Light at the end of the tunnel
November 30, 2003
Defeat at any time is hard to take, in the last minutes of a game is even worse. Easy then to understand the heartache that must be felt by all those involved within underage hurling in Meath having seen the county's Minor hurlers suffer the same fate to the same opposition two years in a row.
When Alan Quirke drilled the ball low into Derek Muldoon's net, it sounded the death knell for Meaths U18's dream and undid twelve months of hard work by a very dedicated group of players and mentors who put in a massive amount of hard work trying to atone for last year's heartache, also at the hands of Carlow.
However, it hasn't been all doom and gloom for the hurling people of Meath, the county U-16's captured the Leinster title at the hands of … You've guessed it, Carlow! They did it in typical Meath fashion too, they trailed by seven points at one point, but a David Wallace goal cut the gap to one, 1-05 to 2-03, and further goals from the aforementioned St Martin's clubman and Kiltale's Peter Durnin left them clear by 3-12 to 3-06 at full time.
The team, which was looked after by Mickey Wallace, Gerry Martin and Fergus Fagan defeated Wicklow after getting quite a scare at Kilmessan before going on to beat Kildare en route to the decider.
Once they accounted for Carlow at Tullamore they then went straight into the All Ireland final where they unfortunately went under to Antrim. While defeat was disappointing, the fact is that Meath are now in a position to compete well at underage level.
Such was the talent in Mickey Wallace's panel that two of them, David Wallace and Joey Keena, were also part of John Brennan's U-18 squad.
No stone was left unturned in the preparation of the Minor side, while the Kilkenny's of this world were still basking in their glory, Brennan and his selectors Paul Reilly (Dunboyne), Enda Smith (Blackhall Gaels), Tom Kirwan (St Patrick's) and John Reilly (Dunboyne) brought a group of over sixty players together for trials at Longwood on January 18th.
These trials continued right up until the beginning of the Leinster Minor Hurling League.
Meath began by defeating Antrim by 0-08 to 0-07 at Longwood and despite a very encouraging win over Wexford North, a defeat to Kilkenny North and a combination of other results meant that by the time they defeated Wicklow at Pairc Tailteann they were out of contention.
The management then had to engage in a pain staking process of whittling down the panel to the 24 that would represent the county in championship combat.
According to selector Paul Reilly there were some very tough decisions which took many hours of though before the final 24 was finalised, 'It was very hard to let lads go that had given us a huge commitment since the beginning' he said.
The team and management alike received somewhat of a shock when they were sensationally beaten by Westmeath in the Leinster MHC despite the fact that many of the same players doled out a 2-13 to 0-08 beating to their neighbours in Athboy the previous year.
With their interest in Leinster at a rather more premature end than would have been hoped, the panel took a break for a while to allow the players study for upcoming state exams. In ways, it might have been a blessing in disguise as it allowed everybody
to focus on the one goal that had driven them for the best part of a year, winning the All Ireland MHC B.
It wasn't until mid August that they tackled and defeated Wicklow at Clane, albeit in not too convincing fashion.
Meath played their first two games in a matter of weeks and due to off-field wrangling had to wait nearly six months later in conditions that are bound to be far from ideal for hurling, to get a chance to atone for last year's disappointment. One wonders if it was football, or even hurling involving the 'top brass', would such dithering by certain parties be tolerated?
It led to a situation whereby Meath played their All Ireland semi-final (on a Tuesday evening away to Westmeath in Mullingar, which again shows the contempt the GAA has for such competitions) while their opponents had a game only three weeks before the decider.
This presented it's own problems for the management, not least in trying to keep their players motivated and, perhaps more importantly, focused, because there was such a massive gap between games. And to be fair, they did, with a number of challenge games against Kilmessan, Drumree, Rathmolyon and the Kildare senior champions, Coill Dubh. They also introduced some variety to training in the form of gym work and the services of Meath senior star Mick Cole were also enlisted.
