Kilmessan and Meath hurling star Nicky Horan won't recall 2001 with happy memories in the future., as it was the first time in the club colours that he didn't get to tog out on Meath SHC final day. If a transfer system were in operation in hurling, Kilmessan's Nicky Horan would top the shopping list of most intercounty managers. Despite playing just two games in this year's Leinster SHC, he finished as joint-fourth in the overall All-Ireland scoring charts with a tally of 2-21. Included in that total is the remarkable 2-15 he notched against Kildare. His status in the small ball code was further enhanced when he earned selection on the Leinster Railway Cup and Irish Shinty teams at the end of last year 2001 was a bit of a mixed bag for the 23 year old. Objective number 1 was achieved when the Royal County consolidated their position in Division 1 of the National Hurling League but they disappointed in failing to qualify from the round-robin stages of the Leinster championship. They bounced back, however, to enjoy a good run in the All-Ireland Intermediate championship, but for the second year running Meath bowed out at the semi-final stages, this time to Wexford. The club scene, meanwhile, provided Nicky with his biggest disappointment of all. Kilmessan were eager to set the record straight after the controversial happenings of 12 months earlier but Trim, once again, proved to be a thorn in their side when they dumped them out of contention at the semi-final stages. It was a result that few amongst the county's hurling fraternity expected as Trim had used up the majority of their nine lives in reaching the penultimate stage. Had Kildalkey not conceded a last minute equalising goal to O'Mahony's in the final group game, Trim would have been left licking their wounds as the semi-final ticket would have been Kildalkey's. Since making his Jubilee Cup final debut as a 16-year old substitute in 1994, it was the first time that Nicky was a spectator at the blue riband event of the Meath hurling calendar. "A disaster, that's the only way to explain it," commented Nicky on the semi' loss to their arch rivals. "We were a bit like Meath against Galway in the All-Ireland final, we turned up alright but never produced the goods. "People were saying we were favourites going into the game but we would never consider ourselves favourites against Trim. They are our bogey team. They may have been lucky to make it through to the semi-finals, thanks to# Kildalkey slipping up against O'Mahony's, but they made the most of that luck and fair play to them. "It was our first championship defeat in three years and that was a bitter pill to swallow," continued the 23 year old. "In hindsight, we probably could have done with a couple of closer games in the run-up to the semi'. We were never really tested prior to the Trim game. Plus Paul Donnelly was a major injury concern for us, he was only a definite starter once he arrived in the dressingroom before the game. "There can be no excuses, however, we were beaten by the better team on the day and that's that." Needless to say, all Nicky's and his Kilmessan colleagues efforts will be channelled towards bouncing back in the new year. "Hopefully, we will be able to make amends next year. We have a lot of good young hurlers coming up through the club and we'll be determined to get our hands on that cup again." As for the county team, as previously mentioned, John Davis' charges preserved their Division 1 National Hurling League status back in the Spring. "That was good enough but we only realised when the League was over that we could have done a bit better. The game against Offaly in Navan, for example, was one we should have won having been ahead by three points at half-time. We beat Dublin and got a walkover from Antrim which wasn't ideal. "Galway, Limerick and Clare were the three teams we lost to and they were extremely tough games. We lost heavily to Clare and Galway but put in a better performance against Limerick. They are excellent teams and we struggled to compete with them but playing such games can only improve us overall." The round robin series of the championship got off to a dream start for Meath, and Nicky personally, when he almost single-handedly defeated Kildare with that 2-15. But things didn't go according to plan next time out when Laois put a spanner in the works. To compound his woes, Nicky was red-carded early in the second half following two bookable offences. "I got two bad decisions given against me and got gate; but that's part and parcel of the game," he stated diplomatically. "That was a very disappointing day all around. We had every opportunity to win, leading by two points at the break, but we just fell asunder in the second half." What about the future now for Meath hurling, is there light at the end of the tunnel? "I think we've players involved at the moment who can certainly help improve the county's standing in hurling. The likes of Fergus McMahon, Neville Reilly, Thomas Reilly and James Canty are all young, around the same age as myself, so there are reasons to be hopeful. Every hurling affiocionado within the county dreams of emulating the achievements of Sean Boylan and his men. Nicky - who has also donned the green and gold jersey at minor, U-21 and junior football levels - like the rest of us has struggled to pinpoint what exactly went wrong in the All-Ireland final against Galway. "I don't know to explain that. I definitely think the Kerry game did them no favours, they probably peaked too soon. Galway beat a lot of good teams on their way to the final and John O'Mahony had the perfect gameplan in place. He took Trevor Giles out of the game and in doing so starved Graham Geraghty and Ollie Murphy of quality possession." What if Sean Boylan were to come knocking on the door of his home in Kilmessan, would he accept an invitation to join up with the county footballers. "I'm sure if he asked I'd think about it," he laughed. "Seriously, though, I think the day of the dual star in the GAA is nearing an end. With the new hurling format being introduced next year it would be nearly impossible. "Galway's Alan Kerins was the only high profile dual player this year and he must have been out every Sunday with both Galway teams doing so well. It would be very difficult for a fella to do that unless he was getting paid for it. Hurling is my first love so I will stick with that for the time being and see what happens." That's music to he hears of Meath hurling supporters. Tweet

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