In the end the promise of another fruitful campaign in the Leinster and All-Ireland JFC proved unfounded as Meath met their match in Longford at the second hurdle in early June.

Meath had captured the Leinster Junior Shield in 2008 before reaching a Leinster JFC final, where Dublin proved just too strong, and with Kit Henry in charge once more, hopes were high that they could build on those achievements this time around. However, several changes were required to the make-up of the panel last spring, while claims that several players refused invitations onto the panel did little to increase the lustre of the county junior side.
Foremost among the selection issues facing Henry and his management team of Tommy Finnegan, Patsy Farrell, Damien Griffin and Darren Clarke was the absence of the Donaghmore/Ashbourne contingent, ineligible due to their presence in the county senior championship last year. Their absence robbed the team of key players in the previous year's success in the shape of Colm O Mealoid, Eoin Reilly and Ian Dowd.
The make-up of the panel for the opening Leinster JFC encounter with Wexford caused a few surprises, with just three players from the previous year's Intermediate and Junior champions - St Ultan's and Moynalvey respectively - included, while there were none from St Colmcille's, Gaeil Colmcille and Dunsany, sides who went into their respective championships with the credentials to go all the way.
Nevertheless, those sentiments appeared to have been silenced when the trip to Wexford brought a resounding success, with a tally of 2-15 and an eight-point margin of victory underlining Meath's quality against a Wexford side which, to all intents and purposes, was the county's second string XV.
The team saw Dunboyne's Thomas O'Connor, a regular in the past at senior inter-county level, return to the Meath colours at full back while other senior club players involved were Walterstown pair Alan Reynolds and Tom Walsh and Summerhill's Richie Hatton, all eligible having missed their sides' senior campaigns in '08. But there were few debates over the identity of the stars of the show at Wexford Park, with Meath county senior panellists past and present Rory Maguire and Jamie Queeney giving ample evidence of their ability with a combined tally of 2-8.
On the night, O'Connor sadly lasted just ten minutes before he was forced off with a hamstring injury, with Cortown's Paddy Kerrigan coming in and Derek Flood of St Michael's reverting to the edge of the square. Queeney, who had featured in Eamonn O'Brien's Meath senior side during the National Football League Division Two campaign, needed no invitation to signal his authority, opening the Royals' account after a couple of minutes. His full forward line comrade and fellow south Meath man Maguire then took over, bagging two goals in the space of a minute to put Meath into an early position of command. He hammered to the Wexford net from a tight angle after demonstrating good pace and strength to outmuscle his opponent and he repeated the trick almost directly from the resultant kick-out as Meath opened up a seven-point advantage (2-1 to 0-0).
However, Wexford held their nerve to get back into the game, with a goal from Ben Brosnan and a brace of points from Lloyd Colfer helping the home side regain parity after quarter of an hour. Meath did not delay in restoring their supremacy through points from Queeney and Kilmainham forward Mickey Newman to go into half-time four points to the good, and they built on that in excellent fashion after the break to run out easy winners on a 2-15 to 1-10 full-time scoreline.
If that result, and the manner of it given the often daunting nature of games at Wexford Park, gave vent to renewed confidence in Meath's ability to put together a convincing campaign in the Junior Football Championship, it was to prove misplaced. Perhaps there was a degree of complacency when Longford visited Pairc Tailteann for a quarter-final tie in late May; perhaps Longford, with eight players who would form part of the panel for an All-Ireland senior qualifier near miss against the might of Kerry later in the summer, were significantly better than had been anticipated. Either way, Meath's interest in the Leinster JFC was to end in dreadfully disappointing circumstances.
Like he had done in Wexford, Queeney opened the scoring with an early point but in contrast to the events which unfolded in the first round clash, Meath were second best in all areas as Longford opened up a five-point interval lead. The midlanders' goal came from Padraig Shanley, and it could have been even worse for the Royals but for a penalty save by Castletown goalkeeper Johnny Ginnity from Colm Flynn.
Points from Newman and Queeney looked to have given Meath some momentum but Longford hit four points without reply to give themselves a decisive half-time lead, and the home side's hopes of staging a second half revival looked dead in the water when Longford bagged their second goal of the night six minutes into the second half. A Colm Flynn effort hit the upright and Paul McKeon was quicker to react than any of the Meath backs, beating Ginnity from close-range to open up an eight-point lead (2-6 to 0-4).
At that stage the task resembled damage limitation stakes for Meath but to their credit they chipped away at the deficit continuously until victory looked within their grasp as the clock ticked towards the hour. Queeney, Newman, Tom Walsh, Richie Hatton and substitute Colm Carry fired unanswered points and when Queeney rattled the net with a fine goal with six minutes left, suddenly the sides were level and Meath had all the momentum. Inexplicably, however, they were unable to capitalise, and at the other end Colm Flynn exploited hesitancy in the Meath rearguard to slot the winning score for Longford. Making it even more difficult to accept was the fact that Flynn's effort was just Longford's third score of the second half, and their first since McKeon's goal more than 20 minutes earlier.
With Kit Henry having announced his decision to step down from the manager's position after three years in charge, 2010 will see a new-look team at the helm to take on the task of putting together a squad capable once more of challenging for provincial and All-Ireland honours. Before that can happen, however, some key issues must be addressed, among them the regulations which dictate that Meath can select solely from intermediate and junior players while several other counties face no such constraints. Six of the province's nine counties - Dublin, Kildare, Wexford, Laois, Offaly and Westmeath - have contested Leinster SFC finals since Meath's last provincial showpiece in 2001, so a journey to the latter stages of the All-Ireland Championship in 2009 notwithstanding, is it fair that Meath still finds itself operating within a different set of rules?
Another key issue is the role the junior team plays in Meath GAA scene. Should it be a breeding ground for younger players who boast the potential to progress onto the senior inter-county panel in the future? Or should it be an opportunity to don the county colours afforded to players from the lower grades who might never have hoped for such recognition? Those questions, and more, will be presented to the new management team in the coming spring. Tweet

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