National Football League 2024

That's not correct Meath didn't return closer to their mean after Boylan left. Because the last decade was Meaths worst decade in 100 years, the last decade was Meath worst since 1920s. Even though in leinster championship Meath were still 2nd best team by a mile reaching 6 leinster finals since 2010 compared to kildares 1, Westmeath 2, louth and Wexford 1 leinster final appearance. But last decade was Meath worst in that, the last decade 2010 to 2019 is the first decade Meath didn't reach All Ireland finals since 1920s. Meath reached All Ireland finals in 30s,40s,50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, but failed to in last decade. In all those decades Meath had teams good enough to win Sam and in many cases did. Only kerry Dublin Cork Galway were as consistent as Meath in those 90 years. Meath had great sucess great teams great players great manager/ trainers ( like Fr Tully Peter McDermott) before Sean Boylan. Yes there was fallow period of over 15 years before Boylan came, but even in that period Meath had one of the best teams in country in mid 1970s, and were the only team to beat Great Kerry great Dublin team in national final in 70s. As Meath pushed Heffernan teams all the way in the 70s. Dublin at time were very lucky to beat Meath in 70s. In 74 Meath could have beaten Dublin, in 75 Meath did beat Dublin, In 76 Meath should have beaten Dublin and in 77 when Dublin won 2 in a row hammering Armagh in final anf beating Kerry in semis. In that year 1977 How Meath didn't beat Dublin when they dominated second half, is a mystery.

Meath before Boylan had same number of All Ireland Mayo have now. 3 or 4 All Ireland in gaelic football is a strong football county. People look at kilkenny, Dublin, Cluxton Shefflin All Ireland and think 4 or 5 or 6 are not many but in gaelic football terms. Teams with 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 All Irelands are near top of gaa table.

Again Meath had great tradition before Sean. Difference was Sean turned Meath into number 1 county in Ireland for 16 years. In the past Meath were never number one county nationwide for decade but they had best teams in leinster for many eras and one of the best teams in the country at different times all before Sean. Meath had strong teams in 1930s and 1970s and Meath had great teams in 1940s 1950s 1960s. Meath Teams that beat all time great teams. Meath stopped Cavan from 3 in a row in 49, Meath stopped kerry from winning 4 in a row in 54 and Meath hammered great Down team of the 60s in All Ireland semi final in 60s. Meath were beating great team long before Sean.

In 30s Meath had very good team, wining leinster and div 1 league title and were very unlucky to lose All Ireland final v kerry by 2 pts in 1939. In 40s and 50s for large part Meath were best team in leinster and one of the best country. Meath had great battles with great louth team, great Cavan team and brilliant Dublin team in 40s 50s. 40 years before Sean started to beat Dublin, Meath were beating Dublin. Meath Dublin rivalry begins in 1940s. When you have first great Meath team and you have Dublin players playing for Dublin. Up to 1940s kerry men Mayo men Meath men were winning All Irelands for Dublin. Dublin were an all star 32 county representative team. That changes in 1940s. And Meath v Dublin rivalry begins. Meath had great succes v Dubs in 80s 90s this was not new. As Meath were successful v Dubs in 40s 50s 60s. Meath beat Dublin 4 times in 5 years in championship in late 90s early 00s. Meath beat Dubs 4 times in 5 years in championship in late 40s early 50s. Meath had great team in late 40s winning an All Ireland in 49 and won many leinsters. In 50s another great Meath team appeared winning Sam in 1954. This Meath had one of greatest full back lines ever to play the game with Two O" Briens and Kevin McConnell and King of full backs the full back of the team of the Century, Paddy O Brien.

Meath again appeared with a great team in 60s and became best team in leinster in 60s and one of the best teams of the era nationwide. Everything Meath did under Sean in 80s and 90s happened in 40s 50s 60s. Meath had great success under Sean v Dubs, Meath had success v Dubs in 40s 50s 60s. Meath beat Dublin when they were reigning All Ireland champions in 1996 under Sean. Meath did the very same thing in 1964 when.they defeated Dublin when they were reigning All Ireland champions. Meath before Sean had great teams with huge sucesss, but also great players like McGuinness great Meath full back of 30s, and other greats before Sean were Peter McDermott, Paddy Brien, Mick O Brien, Kevin McConnell, Paddy Meegan, Jack Quinn, Bertie Cunningham, Pat Reynold snr, Pat "Red" Collier, Mattie kerrigan, Noel Curran, Ken Rennicks, Joe Casseells and many others.

