Royals targeting All-Ireland after Leinster success
MEATH captain Matthew Costello says he’s not content with capturing the county’s first Leinster Minor title in a decade and wants to go ‘all the way’.
The Royals were eight-point winners over Kildare last Saturday to capture the provincial crown, but there has been little time to enjoy the victory as this coming Saturday they take on beaten Ulster champions Derry in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Armagh.
‘We will celebrate tonight, but we are fully focused on Derry now and while it is fantastic to win, this is not our main goal,’ said Costello in the aftermath of the victory in Tullamore.
‘We want to go the whole way and win the All-Ireland.
‘Everyone played their part today and that is what everyone has been working towards since Under-14 level. We have a squad of 34 players and there were 10 players very disappointed at not getting into the panel today, but they are seriously prospects for the future.
‘It is a squad game; the team is completely different than what it was in the opening round.
‘The games in the group stages were really helpful because it was an opportunity to give everyone game time. Every one of the squad of 34 has now played a championship game. They all know what it takes to win and I think the group games were helpful in that way.
‘We didn’t have a easy game in the group. Every game took something out of us and we picked up injuries, but other players stepped up to the plate and got the job done.
‘We are half way there now. It’s time to get ready for the quarter-final and see how far we can go in the All-Ireland series.’
Meath manager Joe Treanor was keeping his fingers crossed that centre back Conor Harford hasn’t suffered a serious injury after the St Vincent’s Ardcath clubman was forced to leave the action, having taken a
knock to the shoulder.
‘Hopefully Conor hasn’t picked up a serious injury. We took him off as a precaution. We don’t have much time to prepare for the quarter-final against Derry and we will start focusing on that early in the week.
‘Derry have a few advantages over us. They have had a two-week break, they got to watch us today and they also played in the Athletic Grounds, Armagh. We haven’t played there yet.’
The 1-15 to 1-7 scoreline in the Leinster decider was hardly a true reflection of Meath’s dominance as the Royals won handsomely. However, Treanor dismissed suggestions that it was ‘easy’, citing the meticulous preparations that went into the game.
‘We prepared exceptionally well for this game,’ the Monaghan native said. ‘We went in with a very strong game plan, we went in with a very strong mindset that we weren’t going to be pushed around.
‘We set down a platform for ourselves very early on in the game and I think we went in leading by eight points at halftime, so we laid the foundations in the first half.
‘We snuffed out the Kildare offence in the third quarter and got our goal, which really set us up moving into the final quarter.
‘No final is ever easy, and if you ask any of the lads they had to work exceptionally hard for the win.
‘There was a strong enough breeze there and it was important that we used it in the opening half. Kildare came out again with the same mindset in the second half to put us under pressure, but instead we got the first couple of scores and kicked on from there.
‘Our defence, particularly our full back line, was excellent. I don’t know how many blocks they got in and we are really happy with that.
‘Like any team, we have them schooled that we don’t give away frees in scoreable positions. Our discipline in and around the D was particularly good.’