20-year wait for home Leinster tie ends for Meath

November 06, 2014

Most of the spotlight will be on the Leinster decider between Rhode and All-Ireland champions St. Vincent's at Pairc Tailteann.

With the venues and dates decided for next year's Leinster SFC, all the focus has been on Dublin's continued presence at Croke Park, but for Meath a two decade wait for a home game has finally come to an end.

May 28 1995 is a date that might not mean much to GAA folk nationwide, but for Meath Gaels this was the day they last had the good fortune to watch their county play a Leinster SFC match in Pairc Tailteann. Offaly were seen off on a 1-15 to 1-5 scoreline on a day Ollie Murphy made his championship debut.

To put it into perspective about how long ago it was, Sean Boylan would manage Meath for a further ten seasons while the side that day included 1987 and '88 All-Ireland winners such as Bob O'Malley, Martin O'Connell, PJ Gillic and Brian Stafford. Colm O'Rourke came on as a substitute, scoring 1-2.

When the Leinster SFC draw was made last month, Meath were paired against Wicklow in a quarter-final.

"Wicklow looked for home advantage arguing that they had come out of the draw first but we played in Aughrim twice in recent years, so the game will be in Pairc Tailteann next year," Meath Leinster Council delegate Brian Carberry confirmed to hoganstand.com this morning, with the game fixed for Sunday 14 June 2015.

Meath shared the record of the longest spell without a home provincial game with Kildare, whose last Leinster SFC game in Newbridge was also in 1995 when they lost to Louth.

Both counties have played All-Ireland Qualifier games at home, but a provincial match holds much more prestige in the eyes of supporters.


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