Leading National Hunt jockey Adrian Maguire's interest in the Meath football team has never waned ... as Royal County discovered. Down through the years Croke Park has been a happy hunting ground for Meath football teams, and the majority of us have fond memories of our annual pilgrimages to GAA headquarters. But spare a thought for the minority who have never experienced a Meath victory at the Jones Rd. venue. The seldom few who, as of yet, cannot claim to have celebrated from the playing surface as a Meath man mounted the steps of the Hogan Stand to collect a piece of silverware. Leading National Hunt jockey Adrian Maguire admits that he's one individual who hasn't had the privilege. Although, in his case, an exception can be made. If you were in competition with the likes of Tony McCoy, Richard Dunwoody and Norman Williamson on a daily basis your spare time would be at a premium too! And besides which, if the Royal County XV had obliged in either of the last two Leinster deciders he would be rid of that unenviable distinction. The 1997 clash with Offaly marked his debut in Croke Park, while his return visit twelve months later had a similar outcome. "I haven't too many happy memories for my two trips to Croke Park," admits the Kilmessan man. "I hope I'm not a jinx on the team!" Adrian can rest safe in the knowledge that he's at no way to blame for the two-in-a-row provincial decider defeats. Suspensions and injuries combined to deal us a cruel fate in '97, while this year there were no excuses. The reality was that the better team won on the day. Adrian echoes these sentiments. "From looking at the game it was clearly evident that Kildare were the hungrier team. That's what basically won it for them. It was a big disappointment, but Meath simply didn't play as well as they can." He continues: "When we did reduce the gap to a point it appeared as though a trademark Meath finish was on the cards, unfortunately though it never happened. Kildare went up the field and got that goal. "In fairness you can't begrudge Kildare there success. They had been waiting a long time for it," he adds diplomatically. When news of Sean Boylan's intentions to remain at the helm for another year became common knowledge, Meath gaels everywhere exhaled a huge sigh of relief. Adrian was no exception. "Sean Boylan has been absolutely brilliant for Meath football - no man could have done a better job. It's a big boost to the team that he has decided to stay on for another term." That conveniently leads me to my next question: can Sean Boylan and the Royal County bounce back in '99? "There's no reason why they can't," he contests. "The majority of the team is very young so I would expect them to come back strongly. With players of the calibre of Trevor Giles, Jimmy McGuinness and Tommy Dowd around, they're never going to be too far away." Before heading across the water to seek his fortune and fame, Adrian was a permanent fixture on Kilmessan hurling and Dunsany football underage teams. Tommy Brennan and Eugene O'Neill were the men responsible for looking after the juvenile teams in the clubs at that time. During a playing career which - for obvious reasons - was prematurely cut short, a minor hurling championship souvenir was garnered in the late eighties. He also played alongside the aforementioned Tommy Dowd while attending school in the Trim Tech. Married to Sabrina, Adrian has two children; Shannon and Finian. He made his name as a jockey on the pony and point-to-point circuit, before hitting the national headlines in the spring of '91 when he won the Kim Muir Challenge Cup at Cheltenham and the Irish Grand National, both on the Martin Pipe-trained Omearta. The young Maguire had never wanted to be anything other than a jockey and took his first steps in pony racing at the age of 12, concentrating mainly on the Donegal circuit where he was based with Alan Sweeney for a few summers. It's reckoned Maguire rode approximately 250 winners on the pony scene and he was similarly successful in point to points. "Like most jockeys I started with ponies," recalls Adrian. "I was always keen on them and have been riding them since I was 9. My older brother Michael was a jockey and when he retired he came home and bought one." Was Michael a good jockey? "He enjoyed quite a bit of success riding a lot of winners but at the end of the day his weight got the better of him." Adrian had headed for the Con Horgan stable in England at the tender age of 15, but returned after seven months and was with Joanna Morgan for a spell. He then joined the Michael Hourigan yard in Limerick and, on the trainer's advice didn't turn professional at that stage. It was a good idea and Maguire won the point-to-point championship in the 1990-'91 season, clinching it with an overall total of 38 - four ahead of John Berry. By that stage he had already ridden Omearta to those two big-race successes and Maguire was firmly on his way. He took his first major steps onto the British scene when he joined the Toby Balding stable, before moving to David Nicholson after Richard Dunwoody had answered the call from Martin Pipe. The Kilmessan man enjoyed his greatest moment in the saddle when making a successful Gold Cup debut on Cool Ground in 1992. His other Cheltenham successes were on Second Schedule (Cathcart Chase) and Space Fair (Grand Annual Chase) in '93 and Mysilv (Triumph Hurdle) and Viking Flagship (Champions Chase) in '94. "Winning the Gold Cup with Cool Ground was definitely my biggest success, but for me personally the highlight of my career to date was winning the King George in '93 aboard Barton Bank," he revealed. "He is such a difficult horse to ride. He's prone to making mistakes but everything just went right on the day and it was a great win. Plus the fact that it was my first year as stable jockey with David Nicholson made it that extra special." It hasn't all been a bed of roses for the affable Maguire. Attempts to add more Cheltenham successes to his impressive curriculum vitae have been frustrated by a catalogue of injuries which have ruled him out of the most prestigious meeting in the National Hunt calendar for the last number of years. Despite the set-backs Adrian remains philosophical. "It has been disappointing but injuries are part and parcel of the job. You just have to pick yourself up and get on with things." In the 1993-'94 season Adrian came close to landing the coveted British National Hunt jockeys title, but his huge tally of 194 winners left him just three short of Dunwoody. It was the biggest non-winning tally in history. Can he go one better this season? "It will be hard for anyone to become champion jockey when Tony McCoy is riding for Martin Pipe," was his answer. "He's having a great run of luck and deserves it all. But if I can stay injury free and ride over the 100 mark then I'll be happy. There's plenty of top races to be won - so hopefully, with a bit of luck we can collect some of them." Chances are some of the best chapters in this career are yet to be written. Tweet

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