Minor hurlers lead the way
November 27, 2011Hurling in the county is sometimes treated as a second class citizen unfortunately, but there is a hard core of support for the small ball game and among these is the minor management team, which consisted of manager Brendan Fitzsimons and his selectors Philip O'Brien and Ken McKenna all of who have been doing sterling work with the underage hurlers for many years now. Former Portumna hurler Pearce Treacy was also included as coach.
For this year's edition of the Royal County, we speak to Brendan about the minors' success and the effort that they put in to win an All-Ireland title.
Having worked with the current squad right up through the ranks, Brendan has a good basis to work from and he admits that helped at the start of the year.
"I would have been familiar with a lot of the players having worked with them before. Philip has been with me for the past few years and we work well together. He has a great knowledge of the game and is a huge asset to the management team," admitted Brendan.
"Ken was involved with the under-17s last year and he was very professional and organised everything for us, while his reading of the game is very good also. We first got together in February and that was our starting point from there."
Brendan revealed that a lack of an under-17 squad this year actually helped strengthen his minor panel as many of these players made the breakthrough to the starting team.
"We brought in a good few under-17s and gave them the opportunity to prove themselves and I have to say we were really impressed by some of them. The likes of James Andrews, Cillian O'Sullivan, Vinny Moore, Conor O'Shea and Jack Regan really excelled when given the chance and they played a big part in this year's success."
The first competitive matches that Meath played were in the Leinster league, where they acquitted themselves very well indeed and Brendan stated that this competition really benefited the Royals.
"The Leinster League was a great help to us. We played the likes of Dublin and Westmeath, who came close to beating Kilkenny in the Leinster championship. Dublin beat us by eight points, but we were missing our dual stars the same day."
The minor hurlers struggled to field their strongest team all year due to the fact that they had three or four players involved with the minor county footballers this year also.
Brendan feels that there must be a happy medium found between the hurlers and footballers if hurling in the county is to progress to its desired level.
"There needs to be a compromise between the two, especially if hurling is to improve in the county. People talk about player burn out and that but I don't think that occurs from playing games, it's more to do with the level of training that's involved and I believe if there was middle ground found between the two, then it would beneficial to everyone and a lot fairer on the players as well."
The start of the Leinster champions saw Meath drawn against Kildare in the preliminary round. In a close fought encounter, it was captain Ciaran Fitzsimons, who lead by example, while the youngest member of the squad Jack Regan at 16, scored the all important goal as Meath ran out winners by 1-16 to 1-14.
The prize for winning that match was a home game against Laois and for long periods in this game Laois looked very comfortable. With fifteen minutes left led by eighteen points but four late Meath goals put a better complexion on the scoreboard at Pairc Tailteann.
Meath, playing with the aid of a strong wind, had to wait till the 12th minute for their first score courtesy of a Fitzsimons free, but Laois lead by 2-12 to 0-5 half time. All of Meath's scores came from the hurl of their impressive captain.
Meath's opening score from play didn't arrive till the 15th minute of the second half when corner forward Jack Regan pointed. Fitzsimons pointed twice and then goals from James Tooher, Regan (2) and Conor Murray gave the home supporters something to cheer about but time ran out for Meath and when referee Brian Brady blew the final whistle Laois had seven points to spare.
"We got off to a very bad start, but once again we were without the footballers and I'm confident that it would have been a lot closer or we could have even beaten Laois had the other lads been there."
Meath then defeated Kerry by 2-12 to 0-6 in the All-Ireland Minor B Hurling Championship quarter-final at Austin Stack Park Tralee.
Meath, playing with a strong breeze at their backs, who took the game to Kerry. The Royals started well with a Fitzsimons point but Kerry looked sharp and levelled. Aaron Ennis with a well taken goal was causing problems to the Kerry rearguard and he soon followed with a neat point to lead 1-2 to 0-1 after the first quarter. Meath selectors looked worried as it was felt a sizeable lead was needed with the strong wind to face in the second half. James Toher notched two points but Kerry where keeping in touch and narrowed the gap to a goal as it looked like Meath would regret their seven first half wides.
