Colm Coyle expects Meath to come through their tricky Leinster SFC opener against Wicklow unscathed.

After a turbulent spring that saw them demoted to Division 3 of the Allianz League and a failed attempt to oust Seamus McEnaney as manager, many believe the Royals are in a vulnerable state and there has even been comparisons drawn with 1996 when Carlow were tipped to beat them following their 10-point drubbing by Dublin in the previous year's Leinster final.

But, as history shows, a new-look Meath side which included Coyle (who was by then a veteran) hammered the Barrowsiders in Croke Park before going on to lift the Sam Maguire in sensational fashion.

"The team from the 1980s had really broken up at that stage," former manager Coyle recalled in today's Irish Independent.

"Myself and Marty (O'Connell) stayed on because someone had to! But we had a lot of lads that were unproven. No one really gave us much hope and it was expected it would be a couple of years before we got back going again.

"There was a good atmosphere in our group. Sean (Boylan) changed the whole preparation for us that year and we did some sports psychology work, which wasn't that widespread at the time. Instead of banging tables before we went out, which a lot of teams were doing, Sean would have us lying down just getting our breathing right."

Coyle reckons Meath will do just enough to get past the Garden County challenge.

"Meath have brought in a couple of new coaches since then too in John Evans and Trevor Giles and with that amount of people over a team the message is bound to get diluted.

"And Wicklow have a smattering of really good players, so it wouldn't be a major surprise if they won. But I'd still expect Meath to come through." Tweet

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