Sean's sucess was mirrored by one of the great gaa trainers of all time. Fr Paddy Tully. Before managers, teams were managed by gaa trainers. There was 3 or 4 great gaa trainers. They include Dr Eamon Sullivan of kerry who led kerry to 8 All Ireland and John bull Dunne who led Galway to 3 in a row in 60s. And Fr Tully who led Meath to many All Irelands also. When you said Meath returned to their mean after Sean this is wrong because Fr Tully Meath great trainer of 40s 50s 60s had similar amount sucess to Sean.

Two great figures of kerry Football are Mick Dwyer and Eamon Sullivan both won 8 All Ireland as manager and trainer. Sean and Fr Tully had similar sucess. Sean won 4 All Ireland, Fr Tully won 3 All Irelands with Meath, Sean managed Meath to 8 leinster titles, Fr Tully trained Meath to 7 leinster titles. They had similar amount of sucess

From 1986 Sean Boylan led Meath to 4 All Ireland senior titles, 8 leinster senior titles and 3 national league div 1 titles.

From 1940s onwards Fr Tully led Meath to 3 All Ireland senior titles, 7 leinster senior titles & 3 national league div 1 titles & 1 All Ireland minor title & 1 leinster minor title.

( Just side note Fr Tully Co managed Co trained Meath in 60s with Peter McDermott, one of Meath great players, and one great gaa trainers of the 60s. Peter McDermott was one of the great trainers of his generation and with Fr Tully in 60s led Meath to 4 leinster titles and 3 All Ireland finals winning 1 in 1967, he also was the man who really invented international rules. Without Peter McDermott there would be no international rules as he organised Meath tour of Australia in 1968) .

Sean Boylan in 1980s 1990s copied the sucess Fr Tully had with Meath in 1940s 1950s 1960s. Meath success under Sean was very similar sucess Meath had under Fr Tully in 40s 50s 60s. So in conclusion I don't think it's fair to say it was all down to Sean and Meath returned closer to their mean when he left. That is factually untrue. Meath and Sean Boylan mirrored sucess the great Meath team of 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s had. Sean was a genius and one greatest manager ever but Meath had great tradition of sucess before Sean. And some greatest players of all time played for Meath in those years from 1930s to 1970s. Meath had 2 greatest gaa trainers of all time in that period also eg Fr Tully and Peter McDermott. Where Meath are now and have being for last few years or so is the lowest Meath have being in 100 years since 1920s. The last decade was Meaths worst since the foundation of the state in 1922. Meath are at their lowest level since 1920s. At that time Meath were very disorganised and actually entered junior championship at times. In 1920s some of Meaths best players played for Dublin, Meath were not serious senior football county in 20s. It wasn't til 1929 Meath starter to get their act together. Before that there was years Meath didn't enter leinster championship. After 1929 1930, Meath players stopped playing for Dublin and starting playing for Meath and first strong Meath team appeared in 1930s.

Just another point to put all sucess down Sean, yes he was important but look at great players he had like Colm O Rourke Mick Lyons Robbie O Malley Martin O Connell Joe Cassells Gerry McEntee Bernard Flynn Brian Stafford Darren Fay Mark Reilly John McDermott Evan Kelly Graham Geraghty Ollie Murphy Trevor Giles. Meath produced great teams and great players under Sean and Meath produced great teams great players and great trainers before Sean.

You asked what I think the problem is with Meath. There are many issues with Meath. I am going to focus on two areas. Other areas I will mention are the lack of underage sucesss is an issue. Meath won no underage titles from 2008 to 2016. This meant Andy had little talent to work with. Meath have started to produce underage recently with 4 leinster minor titles and All Ireland minor title won recently. So Colm has talent to work with the problem is they are too young and inexperienced. Meath have the youngest team in country with only 2 experienced players in late 20s early 30s even mid 20s on team, they are Jones and keoghan. Meath do have talent and potential but it will take 2 to 3 years at least before they are ready to play Armagh or Derry. It took Mick Dwyer 5 years to suceed with kildare and Sean Boylan 4 years to suceed with Meath. Its takes 4 or 5 years to build successful team in leinster in shadow of the Dubs. Another reason Meath are so up and down is Meath are missing 8 players who played in Tailtean cup Final, Meath don't have experience or depth in their panel to deal with so many players missing. Meath have 15 players playing Sigerson while Armagh and Fermanagh had 2. It has meant Meath Colm O'Rourke hasn't being able to have all his players available to train or coach not once this year. With 12 to 15 players missing from every Meath training session.

