huge Royal support checking their watches to see if their side could hold on.
When three great points from Paddy Small reduced the deficit to six and then Cormac Costello slotted expertly to the net in the 54th minute, it was a case of game on with Small and skipper Con O’Callaghan cutting it back to four.
A brilliant left-footed two-pointer from Colm Basquel had it down to two 0-21 to 1-16 and those same Meath folk were praying for the finishing line.
Meath showed sufficient maturity not to cave in - indeed they best form of defence for them was attack and late points from Aaron Lynch and Frayne ensured they couldn’t be caught as they pushed back the margins to four points to end a fantastic roller-coaster ride through the second half for this young team.
Now for the real test - Louth have had the Indian sign on them for the past two seasons… who will rule when they meet in the Leinster Final will be the subject of the only conversations along their borders over the coming two weeks?
Farrell wasn’t as despondent as people may have imagined afterwards when he said: “Very proud of the lads, how they dug in there. I felt 12 points was a significant deficit to overcome at half-time.
“We fought to the bitter end. It just wasn't to be, unfortunately. Maybe a lack of composure and decision-making errors let us down. In that last 10 minutes we got it back to four points. I thought we were in a good position at that point in time, but there were a few errors and fumbles.
“It's the smallest of margins, but we didn't come out on the right side of it. Great credit to Meath. They fully deserved the victory.”
He also pointed out the loss of personnel and the number of new faces he had in his squad making their championship debuts as reasons why he felt optimistic going forward. “We had a lot of young guys in the mix today, so today was a great experience for them. It truly was a baptism of fire. It was a cauldron down there in that second half, it ebbed and flowed, and the crowd got in behind the teams. It was an amazing atmosphere. And you can't replicate that at training.
“We're quite depleted today. I’m not taking anything again from Meath’s victory, but we need to get five or six potential starters that were missing today through injury. Sean Bugler picked up an injury during the week. Eoin Murchan, Cian Murphy, Sean McMahon, Luke Breathnach. They're all potential starters for us. Hopefully get them healthy in the coming weeks and look forward to the qualifiers.”
Meath manager Robbie Brennan declared: “It was a brilliant win, a brilliant performance by the lads. We spoke about some kind of defiance and a bit of belief in ourselves and making sure we delivered that because we haven't on one or two other occasions and the boys did that.
“We were hanging on at the end, I'm not saying it was all roses, but I was just delighted when the hooter went to get it done,” he stated.
Explaining his own background in terms of being from Dublin and Meath, he explained with a smile on his face.
“I'm one of those strange ones, I'm half in one and half in the other you know. Dad brought me up as a Meath supporter, that's the reality, and I used to get awful abuse out in Crokes when I was younger. There were probably only three people in Kilmacud from Meath. I'm used to that kind of stuff. It has always been Meath . It was bet into me. I was lifted over the turnstiles in Croke Park as a kid with the Meath jersey on and nothing has changed over those years.”
Meath: B Hogan; B O'Halloran, S Rafferty, S Lavin; D Keoghan, S Coffey, C Caulfield; M Costello (0-1), B Menton (0-2, tp); C Duke, R Kinsella, A O'Neill; J Conlon (0-5), K Curtis (0-3, tp), E Frayne (0-11, 1tp, 1tpf, 0-5f) Subs: Aaron Lynch (0-1) for Curtis 50, Shane Walsh for Kinsella 54, Ronan Jones for Duke 55, Cathal Hickey for O'Neill 58, Ronan Ryan for Rafferty 61.
Dublin: S Cluxton; T Clancy, D Byrne, C Tyrrel; B Howard, J Small, T Lahiff; P Ó Cofaigh Byrne, C Kilkenny; N Scully, C O'Callaghan (0-6, 1tp, 0-3f), K Lahiff; P Small (0-5), L O'Dell (0-1), C Basquel (0-3, 1tp) Subs: A Gavin for Tyrrell 29, C Costello (1-1, 0-1f) for K Lahiff h/t, K McGinnis for Scully 52, R McGarry for O'Dell 58, G McEneaney for J Small 59.
Ref: K Eannetta (Tyrone).
GAA RESULTS
Munster SHC round 2
Cork 4-27 Tipperary 0-24
Waterford 2-23 Clare 0-21
Leinster SFC semi-finals
Meath 0-23 Dublin 1-16
Louth 1-18 Kildare 0-18
Ulster SFC semi-final
Armagh 0-23 Tyrone 0-22
Donegal 1-19 Down 0-16
Leinster SHC Round 2
Galway 2-25 Offaly 1-14
Dublin 3-26 Wexford 4-19
Kilkenny 2-30 Antrim 2-12
Joe McDonagh Cup
Carlow 3-27 Kerry 0-17
Kildare 3-24 Westmeath 2-21
Laois 6-36 Down 1-12
Christy Ring Cup
Wicklow 2-17 London 2-17
Meath 3-18 Derry 1-22
Donegal 5-18 Tyrone 0-10
Nickey Rackard Cup
Mayo 2-23 Louth 2-18
Sligo 7-20 Fermanagh 2-18
Roscommon 1-15 Armagh 0-15
Joe McDonagh Cup
Laois 6-36 Down 1-12
Lory Meagher Cup
Cavan 3-24 Lancashire 2-14
Monaghan 4-22 Warwickshire 2-15
Longford 1-14 Leitrim 1-14
