In 2003, a disappointing year in terms of club results, one of Meath Hill's own flourished away from the playing-fields of junior club football. Barry Kieran finished the summer with an All-Ireland medal in his back pocket after playing his part in the success of the county's controversial juniors. It was, at club level at least, an exceedingly disappointing year for the footballers of the north county enclave of Meath Hill. Semi-finalists in the junior championship just two years ago, the club endured a torrid summer in 2003, suffering serious injuries to key players at key moments, bearing the ignominy of relegation to the All-County 'A' League Division 5 and, worst of all, coming within a roll of the dice of demotion from the junior championship. When the draw for the junior championship was made in the early spring, it was not meant to be like that. Grouped with St Michael's, St Mary's, the Navan O'Mahony's second string, Bective and St Paul's, the players and mentors of Meath Hill would have envisaged a summer of tough encounters, but they rarely shirk away from such tasks in this particularly corner of the county. There was, with the possible exception of St Michael's, no side in the group who would easily hold their own with the best in the junior grade, so a series of close contests was expected. They like nothing better down Meath Hill way. However, after a victorious start against St Paul's, the wheels came off for, as a series of injuries led to one or two disappointing results, which in turn began a battle against the drop by year-end. However, while 2003 was a year to forget for the club on the playing-fields of the county, it will be fondly remembered by one Meath Hill player in particular, who scaled the heights of All-Ireland success with the county's headline-hitting junior side in August. Barry Kieran first donned a Meath junior jersey for a competitive game in May, and by the end of the summer he was sitting in a dressing-room with Sean Boylan, ready to take the field as part of a county senior selection for a pitch opening in Termonfeckin in County Louth. Long is the road Kieran travelled in 2003, from inauspicious beginnings in junior county trials with "40 or 50" other hopefuls back in the spring to that pitch opening challenge. Seasoned county-men might balk at the idea of an exhibition match outside Drogheda, but Kieran is delighted to have had the chance to play under Boylan. His opportunity to represent a senior Meath team was, according to most observers, not undeserved, following a series of exceptional displays at left half back as Martin Barry's Meath juniors - driven by circumstances that dragged the oft-overlooked grade into the national media - marched all the way to an All-Ireland championship, beating Galway in the final in Mullingar in August. Thoughts of an All-Ireland final could hardly have been further from his thoughts when he endured the mud and the slog around the Meath Hill field last January, but that is the stage he graced with 14 other embattled footballers, who had to endure the spectre of media negativity over the Gary Rogers affair throughout their historic run to the title. Nevertheless, those memories of a summer in the green jersey will last a lifetime; the nerves of the first game, running out onto the spectacular sward of Croke Park, the big games against the strongholds of Kerry and Galway. "It was an unbelievable experience to be with the county," says Barry. "A few of us from north Meath, from Meath Hill and Drumconrath and Nobber, decided to give it a shot at the start of the year. "We had the trials in Ardcath back in March or April. There were always so many players, enough for full 15-a-side games, and a pick of players from all over the county. "I just kept training away and going to trials, driving down from Dublin, and the 40 or 50 was cut down to 30 or so, and then cut again to make a 24-man panel. It was great just to make it that far, but to be named in the team for the first game against Kildare was amazing." And there began the odyssey. Kieran was part of one of the most miserly units ever to take a field in the junior championship. Ballinabrackey goalkeeper John Curry was an ever-present, and the six backs did not change for the last four games after Ciaran McLoughlin of the Wolfe Tones club came in for St Vincent's Ronan Sheridan after the Leinster second round defeat of Westmeath. An average of nine points was conceded in six games, leaving the way clear for the forwards to collect the relatively small number of scores needed to win. However, Kieran is modest when speaking about the relative virtues of the various components of a team. "Forwards win games, backs save games," he says sagely. "The backs were very tight, and conceded very little all year. It was something that Martin Barry and the selectors worked a lot on, they picked guys who were good in certain positions and worked hard on them. "From the starting game against Kildare, there were very few changes all year. We did well not to concede too many goals. I think the penalty Laois got in Croke Park was the only one we conceded in Leinster, and then Kerry and Galway both got one each. So that always gave us a chance in games." The team strolled through Leinster, dishing out meaty defeats to Kildare (2-12 to 0-9), Westmeath (0-17 to 0-9) and Laois (5-14 to 1-6) before travelling to Wexford and thrashing the home side on a 1-15 to 0-7 scoreline in the Leinster final. Of those games, while the win in Wexford Park ushered the side to the Leinster title, the most memorable afternoon was also the easiest: the win over Laois at GAA Headquarters. "The experience of playing in Croke Park was amazing," recalls Kieran. "Before the game we walked out onto the pitch, and looking around, the size of the stadium, the height of the stands, it was incredible. And the way the grass was cut, and the dressing-rooms, everything was so professional, it was incredible." It was after that day that the dispute over the presence on the panel of the St Ultan's clubman, Gary Rogers, rose to crisis proportions. The Bohermeen man, the regular goalkeeper for eircom League soccer side Drogheda United, made a second half substitute appearance, and the spit hit the fan. As the summer wore on, it got worse, not better. Rumours abounded of dressing-room flare-ups and the County Board withdrawing its support for the team. Manager Martin Barry rallied the troops around him after apparently being shown the door. It was a saga that continued to rankle right through the autumn, and Kieran contends that the whole situation deflected attention away from the team's exploits on the field. "We weren't expecting it to get so much publicity," he says, "but it was everywhere. And it wasn't fair. We all felt it was taking away from the football, that the recognition wasn't there for what we had done. "Gary Rogers, I'd seen him playing before, and there was no doubt about it, he deserved to be there. The whole thing made the team stronger. There was a panel of 24 players. We weren't going to give in to the pressure from the outside, and the lads all pulled together. As far as I could see, there was no animosity from any of the panel towards Martin Barry." There certainly didn't appear to be. As the juggernaut trundled on towards a date with first Kerry and then Galway in the All-Ireland series, it appeared as though the entire episode had lent a form of invincibility to the Meath side. On their last appearance in the All-Ireland final of this grade, Meath fell to a defeat to footballing minnows Waterford in 1999. There was never a sense that this year would have a similarly disappointing denouement. The All-Ireland final in Mullingar was one week-long memory for Kieran, not just another 60-minute match. "It was absolutely brilliant, a week to remember," he says. "In Meath Hill there were a few flags and signs up, and everyone was wishing me the best of luck. Lucky enough, [the game] was changed from Hyde Park in Roscommon to Westmeath, so that was always going to mean that more Meath people would travel, and there seemed to be a massive Meath support there. "We changed in the St Loman's club in Mullingar and walked down from Loman's to the pitch for the warm-up. It was a great build-up. A lot of the lads were very nervous, and I think that helped them to get through it better." As for Meath Hill, he is, as one has to be, optimistic about the year ahead, despite the raft of disappointments that blighted last summer. "We lost five or six players at different times, and they were nearly all key men. All four of the Owens brothers got bad injuries, and that was a major blow to us. "There were always a few lads carrying niggling injuries, but even so we weren't just getting the numbers at training. To be fair to Tom Matthews [Meath Hill's trainer] it wasn't his fault. Out of a panel of 25 or 30 lads, we were getting 12 to 15 at training, and out of that it was maybe seven or eight from the first team. "But we'll have all our key players back next year, so we'll start again afresh. We hope to be fairly strong. We have top-class facilities down here, training pitch, changing rooms and tarmac car-park. We can't blame the club. It's been lacking on our part." Tweet

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