Also for years Meath were producing small players around centre field. Meath were not producing any quality midfielders for year. They had to turn Menton and McEntee half backs into midfielders. However there seems to conveyor belt of young 6ft 4 6 ft 5 Atletic midfielders coming through. Like Conor Gray who at 19 last year was outstanding and looks a serious midfielder. Meaths have Ronan Jones and have young midfielders on panel like Conor Gray Jack Flynn Daithi McGowan Cian McBride Jack Kinlough. Its long time since Meath had such power Atleticism at midfield. And Conor Nash a huge talent says he will back in coming years to play for Meath from Auzzie rules. Meaths midfield issues has being problem since John McDermtt retired.

I would disagree it physiological, the issue with Meath . I will focus on two areas instead. You mention toughness never say spirit is no longer there. In past Meath did have never say die spirit. But that they were tough is cliche. And wasn't reason they successful. All teams were tough back in 70s 80s. Meath were no tougher than any team back than. Actually in 80s Laois had tougher than Meath, ( Remeber battle of Aughrim laois v Wicklow), and Armagh had tougher team than Meath in 80s and Dublin had tougher team than Meath in 70s and 80s. Actually the Meath team of 80s wouldnt get in top 2 tough teams from leinster to be All Ireland champions in last 50 years. The two tougher hardest teams to come from leinster in last 50 years were Dublin team of 70s and early 80s ( 1978 league final v kerry, 1983 final v Galway are most violent finals in gaa history, irish sporting history) and Offaly team of early 70s. Dublins Sean Doherty make Mick lyons look like choir boy. Offaly team of early 70s had really tough reputation. They had full back who was called Iron Man from Rhodes Paddy McCormack. Paddy was only 5 ft 8.

A more significant reason Meath were successful was one word; forwards. Meath always had class forwards, the best forwards in leinster. Why did Meath beat Dublin so much in 80s 90s one of the major reasons was Meath had better forwards than Dublin. Actually every decade Meath had better forwards than Dublin its only in last decade Dublin had better forwards than Meath. Meath had better forwards than Dublin in 40s 50s 60s even 70s. With Colm O Rourke Ken Rennicks Mattie Kerrigan. And of course Meath had better forwards than Dubs in 80s and 90s. Even 00s Meath had better forwards than Dubs. U mentioned the team of 00s the reason they beat kerry Galway Mayo Dublin and Tyone in big championship matchs in 2000s was Meath had class forwards. That team should have won more leinsters and possibly All Ireland in 2010. They had firepower. But had 5 different managers in 7 years whicb meant players were not developed and the upheaval every year of new manager caused inconsistencies in performance. Look at forwards Meath had in 00s Graham Geraghty Ollie Murphy Trevor Giles Joe Sheridan Brian Farrell Cian Ward Stephen Bray David Bray Shane O Rourke Graham Reilly Peadar Byrne.

Why Cork struggled to beat Meath in late 80s was Meath had better forwards. Why Meath won v Mayo in 1996 was Meath had better forwards. Mayo had David Nestor Colm McMeninan James Horan Pj Loftus. Meath had Trevor Giles Graham Geraghty Ollie Murphy Tommy Dowd Evan Kelly Brendan Reilly. Everyone of those Meath forwards won All stars and only 1 Mayo forward on 96 team won All star in their career. Dublin have had better forwards than Meath since 2011 2012. Meath have not produced top class forward since Stephen Bray. Meaths best forward of last 10 years was Mickey Newman. But Mickeys career was destroyed by injury. He was only injury free two seasons. The season 2013 the last leinster final Meath got close to Dublin. And 2019 the year Meath got promoted to div 1 and reached q finals. Its no coincidence that Meath had their best two years in last ten years was the years Meath best forward of their generation was injury free. And Mickey Newman while he was quality forward he wouldn't have being at the level of great Meath footballer of the year forwards like Colm O Rourke Brian Stafford Trevor Giles.

