The promise demonstrated during their lengthy 'back door' journey in 2007 suggested that Meath could realistically set their sights on breaking Dublin's stranglehold on the Leinster SFC this year, but few could have predicted the manner in which they would exit the provincial race and then the qualifiers. By Paul Clarke. Meath brought Dublin to a replay before exiting the provincial campaign last year and warmed to the qualifiers to such a degree that they reached the All-Ireland semi-finals where they lost heavily to Cork, beating both Galway and Tyrone along the way. That was enough to suggest that a first Leinster title since 2001 was a realistic goal, even allowing for Dublin's status as real Sam Maguire Cup contenders, but what happened was a big disappointment as a huge lead was surrendered when losing to Wexford in the provincial quarter-final. Many people expected a big backlash against whoever Meath drew in the opening round of the qualifiers, but they couldn't have been more wrong as Colm Coyle's side under-performed alarmingly against Limerick and waved goodbye to the county's hopes of a first All-Ireland senior title in nine years. It was a difficult second year in charge for Coyle and selectors Dudley Farrell and Tommy Dowd and it must have been with considerable regret that the coach, who has been a wonderful servant of Meath football over so many years, stepped down in the aftermath of the defeat by Limerick, a decision also taken by Dowd and two of the county's outstanding players of all time, Darren Fay and Graham Geraghty. In fairness to the Meath management team, they weren't exactly blessed with luck on the injury front during 2008 and having to plan without the likes of Anthony Moyles and Brian Farrell, as well as emerging talent Shane O'Rourke, for much of the campaign certainly didn't help. There was also a less than satisfactory start to the National League campaign, with so much doubt surrounding the Cork match which didn't go ahead because of the players' 'strike' in the Rebel County. Add in the hefty suspensions imposed on five players following the match against Dublin at Parnell Park and it all added up to a less than straight-forward campaign. When the competitive action got under way last January Coyle introduced 12 debutants to senior inter-county football for the O'Byrne Cup game against UCD at Pairc Tailteann which Meath won by 2-11 to 0-15 thanks to a late salvo of points from Peter Curran. Na Fianna's Jamie Queeney shone with three superb first half points, but already there were injury concerns, with Fay (hamstring) and Mark Ward (ankle) forced out of the action. Farrell was also unavailable at that stage due to groin trouble. Meath were back in O'Byrne Cup action at Pairc Tailteann four days later and bowed out of the competition when losing to Longford by 1-6 to 0-14. Seven more new faces were introduced and Joe Sheridan, who opted out ahead of the 2007 qualifiers, before playing a highly significant role in Seneschalstown's SFC success, returned as a substitute. That loss meant it would be a diet of hard training and challenge games in preparation for the NFL Div 2 campaign as Meath set about the task of gaining promotion again - this time from a tough looking section that included Cork (who they never got to play), Armagh, Dublin, Monaghan and Westmeath. The league opener against Cork was scheduled for Pairc Tailteann on the first Saturday of February, but it didn't materialise. The most important thing for Meath at that stage was to get a competitive game and they were willing to defer the fixture for a week, but to no avail. It meant they didn't see league action until 17th February when they travelled to meet Roscommon at Kiltoom. Meath had beaten Roscommon by 2-12 to 0-10 in last year's Div 2 decider at Breffni Park and with John Maughan's team losing by 10 points to Monaghan in the opening round, a repeat of that success looked to be on the cards. However, it ended all square (Meath 0-15, Roscommon 1-12) as Karol Mannion's brilliant late point earned a deserved share of the spoils for Roscommon. Alan Nestor had edged Meath ahead with a well-taken free, but they were lucky enough to draw as Mannion had been wide from a penalty a short time earlier. The lack of a first round game didn't help Meath and they started slowly as Roscommon moved ahead by 1-2 to 0-0. But the visitors recovered to lead by 0-9 to 1-5 at the break, before the home county pushed 1-9 to 0-9 ahead within six minutes of the restart. The brilliant Cian Ward, Stephen