LEINSTER’S RELEVANCE RIDING ON THE ROYALS
Can Meath make the Leinster championship relevant again?
YOU didn’t need to be of a Royal persuasion to have found last year’s Leinster football final tortuous viewing. Leaving Croke Park that June evening, it was hard to escape the conclusion that we had witnessed the death throes of a once-proud competition.
Having grown up watching the Meath-Dublin saga of 1991, having remembered the Meath-Kildare trilogy of 1997, and having witnessed first-hand Westmeath’s emotional breakthrough in 2004, it was with some reluctance that we agreed that the Leinster SFC was becoming the most pointless sporting competition one could think of.
The bleak reality could be seen by everyone except officialdom. If they were to admit that there was no longer any point to the provincial competition, it would spell the end for the current Championship model which, let’s face it, may be no bad thing. Dublin’s 16-point winning margin in 2019 was about par for recent Leinster finals. Only once since 2014 has an opponent got within 10 points of them — a spirited Kildare put up 1-17 in the 2017 decider. The Dubs still scored 2-23 that afternoon.
The domination of the big blue machine has made Leinster football a wasteland for the past decade. The Leinster Council have also played their part, both with their reluctance to take the Dubs out of Croke Park and then, not to give home advantage to teams they play — Westmeath were the latest county to have that fate befall them this year.
Indeed, one of the most absurd GAA stats emerged following last week’s semi-final. Laois have played Dublin 35 times in the Championship and not one of those games has been in Portlaoise. Difficult to look at that and not conclude, as the character Bodie did in Baltimore crime classic The Wire, that the game is rigged.
Still, there may be the faintest of hopes on the horizon. Meath will arrive at HQ this evening as a goal-hungry force. They have found the net 12 times in their first two Championship games. That’s an average of six green flags for November — about as many as they will need to score to deliver the greatest shock in GAA history. Nobody believes that Meath are going to win tonight. Even with a new manager at the Dublin helm, and the odd retirement, the All-Ireland champions remain in a different league. But there is a sense that the Royals can show that the chasm is not as wide as it was just 17 months ago.
When Andy McEntee came into the job four years ago, he realised that a gradual and careful reconstruction was needed in Meath football. And he can’t be accused of not giving players a chance. Over the past four seasons, he has trawled the county for talent and has used 66 players since his introduction.
There has been plenty of chopping and changing. For example, McEntee has tried 10 different goalkeepers in his time in charge, showing the state of flux since Paddy O’Rourke’s inter- county retirement. However, he has had mainstays, pillars which have provided solidity to his project.
Donal Keogan, Cillian O’Sullivan, Conor McGill, Bryan Menton and Shane McEntee all started McEntee’s first League game, a 10-point defeat to Kildare in 2017 — and still form the spine of the team who will take the field in Croke Park this evening. Around them, he has sprinkled youth. Seven of those who played against Kildare were under the age of 22, four of them under 20.
While improving Meath in the present, McEntee has also an eye on the future. Six Championship rookies have been blooded in the games against Wicklow and Kildare, including the excellent Jordan Morris who has caught the eye with 4-5 to his name. And there are indications that McEntee has a much deeper squad, as subs have scored 4-4 over the two games to date.
Perhaps, the most telling contribution to Meath’s progress has come in the backroom team. Having drafted in the former Louth player Colm Nally, who has built a considerable coaching reputation, two years ago, McEntee sought the services of former Munster player Niall Ronan to work on his team’s conditioning this season.
In the past few years, it’s been
noticeable how Meath faded against the top teams in the final 10 or 15 minutes, simply because they were so f ar behind in conditioning work. And while their stint in Division 1 ended in relegation this year, there were signs over the spring and in October that McEntee’s side were now able to match the bigger teams stride for stride.
Former Footballer of the Year Trevor Giles called for his countymen to show courage in Croke Park. ‘Watching Meath the last year or two, they are good when the likes of Donal Keogan carries the ball, Seamus Lavin coming on a one-two, Conor McGill linking with Bryan Menton. I just hope they are brave enough to try that against Dublin,’ Giles said earlier this week.
‘I hope they don’t just get the ball and pass it off because they don’t want to l eave Ciaran Kilkenny unmarked in case things break down. You have to be brave and trust your skills that you can carry the ball down the field against anyone. I hope that kind of bravery is t here i n our approach.’
Nobody expects Meath to win. But there is still a lot riding on this young team. It is up to them to show that the Leinster football Championship can be relevant once more. That the chasm is not what it once was. Otherwise, what is the point?