‘I’ll never forget this day’ says proud captain Rowe
WHEN captain Daire Rowe made his way up to collect the Leinster Junior cup at Croke Park on Sunday he was following in the footsteps of his father Cormac who was part of the Meath team that defeated Dublin in the 1975 NFL Final.
The Dubs were All-Ireland champions at the time and hot favourites to overcome their neighbours, but the Royals shocked ‘Heffo’s Army’ that day, with Rowe playing a prominent role in the Meath full forward line alongside Mattie Kerrigan and Ollie O’Brien.
‘My dad Cormac played for Meath for many years in the 1970s and he was always longing to this day to see me playing for the county in Croke Park,’ the 20-yearold said.
‘It’s a massive occasion and a day I’ll never forget, captaining a Meath team in Croke Park and winning a Leinster trophy. Hopefully there will be more days like that for the county of Meath.
‘It was a great honour to be captain. When Meath last won the junior title back in 2006 there were a few Syddan men on it, so it’s great to carry on that tradition with fellow clubman Kevin Traynor.
‘We made a great start and that was key. The management team focused on hard work and physicality and right from the start we went at it and it was that lead that we built up early on that got us over the line.
‘We were 11 points up at halftime and Louth were down to 14 men, but the management made sure that we wouldn’t get complacent. We had worked really hard throughout the field in the opening half and we knew that we would have to do the same for the second 30 minutes.
‘We missed a few chances at the start of the second half, but we just kept pushing on and working hard and that was important.
‘The win today wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of the players and the management. The management put down the foundations and everyone enjoys the training. You come training and work hard and it paid off out there today.
‘We are not just content to stop here, though. We are aiming for the All-Ireland title and that is what we have our focus on now.’
Meanwhile, former county midfielder Conor Gillespie, who is part of the backroom team, recalled Meath’s last Leinster final win, the seniors’ controversial victory over Louth in 2010.
‘I was on the bench that day and I was about to run onto the pitch and I didn’t know what was going on at that stage. I remember going up to collect the trophy and there were bottles flying past the head!
‘It was great to get a win today. I think over the past five years or so we haven’t had many underage teams getting to Croke Park for a Leinster final and there was probably a lot of lads on those teams who got a chance today. It’s a great way for them to get an opportunity to play in Croke Park, it’s a great stepping stone and not as pressurised as maybe a Leinster senior final.
‘The whole focus of this team is that it is linked in heavily with the senior squad. It is aimed as a development pathway for players from intermediate and junior clubs. It is a successful season for us if five or six of these guys can make the Meath senior squad next year.
‘Obviously there will be bigger contests ahead, but I think today will benefi them. Even from a confidence point of view, getting the win, getting the feel of Croke Park. That all makes a difference.’