No going back for O’Brien’s Royals

EAMONN O’BRIEN doesn’t like looking back. So, when he took over the management of the Meath footballers from Colm Coyle last winter he wasn’t too preoccupied with what had happened over the course of a campaign which had ended with a humiliating defeat to Limerick in a first-round qualifier game.

Of course he couldn’t exactly airbrush the memory of that game, or the consequence of the Royals’ shock exit at the hands of Wexford in the Leinster semi-final, but that when it came to meeting up with the squad of players later on there was never any question of carrying out any post mortem.

“We didn’t talk much. I don’t believe in looking back, I always look forward,’’ he said. “I can’t say we spent a lot of time talking about 2008. That was a different time. It was in the past and we started to look forward to this year.’’