In the best tradition of sporting parlance, Meath Hill would be classed as an 'up and coming' team. Club stalwart John Cunningham goes along with that view and looks forward to the club getting its hands on some silverware, sooner rather than later. John Cunningham isn't the kind of fella who's likely to take umbrage at being classed in the veteran category as the world and his mother around the Meath football scene know that he's been at the coalface of affairs at the close-knit rural club for more years than even some of his club colleagues at Meath Hill can rightly remember. If his health prevails, he plans to be around for many moons to come. The popular clubman is passionate about his football and, for him, Meath Hill is number one. Needless to say, he hopes to be able to continue to contribute to the club's growth and development at adult level for quite a while yet - just like he has done for the past 22 years. It was around 1979 when a much younger and faster Cunningham first kicked a ball in anger for the blue and whites at adult level. A lot of water has gone under the bridge in the interim but his enthusiasm and gra for the Gaelic game remains undiminished. "I have great time for the club and it's a great game to be involved with as well. After a hectic day at work, football offers a great relief valve from the pressure of business and the game is a great way of meeting people, for social and business purposes." Cunningham has been good for Gaelic football in his native Meath Hill and good for the game countywide in fact. From talking to him, it's obvious that he believes that football has been good for him and that his life to date - he's just turned 40 - would have been much less enjoyable had he chose to refrain from playing the nation's most popular field game. It helps one's interest in something though if, and when, success comes around. In this respect, he has experienced enough lowlights with Meath Hill to fully appreciate the good times that have visited his beloved club. Memories like the 1996 blue riband junior decider come flooding back in this respect and the loss to neighbours and sometimes team-mates Drumconrath. The same vintage as current club colleague and former countyman Tom Matthews, both Cunningham and Matthews also featured on the losing Meath Hill side which competed in the 1986 intermediate final when Gaeil Colmcille broke their hearts. "Having earlier beaten St. Colmcilles, Dunshaughlin and Kilmainhamwood on the way to the final, we went into the game with Kells as hot favourites but it didn't work out the way we had hoped and most of the county expected." Obviously 2001 will not be ranked by him or anyone else at Meath Hill as one of the stand-out years for the club in modern times but, nevertheless, the club's player/manager looks back on the past season in a very positive light. "We had a rather successful year in that we went all the way to the championship semi-final which was possibly a lot further than most people at the club would have expected of the team. "Getting to the last four of the junior championship was beyond my own personal expectations. We're still working off fairly limited resources, player-wise, and for a small club like ours to be in with a shout of making it to a county final isn't a bad achievement at all." Reflecting on Meath Hill's narrow two point defeat to Wolfe Tones in the 2001 Junior Championship semi-final, John concedes that the Tones were the best team on the day and he refuses to take anything away from their victory. "We couldn't really have any complaints about the result. We might have hit the jackpot at the end when we got a goal but then they went back up the field and got a goal and a couple of points which finished us off really. "Going into the match, I thought we had a 50/50 chance but maybe a loss of concentration on our part helped them sneak it but they were favourites to go through and, in fairness, they did all that was asked of them." As player/Manager, John was delighted with the effort the Meath Hill lads put in to training during the year. He was very pleased with the way the players responded to the promptings of team-trainer Tommy Dowd. John hopes that Tommy will commit himself to looking after Meath Hill again in the coming year. Assisted by his selectors MJ Martin and Liam McCabe, the long-time clubman did think that Wolfe Tones were capable of being beaten: "I thought training went very well and that we had a good chance of making it into the final even though we wouldn't have met them at such a crucial stage in a long number of years. "Traditionally we would have had the upper hand on them but maybe our luck was used up against St. Michael's," John quips, tongue in cheek. Unfortunately John was only able to play a supporting role in Meath Hill's advance to the penultimate stage of the junior championship campaign as a niggling calf muscle problem which saw continuous treatment being sought. Winner of an All-Ireland Junior medal with Meath in 1988 and a string of Leinster junior honours to boot, John is mindful, like many others at underage level in Meath Hill over the years, of the benefits which accrued to the club for many years as a result of the stewardship and hands-on approach of underage mentors such as Gary Halpin and Tony Callan. (For readers not up to date with underage affairs in this part of north Meath, Meath Hill join with Drumconrath at underage level). In this respect, John believes that it was the best of coaching at underage level which eventually led to the winning of the 1980 county junior championship by Meath Hill after Moynalty were outgunned. John remembers how Pat Matthews, brother of the aforementioned Tom, and team-trainer Martin Murphy from Armagh were prominent figures in the orchestration of that title win. Overall though John isn't inclined to argue with the notion that Meath Hill have underachieved over the last 20 years or thereabouts. "We probably have underachieved but we've limited resources and our lack of strength in depth left us stretched at different times when it came to the crunch." For his own part, John has enjoyed his stint as one of Meath Hill's think-tank team and while he admits that combining the dual roles of being a player and a mentor has been taxing, he has enjoyed his time immensely. But how much longer can he continue to beaver away so intensely at the coalface? "I don't know how much more there's in the tank, very little maybe. I hope to be still part of the scene next year at least and after that, who knows," explains the team-manager. Of course, John isn't quite yet a full-time GAA coach/player and, like the rest of us, he has to earn a living. This he does very successfully as owner of Master Fire Protection, a fire alarm company par excellence which is based in Ardee and which has 16 of a staff. John has high hopes for the continued success of his company and that of Meath Hill. He says there's a great team of workers at the club and a lot of talented players locally to help propel the club forward. Our man Cunningham hopes to play his part in propelling Meath Hill to the top in Meath football circles 'ere too long! Tweet

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