"Meath were just too good for us" - Cavan '49 star Mick Higgins admits

Cavan legend Mick Higgins remains an august figure in Breffni Blues football territory. Fifty years ago, as a player in his prime, the former attacking ace was afforded due reverence by, among others, his fierce rivals from the Royal County.

The Meath men recognised that Higgins was an inspirational footballer; they had been bloodied by the steel of his intent on numerous occasions and fingered him as Cavan’s chief playmaker and most potent instrument.

However, this coming August the boot will be on the other foot, so to speak, when the still sprightly 79-year-old will gladly play the eulogist role as the members of Meath’s 1949 All-Ireland senior championship panel are honoured for their achievement in beating Higgins and co. in that year’s blue riband national decider.

On the ‘forty for the ‘49 final and marked by Ballivor’s Paddy Dixon, the retired Garda Sergeant heaves a sigh everytime he recalls Cavan’s defeat that day by Meath.

The 1949 final won’t figure in any possible collection of Higgins’ best ever matches and, as he readily admits himself, no excuses can be proffered on that score, on a personal or collective front.
“We had quite a bit of possession but didn’t make the most of it. Anyway, they were faster to the ball and showed the greater hunger and appetite.

“I found myself up against it too. Paddy Dixon was a hard but clean footballer and he marked me very closely; there was very little room given us by the Meath defenders. Overall,” Mick recalls.

The then St. Magdalenes (Louth) clubman is careful not to take anything away from Meath’s win. However, he does admit that Cavan, gunning for their third successive senior All-Ireland, may have entered the fray in a slightly complacent frame of mind. Cavan, he says, got a rude awakening.

Certainly, the Ulster kingpins were the bookies favourites in the ‘49 final and although Meath were deemed to be a ‘coming team’, they were thought to be a tad inexperienced to outwit the Blues.

“I’d have to say that the quality of Meath’s play surprised us. They really outplayed us over the hour and even though we gave as good as we got in the first 15 minutes, they got a grip on the exchanges around the middle and no matter what we tried, they maintained the upper hand.

“I think Meath benefited a lot from having three games against Louth in the Leinster semi-final. In comparison, we had a relatively easy ride through the Ulster Championship and that seemed to work against us.”

Mick remembers that the writing may have been on the wall for his side with the recall, by Meath, of veterans Jim Kearney and Bill Halfpenny. Both were to turn in pivotal displays for the Royal County in the final, the Virginia resident explains.

In truth, the highly thought of Cavan schemer is fulsome in his praise of each of the Meath players.
That said, he was particularly impressed by Meath’s half-forward line of Frankie Byrne, Brian Smyth and Mattie McDonnell.

“They were very fast and well able to gather up the breaking balls from midfield and in that respect they were a bit ahead of their time.

“They gave our defence a torrid time. Byrne and McDonnell were flyers while Smyth was a very intelligent footballer and together they were a constant menace.”

Not surprisingly, Mick rates Cavan’s display against Meath in the 1949 decider as the most disappointing of the team’s three meetings with their near-neighbours during that era.

“In fairness, it was more a case of Meath getting it right on the day than us getting it wrong.

“They did their homework. They knew us inside out and you have to hand it to Fr. Tully, their trainer, because they never allowed us to settle,” remarks Mick who, earlier in the campaign, had injured his ankle resulting in his omission from Cavan’s semi-final tie.

Significantly, Mick stresses that he was fully fit for the final and had no excuses to make for my bad display.”

As for the hour’s play; Mick says that Meath’s 0-7 to 0-3 interval lead was in no way flattering and, instead, fairly reflected the Royal County’s ascendancy.

Cavan needed to evince a good start to the second half, he avers, but it was Meath who got the bit between their teeth in those crucial early moments after the restart.

“We were determined to get on top right from the start of the second half but they were having none of it.
“I was very familiar with a few of their players such as Bill Halfpenny, Paddy Connell and Brian Smyth and I was at school with Paddy Meegan, so I knew how much the game meant to them and they definitely showed that passion in their play,” remembers Mick who ultimately scored Cavan’s only goal in the match but to no avail.

If the truth be known, Mick needed no lessons about the intensity of the Meath/Cavan rivalry.

As a gasun growing up along the county boundary in Mountnugent which separates the two football powers, the rivalry appeared to him to be as natural as the rugged landscape which bonded south-west Cavan and north Meath together in history.

Also, the fact that he was stationed in Drogheda (next door to the Royal County) in later years meant that Mick was bombarded with jibes and all sorts of wind-ups about run-ins between Meath and Cavan.

He confesses though that such craic added immensely to the spirit and appeal of the clashes back then.

“I always enjoyed my clashes with Meath. A lot of those players in ‘49 were about for quite a while and we bumped into each other fairly regularly and I always thought they were fine footballers and good sportsmen.”

Doubtless the Meath men would return the compliment ten fold.