Meath at this stage had lost Jack Regan to a hand injury but late points from his replacement James Reilly, Ennis and Toher left it 1-7 to 0-4 at the break.
The visitors came out all guns blazing and had six wides within the first seven minutes of the second half as they totally blitzed the home side but failed to raise a flag as Kerry struggled with Meath's determination and tenacity. On 37 minutes Reilly finally hit the target and soon after Ennis got another point. In the 42nd minute Cillian O'Sullivan struck a great goal but this seemed to spur Kerry on but try as they might they found Meath in no mood to buckle. With Ger Foley, Brendan Wright, Damien Healy and James Toher in defiant form the home side found it hard to break down the Meath defence.
The Royals had a hold on the game and despite the wind increasing struck for home with Damien Healy coming forward to point after a clever short '65 from Toher found him in space and the centre back made no mistake with a rallying score. Fitzsimons who played well through out and O'Sullivan who really impressed in the second half pushed Meath a full 13 points ahead. Kerry got a late consolation point, but it was Meath's day as they triumphed by 2-12 to 0-6.
"It was a very good display against Kerry. We didn't know what to expect travelling down there, but the lads really hit the ground running and never let Kerry into the match," said Brendan.
Meath went on to play Armagh in the semi final and the Royals proved way too strong for the Ulster side as they recorded a 4-18 to 1-06 victory at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.
From the off only one outcome looked likely as Meath fresh from their surprisingly easy win over Kerry were too good for Armagh.
Meath might have won by a wider margin but for posting 16 wides to Armagh's five. Ten of the winners' misses were chalked up in the second half when had their passage safely booked and were playing against the wind.
Fitzsimons' charges flat lined the contest in the opening quarter during which time they outscored Armagh by 2-07 to 1-01. Meath had a good spread of scorers with James Toher taking the plaudits with 1-5. Team captain Ciaran Fitzsimons chipped in with six points from midfield.
From the full-forward line Aaron Ennis and Cillian O'Sullivan contributed 1-3 and 1-2 respectively. James Andrews was Meath's other goalscorer.
And so it was on to The Downs in Co Westmeath where Meath would meet Roscommon in the All-Ireland final. Meath's captain and star midfielder Ciaran Fitzsimmons opened the scoring with a fine point from play after five minutes. Roscommon could have had a goal in the 12th minute, but his fine shot was superbly saved by Meath goalkeeper Conor Murray.
A Cillian O'Sullivan point for Meath was followed by two superb points from play from Willie McGrath and Fitzsimons put Meath back into the lead again. Roscommon responded, but James Andrews then lofted over two points to open up a lead for Meath that they were never to lose.
Then a pivotal moment came in the 28th minute when Meath's half-forward William McGrath soloed through the middle and sent a rasping shot to the Roscommon net from 20 metres to leave Meath ahead by 1-6 to 0-6 at the break.
It was Meath who got away to a flying second half start with points from James Toher, James Andrews and the dominant Fitzsimons to open up a six-point lead.
Roscommon then enjoyed a period of dominance and this yielded three points to leave just three between the teams.
A fine long distance point from Aaron Ennis put Meath in control again and in the 19th minute, when a perceptive pass by Cillian O'Sullivan sent William McGrath racing through for a crucial second goal, the game was more or less over as a contest. Substitute Vinny Moore extended that lead towards the end and Fitzsimons had the luxury of being able to tap a penalty over the bar as they ran out 2-12 to 0-10 winners.
"It was brilliant for the lads as they had put in such a huge effort all year and the great part about it is that ten of the panel are minor again next year, so hopefully they can compete more in the Leinster championship proper. We had a panel of 32 and they all gave huge commitment even when the Leaving Cert was on, we really couldn't speak highly enough of them."
For the record the Meath team that captured the All-Ireland 'B' title was: C Murray; G Foley, J Kelly, B Wright; S McGee, D Healy, D Foley; C Fitzsimons (0-4), K O'Brien; J Andrews (0-3), J Toher (0-1), W McGrath (2-1); C O'Sullivan (0-1), A Ennis (0-1), J Regan. Subs: B McMahon for Andrews, C McCabe for Ennis, A Fagan for Foley, D Keenan for McGee. Tweet
