Chairman Conor Tormey decided to look to the future rather than reflect on the past in his address to the annual convention of the Meath County Committee in the splendid Navan O'Mahonys centre on Monday night.

"I am not exaggerating when I say that the coming 12 months are perhaps going to be the most crucial and exciting in the proud history of Meath GAA. During the two years since I took office the emphasis has been very much on stabilising the ship and getting our finances and structures in order," opened the Donaghmore / Ashbourne clubman.

"We stand here on the cusp of putting in place something very special for the future generations of Meath GAA. The development of our Centre of Excellence in Dunganny is now under way and I am so delighted that we are going to provide our members children with the most modern training base in Ireland.

"Here we have top of the range changing rooms, gym, meeting rooms and dining facilities for our players and coaches. While this is going to of huge benefit to our current players and management in the preparation of their teams, there is a bigger picture for me.

"Critically this is going to provide us with our biggest natural resource to attract the next generation of footballers and hurlers to our association.

"I have often talked about how we must pass on the torch to the next generation and now we will be in a position to offer them the best facilities and their parents will be proud to see their children as members of Meath GAA.

"There are so many people who have helped bring this project to fruition and that's what makes the GAA so special. Everyone has their shoulder to the wheel to ensure Meath GAA makes it back to the top.

"Success does not come cheap and we have been putting in place the financial structures that will provide us with regular strands of income that will allow us to fund all these developments.

"We have secured a loan from our financial institution at a very competitive rate and received grant funding of €700,000 from Central and Leinster Council combined. This puts us in a very healthy position as we move into 2015," the chairman continued.

Turning his attention to the Meath senior football team, Tormey said that the side has achieved a level of consistency over the past two years under Mick O'Dowd.

"We saw the team produce some great performances in the NFL and they came desperately close to making the promotion places. In the championship  we reached the Leinster final for the third successive year and although it ended in defeat, we are slowly edging towards a level of performance in the qualifiers that should see us come good in the coming years.

"Promotion to Division 1 of the NFL is naturally a big aim for 2015, so that we can be consistently playing the best teams in the country and while there are no easy games in Division 2, it is a very attainable goal," the chairman remarked.

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