The Wexford minors brought Meath's participation in this year's championship to an end. Athboy native Eddie Mahon trained the winning team. Shane O'Brien asked him to explain himself. Meath's poor showing at minor level in recent years continued in 1999 when Wexford knocked Gerry Cooney's charges out of the Tom Markham race in the quarter-final of the Leinster championship at Pairc Tailteann. There had been high expectations surrounding this year's bunch but they were no match for the visitors who could call upon members of Good Counsel's All-Ireland winning colleges team. The fact that one of our own was a chief architect in the defeat compounded Meath woes. Wexford's trainer Eddie Mahon is a native of Athboy and has the distinction of playing senior intercounty football with both counties. To make matters worse, it wasn't the first time that Eddie contributed to Meath's downfall in championship action. One of his early matches for the Wexford seniors was in the 1981 Leinster SFC when the Slaneysiders shocked Meath at Croke Park on a miserable day for Royal County football. "It wasn't as big a shock as it would be if Wexford were to beat Meath now but it was a major one nonetheless. It was very difficult for me personally. I'd grown up playing with the likes of Jimmy Fay, Gerry McEntee and Colm O'Rourke and now I was a part of a team that had beaten them. There was mixed emotions because no matter how long you're away from home you always remain a Meath man." The Athboy native was a member of the Meath minor side which went under to Kildare in the Leinster final of 1975. Colm O'Rourke and Mickey McQuillan were team-mates while a young Mick Lyons was a substitute. "We threw that one away," recalls Eddie. "We were ten points up with twenty minutes remaining but failed to score for the rest of the game. They got 2-5 and ended up winning by a point. The nightmares came back to haunt me this year in our Leinster final with Dublin. We were five points up but allowed Dublin to level and they went on to win the replay. Both defeats were major disappointments." Incidentally, Eddie's cousin, John McHale, a former St. Pauls, Clonee player was a selector with the Dublin minors this year. A year with the U21s followed for Eddie before promotion to the county's premier XV arrived in '77, when he was selected at right corner forward for a championship game with Kildare. His spell with the seniors ended two years later when Dublin proved to be the rock on which the Royal County's aspirations perished at the penultimate stage in Pairc Tailteann. Eddie made an appearance as a sub on that occasion. "Looking back now a funny thing about the management structure in those days was that Sean Boylan was the team's masseur. 'Snitchy' Ferguson was the manager and he had seven selectors. None of them ever asked Sean what he thought! Mattie Kerrigan was over the U21s. He had been successful with Summerhill and was revolutionary in his attitude and training methods. I was sure he'd be the next man to take over the senior team. "I always believed that the footballers in Meath were as good as anywhere else in the country but the county just kept underachieving. The Sean came in, harnassed all the talent together and got the best out of the players. He was lucky too though in that he had three or four leaders on the team. He was intelligent enough to know when to listen to them and has reaped the rewards ever since." Eddie, who is married to Tipperary native Collette, is one of a small minority of Meath men who can boast an All-Ireland club medal amongst their collection. Pat and Mick Spillane and Brian Talty were colleagues on the Thomond College, Limerick side which defeated St. Johns of Belfast in the 1978 decider. The Meath man lined out in the left corner back position even though he was more renowned as a forward in his home county. As captain and trainer he guided Martinstown/Athboy to Intermediate glory twelve months later at the expense of Wolfe Tones. However, it was on the hurling fields that he enjoyed the majority of success in the home club colours. He also represented the county at the small ball code, in U14, U16, Minor and U21 grades, winning an U21 Special when only a minor. "We won the Leinster 'Special' and then beat Offaly in the competition proper before Wexford hammered us. I'm sure some of the Offaly stars of the future would've been playing that day. Joe Cassells was on our team." Work commitments - he's a PE teacher in Rahmsgrave Community College - forced Eddie to switch allegiances in 1980. Athboy's and Meath's loss was Gusserane's and Wexford's gain. While not overburdened with success during his time with Wexford, it was enjoyable nonetheless. "I suppose the highlight of playing with Wexford was beating the Dubs in the league in Croke Park. It was a lot easier beating them than it was Meath and it knocked them out of contention for promotion to Div. 1 which was a bonus. We had a good run in the league that year. It was a lot different than playing with Meath because the expectations weren't as high. Football down here is like hurling at home, it's only played in certain pockets of the county." In 1972, he was a member of the St.Finians Mullingar team that won the Leinster U14 'A' title. Meath minor manager Gerry Cooney was a team-mate! In 1985 Eddie was chosen as a replacement for the All Star trip to San Francisco and New York. "For a Wexford footballer to be asked on that trip was unbelievable. It was the year we did well in the league and I suppose the selectors felt that they should pick someone from the county. I was the free taker then so my name probably appeared in the papers more than others so I was probably lucky from that point of view. I certainly didn't mind being lucky and it was a great honour to be on the same field alongside those players." That wasn't Eddie's first trip across the Atlantic. In fact, he was a regular visitor to the States, from '79 to '85, where he won North American, Chicago and New York championship medals with St. Pats of Boston, Wolfe Tones of Chicago and Leitrim in New York. Team-mates on those various teams read like a Who's Who of GAA stars of the era. Kevin Moran, Richie Connor and Colm O'Rourke to mention just a view. Incidentally, Eddie and O'Rourke incurred the wrath of the Co. Board in the late seventies for missing a league tie with Clare to play for the Wolfe Tones in the Chicago final. In '84 Eddie transferred from Gusserane to Glynn-Barntown where he lost three county finals on the trot ('88 to '90), each time at the hands of Duffry Rovers. In recent years he's been involved with coaching the club's underage teams. His son Eoin (15) is following in his footsteps and has already added an U14 District medal to the Mahon family collection. The 41 year olds parents, Luke and Angela, own the garage opposite the church in Athboy and according to their son "never miss Croke Park". He's not missed too many himself, with '96 - All-Ireland wins for Wexford and Meath - being a particularly busy year. Tweet

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