Under 21 hurlers fail to deliver on Leinster stage
November 30, 2008
The performance of the Royal representatives in this year's Leinster Under 21 HC didn't exactly send pulses racing as they crashed out of the race at the first fence but manager Kevin Dowd tells David Jennings about the huge amount of effort that went into preparing the side for their first assignment.
Sometimes you just don't get what you deserve in sport. It doesn't matter how much time and effort you put in, if things don't fall into place on the big day, then there is no hiding place. And the Meath Under 21 hurling side found this out at Dr Cullen Park back in April when their championship campaign ended before it even began.
It may not have been the most naturally talented side to pass through the Under 21 ranks but after a smooth preparation, hopes were high that a decent campaign would unfold for the Royal youngsters.
They were faced with a stern opening assignment as they were pitted against a Carlow side who had the advantage of playing on home soil. The Yellow bellies had put huge work into their underage academy over the last number of years and their Under 21 outfit was regarded as the best to have come along in quite a while.
That theory was given further ammunition as Carlow proved far superior to their Royal county counterparts who never really landed a blow. The final scoreline of 3-12 to 1-5 was probably a little harsh of the visitors but the writing was on the wall from a very early stage and despite a spirited comeback attempt, Meath had left themselves with too much to do.
The highlight of a very disappointing afternoon for Kevin Dowd's charges was a magnificent goal from Rathmolyon's Kevin Fagan which gave the Meath support something to shout about. But such moments were a rarity at the Carlow venue as the hosts dominated proceedings from start to finish.
Despite the poor showing, it's not all doom and gloom for the players involved as the likes of Fagan, Joey Keena and Michael Dunne impressed and look to have a bright future ahead. All three have the benefit of a few auditions on the senior stage and that is sure to stand them in good stead in the years ahead.
Enthusiastic coach Dowd reflected back on the campaign with disappointment and stressed that there was more quality in the side than they showed in their only competitive outing of the year.
"It was really disappointing to go out of the championship so quickly as we had put in an enormous amount of work and had been training since after Christmas so to only get one game after all that effort was very hard to take," Dowd said.
It certainly wasn't a lack of preparation that proved Meath's undoing as Dowd explained that there were numerous well-known hurling personalities that made their way down to Dunganny to help the young Royals with their progress.
"The likes of Vinny Maguire, Davy Troy and Noel Keating all put in huge work with the side and they deserve great credit for their efforts. And every Friday we used to get somebody down from somewhere to train us. One of those nights Richie Power (senior) took the training of the team and another night Bertie Sherlock from Toomevara that is helping to train Waterford with Davy Fitzgerald this year helped out as well."
"It was brilliant to get fella's like that down to Meath as they have a lot of experience in the game and all the youngsters really respected what they had to say."
"We played the Dublin minors and Tipperary minors in challenges before the championship and we played well in those matches so we were expecting to perform a lot better than we did against Carlow but things just didn't go well for us on the day."
So heading into the championship did Dowd expect his charges to mount a serious bid for honours? While stressing that the players he had at his disposal were talented, the Dunderry clubman was of the opinion that this year's minor side might just possess a better bunch of players.
"The minors have the players. We weren't allowed to play any minors so just used lads that we solely Under 21. There is a group of players coming through now at the minor age group that seem to have plenty of potential and with a bit of luck they should be able to produce the goods at senior level in a few years."
"We knew coming into the championship that it was going to be tough. We started training just after Christmas and we trained very single Friday night and in fairness we got unbelievably turn outs at the trainings. We could have 30 or 40 lads there every Friday night which was great to see and at least it shows that the interest is there."
The 13-point loss to Carlow was a bitter pill for Dowd to swallow and he admitted that a lot of the stronger lads didn't show their true colours on the day.
"On the day against Carlow, the big lads we had just didn't produce the goods and you really need your better players to be performing well to make an impact at inter-county level."
"Maybe the commitment just wasn't there from some lads and I suppose if hurling in Meath is to go forward you would have to get a lot more commitment from the lads that have the talent."
But it certainly isn't all doom and gloom on the Meath hurling front according to Dowd who was keen to stress that there are a number of talented hurlers filtering through the underage ranks in the county.
"There is definitely some really talented young hurlers in the county but you have to be able to keep them playing and if you lose three of four of them to football, it upsets the whole things and means that you are fighting an uphill battle."
"If Meath had had won the Christy Ring in the last two years it would have made a huge difference. It would have given the whole county a huge boost and you would have more young fellas going around with hurleys in their hand and that's what you need," Dowd concluded.
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