I DUGG DEEP TO HELP TEAM
Emma explains that the secret to Royals’ success is every player being willing to do a share of the dirty work for the greater good
Kerry
Croke Park, tomorrow 4pm
BY PAUL KEANE
WHEN the Meath team lined out for the All-ireland semifinal against Donegal, Emma Duggan trotted out to the right half-back position.
Perhaps the most exciting forward in ladies football, Duggan spent plenty of that game in her own half, foraging for the turnovers that the team thrives on.
Vikki Wall, another All-star forward, spent as much time out around midfield as in attack too.
These are exciting, historic and interesting times to be a Meath player as they chase back to back TG4 All-ireland titles.
Their carefully choreographed counter-attacking system has been mightily successful but will come up against a goal-hungry and free-scoring Kerry, the ultimate clash of contrasting styles.
Duggan said: “The lads in the management are different level. The hours of video work, tactical work. We owe them to go out and put it on show on the big days.
“There’s the systems, the tactics on top of that with kick-outs, opposition kick-outs, your own kick-outs, that you know what you’re doing when you have the ball, when the opposition have the ball.
“There’s so much to it.
It’s an accumulation of a lot of that over the last few years that’s coming to fruition now.”
Duggan talks of an unbreakable bond between the players and Eamonn Murray’s coaching staff. The team has found itself in sticky positions time and again but on each occasion, patience and sticking to the system has paid off.
Like against Donegal, when Meath scored just three points in the first-half. They looked like a jaded group, waiting to be put out of their misery. At the start of the second-half, they reeled off six points in a row. It still took a late three-in-a-row of Duggan points to get the job done but it was a terrific turnaround, prompting Murray to hail their best 30 minutes of the season so far.
Within all of that mayhem, what exactly is All-star Duggan’s position?
She smiled: “I’d just say ‘free rein’ to be honest with you. It’s literally a bit of everything. You can get forward but you have to get back as well. You have to put in your job in defence. “I always look to try to get a few turnovers in a game and equally you like to create a few scoring opportunities whether it’s for yourself or for others on the pitch. It is literally a bit of everything. If you were to ask them all on the team, they’d say the exact same.”
Covid protocols were in place when Meath made their breakthrough last year, a couple of thousand people lining the route into the Knightsbrook Hotel in Trim for the homecoming before the players celebrated inside.
It’ll be a proper party this time if they can get over the winning line though Kerry, with eight goals in their last two games, have more than just a puncher’s chance.
Duggan said: “Kerry probably remind us of ourselves last year, winning the Division Two title and picking up really good form in the Championship. They’re not a team to mess around with.
“Any time you see a Kerry team play, they’re nearly ready-made footballers and that’s something we did touch on, that you can have as many tactics as you want but they are very natural footballers. They always have been.
“Coming up against a team with the likes of Louise O Mhuircheartaigh, Danielle O’leary (inset) this year, they’re very skilful players, a lot moreso than probably what we’ve played this year.
“It’s going to be a bit different this time around.”