A summer saga no one is likely to forget
The games — the middle two going to extra time — were watched by a live audience of almost a quarter of a million people and produced gate receipts of £1.1m (punts) — leading to the Council allocating £60,000 towards a holiday fund for both squads and a ‘dividend’ of £20,000 for every county.
The teams were accorded a civic reception by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and, uniquely, the Central Council presented Meath players and officials with a special set of medals following their (losing) appearance in the All-Ireland final against Down. In total, they played eight games in their provincial campaign (also being taken to a replay by Wicklow in the last eight).
Colm O’Rourke points out that at the time, the Dublin/Meath rivalry was at its height. “It had got something like Cork and Kerry because we were kept apart more or less in the championship every year and we ended up meeting them in the five Leinster finals previous to that,” he recalled.
“Meath had won four of the five, so by ’91 it was the sixth year and then the Leinster Council in their wisdom decided to have an open draw and we happened to meet in the preliminary round.
“Meath were going badly at the time, we had a lot of injuries, and from my own point of view I was not going well at all after an ankle operation early in the year. I was getting old anyway — and a lot of other fellows were getting old. Things in the camp were fairly low, but the fact it was Dublin on the horizon pulled things together in the couple of weeks before.”
Interestingly, for a player known for his scoring exploits, a point in the second game marked his only score in the four outings. However, he was operating at centre-forward. “Funny, they were some of my better games for Meath, but I wasn’t scoring much. At that time, I think Sean (Boylan) probably decided I needed a change of scenery. He broke up the full-forward line, but the second half of the last game the three of us were back in the full-forward line together (Brian Stafford — top scorer over the four games with 2-25 at full-forward — with O’Rourke and Bernard Flynn in the corners).”
PJ Gillic scored an equalising point for Meath in the first game (1-12 each), Jack Sheedy’s goal for Dublin at the end of extra-time in the replay (1-11 each) brought the teams together a third time. Then, Paul Curran’s point at the end of extra-time saw the third game also end in stalemate (Meath 2-11, Dublin 1-14).
O’Rourke’s view is that Dublin were probably the better team in at least three of the four. “There was one game I thought we played fairly well in, the second or third game. In general, in most of the games, we were playing catch-up and we were playing catch-up for every game that year nearly. I think Dublin played exceptional football in the second-half of the last game and really should have put us out of sight. (Meath won 2-10 to 0-15, following Kevin Foley’s famous goal).
The Meath legend — nowadays best known as a top Sunday Game analyst — suggests that the enduring attraction of the four games was their closeness and the physical intensity of the play. “Dublin played very good football for a spell in the last game but I don’t think that was what people wanted. And, maybe they still want close hard-fought intense games — fellows able to give it and take it and get up and get on with it.
“The crowd seemed to enjoy that kind of thing. I wouldn’t glorify them for the quality of play because the quality at times was quite poor”
Dublin goalkeeper John O’Leary says while it was ‘devastating’ to end the sequence as losers, the experience proved invaluable in enabling the team to win the All-Ireland four years later (under his captaincy).
“It was great at the time — almost close to being a professional footballer, playing week after week. It was a roller-coaster — the memories of the games being so close, the highs and the lows, almost winning, almost losing, snatching a draw,” he commented.
“The first two were pretty even and over the next two we played the better football. We led both of those games by four of five points at various stages before Meath hauled us back. They had the ability to get a goal when they needed to be pulled back and in the end they got the lucky break that we didn’t get!’”
The defining image of the decisive fourth game is the sight of Kevin Foley coming up from defence to goal for Meath towards the end. “I think it was his only score ever for Meath and in all the years I knew him at club level I could never remember him scoring,” said O’Rourke. “He was just one of those out-and-out defenders — not your modern back who goes up and scores two or three points!
“He was just a man-marker. He rarely ventured beyond midfield almost any time — maybe the fact that he came forward he was ignored. David Beggy got the winning point, Dublin had the chance to equalise, but Jack Sheedy kicked a long range free wide with the last kick of the game.’”
O’Leary’s recollection of the goal centres on the ball being played to Tommy Dowd close in. “He sort of squared up to me and I sort of forced the pass. I can remember as I saw the pass coming across to Kevin Foley I moved across, half slipped but was still actually convinced that I had got down quick enough to actually make the block. But the ball ended up in the net.
“It was devastating to lose. There was no back door. That was it — your summer was over. You played, you trained you played and suddenly the whole thing was over for another year. Looking back, it must have been more devastating for Meath to lose the All-Ireland afterwards.
“For us you could say it was the start of Dublin’s resurgence. We got to the final of ’92, the semi-final in ‘93 and the final ‘94. Winning the next year, you could say that ’91 was all part of the experience in getting is there. It was part of your DNA when it came to the next couple of championships!’”
