Royal County talks to Seamus Fox whose allegiance to the Ballinabrackey club stretches back to the 1940s. Situated next to the Offaly border, in the south east of the county, Ballinabrackey is one of the outposts of Meath football. Although success on the field is hard to come by, when it comes to clocking up miles travelling to honour fixtures around the county, few clubs can beat Ballinabrackey. Another reflection on how isolated Ballinabrackey are is the fact that the local Meath newspapers rarely cover their games. During his playing days, Ballinabracky man Seamus Fox keenly remembers an occasion when his team did get a big write up in a local weekly. It was around the late thirties/early forties and his club wasn't Ballinabrackey at the time but near neighbours Clonard who have never had much press coverage either. "After losing 36 matches in a row," Seamus recalls, "we eventually won a game and we got a big slash in The Chronicle the next week." Soon after that Seamus moved to the parish of Ballinabrackey and joined the local team. Ballinabrackey never went through a losing streak like that. But they still only get the headlines when they reach the business end of the championship - small headlines at that. During Seamus' days, Ballinabrackey flitted between junior and intermediate. Seamus is over eighty years of age now. Does he remember his first game of gaelic football? Remarkably he does. But strangely that first game for Seamus didn't happen. "It was for Kinnegad National School team and they wouldn't let me go in case I got hurt. I was very upset," he says. Then there was another day soon after when he burst the ball. "We were playing seven-a-side at National School," he says like it was last week, "and I remember pulling on the ball and kicking it out of the hands of an opponent. And the ball landed on the railing between St Mary's College and the Cathedral, on a spike. We had no other ball so that was the end of that." It was in the early forties, during The Emergency and around the time Seamus joined, that Ballinabrackey acquired the grounds where to this day they still do their catching and kicking. They were exciting times at the club and the move created great interest and momentum. Ballinabrackey were soon to capitalise on that. "Fr Callely was the main driving force behind Ballinabrackey then. He brought us to the Junior championship final in 1948 against Ardcath. It was a foggy Sunday and at full back where I was you couldn't see who was catching the ball out the field. All of a sudden you'd see the ball coming into you through the mist. We won that game by four points. We were in Intermediate then and two or three years later we got to the Intermediate final. Donaghmore beat us and that was the closest we came to winning that." Seamus bought his first pair of boots for ten shillings from a fella who had given up the kicking. The were 'Hotspur' boots and they lasted a good few years. Fr Callely used to have them training hard, running cross country, up and down hills. Travelling expenses were earned through functions and card nights. Some journeys were awfully long, up to the top of Meath where you'd nearly be in Cavan or Louth. A bus for them days, or cars. Bikes when you could make the ground and still be fit to play football. Most of the time, Seamus played at full back, his favourite position. "I think it was easier playing at full back in my time," he remarks. "You only had to catch the ball and walk through your man and then clear it. You can't charge through your man like you could in them times. "That was the way things were played. It was rougher certainly but you very seldom got injured all the same. A full back's biggest job was keeping the forwards out and not letting them in near the goalkeeper. The goalie was less protected then than he is now. If a player got in near him, he would charge the goalie. It was up to the backs to protect him." Meath have had some wonderful full backs over the years, Seamus notes. A county of great full backs. "I wouldn't like to put one above the other," he says. "You had the Quinns, and Paddy O'Brien who was not only a stylish footballer but a gentleman as well. And then you had 'The Boiler' McGuinness. In more modern times, there is Mick Lyons and Darren Fay. Every generation in Meath has had an outstanding full back." He's been a Royal County supporter all his life. The first county game he went to was in 1939 in Drogheda where Meath played Kildare. Such confusion reigned, as Seamus explains. "The crowd left the game not knowing who'd won. Meath were down nine points at half-time but they came out raring to go in the second half. They were scoring so fast that one of their goals wasn't flagged and people weren't sure if it was given or not. It was only later that people found out that Meath had won." Great games in that era; especially, Seamus remembers, between Meath and Laois. "Going up to Croke Park was like an annual holiday. It was during the war years. You'd leave on the bike on Saturday, stay over, and come home on the Sunday. One time I left at seven o clock on Sunday morning, went to mass in Kilcock and was in O'Connell street at half ten. I had a new bike at the time, bought for £7 from a fella in Dublin who never rode it much. "Nowadays," he adds, "if the kids have to go half a mile to play football they have to go in the car." The 1936 All-Ireland final between Mayo and Laois: "Four pence to be in by the sidelines, right beside the action. Mayo won that game easily." Seamus is content to watch football on television now. Though it plays a much less significant role in his life than before, he enjoys it as much now as he ever did. And he always keeps his eye of his local side, Ballinabrackey. "I think they're looking good for next year," he says, regarding their hopes in the junior championship. "Last season they were beaten by St Ultans who went on to win the championship. With a bit more luck, that could have been Ballinabrackey winning. So next year you never know." Nobody knows the future indeed; but not many can recount the past as well as Seamus Fox. Tweet

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