Bray and Nestor pointed to draw the sides level and with the excitement intensifying Roscommon twice went ahead again, only to be pegged back by scores from Graham Reilly and Ward. Mannion's penalty miss prevented Maughan's men from taking a stranglehold on proceedings, but after Nestor looked to have given Meath victory, he had the last word with that stunning equaliser. On the positive side for Meath were the return of Nigel Crawford for his first game with the county since the All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Cork and a tally of 15 points, six of which were contributed by Ward and three each by Reilly and Bray, who also kicked three wides in the last quarter. Unfortunately, Shane O'Rourke retired with a hamstring injury and was to miss the Leinster U-21 FC defeat to Kildare. Eoghan Harrington was unable to start because of an ankle injury and Farrell was also ruled out. Meath's next league outing against Westmeath at Mullingar had all the makings of a testing assignment, especially as the midlanders had beaten Armagh by five points at the same venue in the previous round. It turned out to be a day of joy for the home county when they broke a 35-year run without a league win over their neighbours, winning by 1-10 to 0-8. Starting without the likes of Sheridan, Farrell, Cian Ward and O'Rourke was bad enough, but then Bray retired with a hip injury after opening Meath's account. Westmeath had Fergal Wilson sent off in first half injury time, but led by 0-5 to 0-2 at the break. However, with the extra man and wind advantage to come Meath must have fancied their chances. Graham Geraghty got among the scorers in the second half, but it was Westmeath who pushed 0-9 to 0-4 ahead and when Damien Healy goaled they were looking good. The dismissal of Peadar Byrne only added to Meath's problems and they never looked likely to get the goals they needed to rescue the situation. Meath's first half display in the league match against Cavan at Pairc Tailteann matched the atrocious weather and they trailed by 0-1 to 0-7 at the end of the first quarter and by 0-4 to 0-11 at the interval. But they were a transformed team in the second half when Cian Ward demonstrated what a great talent he is with a wonderful performance. The Wolfe Tones' player contributed nine points overall and when he slotted over a brilliant score from a line ball 45 metres out Meath had caught Cavan (0-11 each). They did enough subsequently to earn a 0-15 to 0-13 win over a Breffni side that was pointless from four outings at that stage. Moyles started at centre-forward, but was forced to retire. It was encouraging to see Harrington play so well, while Geraghty and Nestor were others to catch the eye. That looked like a real morale-boosting victory ahead of a trip to Scotstown for a match against high-flying Monaghan, but the outcome was a big disappointment as the home county deservedly won by 1-12 to 0-10 on a day when only two of the starting team - Cian Ward (0-8) and Bray (0-1) - scored for Meath. It meant Meath had failed to score a goal up to that stage of the league, with the only major of the game coming from Monaghan's Paul Finlay after 10 minutes. Ward hit the butt of the post six minutes later and Meath were in trouble when they trailed by 0-4 to 1-7 at the break. They played an unsuccessful game of catch-up in the second period and, on a day of few positives, it was good to see Sheridan playing a full match. The goals certainly came next time out against Armagh at Pairc Tailteann when Meath displayed vast improvement to win by 3-7 to 1-6. Aidan O'Rourke scored an early goal for Armagh from a penalty and there was another blow for the Royal County when Cian Ward was forced to retire with a hamstring injury near half-time. Sheridan, who contributed 2-2 overall, gave Meath a boost with a superb goal and Cian Ward also found the net in the opening period as they led by 2-3 to 0-4 at the interval. The nearest Armagh got subsequently was within a point and Sheridan's second goal from a brilliantly taken penalty did the trick for Meath. O'Rourke played for a spell as Meath got the win which guaranteed survival and left themselves with an outside chance of promotion ahead of an eagerly-awaited clash with Dublin in the final round. The Parnell Park showdown was highly controversial, with five players sent off by referee Paddy Russell in the early stages. A melee erupted following a foul on Seamus Kenny and, after things appeared to calm down, it flared up again and red cards were issued to Meath's