The players too deserve great credit for the commitment they gave during what was a very long and hard season for them. Both players and management wanted the title as much as each other and that was demonstrated in very clear terms by the fact that some players left college in Athlone to get a bus to training and were left back by members of the management team very late on in the night.
And so, D-Day had finally arrived, Clane was the venue on Saturday, November 8th as John Brennan and his side set about writing the wrongs that had been done onto them in 2002.
They started in very positive fashion too as two points from Stephen Moran and one from his Dunboyne club mate Paul Fagan gave the young Royals an early advantage.
However, it didn't take too long for the nuts on the wheels of their wagon to become loose, and referee Michael Haverty from Galway played a vital role in what was the first major turning point in the game.
Carlow's best forward, Ruairi Dunbar had just scrambled the ball past Derek Muldoon when the Connacht official blew for an infringement. Now, the sensible option would have been either to let the goal stand if it was a Carlow player that was impeded or award a free out if it was somebody on the Meath side.
Easy to see then why nobody could see the sense in the Galway man awarding Dunbar a free which he duly blasted to the net to leave his side 1-05 to 0-03 clear at the break.
Meath people like nothing more than a challenge and, buoyed by an inspirational speech by Kiltale's Padraig Donoghue, Brennan's boys resumed in very smart fashion before they were dealt another hammer blow with the dismissal of Rathmolyon's Mark Lynch for a second yellow card. Points from Moran, Mickey Burke and his midfield partner Eoghan Harrington cut the deficit before Donoghue himself drew the sides level with a massive point from the left wing.
They now had the bit between their teeth and it seemed they were going to complete a typical Meath comeback to take the title in fairytale fashion when Moran and Fagan pointed to leave them in the lead by 0-10 to 1-05 entering the third minute of stoppage time.
Sadly though, fairytales very seldom come through and there was a sickening sense of déjà vu in the air moments later when Carlow sent them into heartbreak hotel once again.
Paul Fagan came forward from centre back to hit a free which would have left Meath three clear and safe. However, the young Dunboyne lad, who was one of Meath's best all through, was off target and with the centre wide open Carlow worked the ball up the field at lightening speed before Alan Quirke drilled the ball low past Muldoon in the Meath goal to become the only Carlow player outside of Dunbar to score and ensure the title stayed where it has been for the last twelve months.
It was a terrible blow for Meath, to go down to the same opposition in the same circumstances two years on the trot was sickening. Particularly so for the players who were involved last term.
Still, we should be immensely proud of what these very talented players and their mentors have achieved in promoting the game of hurling within the county and they should be equally proud of themselves and realize the amount of good their efforts will do for future generations of stickmen within the county.
Added to the success of the U-16's and the tremendous coaching efforts which are being put into coaching at U-12 and U-14, the small ball code seems certain of a bright future within the Royal County.
Indeed, the latter bunch mentioned benefited greatly from coaching received at the DJ Carey School of Hurling and there's no reason why many of them can't go on to be as good as the Gowran genius.
The undoubted potential that currently exists within Meath hurling has been noticed too, newly appointed senior manager John Hunt followed the progress of the U-18's very closely and called in several of the panel to commence training with the county senior side on Monday, November 17th.
Don't bet against these guys putting past heartbreak behind them and helping the county to a long overdue bit of hurling glory!
The panel which represented Meath at Minor during the year was: D. Muldoon, C. King, D. Brennan, P. Farrell, P. Donoghue, P. Fagan, E. Keogh, M. Burke, E. Harrington, M. Lynch, S. Ashe, D. Kirby, D. Kirwan, S. Moran, J. Meyler, K. Ennis, K. Fahy, C. Flaherty, D. Wallace, M. Corrigan, E. Broad, R. Feeney, J. Keena, P. Keena, P. McKeown, D. Watters, D. Moen, A. Mulvihill, C. Mellott, C. Burke, R. Gilsenan, M. Mullally, S. Clavin, D. Farrell, P. Dunne, S. Rochford, P. Dunne, K. Fitzmaurice.
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