The good news is Meath are producing young quality forwards. Exciting young forwards like Jordan Morris, Eoghan Frayne, Shane Walsh, Matthew Costello, Jack O’Connor, Diarmaid Moriarty, Ruari kinsella. All very young all have potential. Other players like Brian Staffords nephew Rian Stafford and Cian Commins are young forwards at 18 that look like real prospects. But Meath need one of two of these forwards to go up level. Meath need a Conor McManus, a quality div 1 forward. Playerss like Diarmaid Moriarty and Eoghan Frayne have huge potential, but they are inexperienced and at the moment are learning the game.

Next thing I want to mention is a reason I believe is 2 key factors for county to be sucessful. They are identity and driving forces. If you look in the past very few counties where successful and winning titles and that has continued into present. From 1930 to 2000 5 counties were the most successful consistent counties, they were kerry Dublin Galway Cork Meath. All had great gaa identities. Since 2002 only 2 teams and 1 province have won All Irelands while another has being consistently successful but failed to get over the line eg. Mayo. Since 2002 the most successful counties are kerry Dublin Mayo and Ulster counties namely Tyrone Donegal Armagh.

My believe is factor to be sucessful in gaa you need identity and driving force that drive a madness almost in the players to suceed. Pat Spillane has sajd in past that his team he played with had almost mad incredible hunger, incredible drive to succeed. I think most counties lack this curently. Counties like Meath kildare Cork laois and others lack identity and driving force.

So let's look at the few successful counties since 2000. First as sidenote I have to mention Roscommon while not All Ireland contenders and winners have being strong in last ten years. I think West of Ireland is probably gaelic football best provience in GAA at moment, in that it is the number one sport in the province. Also Roscommon have their best team since the brilliant team of 1970s. I think in West of Ireland there is still a sense of community, it still exists. Counties like Mayo and Roscommon gaa club is the center of every town and village. On the East coast sense of community has declined and in many cases doesn't exist. This means clubs on East coast are not centre of towns and village the same way they are in Connacht.

Let's look at successful counties with All Ireland wins since 2002. First you have kerry who have incredible identity. kerry have extraordinary hunger to remain the top team in gaa. For Kerry people the football team is Number 1 in the country. The whole county follows the teams and gaelic football for kerry people there is huge passion. kerrys driving force is to be best to continue the tradition. In my view kerry astonishing 38 All Irelands is greatest achievement in Irish sport and kerry don't get enough credit for their enormous sucess in football.

Than you have Dublin. Since 1974 Heffos Army, Hill 16, Come on ye boys in blue etc. Means Dublin have unique great gaa identity. Dublin as a county has great identity. It is the capital, it has world famous city, and is the centre of economic social cultural political life in the country. The whole country from infrastructure to power resolves around Dublin. And capital city like Madrid Paris London produce strong sucesssful teams. Dublin have great tradition great identity. And since 1974 Dublins had huge hunger desire to become number 1 county. In last 10 years or so Dublin have become number 1 county in GAA. Dublin are now at the top and want to stay at the top.

Than you have Mayo who have unique identity and driving force. For the whole of Mayo the gaelic football team is Number 1. Its like the Mayo football team is the embodiment of Mayo as a county and its people. What's driving Mayo to these finals is an obsession to end the famine and break the curse. So many times you hear Mayo people say before I die I want to see Mayo win Sam. It has become one counties obsession. This is huge driving force for Mayo. Mayo since 1989 have developed one of the best unique great identities in gaa. Mayo football in Mayo stands for everything that Mayos stands for past and present. No other county has connection between its people and gaelic football team the way Mayo have.

The Last team that have being successful are Ulster teams. Ulster teams have best managers best coach's best tactics in Ireland since 2002. But Ulster team have unique identity and driving force. Ulster teams have siege mentality , that everyone is against them. From media down south to unionist neighbours. And we all know siege mentality can fuel a togetherness and sucess within sporting teams. Ulster teams feel siege mentality, that the media down south are against them and teams down south are against them. Ulster teams have unique strong great identity. GAA identity matters more to gaa people in the North than say in kildare Meath laois on the East coast. The Ulster teams live in a part of country occupied by the UK. This gives them more of siege mentality. And being under British rules means Ulster teams have love passion for gaa, a gaa identity that matters more than counties down south. Their passion of gaa is central to who they are, their backgrounds and their Irish identity. There is extraordinary passion love for GAA in Ulster. This had led to great Ulster teams anf great Ulster players. If it wasn't for Ulster teams Dublin and kerry would have won last 22 All Irelands ( exception is Cork in 2010).

