Royals’ ‘traditional qualities’ were key
AT half-time of this sometimes absorbing but at all times intriguing local derby, Colm O’Rourke and his Meath team were facing into a battle.
A point in arrears and playing into a stiff breeze in the second half, it was difficult to see where the necessary improvement and, more crucially, the scores were going to come. Within six minutes of the restart, the gap had widened to four points and they were staring into the abyss.
Then, something seemed to strike a chord, reality maybe, and that caused a reaction.
Afterwards, manager O’Rourke put it down to the ‘old traditional values’ associated with the county’s football teams many moons ago.
“We talked at half-time that now was the time for our young players to stand up and be counted. The satisfying thing from a Meath point of view is that a lot of the old, traditional qualities that we associate with Meath seemed to come to the surface again and we were again inspired by Donal Keogan at the back.
“Then a lot of players who had been very quiet up to then came into the game and they all seemed to really get going. We had a great patch half-way through the second-half when we played good football.
“With 10 minutes gone in the second half, I was thinking we must be 33/1 shots to win. We were playing badly, Louth were much the better team, in total control of the game, four points up and it looked pretty bad.
“However, the lads seemed to find something within themselves that we have been searching for, and we were confident was there. We are very happy with the performance when we needed it most even if we are very aware that it could have gone the other way. Louth had outplayed us for quite a period of the game.”
The battling qualities portrayed in the second half was something O’Rourke and his management team are attempting to instil in to the players.
“We have talked about the fighting spirit quite a bit. Just because you are young doesn’t mean you can’t fight hard or be a leader. These are the type of things we are trying to develop in the players. We think they have great character and if you have that character when things do go wrong you will be able to do something about it.
“Those are the sort of qualities we are hoping to engender in the squad and it seems to be working. It is down to themselves now, they are taking responsibility for it, and they are getting on with it.
“Even putting on three subs there at the end who had never played at that level before, Brian O’Halloran, Adam McDonnell and Danny Dixon, they all made a real contribution.”
However, O’Rourke wasn’t lost on the fact that Louth asked major questions for lengthy spell and had they taken even half of the goal chances created they would have come out on top.
“Louth’s dominance was a big problem. They will look back on the game and think they could have won it by seven or eight points if they had taken their goal chances, but we hung in and we hung in.
“There were a lot of faults in
Picture: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
our game. We still lack that bit of experience and cuteness, we can’t replace experience, but youthful enthusiasm makes up for a lot.
“You wouldn’t pick out too many lads as going well in the first half, that was a great sign that they were able to turn it on when thing were going wrong.
“When things are going wrong for us Donal Keogan is the little boy with his finger in the dyke and he proved that again today on so many occasions. It was a wonderful performance from Seán Coffey, too, who came off a disappointing loss in the Sigerson during the week.
“We lost a few lads from the Sigerson, but the good thing is now that the Sigerson is over we will have 11 or 12 lads who have been away all the time will now be in training with us and that will make things a lot easier for us.
“Early on in the game we had a load of bad misses for points. We had five bad wides in the first 15 minutes when we were playing reasonably well and that seemed to sap the confidence for quite a while and Louth got very much on top and there were certainly times when we were under siege.
“They’re things to work on. It is easier to work on those things when you are winning. It would have left a real lack of confidence going in to training this week if we had lost, but now that the lads have
won they’ll be looking forward to coming in and getting at it again. The win does change the mood completely and it shows them too that if they stick at it and keep trying to do the right thing that sometimes it does come off.
“The win is a huge boost. After we played Fermanagh, I said our dressing room was like a morgue, everybody was so quiet and disappointed. I took that as a good sign that they weren’t happy with the way they played and with the result.
“Today it is quite a different feeling in there and I think this could be quite a significant boost to them because there is nothing like having a game like that in your memory bank where you can say well we’ve done it already, why not again.”
The win lifts Meath away from the relegation but there are no new targets, according to O’Rourke, apart from beating Kildare this coming Sunday.
“The target is to win here against Kildare next Sunday. We would love to have some of our injured players back but it looks like we will have no reinforcements for the next
three or four games. The lads in that dressing room now know that they will have to dig out results now, there is nobody coming to the rescue, which in the way is a good thing.”
WE STILL LACK THAT BIT OF EXPERIENCE AND CUTENESS, WE CAN’T REPLACE EXPERIENCE, BUT YOUTHFUL ENTHUSIASM MAKES UP FOR A LOT