The fact that Meath have and continue to unearth talent and compete well at underage level, must bode well for an improved future for hurling in the county. In many ways, the situation in hurling is exactly the opposite of what has pertained in underage football in the county for quite some time. With the exception of 2002, it has been quite a baron spell for underage football in the county. In the corresponding years, hurling enjoyed something of an upturn in fortunes as All-Ireland MHC B Finals were reached in 2000, 2002 and 2003. Yes, defeat was the Royal County's ultimate lot but, the fact is that members of all three sides have gone on to represent Meath at higher levels and many will continue to do so into the future. And the class of 2003 should be no different. The fact that no trophies were attained should detract from the fact that the county U16 and U18 sides competed with distinction. Hopes would be high that many members of both squads will go on to represent the county at a higher grade in the years ahead. The county U-16's enjoyed a particularly fine season. Under manager Mick Bailey and with selectors Paul Reilly, Mick Quinn and Bernard Smyth, training for a panel of forty began at Warrenstown College on February 1st. A total of thirteen clubs were represented before the panel was trimmed back to twenty six before competitive games started. Their first port of call was a tournament in Celbridge in Co Kildare in which they enjoyed big wins over Louth and Kildare before succumbing to Carlow. In that series of games, ample evidence of that talent that exists within Meath was on display as Diarmuid Bailey accounted for a large amount of Meath's scores over the course of the tournament. Indeed, the young Na Fianna clubman was outstanding for both club and county throughout the year. Had there been a Man of the Match accolade available for the MHC B Final in October, this young man would have been a most deserving winner. Anyway, from the tournament in Kildare it was on to the All Ireland U-16 B HC and a quarter final meeting with Wicklow. Trim was the venue as this young Meath side showed all of the undoubted potential that they possess when chalking up an easy 4-16 to 1-7 win. Saturday, July 17th was a busy day for all involved in underage hurling within Meath as both the county U16 and minor sides travelled the long journey to McDonagh Park, Nenagh for vital fixtures against Kerry. It was also a busy day for Juvenile Hurling Board Asst. Secretary Paul Reilly who was a selector with both sides. The younger of the two sides entered their All-Ireland semi-final joust with The Kingdom without a number of key players due to injury but made light of this and seemed to be very well placed when leading at the interval, with the aid of the elements still to come. Though anyone who has followed my chronicling of underage hurling in Meath over the past couple of seasons will know that the one thing our sides have been devoid of is a bit of luck and the curse struck again when a rather fortunate goal assisted Kerry to an unlikely win. Still, qualifying for an All Ireland semi-final at any level is an achievement in itself and both players and management should be proud of their efforts this season. They can look forward to a promising future at a higher level as the talent is undoubtedly there to make an impact. Now, unquestionably, the hard luck story in Meath over the past two seasons has been that of the minor hurlers who had All Ireland glory snatched from their grasp in both of the last two years in injury time by Carlow. Those disappointments ensured there was as much determination as optimism as they set out to finally right the collective wrongs done onto them. It was optimism that was well founded too with the likes of Paul Fagan, Peter Farrell and Derek Muldoon, survivors of the previous campaign, allied to the likes of David Wallace and Joey Keena who tasted success with the county U-16 side in 2003, were all included in the team. Again, the decision was taken to enter the lads in the Leinster MHC proper. The view was taken that it is only from playing against the perceived stronger counties that our own sides will improve. They made quite a fist of it too, enjoying a good victory over Westmeath and a facile one over Longford and these eventually led to a playoff against Kildare to see who would advance to meet Wexford in the latter stages of the Leinster Championship proper. Leixlip was the venue for the clash on April 10th and both Meath and Kildare served up a superb match of hurling that will do only good for promoting the game in the less prominent hurling counties. It didn't look at all good for Meath as they trailed by 1-06 to 0-01 early on, but, like any of the county's sides, these lads had no intention of giving in. A superb goal by Blackhall Gaels' Mark Mullally and a few quick points by Christopher Curtis and the very impressive duo of Joey Keena and Peter Durnin brought the deficit down to a much more manageable 1-04 to 1-08. Disaster then struck though when the home side hit the net again right on the call of half time. Trailing by eight, and seeing Durnin forced off early in the second half, many Meath supporters felt that surely there was no way back. However, then Joey Keena started hitting points from all angles while David Wallace (when moved to wing forward), Mark Mullally and Kevin Fagan got in on the scoring act as a quite sensational but deserved 1-15 to 2-11 win was recorded. It was most deserved due to the manner in which they went about their business, particularly as they hung on in the very elongated injury time as they defended like lions, and none more so than Derek Muldoon. The Kilskyre clubman was Meath's outstanding performer all through and never more than in those frantic dying seconds. Now, for a county like Meath, facing the Wexfords of the hurling world is always going to be a daunting task, though for once Meath were entitled to be quite hopeful going into this clash, even minus the services of the still injured Durnin. Indeed, it was a game that they might well have won, they trailed by only three points at the interval but some wasteful shooting in the early stages of the second half was to prove very costly. Against teams like Wexford, you have to take every chance that presents itself and with Meath becoming profligate the 'Yella Bellies' pulled away and a late Meath penalty was of token significance. Having made a right good stab at the MHC proper, hopes were high that this would finally be the year that the All-Ireland MHC B would be landed. Alas though, it's only the very odd dream that comes through and what had started out as a very hopeful day ended in double disappointment as the second group also fell to Kerry. The most disappointing aspect of both losses was the fact that neither side did themselves justice on the day. There are some very interesting footnotes to what has been an undoubtedly frustrating, but promising couple of year for underage hurling in the county. Stephen Clynch of the 2002 side represented Ireland in Shinty this year and Meath at senior level as did Padraig Donoghue, Stephen Moran, Mickey Burke, Diarmuid Brennan, Joey Keena and Paul Fagan among others (the latter two while still U-18 players) while Moran and David Kirby won All Ireland JHC medals this year. Tweet

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