Niall McKeigue and Shane McAnarney and Dublin's Paddy Andrews and Bernard Brogan. Dublin's Ciaran Whelan was dismissed soon after for hitting Kenny. Twelve yellow cards were also issued, but despite having a numerical advantage for over an hour Meath played poorly and lost by 2-6 to 0-13. Cian Ward was fit to start, but it was Geraghty who was Meath's top player as he did a lot of his best work back in defence. Dublin led by 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time, but with the wind and an extra man for the second period Meath weren't without hope. The Metropolitans extended their advantage to 0-7 to 0-4 and after Mark Ward reduced the deficit, the visitors went all of 22 minutes without a score as they fell seven points adrift. Sheridan gave Meath hope with a great goal seven minutes from the end and when Kenny sidestepped Stephen Cluxton to add another two minutes later that hope turned to optimism. Peadar Byrne equalised three minutes from time and victory looked possible, but substitute Mark Vaughan pointed a free with his first touch to secure the win for Dublin. The consequences of what happened at Parnell Park for the Meath County Committee were severe as they were fined E20,000 (later cut to E10,000). Shane McAnarney, Seamus Kenny, Nigel Crawford, Brendan Murphy and Niall McKeigue were all suspended for eight weeks, with Darren Fay, Peadar Byrne and Caoimhin King getting four-week bans. The reality for the management team was that the five players with the eight-week suspensions would miss the Leinster Championship opener against Carlow and the match against Wexford if Meath advanced. Subsequent appeals by those who got the heaviest bans were dismissed. Meath headed to Portugal for an intensive four-day training camp which was sandwiched between challenge games against Cavan and Mayo. Moyles underwent groin surgery, while there was better news regarding O'Rourke and Farrell who both togged out for the game against Mayo at Dunderry, with Farrell introduced in the second half. Meath, despite so many absentees due to injuries and suspensions, played well in a 2-17 to 0-16 victory. The Royal County had four championship newcomers (Michael Ahern, Cormac McGill, Brian Meade and Alan Nestor) for the championship opener against Carlow at Croke Park and cruised to a 1-25 to 0-8 victory. Meade took over from Crawford at midfield and turned in a superb display, while others to shine were Kevin Reilly at centre-back, Chris O'Connor and McGill in the corner-back positions and Meade's midfield partner Mark Ward. Meath notched 1-19 from play as 10 players got their names on the score sheet. Young Carlow full-forward Daniel St Leger looked menacing in the early stages, but once Fay got his measure Carlow's hopes faded. St Leger pointed them ahead after two minutes, but five wides in the early stages deflated their confidence. Meath steadily took command and began to hit the target with regularity. A Sheridan goal following a great move involving Meade, Geraghty and Byrne was a feature of the first half scoring and they were out of sight at the interval with a 1-15 to 0-4 lead. Defender O'Connor contributed two third quarter points and Meath could afford to withdraw ace attackers Cian Ward and Sheridan, such was their position of supremacy. Debuts at this level were also given to substitutes Graham Reilly, Terry Skelly, Damien Sheridan and Eoin Reilly and it was encouraging to see Farrell joining the action and scoring two points as Meath went through the motions. The five players suspended for eight weeks following the league game against Dublin were unsuccessful in a hearing with the Disputes Resolution Authority on the Friday night before the Wexford match but, more encouragingly, O'Rourke and Farrell had played in a challenge game against Louth and Moyles was back training. All three were introduced against Wexford. For a large chunk of the match at Carlow's Dr Cullen Park Meath played with a passion, hunger and precision that suggested anything was possible from the team this year. But it all went dreadfully wrong subsequently as Wexford came back from the dead to snatch victory with a late Matty Forde point. Forde was well contained in the first half as Fay and McGill excelled in defence. With Kevin Reilly superb at centre-back, Mark Ward and Meade on top at midfield and Byrne, Nestor, Bray and Geraghty especially effective in a hard-working attack only one result looked possible. Sheridan was denied a goal after only 50 seconds when Anthony Masterson produced