When reminiscing over the Boylan years, the names of O'Rourke, Stafford, Flynn and Lyons are synonymous with the triumphant tale but one of the vital ingredients of the Dunboyne man's winning concoction was his last line of defence, Mickey McQuillan. McQuillan was one of the most generous servants to the green and gold jersey, lining out between the posts for the best part of sixteen years following his debut in 1978 and the St Patrick's clubman took a few moments out to take a stroll down memory lane and recall the first of his All-Ireland winning escapades in 1987. Although a Leinster final victory over the Dubs in '86 indicated that there may be more to come from Boylan's men, few could have predicted that an All-Ireland title was just around the corner. So what brought the rapid improvement in a team that was not supposed to be in the running for the most coveted prize in Irish sport? "The one thing that we had in 1987 was that everybody would work like trojans. We all knew that everybody was working as hard as they could for the good of the team. If anybody didn't turn up to training it wouldn't be Sean (Boylan) that you would have to answer to, it would be yourself. You would know yourself that you were after letting everybody down," McQuillan said. "That was the way it was that year. Every player was not playing for themselves, they were playing for the team and we all knew that we couldn't be selfish and we had to put in all the hard work to make things happen. It was probably the first time in a while that a team in the county gave so much dedication and wanted to win so badly. "There was the perfect blend of youth and experience in '87. You had the likes of Joe Cassells and Gerry McEntee who were great leaders and then there was the younger lads like Bernard Flynn and P.J Gillic who learned from the more experiences fella's. "It was in '87 that the whole Meath never-say-die attitude was born. We got so used to winning games and working hard for one another that we never wanted to lose and we believed so much in our own ability that if we went four, five or six points down we would still be able to claw our way back into the game," he added. The early eighties proved to be a barren spell in Meath football in which arch rivals Dublin had ruled the roost and the old saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder was there for all the see as the Royal following swelled as hopes of an All-Ireland title started to become a distinct possibility. Looking back on the journey itself, McQuillan cites the victory over the men from the Capital in the provincial decider as the launch pad for their winning bid and remembers fondly the lead up to the All-Ireland final in which the whole county became engrossed in the fortunes of the team. "We had won the Leinster title in 1986 so I had a fair idea that we would have a strong side in 1987 but I suppose I couldn't have predicted us winning an All-Ireland final but we just got on a bit of a role and we got used to winning. "The biggest win for us that year came against Dublin in the Leinster final as they had been the dominant team in the 80's and they had a right good side but when we beat them we knew we had a team there that were that little bit special. "Derry were probably a bit disappointing in the All-Ireland semi-final and we beat them quite easily and there was a great buzz around the county then. You had big crowds turning up to training in Dalgan Park just to watch us and that type of interest was never seen before in Meath football. "We were undoubtedly underdogs going into the final against Cork as they had beaten Kerry in the Munster final and we knew that any team that beats Kerry can't be too bad but luckily enough things went right for us on the day and it was some feeling when the final whistle was blown," McQuillan said. Like any winning team, the All-Ireland winners of '87 were only as good as their manager and McQuillan evokes memories of Sean Boylan's training regime, remarking that many of his sessions were quite different from the status quo at that time. "Sean was a great man to have in charge. No matter what people may have said about him, he always had us spot on for matches and the preparations for games was top class. "I remember in '87 we used to always train in Dalgan Park and one evening we turned up to train as normal but Sean said no lads don't bother getting changed yet. We're not training here we're going to go to Tara Hill. "As you could probably understand we weren't too enthusiastic about the idea and a couple of us were thinking that this was a bit mad but there are plenty of teams going to Tara even now and the current Meath side even made a few trips. "Sean was about twenty years ahead of his time. When Sean took charge at the start all we were used to was doing a small bit of running and the rest all ball work and plenty of games but he changed all that and brought training to a whole new level. "There was another evening that year when we were told to go to Summerhill for training. We all heading down anyway but there was no sign of Sean. One of the lads rang Liam Creavin who would have been chairman at the time and he told us to go to the back of Mick Lyons' house. "We ended up doing rowing in a river that flowed at the back of his house. This type of thing was unheard of at the time and there was loads of times when we all wondered what the hell was he at and we'd all start laughing. "But the variety was great and things like that are all the rage nowadays. Sean used to love varying the training and all the different things that we did made sure that we didn't get bored so our interest never waned," McQuillan said. McQuillan will always be remembered as one of the best goalkeepers to ply his trade with Meath but it could have been very different had he not stepped into the goals for the last couple of minutes in a trial match at Under 14 level. A young and enthusiastic McQuillan was doing quite well at midfield in the session but the goalkeeper on his side was forced to withdraw from the action and with the St Patrick's youngster being one of the tallest lads on view, the mentors on the line saw him as the perfect makeshift replacement. The rest as they say is history. "To be honest it was a pure accident that I started playing in goals. I went to some county Under 14 trials out in Dalgan Park one Saturday and I was playing midfield but the goalkeeper on my team got injured and one of the lads on the line shouted over at me wondering would I stand in the goals for the last ten minutes. "At the time I would have been taller than a lot of lads and I had a fairly good kick-out so that was all I really needed at the start so they keep me between the posts. I was always told that if you are lucky enough to wear a Meath jersey you should try and keep it no matter what position it is for and that is what I did," McQuillan concluded. Tweet

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