Preparing for Meath
Total media ban in place ahead of crunch Leinster tie
IN the edition of the Wicklow People on Thursday, May 20, 2004, the main GAA story is the build-up to the clash with Meath in Croke Park in the Leinster Senior football championship.
Normally with match previews and the likes you get to hear what the manager or the captain or designated player are thinking ahead of the game, the majority of times it’s more or less meaningless stuff that includes ‘whoever wants it more’, ‘there are two teams of 15’, ‘they’re definitely the favourites’, ‘we’re rank outsiders’, ‘nobody is giving us a chance’, etc, etc.
But occasionally we get real nuggets, gems of interviews and insights, maybe personal stories, what it really means, what they’re really expecting, the journeys they’ve travelled, that kind of thing.
For the Wicklow v. Meath preview however, we got none of the above. Wicklow manager Hugh Kenny had imposed a blanket media ban on both himself and his players we are told by reporter Mark Hayes and he was ‘going to do the talking on the pitch.
Media bans are strange things at the best of time. Some managers feel that players get unnerved or leave themselves open to be exploited somehow by an eager reporter or editor looking for headlines. There are others who feel it shows a lack of belief in the maturity of players, and it betrays a distinct lack of confidence within a camp.
Regardless of the thinking behind it, that was the decision made by the Wicklow management in 2004 and it’s for that reason that we are unable to reflect upon what any of the panel or members of management thought or believed ahead of that game with a Meath side we are told was ripe for the picking.
‘Players can become unnerved by too much hullabaloo ahead of a big game,’ writes Mark Hayes. ‘And Kenny obviously feels that his men are better off with as low key an approach as is humanly possible.
‘But silence can often say a lot – here it seems to suggest a determination to do their talking on the pitch.
‘The size of the task facing Wicklow is great, but there is a real feeling that Meath might just be ripe for the taking – an injury crisis has weakened Sean Boylan’s hand considerably.
‘While Wicklow will suffer the loss of key man Trevor Doyle, Meath lost their up-and-coming young star Joe Sheridan, who received an eight-week ban for abusing a referee; and stalwart Graham Geraghty, who seems to have retired from the county scene on the back of a 48-week ban for a similar offence.
‘In any case, Meath are not the powerhouse of recent years, despite the continued presence of Hank Traynor, Nigel Crawford, Trevor Giles and Darren Fay to name but four. Ollie Murphy, just back from his honeymoon, can also be expected to start.
‘The quiet return in recent weeks of Ronan Coffey is in keeping with Wicklow’s low-key approach and the Rathnew club man could well figure in a role which will lessen the impact of the loss of Doyle, the team captain and natural leader.
‘The return to availability of Wayne O’Gorman will also give Kenny options up front, while Brendan Ó hÁinnaidh is also available after suspension.
Hayes goes on to say that the big difference between this year and other years was that most people felt that Wicklow had a chance against the Royals and that it was a good few years since that was the case in championship football.
He added that regardless of the outcome, the very fact that Wicklow could go into the game mnore in expectation than fear was testament to what Hugh Kenny had achieved in his short time at the helm.
‘There is always the fear that League form will go out the window on the hard ground and wideopen spaces of Croke Park on a championship Sunday, but the injuries to Boylan’s side may welkl khave lessened the possibility of that happening.
‘Kenny has put in huge emphasis on team work, pride and togetherness and that should stand to them in the cauldron of Croker.
‘If they play to the best of their abilities and the bounce of the ball goes their way, anything can happen – how long since we’ve been able to say that?’
Wicklow would go on to lose that Leinster SFC clash with Meath with the sending off of substitute Ciaran Clancy from the Ballymanus club turning the game early in the second half.