Since his involvement with the Meath seniors back in 1995, Colm Doherty has become a well-known hurling figure in the Royal County. He tasted All-Ireland JHC success in 2004 and recently took over as manager of his native Donaghmore/Ashbourne.

Hurling in Meath isn't an easy business to be in, to say the least. Putting in just as much work as the county's footballers for, arguably, half the credit wouldn't exactly appeal to every talented hurler, but it was the love for the game that kept Colm Doherty committed and passionate for the small ball game during his playing career.
2011 saw Doherty dipping his toe into new water. After taking over as chairman of the Donaghmore/Ashbourne club the previous season, he would find himself managing the team just three months into the New Year.

"I took over last year as chairman and in March I kind of fell into managing the team," explained Doherty.
"The past season would have been quite successful for us. We qualified for the quarter-finals of the intermediate championship and got to the semi-finals of the junior as well."
He added: "We had 35 to 40 players in our squad and you'd have 15 to 20 of them that are totally committed, because the other would be tied up with work and college. We've no senior county players but Andrew Byrne would have joined us three years ago and he's now part of the Meath Under 21 squad."

September saw Doherty's team come up against a fancied Boardsmill side in the quarter-finals of the Meath intermediate hurling championship in Trim. In the end, it was the 'Mill that came away convincing 3-13 to 2-6 winners end Donaghmore /Ashbourne's championship trail.
Doherty - better known as 'the Doc' by his friends - intends on continuing on with the club next season, improving them and hopefully getting them closer or a coveted champions final spot.

However, he knows from his own playing days that it is something which is easier said than done.
"I started playing with the club when I was nine years old and I played my first senior game when I was 15," he stated. "The first game I played was on goals, but as my career moved on I was put in the forwards and ended up at left half-forward. In 1995, I was called into the Meath senior team when John Davis was manager.
"In 1997, I started playing with the Meath juniors when Noel Keating was over the team and by 2004 we won the All-Ireland junior title when Martin Curran was over us. David Try and David Kirby were huge players for us. We also had Paul Tobin and Eamon Clancy who were both over good hurlers."

2004 would prove a defining year for Doherty, as it also saw him hang up his boots from the inter-county game after beating Down in the All-Ireland final at St Tiernach's Park in Clones.
"We beat Down in the final in Clones. It had been close for the first 20 minutes, but when Paul Tobin goal our goal we kind of pulled away and ended up winning the game by nine points," said Doherty, who was 30 when he lined-out in the final.

"The celebrations afterwards because we had lost finals before in 1997 and 2002, so you could say that we enjoyed ourselves after it. Martin Curran was such a brilliant manager. He's from Kilmessan and all the work he did with us was always with the ball.
"I remember that year we played Kildare in the first round and we were just too physical for them. We were playing at a higher level than them as well and that first win really gave us the confidence to go on and win it out, I think."

While Doherty agreed that the success was a welcome one for Meath, he also feels that it didn't have the affect on hurling in the county that it should have.
"I don't think winning that All-Ireland did anything for Meath hurling, to be honest," he stated.
"It was a pity because I don't think anyone was going to stop us at that stage, but players retired and emigrated from that team, including myself, and it just didn't push on. I don't think there are too many people that will take on hurling jobs in Meath at the moment because football is so strong. Football is thriving in our own club at the moment and it's certainly taking its toll on the hurling scene."

While many other counties are experiencing the same difficulties, Doherty genuinely believes that Meath are capable of being among the top ten counties when it comes to senior inter-county hurling in Ireland. He backs up the point by recalling a time when the Royals were expected to overcome Dublin whenever they came up against the men from capital.
However, these days the Dubs are mounting a strong bid for the Liam McCarthy Cup, while their neighbours grind it out in the Christy Ring Cup.
"My first National Hurling League start was against Dublin and at that time we had young players like Nicky Horan in the team that could almost win a game by himself," said Doherty

"We were expected to beat Dublin whenever we came up against them, but when you look at where they are now compared to us I just think that Dublin hurling itself so well. It's one week of football and one week of hurling for the young players in that county, whereas here there's an awful lot of concentration on football.
"I would love to see Meath hurling improve, because there are some fantastic hurlers in this county and we should really be in the top ten counties in Ireland," he added.

Doherty, whose father, Jim, hurled for Meath and played football with Tipperary, also feels that the biggest concern for the GAA as a whole at the moment should be to try and keep their emigrating stars at home.
"You have the likes of Lar Corbett talking about having to quit hurling and move to another country for work. If players like that leave it would be a huge blow to the GAA and I think making sure that player are looked after should be one of Croke Park's top priorities in the next few years," he said.
Colm Doherty has worked as a Sales Manager for the Keely Group/Emergency Freight for the past two years. With bases in Ashbourne, Nenagh, Co Tipperary and in Poland, the company is a leader in express freight and is coming up on 40 years in business in 2012. Tweet

Most Read Stories