Young Royals have to be given every chance..

WHAT a magical weekend that was for the lesser lights in Leinster football.

Longford beat Meath for the first time in 36 years, and reached a first provincial semi-final in 30 in doing so.

Carlow were superb in seeing off Kildare for the first time since 1963, and when you throw in the fact that Laois dismantled Westmeath, who were a division above them this year, the argument for a second tier competition got torn to shreds. I travelled to Longford on Sunday thinking Meath would shade it. That they didn’t wasn’t a shock by any means.

Longford outplayed Meath for the majority of the game. They wanted it that little bit more.

Conor Berry was man of the match at midfield, while Dessie Reynolds and Ronan Mcintyre worked themselves to a standstill.

Their inside line hit 0-7 from play and were a handful. James Mcgivney slotted two rocket launchers Diarmuid Connolly would have been proud of.

Meath missed a couple of goal chances in the first half but it just didn’t happen and we have to accept where we are.

The players have to get their heads up and quickly. Believe it or not, I don’t think getting Tyrone was the worst draw, given that they are missing a few players and a big team like that banishes any room for complacency.

There are green shoots, and it’s just a matter of how they’re cultivated from here on in.

Last week I saw Meath minors beat Dublin with a superb performance. Youngsters like James O’hare, Harry O’higgin, Sean Coffey and Cian Mcbride – arguably our greatest

Cian Mcbride might be our best prospect since Geraghty

prospect since Giles and Geraghty

– all appear to be outstanding senior players in the making.

Last year, in the one-off under-17 competition, I saw them play in Drogheda when players like Shane Walsh, Liam Byrne, Sean Ryan and Jordan Morris really stood out.

There are a few others such as Luke Kelly, Brian Mccormack and Luke Mitchell, as well as a decent under-20 team this year.

Put all of those together and you’ve got the basis for the next Meath senior team of real substance.

But it won’t just happen automatically. What is in place to make these the best senior players they can possibly be? They need to be stimulated with proper training and a positive mental attitude to realise their potential.

The swell of talent Meath have coming through is as good as it gets at underage level and I hope the administrators in the county give them every chance.

Meath boast excellent sponsors in Devenish and will have 17 coaches attached to clubs by the end of this year. There is a need to get out into schools in the big towns around the county.

When you snooze, you lose and Meath have been doing that for long enough.

Time to wake up and take the necessary steps to develop the brilliant young players we have.