Leinster needs a battle royal
In June of last year both teams played out what was quite possibly one of the most insipid shows in their 58-match long rivalry. In a game most likely to be remembered for full forward, Mark Davoren’s cruciate injury, Dublin won by two points but in reality, the gulf in class was much wider than the scoreboard reflected.
There was very little to suggest to either Pat Gilroy or Eamon O’Brien, both making their championship bows on the sideline, that the year would pan out as it did — Meath doing themselves no great discredit with a stubborn but ultimately disappointing display in an All-Ireland semi-final and Dublin’s display in the quarter-final a month earlier plunging them into the period of deep introspection from which they’ve yet to emerge.
What these discouragements, taken together, seem to amount to is both teams arriving at Croke Park tomorrow with no real pretensions about themselves and more pertinently maybe, both sets of supporters arriving at HQ mindful of the fact that the Meath-Dublin rivalry (as they knew it in its most elemental form nearly two decades ago) is dead.
On these pages a few weeks back when discussing the possible diminution of the Cork-Kerry rivalry in Munster, I suggested that whatever about surface appearance, attendance figures in Killarney would tell us a little bit more about what it feels like inside for the supporters of Munster football. Two compelling games later that offered much to the casual observer and I can guarantee you that if Cork and Kerry were to clash next week or next year they couldn’t print the tickets fast enough. The rivalry has been renewed and the senses re-sharpened for everybody on both sides of the border. Dublin and Meath may have to come up with something similar tomorrow to inject new life into an ailing province and into a rivalry that’s in danger of becoming irrelevant.
It’s difficult to pinpoint where the plates shifted in relation to Dublin and Meath and it’s almost impossible to know if the two giants of modern Leinster football still view themselves as coming from irreconcilably different cultures. Some argue that the suburbanisation of tracts of Meath during the years of affluence, softened the Royals focus somewhat and it was no longer important to be determinedly not from Dublin.
Maybe when viewed through the football prism, it’s a little more complex than the archetypal clash of urban and rural. When Galway tanked Meath in that remarkable 2001 final it seemed to shake the county to the core. Meath teams just weren’t beaten like that. Many of that sides including the greatest playmaker of that era (Trevor Giles), the greatest full-back of that era (Darren Fay) and the most iconoclastic, defiant, insolent and unrepentant forward duo of the era (Geraghty and Murphy) were still only in their mid to late 20s and yet the seasons since have been a vast wasteland for the Royals.
It’s unlikely that a generation of Meath footballers woke up one day and decided that they had, had their fill after years of supping from the trough but a few appearances in an All-Ireland semi-final and a decent showing against the Dubs in 2007 was never enough to constitute a respectable level of achievement. Perhaps the most insidious development in the nine years since Meath were the last Leinster county contesting for Sam in September is that Dublin have streaked ahead of the other counties in the province without so much as a hint of annoyance from Meath.
It has often been put forward, mainly for economic reasons, that the GAA needs Dublin to be strong but I believe it to be just as important for aesthetic reasons that the game of football needs Meath to be strong.
They are one of the few counties who place a premium on the old values of catching, kicking and contesting honestly for the high ball. The game needs these qualities right now more than it needs its few shillings from Hill 16.
Fortunately for Meath, four of their six forwards tomorrow (Sheridan, Ward, O’Rourke and Bray) are well able to win the ball independently and all are able to score from distance. Those qualities are critical when playing against Dublin these days with their emphasis on winning ball back and protecting their goal at all times.
Despite not conceding a single score from play in the second half against Laois last weekend, Meath have a very vulnerable look about them from midfield back. Nigel Crawford will be missed around the middle as Brian Meade and Mark Ward might get away with it against the likes of Ross McConnell and Eamon Fennell but could struggle to cope with the mobility and the craft of other pairings. Mickey Burke is desperately unfortunate to have broken his leg and while he has loads of football, his replacement, Gary O’Brien doesn’t appear to have the stopping ability of Burke at centre back, the breaking ball winning ability of the previous incumbent, Cormac McGuinness or the man-marking ability to nullify the threat of a rampaging Alan Brogan. Anthony Moyles has a dodgy hamstring and Chris O’Connor and Eoghan Harrington will have their hands full with Bernard Brogan, Conal Keaney and Tomás Quinn. The sole consolation from a bad week on the injuries front, is that Brendan Murphy is more than capable of deputising in goal for the suspended Paddy O’Rourke.
So nine years later, four defeats, one draw and no win against many average Dublin sides since 2001, are the Royals capable of tapping into the stubbornness that defined the teams that gave the game a rivalry before the Meath psyche went soft and forgiving? If they can create the conditions for a dogfight where the game hinges on a free kicking contest between Mark Ward and Tomás Quinn, Meath will win. If Joe Sheridan can get isolated with Bryan Cullen and if Shane O’Rourke wins his duel with Rory O’Carroll, Meath are in with a right chance.
Too many ifs in there though, so Meath might have to settle for second best yet again. The rest of us will settle for a revitalisation and a genuine renewal of the old rivalry!
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
