Experienced Meath can continue on winning run
TG4’s COVERAGE of sport this weekend says a lot about how the world seems such a smaller place nowadays. Yesterday saw full deferred coverage of the final of the Australian Football League Women’s season, which saw victory for Ailish Considine’s Adelaide Crows over Sinéad Goldrick’s Melbourne side.
The pair were flying the flag for those footballers who have made an impression Down Under and the manner in which they have survived and prospered is the surest sign that others will follow.
It’s that prospect which had Meath senior football manager Eamonn Murray distinctly unimpressed with the news that Player of the Year for 2021 Vikki Wall is almost certainly one of those heading the same way later in the year.
Indeed, Wall will be on view as the centrepiece of TG4’s coverage this afternoon is the Lidl National Football League Division 1 final between Meath and Donegal.
The likes of Wall and Emma Duggan were a big part of Meath’s fairytale run to All-Ireland glory last year – no wonder Murray would be dismayed at the prospect of losing one or both, or more, to a game he described as a ‘dreadful’ watch.
While making sure not to begrudge any player the option of a semi-professional lifestyle abroad in a sporting environment, there is no disputing what a loss Wall and others would be to the game in general if they take up contracts, especially with the AFLW looking at an extended season with more of a crossover to the domestic playing calendar.
It all only adds to the sense that Meath need to strike now while they have a full deck and secure a first Division 1 title.
That Donegal are in the same boat in chasing a first win in this grade says a lot about how the landscape is changing since the long dominance of Dublin and Cork.
And the manner in which the Ulster side carried out a smashand-grab with those dramatic two late goals in the semi-final against Dublin carried echoes of Meath’s dramatic late escape against Cork in last year’s All-Ireland semifinal.
Late goals from Emma McCrory and Yvonne Bonner booked Donegal their place in a first Division 1 final since 2017 and manager Maxi Curran understands what it takes to win on a big day at Croke Park, having been involved with the men’s senior team in the milestone All-Ireland win of 2012.
There is a sense, though, of Meath being that bit further ahead perhaps in their development, clearly kicking on from last year in the way they have adapted to Division 1 and deservedly earned a place in the final.
And a story Murray told during the week at a promotional launch says a lot about the impact the Meath ladies team is having.
‘Ah, it’s huge. I’m a tiling contractor so I’ve been in a lot of houses all around Meath, and when I go out people want to talk to you. And it’s not just Meath. I’m going to tell you a quick little story about a man from Limerick who sent me a letter before the Cork match, thanking me so much for what we’ve done for sport. He was born in Kells but living in Limerick for 60 years, he was 90 years of age. The letter was that length [gestures about a foot long with his arms]. It was very hard to read, the girls at home, my kids, they printed it all out for me.
‘So I sent him back a letter and a signed Meath jersey. So he’d ring me then, he’d actually ring me at a quarter past 10 at night and he’d chat to me. So I chatted to him after the final and this and that, lovely old man, I’d have gone to see him only for the Covid. I got a Christmas card from his niece; the only relation he had alive was his sister and she was 95. His wife had died and he had no kids.
‘He had died two weeks after the All-Ireland final and got buried with the Meath ladies jersey on the coffin, down in Limerick. Isn’t that a lovely story?’
Verdict: Meath