Just to mention Cork Cork identity driving forces doesn't feel as strong as it was in the past. Look at Cork hurlers and Cork footballers. Cork hurlers its 20 years since they won All Ireland, that's longest time ever for Cork. Cork footballers are at their lowest since 1950s.

So where do Meath come. Meath had great identity in the past. Similar to Ulster teams Meath had siege mentality. Everyone against Meath. One of the reasons Meath were successful in past is because of Dublin louth Kildare Westmeath. Meath local rivalries meant Meath were battle harden when they left province. No other gaa football county had as many rivals on its border than Meath. Meath have 8 neighbouring counties. This had meant wherever you where in Meath you would have kildare Dublin Westmeath louth fan who would call u Meath f*###r. And hated you and this gave a sense of belonging identity to Meath. Than the rivalries with Louth 40s 50s and with kildare and Westmeath in 90s 00s and especially the rivalries with Dubs in 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 00s meant Meath had identity everyone is against us and those battled with Louth Kildare Westmeath and especially Dublin were the making of Meath teams.

Those battles with Dubln especially have stopped. Meath footballers were obsessed with Dublin in the past. Mick Lyons says playing Dublin was matter of life and Death. Great Meaths players in 40s 50s 60s like Jack Quinn and Paddy O'brien were obsessed with beating Dublin. So were greats of 80s 90s Colm O'Rourke Graham Geraghty John McDermott Tommy Dowd Mick lyons all obsessed with beating Dublin. It drove Meath teams through brick walls. Beating Dublin in leinster turns leinster teams into Alll Ireland contenders overnight. However today Dublin have gone so far ahead of Meath, Meath teams have struggled to compete v Dubs in recent times. Meath teams its seems the gap is to big close in last 15 years.The decline of Meath v Dublin rivalry has had hugely negative impact on Meath football.

Also the doubling of Meaths population in last 20 years meand Meaths identity was lessened. Meath has gone from rural county with average population to county with huge suburban areas and huge population. However there is hope that this population explosion could be factor in new Meath resurgence. Look at the Meath ladies. How they came from nowhere to suceed. They represent new modern Meath identity. They have players from gaa Meath heartlands like Summerhill Skyrne and small northern villages but significantly so many of them come from southern suburbs towns like Rataoth Ashbourne Dunboyne. This area is new stronghold of Meath gaa. Its similar to growth of gaa southern Dublin suburbs. Country people from Western seaboard came up to Dublin joined the local gaa club and became key members in the club. These country people from kerry Donegal became parents and their sons went on to win 6 in a row all Irelands for Dublin. The same is happening i Meath, country people moving to Meath suburbs and their children becoming Meath footballers. The first 20 years was difficult for Meath with population growth but it does seems with Meath ladies, Meath could possibly have new identity built on their old identity. Look at the adies how Meath v Dublin rivalry has become important. Meath ladies footballers are obsessed with beating Dublin the same way Meath men for generation were. Players like Emma Duggan represent the new Meath, her father great player from laois moves to Dunboyne and his daughter becomes best footballer in Ireland and potentially best ever ladies footballer ever. It does seem there is swagger back to Meath sportpeople and you can see it ftom Emma Duggan Vicki Wall Gordon Elliot to one of the best young footballers on the planet, Bettytown Evan Ferguson. And of course you have other Meath men making impact in soccer with Dunboynes Blackburn Daragh lenihan Enfield Burley Luke McNally Athboy Jamie McGrath and new exciting star of Irish soccer Navans Sam Curtis. The point is for 20 years Meaths sportspeople lacked confidence. Now today in 2020s when I look at the Meath ladies, Meath minors, top class soccer players, it seems a new generation of sportpeople are emerging in Meath with a new swagger and inner confidence and new identity. Just like great Meath gaa players like Graham Geraghty Mick lyons Colm O Rourke Ollie Murphy had swagger inner confidence in the past.

I am optimistic Meath could have a good gaa team in 2 to 3 years time and I expect Meath to be much stronger in the next 20 years than previous 20 years. Because Meath in previous 20 years lacked underage sucess and Meath are now producing underage sucesss and I think personally Meath will improve, slowly and surely. What they achieve I haven't a clue that will depend on how good the manager are and how good the players are. It does feel we are now entering a new era in Meath football.