Back in 1979 Meath Hill held a handsome lead over St Mary's at half time in the Meath JFC final and on the way off the Pairc Tailteann pitch one of their players lifted the cup off the table and raised the trophy in front of the packed stand. The celebrations were premature as Mary's staged a strong recovery in the second half to force a replay in which the East Meath side proved best. By Noel Coogan. Meath Hill went one better the following year when lifting the title and now a quarter of a century further on the club's first team failed to make it through to the closing stages of the JFC. They have been knocking at the intermediate door for the last few years but have been unable to make the breakthrough. After losing out to parish rivals Drumconrath in the Matthew Ginnity Cup decider in 1996 Meath Hill bowed out in the penultimate round three times. In 1997 Skryne ended their hopes at the semi-final stage, two years later there was a last four defeat by St Paul's and in 2001 an emerging Wolfe Tones side barred their path to the final. In 2004 Meath Hill felt that a defeat by Moylagh in their last group game was detrimental to their prospects of again reaching the last four as they then came up against Dunsany who ended their campaign at the quarter-final stage. Chance had it that Moylagh were their first JFC opponents in 2005 and the outcome was the same. The clash at Kells finished with Meath Hill losing by double scores, 1-6 to 2-12, and that set the tone for a disappointing championship bid. They managed to recover from that initial setback when defeating Gaeil Colmcille's second string by 0-12 to 0-7. But they returned to their losing ways when Longwood scored a decisive 2-11 to 0-8 victory over them in the third round. There was another loss for Meath Hill in round four with Moynalvey beating them by 2-14 to 1-8 at Walterstown. Meath Hill had mixed feelings after the 1-9 to 0-6 win over Summerhill in the fifth round. While they were pleased to have gained a second brace of points, results elsewhere meant that they were out of the title hunt. That was hardly surprising after losing three times. Derek McMahon netted the goal and there were impressive showings from Brian Hanratty, Paddy and Jarlath Owens, Lee Breslin and Dean Farrelly. The 2005 JFC campaign ended with another point being picked up in the 1-11 to 0-14 draw with Navan O'Mahonys. They did well to gain a share of the spoils at Nobber considering that the struggled to put a team on the pitch, managing just the bare 15 players and as long-serving delegate to the County Board Eddie Callan stated, they had to send on a gosoon when one of them was forced to retire injured. But overall it was a JFC campaign by Meath Hill which fell short of the efforts of some other recent championships. Their two wins and draw were recorded at the expense of second strings of senior clubs although one of those, Navan O'Mahonys, went on to reach the final. The Meath Hill team which lifted the Matthew Ginnity Cup in 1980 was probably the best ever to represent the club. They had been knocking at the intermediate door for a few years and were eventually rewarded with a decisive 2-6 to 0-3 final victory over Moynalty at Pairc Tailteann. In 1977 they reached the quarter-final stage only to lose to St Paul's from Clonee and in '78 they got a stage further when St Mary's ousted them after a replay in a penultimate round clash. They eventually got there and one of the local papers said the club enjoyed the sweet taste of success after suffering some sour disappointments. Meath Hill suffered a setback in their JFC quarter-final in 1980 with forward Philip Tully breaking a leg in the clash with Summerhill at Kells. That game ended with the scores 2-6 to 0-3, the same as in the final a few weeks later. Then Meath Hill enjoyed a very comfortable path to the final, trouncing Rathmolyon by 19 points, 5-11 to 1-4, also at Kells. With the brothers Tom and Pat Matthews in dominant form at centrefield, the men in blue and white were generally in control against Moynalty and it did not take then long to go into the lead. After a minute and a half full forward John Cunningham shot the first point and then before five minutes had elapsed the same player had the ball in the net. One of the best passing moves of the hour finished with Cunningham receiving the ball from centre forward Micheal Kieran and leaving the scores 1-1 to 0-0. With Francie Yorke pointing from a difficult angle and M. J. Martin slotting over a free, it was 1-3 to 0-2 at the interval. Ten minutes into the second half the scores were 1-5 to 0-2 with Tom Matthews shooting over from play and Martin converting a second free. Meath Hill did not concede a point from play in the second half. Their goalkeeper, Jimmy Lee, saved well from Seamus McEntee in the third quarter. The winning total was completed when Yorke punched over a centre from Tom Matthews and then Sean Boyle dashed in to net the second goal. There was no