Record breakers
November 27, 2010Tragically, 2010 saw things placed very much in perspective for the Meath minors. The reality is that - at the end of the day - football is only a game and shouldn't be taken too seriously. When the Royal County crashed out of the Leinster MFC on the back of a narrow defeat to Offaly, it was a disappointing day for all concerned, no doubt about it. But the occasion took on a tragic dimension late that same night when young Skryne star Liam Tolan lost his life in a traffic accident. This terrible tragedy placed a dark cloud over the under 18 team's entire campaign and it seems almost insensitive to speak about football matters in the wake of such a massive blow to Liam's family, club and county. He certainly did himself proud with his efforts for his beloved county in 2010. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
In December 2009, Kildare legend Davy Dalton was appointed manager of the Meath minor football squad for 2010. Resident in Summerhill, the 1997 All Star full back assumed the reins from Pat Coyle, who had led the Royals to provincial glory in 2008. Dalton's backroom team was completed by Dermot Rooney and Larry McEntee.
After the indifference of the Ulster minor football league (which ended in humiliation with a 5-11 to 0-11 defeat to Dublin at Parnell Park the previous weekend), Dalton's first test was against those minnows of Leinster football, Kilkenny. Navan O'Mahonys' Alan Forde and Liam Tolan from Skryne both recovered from injury to take their respective places in the starting XV at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday April 17th.
With the hosts at full strength, a ridiculously-facile 6-26 to 0-0 victory ensued as all sorts of records were broken in Navan. As well as scoring 32 times and getting twelve different players on the scoresheet, Meath also hit 13 wides (against Kilkenny's three). Shane Barry was the top scorer with 2-2, both those goals coming into the run-up to half time to give the rampant winners a 5-9 to no score interval advantage.
Donal Landy had the ball in the net within seconds of the throw-in and the St Patrick's clubman finished the match with 1-4 to his credit. Four subs got on the mark and all but 0-6 of the winning total came from open play. Liam Tolan and Farrell McManus bagged the other first-half goals as the Royals, having won the toss, played with the aid of a strong breeze. The game was done and dusted by the ninth minute, with Meath leading by 3-3 to nothing. Fergus Toolan got the sixth goal ten minutes from the end.
Meath - 2010 Leinster MFC V Kilkenny: C. McHugh; A. Doyle, C. McGill, A. Forde; F. Toolan (1-2), B. Moore, E. Lynch; F. McManus (1-0), C. Sheridan; P. Fox (0-4), D. Queeney (0-2), S. Barry (2-2); D. Landy (1-4), C. Devereux (0-3), L. Tolan (1-0). Subs: B. McMahon (0-2) for Tolan (15), C. O'Brien (0-2) for Queeney, S. Mattimoe (0-2) for Landy, J. Conlon (0-3) for Devereux (all ht), C. Downey for Barry (46).
Five weeks later, Meath faced their first real test of the campaign when they met Offaly (who had thumped Longford by 22 points in the first round). Again, Navan was the venue. As preparation, Dalton organised a challenge against Monaghan and also took his players to Curragh Camp for a day of bonding. Unfortunately, a late surge from the Faithful County saw the hosts eliminated prematurely.
The game was played as a double-header along with the Westmeath V Down Christy Ring Cup quarter-final. With the sun beaming down at Pairc Tailteann, Meath had one foot in the semi-finals as they led by 1-8 to 1-7 at the end of normal time. However, the visitors registered two injury-time points to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and send the Royal lads packing.
This was a thriller and Meath looked like certain winners as they carried on where they had left off against the Cats by powering into a 1-2 to no score lead within 20 minutes. They still led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the break but Ken Keeleghan's charges hit 1-2 on the resumption to lead for the first time.
There was incredible drama at the finish. Having trailed by 1-7 to 1-5 with nine minutes left, Meath rallied with three successive scores to lead by one as time ran out. But Offaly booked their place against Laois in the last four with late, late scores in the fourth and fifth minutes of injury time.
Over the hour, Meath had ample opportunities to win the game but their wides tally of eleven (against Offaly's ten) proved their undoing in the end. Extra time had seemed inevitable but the visitors pounced for a late win to leave the Royals with no time to reply.
Shane Barry converted a free after a foul on Donal Landy to get the losers up and running within 25 seconds. The industrious Liam Tolan picked out Conor Devereux in the tenth minute and the Dunshaughlin man planted an unstoppable shot in the back of the net. Between them, Devereux and Tolan were causing the Offaly defence all manner of problems. The latter got on the scoreboard after Offaly had eventually opened their account in the 21st minute.
When the visiting goalkeeper made a good save to deny Donal Landy shortly after the resumption, it proved to be a major turning point. The Faithfuls found the net themselves in the 43rd minute…
Barry tied the scores up at 1-5 apiece at the end of the third quarter. A brace of points from Edenderry's Derek Kelly saw the visitors take command but there was a kick in Meath still and they shook off their shooting malaise to go ahead with superb scores from substitute Bobby O'Brien, Devereux and Barry. Devereux hit the woodwork when a score would have settled the issue and Offaly made the most of their reprieve to take the spoils with a late leveller and an even later winner.
But the death of Liam Tolan in an accident in the early hours of the following Sunday morning cast the whole game into complete insignificance. Liam had given everything for the Royal County minors in 2010 and the Ashbourne Community School student (where he was voted senior GAA Footballer of the Year) was also a key member of the Meath VEC team that won the Leinster VEC final against Wicklow at Parnell Park in February, scoring two points in the final. Two weeks later, he was on target five times as Meath were edged out by Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. His passing has left a void that can never be filled.
Meath - 2010 Leinster MFC V Offaly: Conor McHugh (Oldcastle); Alastar Doyle (Dunshaughlin), Conor McGill (Ratoath), Alan Forde (Navan O'Mahonys); Fergus Toolan (Dunshaughlin), Eoin Lynch (St. Finian's), Paddy Haslam (Ratoath); Farrell McManus (Ratoath, 0-1), Conor Sheridan (Simonstown Gaels); Paddy Fox (Skryne), Daniel Queeney (Na Fianna, 0-1), Shane Barry (Simonstown Gaels, 0-4); Conor Devereux (Dunshaughlin, 1-1), Donal Landy (St. Patrick's), Liam Tolan (Skryne, 0-1). Subs: Cian O'Brien (Ratoath), Seamus Mattimoe (Gaeil Colmcille), Bobby O'Brien (Ratoath, 0-1), Ciaran McConnell (Bective), Bryan McMahon (Ratoath). Rest of panel: Liam Togan (St. Vincent's/Curraha), Brian Moore (Duleek/Bellewstown), Bryan Davis (Skryne), Phelim Dowling (St. Vincent's/Curraha). Tweet
