Where to from here?
November 30, 2005
Those calling for the abolition of the All-Ireland Under 21 FC will use what happened Meath during the first weekend in April as an example why, writes Brendan Boylan.
It is actually quite hard to fathom how such a talented bunch of players could under-perform so badly as they did on April 2nd when slumping to 0-07 to 3-16 defeat to Kildare. Meath have always been well able to compete in U-21 and some of the best players ever to wear green and gold served their time in the grade before graduating to senior stardom.
Last year, Meath were awfully unlucky to go down to the same opposition at the same stage in the competition and with the likes of Tommy O'Connor, Brian Farrell, Mark Ward and Joe Sheridan still available as well as the likes of Brian O'Reilly, Kevin Reilly, Caomhin King and Mickey Burke who had, since last year, made their way on to the county senior side, hopes would have been high of a good run. After all, large numbers of the same players were part of the side that contested the All Ireland MFC Final in 2002.
In ways though, having so many players on Sean Boylan's senior panel can be an indirect drawback as it limits the opportunity for the U-21's to be together as a group before the championship begins. This was quite evident in the early moments of their first round tie against Offaly at Tullamore on St Patrick's Day.
Adding to the intrigue of the clash was the fact that Offaly were managed by former Walterstown and Dunboyne clubman Gerry Cooney so there wasn't much he would know about the opposition!
Offaly senior star James Coughlan and his brother Thomas were proving quite troublesome in the early minutes as Meath, who started minus the injured Tommy O'Connor, also lost Mickey Burke.
The former of the Offaly pair sent a free straight to the net with his first shot at goal but thanks mainly to the imperious Cian Ward Meath had recovered to lead at half time by 0-10 to 1-04.
With Mark Ward's influence around the middle increasing steadily, Meath continued to hold sway until, slowly but surely, Offaly began to get back into the game.
For a while, the two Wards seemed to be providing the only resistance (Cian finished with an outstanding 0-9) to what was fast becoming an Offaly battering ram.
Indeed, extra time seemed inevitable before Coughlan inexplicably missed a chance to equalise and Meath broke upfield before Brian Farrell volleyed over what was a needed insurance score to leave the score reading 0-16 to 1-11 at the end.
In championship football results matter more than performance and the initial feeling was that they would improve for their clash against Kildare. Tommy O'Connor returned to the side and a close encounter was expected.
Both sides had eight of the participants from the fixture in Tullamore twelve months earlier and when the same group of players crossed swords at Minor level three years earlier it took a late surge to see Meath home by 1-09 to 1-07.
Nobody could have foreseen what would unfold in Mullingar on April 2nd.
When Brian Farrell and Michael Conway traded scores early on it appeared the close nature of the clashes between the sides was going to continue. Unfortunately for Meath, that was as close as they got to the Lillies all day.
Conway, James Kavanagh and Tommy Archibald drove Kildare into a 0-07 to 0-01 lead before Tommy O'Connor drove forward to stop the rot with a point but Padraig Nolan's side still by 0-09 to 0-03 at the interval.
Realistically, Meath's chances evaporated seven minutes before the break when Mark Ward was dismissed for retaliating towards Kildare's James Lonergan who escaped with a yellow card for manhandling the big O'Mahonys man to the ground but resumed his position immediately once the red card was brandished.
Meath actually enjoyed quite a bit of dominance in the early part of the second half but didn't make use of it and were punished accordingly after the O'Neill brothers, Tommy and Padraig, combined for a great Kildare score.
With Kildare having the extra man a goal was always on the cards and it duly arrived when the extra man, Mick Foley, galloped forward to raise the green flag. Though it is questionable whether the scored should have stood as the Kildare captain appeared to kick the ball from the grasp of Meath custodian Marcus Brennan.
Cian Ward, Paul Murray and Brian Farrell did tag on a few more scores near the end but the rout was soon completed by goals from Ross Glavin and Padraig O'Neill before Tomas O'Connor (no, its not a misprint!) became their ninth marksman when closing the scoring.
Defeat is always disappointing, but the nature of this one is particularly worrying, considering the calibre of players Meath had at their disposal.
Allied to the abysmal display of last year's Minor side, it would lead one to wonder are their problems within the underage set up and if there are, why are there?
Over the past twenty years or so the people of Meath have been used to a fair degree of success but if a breakthrough is not made at underage level shortly the bad old days may not be long about coming back.
Meath - M. Brennan; B. O'Reilly, T. O'Connor 0-1, K. Reilly; A. Reynolds, C. King, J. Melia; M. Ward, P. Murray 0-1; M. Burke, J. Sheridan 0-2, G. McCullagh; D. Murtagh, B. Farrell 0-2, C. Ward 0-1. Subs - F. Murphy for Murtagh, T. Farrelly for Reilly, B. Ennis for McCullagh, C. Reilly for Melia, J. Bruton for King.
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