Winning a senior All Ireland title and retaining it the following year seems to be an achievement beyond the capability of most counties in modern times, if the recent defeats of Kilkenny and Kerry are anything to go by, writes An Fear Rua …

One explanation for this may be the story AFR heard some years ago about a captain of a winning All Ireland team who, apparently, claimed (or boasted) that if the county succeeded again the following year he ‘would have to get himself a new mickey …’ Obviously, in more liberal times, the nature of post All Ireland celebrations in some counties has taken on a dimension and a frequency that was unheard of years ago. AFR knows most inter-county players are prepared to sacrifice almost anything for All Ireland success … but … a vital part of their anatomy? Hardly.

Indeed, after Meath’s most recent defeat of Westmeath in the quarter-final replay, a couple in green-and-yellow jerseys were observed ‘a-doin’ a-what comes nat’rally’ in an Eircom phone booth around midnight only yards away from a crowded ‘chipper’, in one of the villages of Meath. Obviously, they had been overcome with the whole emotion of the victory or wanted to confirm if they could score more times than Ollie Murphy or Graham Geraghty. Customers of the ‘chipper’ were too startled to notice if the young lady in question managed to hold onto her bag of chips at the climactic moment. (Shades of those old stories about how to tell a Northside Dublin girl from a Southsider).

The Athlone School Marm Herself, Ms Mary O’Rourke, recently announced the impending closure of hundreds of phone booths around the country - no longer needed because of the proliferation of ‘mobiles’. However, these young fans have obviously discovered a recreational and social use for telephone booths that could ensure their survival for many a long year. Given time, the School Marm may come up with even more alternative uses for booths - like small village craft centres, IDA advance factories or community medical centres. For AFR’s more fastidious readers who may be concerned about inadvertently stumbling into this particular booth, or indeed his more prurient ones who may wish to locate it and try to ‘get lucky’, we can reveal that is in the main street of the village of Dunshaughlin, home of the current football champions of Meath.

Not since Cork completed their ‘two-in-a-row’ in 1989-1990 (including a Double in hurling and football in the latter year) have any All Ireland winners succeeded in retaining their title the following year. The superstitious would also gloomily point to the fact that both counties endeavouring to do that this year had county names that began with K and ended with Y. Surely a bad omen.

Having dumped the reigning champions out of the semi-final, Meath face Galway in the final a fortnight from next Sunday. Already the ‘meeja’ are on about how difficult it will be for Meath to win having been installed as strong favourites and how the Galway manager, John O’Mahony, will relish the tag of underdogs. Galway’s talent as a side has shone through only intermittently this year. Nevertheless, on the day, a fine manager like O’Mahony will have them well prepared, both physically and mentally, and it should be a close, exciting game, with some passages of excellent football from both sides. The reality, however, is that the only team that can beat Meath this year is Meath…

By that, AFR means that Meath would have to suddenly lose or forget all the qualities and experiences they’ve had so far this year and thus beat themselves out of the game. But they are not going to do that and so are unlikely to be beaten, even by a side as good as Galway can be. Meath may lose the game to Galway, but they will not be beaten by them.

Apart from seeing them play, AFR has had the pleasure and privilege of seeing this Meath squad in training from the very start of this year’s campaign, in the magnificently-appointed club grounds of Dunsany GFC. They possess a truly remarkable team spirit, commitment, sense of fun and enjoyment, ability to ‘play for each other’, the individual subsumed into the team effort, as well as a deep loyalty to the Dunboyne Alchemist Himself, the other selectors and – above all – to themselves. Their success this year has been built on the old Boylan maxim that ‘whoever has the ball has control of the game’.


None of these factors are going to change between now and All Ireland Sunday. All of the media column inches about ‘favourites’ and underdogs’ won’t change it either. So, if you’re passing through Meath on the night of Sunday 23rd September and you need to make a phone call, just be sure you bring your ‘mobile’ with you … Because the Eircom booths are likely to be ‘engaged’ …

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Kerry Even Lost the ‘INTO Sevens’
Galway Fan’s Knickers in a Twist?
Meath – The New Brazil ?
An Maor ‘Comes Out ‘?
Meath – This Year’s ‘Back Door’ Bandits ?
A Week is a Short Time in Football
New Football Championship – Nothing for Weaker Counties!