It's often the case that soaring expectations can lead to bitter disappointments and the Meath minor footballers fell into this category in 2007 with Paddy Carr's charges failing to scale the same heights that brought an All-Ireland semi-final appearance the previous year. By David Jennings. Having taken over the reigns from Dudley Farrell, Carr looked to have been handed down a promising panel of players to work from but a heavy defeat to Dublin in the first round of the Leinster Championship forced Meath to take the scenic route in their bid to retain their provincial crown. That passage didn't appear too tough when the second chance saloon them paired with a Carlow side that had no pedigree in the grade but the trip to Dr. Cullen Park didn't turn out as most had predicted with the visitors turning in another below par performance which signalled their exit from the competition. With Colm O'Rourke coaxing another Leinster title out of the students of St. Patrick's and St. Oliver's, Oldcastle claiming the All-Ireland Colleges 'B' title, there appeared to be wealth of underage talent in the county which led many into thinking that a defeat of arch rivals Dublin could be in the offing. But that train of thought was soon extinguished at Parnell Park as Dublin led from flag fall and ran out comfortable winners with the board reading 2-11 to 1-7 in their favour at the end of the hours play. Early points from John Broderick and Graham Reilly kept Meath on the coat-tales of their counterparts in the opening exchanges and they only trailed 0-2 to 0-3 after 11 minutes but Dublin enjoyed a productive spell on the approach to half-time and only for a Neil Heffernan goal in the last action of the half, Dublin would have been gone beyond recall. Heffernan's major ensured his side were only 1-3 to 1-7 in arrears at the change of ends but Dublin continued in the ascendancy after the resumption and Brian Sheridan was the only Meath player to extend Meath's tally in the second half. Sheridan converted four frees in that period but these efforts only served the purpose of prolonging the agony for Carr's troops as Meath failed to register a score from play for the entirety of the half as Dublin secured their passage to the Leinster quarter-final with a Felim McMahon goal adding a sheen of gloss onto the scoreline. Dublin full-forward Shane Gallagher ensured his opposite number David Maguire endured a torrid afternoon with the Walterstown full-back failing to cope with the physical presence of the number 14. Meath were dealt a further blow in the closing stages of the encounter when Reilly, one of the survivors from the previous years starting fifteen, was given his marching orders by referee Declan Greene for an altercation with Ted Furman, meaning that he would have to sit out the Carlow clash. While those wanting to take any positives out of the seven-point defeat would have had an arduous task in doing so, Carr was not so downbeat and was adamant that there was more to come from his charges believing that a victory over the O'Moore County would get their campaign back on track. After impressing between the posts in St. Pat's journey to the All-Ireland Colleges decider in 2006, Patrick O'Rourke lined out in that position for the county minor side and the Skryne lad believed that the crop of players who played in the campaign failed to do themselves justice. 'Going into the Leinster Championship we really felt that we could make an impact and that a win over Dublin was very possible as we had been playing well in matches leading up to that clash but things just didn't seem to go our way," O'Rourke said. "There was never much between ourselves and Dublin in this age group throughout the years so to be bet by such a wide margin was very disappointing but we just didn't perform on the day and everything Dublin hit seemed to be going over the bar. "There is no way that they were seven-point better team than us but that's football and they punished us for every mistake we made and on the day we kept making mistakes," O'Rourke added. Carr made a number of both personnel and positional switches for the trip to Dr. Cullen Park and they seemed to work in the early stages as Meath blasted out of the traps courtesy of a Darragh Smyth goal which handed them an early stranglehold on the tie. But that early initiative was soon quenched by an inventive Carlow side that clawed their way back into contention with the aid of a Ronan Lawler goal and were on level terms at the break, 1-5 apiece. Carr's men had barely stepped foot out of the dressing room for the second half when they found themselves playing catch up as Brendan Murphy netted within a minute of the restart and that strike seemed to spur on the hosts who established a seven-point lead with six minutes remaining. Meath did launch a retrieval mission, fronted by Brian Sheridan who tormented the Carlow rearguard and his brace of goals in the final five minutes almost secured his side an unlikely reprieve but the Seneschalstown clubman who finished proceedings with 2-5 to his name could only claim the 'played too well to be on the losing side' accolade as Carlow ran out deserved 2-12 to 3-8 victors. While Neil Heffernan, John Broderick and Darragh Smyth did quite well in both outings, Sheridan came out of the ties with most distinction and accumulated 2-10 over the two encounters with neither Dublin nor Carlow managing to curb his influence. But Sheridan was left ploughing a lonely furrow in attack with only six other players registering scores over the two ties and this lack of scoring prowess combined with the concession of 4-23 were the main components behind Meath's bitterly disappointing campaign. "I think the heavy defeat to Dublin really effected us going into the Carlow clash and a lot of the lads seemed to be lacking in confidence and although we got a great start with Darragh (Smyth) scoring the early goal, we never really settled," O'Rourke said. "Maybe we underestimated Carlow a little bit as they played really well and the fact that they had never beaten a Meath team for a long time would have spurred them on. "They came out all guns blazing at the beginning of the second half and got a goal very early on in that period and before we knew it we were six or seven points behind and only for Brian (Sheridan) got the two late goals we would have been comprehensively beaten'. "There was only two of the lads that got to an All-Ireland final in 2006 on our side and perhaps we lacked a little bit of experience but there a couple of the team eligible for next year so I would expect them to learn from the experience," O'Rourke concluded. In the lead up to their Leinster Championship assault, Carr chose not to take up a customary position in the Leinster League and the lack of competitive fixtures seemed to work against his side as Meath seemed unable able to cope with the added intensity in both the Dublin and Carlow clashes. Following the surprise loss to Carlow, there were many astute judges who called for a revamp of the underage structure in the county and if Meath are to re-emerge as a force on the senior stage perhaps this approach should be given some thought. The Meath Minor team that bowed out of the Leinster Championship to Carlow at Dr. Cullen Park in April was as follows: P. O'Rourke; C. Malone, J. Martin, E. Woods; M. Battersby, D. Maguire, T. Johnson; P. Kelly (0-1), J. Broderick (0-2); E. Callaghan, M. Newman, D. Smyth (1-0); A. Newman, B. Sheridan (2-5), N. Heffernan. Subs - P. Rogers for Malone, M. Collins for Callaghan, C. Mallon for Heffernan, S. Dervan for A. Newman. Tweet

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