U21 footballers fall at first hurdle despite huge effort
November 27, 2010Colm O'Rourke again acted as coach, with former Skryne playing colleague Trevor Giles and Colm Menton from Donaghmore-Ashbourne assisting as selectors, but as was the case in the previous two years Meath's campaign in the grade was over almost before it had started.
Back in 2008, with the senior management team of coach Colm Coyle and selectors Tommy Dowd and Dudley Farrell in charge, Meath went into the Leinster Championship full of hope only to be unceremoniously dumped out of the competition by Kildare who coasted to a 1-14 to 0-5 victory at Pairc Tailteann.
There was another early exit last year when Dublin scored a couple of late points to win by 0-12 to 2-5 in their own back yard at Parnell Park en route to claiming the provincial crown and a year on prospects again appeared quite bright going into the 2010 championship with a talented looking panel.
Though preparations weren't helped by the involvement of panel members with their colleges in the Sigerson Cup and with the Meath senior squad, the under-21s worked hard from early January as they trained on Friday nights and Sunday mornings. Challenge matches played an important part in the build-up, but it was unfortunate that St Colmcille's player Graham Reilly sustained a nasty jaw injury in one such outing against Armagh.
As Meath and Westmeath fine tuned their preparations for the Leinster Championship quarter-final at Cusack Park, Mullingar, in early March Westmeath had the benefits of a 1-6 to 0-6 first round win over Kildare already under their belt and that was always likely to provide some sort of an advantage in terms of competitive edge.
However, it was a poor refereeing decision by Dublin official Brian O'Shea 13 minutes from the end which sounded the death knell to Meath's prospects of reaching the penultimate hurdle. Kevin McCann, who plays his club football with Duleek/Bellewstown, was chasing Westmeath's Conor Lynam who appeared to trip up. O'Shea erred in awarding a free and also booked McCann for the second time which meant his involvement in the game was terminated.
The teams were level (1-10 to 2-7) at the time and Westmeath proceeded to take over and outscore their opponents by 0-7 to 0-1 subsequently. They were clear by 2-14 to 1-11 at the final whistle and Meath were forced to look back on another very short and disappointing campaign in the under-21 grade.
Though they conceded two damaging goals, the first half offered plenty of hope for Meath, particularly due to the brilliant form of Brian Sheridan who seemed capable of scoring every time he got the ball. He scored four of his team's opening five points (two from frees) during a brilliant nine-minute spell and with Mark Collins also on target things were looking promising.
Westmeath's only response during this spell was a Lynam point from a free, but much of Meath's good work was undone in the 13th minute when Paul Sharry raced through for a goal. That cut the lead to the minimum, but Sheridan slotted over two more frees and Sean Dalton scored from play to open up a four-point gap.
John Egan replied with a point for Westmeath and then in the 23rd minute they got back to level terms when James Durkan scored their second goal. Egan edged them ahead for the first time, but Sheridan converted another free to leave the sides tied (0-9 to 2-3) at the break.
Graham Reilly had started at wing-forward despite being unable to train due to his injury, but he was withdrawn after 20 minutes and replaced by Kilmainham's Michael Newman. In view of Reilly's massive contribution to Meath's Leinster SFC success a few months later it's very clear what a huge loss he was.
However, Meath received a significant boost when Newman netted after Sheridan's effort had been blocked by Westmeath goalkeeper Darren Quinn. It was all to play for as the teams were locked together (1-10 to 2-7) at the end of the third quarter, but McCann's departure proved a major blow and Meath managed only one more point, from Craig Berrigan.
Sheridan was less effective in the second half when Westmeath deployed centre-back Kieran Martin to mark him and when McCann was dismissed the classy Seneschalstown player was moved back to perform defensive duties. But it just didn't work out for Meath and by the time referee O'Shea sounded the last whistle their neighbours were ahead by six points.
The sending off was an obvious factor, as was the absence of players like Andrew Collins and Paddy Gilsenan due to injury, but so too was Meath's failure to perform adequately around the middle of the field where they started with Conor Gillespie and Berrigan. Denis Corroon and John Heslin were highly effective for Westmeath in this sector. Heslin was in magnificent form and contributed five points, four from frees and one from a line ball.
Overall, it was a huge disappointment for all concerned with the Meath set-up, especially in light of the massive amount of effort that went into preparing for the championship. Westmeath went on to reach their first Leinster final at this level in 10 years with a 0-14 to 0-11 victory over Laois at the penultimate hurdle, before they lost the decider to Dublin on a 0-9 to 1-12 score line.
Coach O'Rourke was as disappointed as anybody involved with the Meath set-up after the defeat and while he rightly questioned the referee's decision which resulted in the sending off of Kevin McCann, he also acknowledged that the concession of the two goals in the opening half played a significant part in the loss.
"The referee suggested that Kevin McCann kicked the Westmeath player," he said in the aftermath of another bad day for a Meath under-21 football team. "From where I saw the incident it wasn't even a foul.
"That decision changed the course of the game, but we shouldn't be complaining too much as we had every chance to be well in front by the time that incident happened. We gave away two soft goals in the first half. They were completely against the run of play. Losing this game is very disappointing for everyone involved, from the players to the selectors, Trevor Giles and Colm Menton, and myself.
"The players on the panel put in a huge effort, but it didn't work out for us on the day. That's the brutal nature of championship football at this level. Lose and you're out."
Graham Reilly hadn't been able to train with the panel on the run-up to the Westmeath game and his early departure from the action was an undoubted blow to Meath.
"Graham picked up a nasty injury against Armagh in a challenge game and he has a hairline fracture of his jaw," O'Rourke added. "Consequently, he wasn't able to train since then and it was a big setback for him."
How was the coach feeling at the interval with the teams locked together?
"Despite only going in on level terms at half-time I was happy enough with the position we were in, but Westmeath have some very good players, so that was a factor as well," O'Rourke said. "We lost out in the middle of the field and we never got to grips with Denis Corroon and John Heslin who look like very good players. We knew Westmeath were good at midfield. We saw them here against Kildare and on that occasion they also dominated midfield.
"The fact that Westmeath had a competitive game was also a help to them, but I wouldn't use that as an excuse for our defeat. We worked hard, we prepared well, we had a lot of games and a lot of training sessions. We feel that we couldn't have done any more.
"We put a lot of effort into this, myself, the selectors and Eddie Battersby. We saw every club playing at under-21 level. We got the best panel together, but it just didn't work out for us on this occasion."
Meath's bad run of results at under-21 level is unquestionably a source of considerable disappointment within the county and is also somewhat baffling. Enjoying progressive campaigns in this grade is of huge benefit to the development of senior players, so a change of fortune is a must. The hope is that it will come in 2011.
The Meath team against Westmeath was: Paddy O'Rourke (Skryne); Ciaran Lenehan (Skryne), Sean Curran (Donaghmore/Ashbourne); Gerry Sheridan (Seneschalstown); Tommy Johnson (Dunshaughlin), Bryan Menton (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Kevin McCann (Duleek/Bellewstown); Conor Gillespie (Summerhill), Craig Berrigan (Dunboyne, 0-1); Alan Douglas (Trim), Mark Collins (Duleek/Bellewstown, 0-2); Graham Reilly (St Colmcille's); Damien Carroll (Ballinabrackey), Brian Sheridan (Seneschalstown, 0-7), Sean Dalton (Summerhill, 0-1). Subs - Michael Newman (Kilmainham, 1-0) for Reilly, Stephen O'Brien (Ratoath) for G Sheridan, Bobby Lyons (Summerhill) for Carroll. Tweet