score in the last ten minutes and then winning captain Liam McCabe received the Ginnity Cup from the county chairman of the time Brian Smyth. Liam McCabe was in inspiring form at left half back and Michael McCabe, Dermot Griffin and Gary Gunn also showed up well in the winners' defence and Sean and Tony Boyle and Cunningham were the top forwards. The team which brought Meath Hill the county JFC title in 1980 was : Jimmy Lee; Michael McCabe, Hugh Maguire, Dermot Griffin; Anthony Carroll, Gary Gunn, Liam McCabe; Pat Matthews, Tom Matthews; Tony Boyle, Micheal Kieran, Tony Boyle; Francie Yorke, John Cunningham, M. J. Martin. Also on the panel were Arthur McDonnell, Philip Tully, Gerry Carolan, Martin Carroll, Frankie Maguire, Kevin Martin, Eugene Yorke, Seamus Tierney, John Maguire, Martin Breslin, James Hughes, Gerry Mulligan and Gerry Crosby. Meath Hill remained in the limelight for a few years after the JFC triumph of 25 years ago. There was an intermediate league success in 1982 with Slane being beaten by 1-5 to 0-7 to gain possession of the Cooney Cup. In 1986 they reached the IFC final and the Division 2 FL decider only to lose to Gaeil Colmcille by narrow margins in both. It was 1-6 to 0-7 in the championship final at Kells and then in the league decider at Kilmainhamwood there was the bizarre scoreline of 0-5 to 1-0 with Martin Breslin getting the losers' only score. The best achievement in that fine era in the club's history was winning the 1987 Division 2 FL title and subsequently spending two years in the top flight of league football in the county. The 1987 final against St Michael's was not played until November of the following year and Meath Hill won by 1-8 to 0-10 at Kells. The 25th anniversary of that success was celebrated in the Cabra Castle Hotel, Kingscourt at the end of October. Two members of the team have been living abroad with goalkeeper Jimmy Lee in America and forward Francie Yorke in America. Sean Boyle, who starred in attack, was one of the selectors with the junior team in 2005. Andy Hayes, who guided Nobber to JFC honours in 2002, was the manager, his second term with the side and David Crosby was the other selector. After some great years in the '80s, Meath Hill went back down to the junior ranks in 1995 by which time they had slipped to Division 4 in the league. Women's football became popular in the club in the '90s. A county junior championship was won in 1993 and in '94 four lasses from the club shared in Meath's All-Ireland junior football triumph with Terri Kieran, Celine Nulty and Anne Marie Maher on the team and Monica Clarke among the substitutes. A big event for Meath Hill GFC in the '90s was the official opening of their grounds, Pairc Naomh Brid and clubhouse in May 1997 when Cavan played Meath in a challenge which was part of the Breffni county's preparations for the Ulster championship which they won that year for the first time since 1967. Also in 1997 there was double success on the playing fields with both the A and B FL Division 4 titles being annexed. Down the years Meath Hill have had a number of women very actively involved in the club. In 1973 Ann Martin became the first female secretary of a GAA club in Meath and in 1975 she was the recipient of a special presentation from the county board. Later she served on the county disciplinary committee for two years. For a number of years Ann and her friend Margaret Owens were regular attenders at county board meetings and the pair represented Meath at the national congress on five occasions between 1979 and '85. In more recent years Celine Nulty, Meath Hill's secretary, has been a club delegate. Celine has been spearheading the compiling of a club history and that should be avidly read by all who have followed the fortunes of the wearers of the blue and white over the decades. There have been up and downs and, who knows, but there may be more ups before too long. B League honours for Meath Hill Meath Hill ...................... 1-6 Castletown ...................... 0-4 Meath Hill captured the Division 3 'B' League with a gutsy performance against Castletown in Drumconrath. Playing with a strong breeze the 'Hill led by 0-4 to 0-2 with Brian Hanratty's long range point the highlight of the half. Considering the strength of the wind the lead looked fragile but a goal by substitute Emmet Boyle and two points from Tadhg Boyle midway through the second half were enough as Meath Hill held on to clinch the title. Best for the winners in a great team performance were Brendan Kieran, John Owens, Michael 'Grocer' Byrne, Brian 'Hatchet' Hanratty and Tadhg and Donnchadh Boyle. Meath Hill - K. Boyle, J. Owens, B. Kieran, M. Kieran, M. McCabe, M. Byrne, B. Hanratty (0-1), D. Boyle, T. Boyle (0-5), D. Farrelly, P. Smith, N. McGuire, M. McConnell, P. Boyle, D. McMahon. Subs - E. Boyle (1-0) for McConnell, C. Maher for McMahon, P. Bradfield for Smith, H. Sullivan for McGuire Tweet

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