a fine save and Wexford took the lead with a point from corner-back Colm Morris. Amazingly, they didn't hit the front again until Forde got the winner. Points from Sheridan, Mark Ward and a brilliant brace of frees by Cian Ward enabled Meath to lead by 0-4 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter and the advantage stretched to 1-7 to 0-3 thanks to superb points from Nestor, Bray and Byrne and a stunning Bray goal following Cian Ward's pass. Things got even better as a Nestor point was followed by a great Geraghty goal and despite missing chances in that half Meath found themselves all of 10 points clear at the break (2-8 to 0-4). Even when Wexford scored four of the first five points of the second period there appeared little danger, but Sheridan then had a goal wrongly disallowed for allegedly pulling the ball from Masterson's hands. If the goal had been allowed the 10-point cushion would have been restored, but points from Byrne (two) and Sheridan meant it soon was. That 2-12 to 0-8 lead looked like a very safe margin with 20 minutes remaining, but then things started to go wrong. A Redmond Barry goal and points from Forde and Ciaran Lyng gave Wexford some hope, but Sheridan notched Meath's last point when he might have goaled to leave six in it. PJ Banville scored Wexford's second goal 10 minutes from the end and Shane Roche and Adrian Morrissey split the uprights to leave the minimum between the sides. Forde levelled the scores with a brilliant free after 68 minutes and then shattered Meath with that late winner. It finished 2-14 to 2-13. It was hard to explain it all, though injuries which forced Nestor and Meade to retire didn't help. There was also that disallowed Sheridan goal, substitute Farrell's missed free when Meath led by three points with nine minutes remaining and the sending off of Mark Ward for a second yellow card five minutes from the end. What happened in Dr Cullen Park clearly left psychological scars on the evidence of Meath's performance in the opening round of the qualifiers against Limerick at Pairc na nGael. Centre-back Kevin Reilly was ruled out due to a four-week suspension imposed for a tackle on David Walsh in the Wexford game for which he had only been booked. The Central Competitions Control Committee obviously took a more serious view of the incident than referee Maurice Deegan and a hearing before that body was unsuccessful. The players suspended for eight weeks arising out of the league game against Dublin were available for the match in Limerick on Saturday, 19th July, but the luckless Moyles played no part after sustaining a collarbone injury in a challenge match against Laois. Harrington was handed the No 6 jersey in Reilly's absence and Farrell started for the first time in the 2008 championship, at full-forward. O'Rourke had scored nine points in that challenge against Laois, but he had to be content with a place on the bench, a position also occupied by Geraghty and Sheridan. Returning goalkeeper Murphy could hardly have envisaged that he would have to pick the ball out of the net four times and nobody could possibly have predicted that Meath would score more goals than points. It's also rare that any team finds the net four times and loses. The 7.0 starting time on a Saturday evening caused much annoyance in Meath and what unfolded on the Limerick pitch was astonishing as the home county won by 4-12 to 4-3, having led by 20 points at one stage. Limerick, who had been unlucky to lose to Cork in the Munster Championship, were on top all over the field and had a real star in 19 year-old Ian Ryan who scored 3-7. The only time Meath led was when Cian Ward opened the scoring and two Ryan goals (one from a penalty) left them 0-1 to 2-2 adrift. The visitors' only other first half scores were points from a Farrell free and a great Cian Ward effort and Limerick led by 2-6 to 0-3 at the interval. Further goals from Ryan and John Galvin helped Limerick push right away and the advantage stood at 4-11 to 0-3 by the three-quarter stage. Farrell and Sheridan both scored two goals subsequently (Sheridan's second from a penalty), but they did nothing to lessen the feeling of bitter disappointment. It's now a case of looking ahead; there's little point in looking back. However, to generate some optimism for the future it's worth remembering how well Meath played for a lengthy spell against Wexford. Repeating that sort of football on a more consistent basis would reap rich rewards. Tweet

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