You think Meath are afraid of Kerry?

ON THE road home from scouting Meath’s All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Mayo, Kerry’s management team of Jack O’Connor, Eamon Fitzmaurice and Ger O’Keeffe began swapping war stories from their respective scrapes with the Royal County.

A pattern rapidly developed.

“It was bad all the way,” recalls Fitzmaurice. “In my experience of Meath, I don’t think I’ve ever beaten them competitively. I made my inter-county debut in the league in Navan in 1996 and lost; they beat us in an infamous All-Ireland U21 semi-final the following year in Nenagh, when the ref from Donegal roasted us.