Meath owe Faithful one, warns Sullivan

LEINSTER SHC (First Round): Meath v Offaly (tomorrow, Portlaoise, 3pm)

Cormac Sullivan is long gone from the Meath scene — he answered the call of work and family commitments and retired when he was just aged 26 — but he hasn’t forgotten the summer of 2000, “The last time we played Offaly. We owe them one.”

Most Meath fans will argue that they actually owe Offaly two. You see, they’ve never forgot 1997 either, the year a side depleted after a trilogy of epic games with Kildare was cruelly exposed on Leinster final day by the wizardry of their rivals or, more to the point, two-goal hero Roy Malone.