SOMETHING OUT OF 1984..
The opening chapter of Meath’s golden spell was written in the Centenary Cup
THE 1984 Centenary Cup may not be the most notable of Sean Boylan’s achievements, yet the former Meath boss insists it “changed the course of a county”.
The one-off competition, played on a knockout open draw basis to mark 100 years since the GAA’S foundation, was the first trophy Meath won in Croke Park in almost a decade.
It didn’t translate to immediate Championship success but Boylan, speaking to Meath GAA to mark the 36th anniversary of the final win over Monaghan yesterday, said it helped to bring about a change in mindset as Meath reclaimed the Leinster title after 16 years in 1986.
It kickstarted their greatest era, with All-irelands following in 1987 and ‘88, two further final appearances, a pair of National Leagues as well as provincial dominance up to 1991.
“I suppose it changed the course of a county really,” said Boylan. “First open draw in the history of the game, going to Croke Park, the Monaghan people, the Meath people. It was just extraordinary.”
Breaking Dublin’s stranglehold in Leinster was a task that Meath were struggling to overcome in that era.
“Yeah, ‘76 and ‘77 against Dublin and those Leinster finals were tough and hard and it was such a great Dublin team at the time.
“Meath had great players but maybe we didn’t have enough of the quality that you needed at the same time. Maybe it was just the level that Dublin were at.
“But all I can tell you is, from Joe Cassells, Colm O’rourke and Gerry and Mick Lyons and so on, they had all experienced all those matches and once they got a sniff of Croke Park, they wanted to stay in Croke Park.”
And Boylan explained how touched he was by previous Meath teams rowing in behind them on the back of that Centenary
Cup success.
“One of the nicest things I got after that
Centenary final was a letter from
Christo Hand, the famous
Christo, saying what it meant to him to see the crowd supporting Meath again and to see them playing like the way they were playing. That meant an absolutely huge amount.
“It was incredible how the ‘49, ‘54, ‘67 lads, they got behind the team in such a great way. They’d come to training, they’d support all along the line.”
Because it was a one-off competition, Meath retain the trophy to this day. Boylan added: “It’s great to talk about it because sometimes it’s overlooked. I remember a very proud Meath team being outside
Dalgan Park in 1988 having won the
All-ireland.
“Fr Murray was the president of the Columbans at the time, he was a Roscommon man, and he wanted a photograph with all the cups the lads had won – have the O’byrne Cup, the Leinster Cup, the National League Cup, the two Sam Maguires, and the Centenary Cup pride of place in between the two.
“You’ll never see it again.”