Kenny: We didn’t get any medals today

THE difference between winning and losing sides is all too obvious but the disparity between the victorious Meath and Louth players after yesterday’s pair of Leinster semi-finals was truly revealing.

Peter Fitzpatrick leapt giddily onto the pitch as soon as Westmeath were defeated. Some of his players sank to their knees in thanks for a first provincial decider in half a century.

Supporters went berserk.

All very understandable and heart warming, but Meath indulged in no such demonstrative acts.

When Padraig Hughes blew the final whistle, Eamon O’Brien’s men shook hands with their opponents and walked down the Croke Park tunnel.

“It would be pointless having gone through that today to go out and be beaten the next day,” said Seamus Kenny afterwards. “It’s just that we’ve put in so much work this year.

“It wouldn’t even be fair to Dublin if we were to get to a Leinster final and not produce a performance. So we know ourselves we didn’t get any medals today, there’s no cup on offer there.”

All of which isn’t to say that the Royals won’t dine out on this one for some time. Beating Dublin isn’t to be sniffed at any day, all the more so when they haven’t been bettered by their neighbours in nine years.

Or, should that be battered?

“It’s brilliant,” Kenny said. “It’s a long time coming. It’s so long since we managed to beat Dublin and the last couple of years it’s just been so tough. In fairness to them, they have been the team to beat in Leinster. We were just always caught shy by them (in the past) but I suppose today the luck just went with us.

“We managed to get the couple of goals and there wasn’t too much in it aside from the goals.”

Eamonn O’Brien wasn’t getting carried away, either by the result or the margin of the win.

“I thought that, in terms of possession, Dublin shaded the first-half and probably even should have been ahead by a point or two at half-time. It was one of those days that when things start going right for you they start going right for you.

“They started to go wrong for Dublin and they kept going wrong. When we got the goal, they came back down the field and Paul Flynn hit the ball off the upright. Had that gone in, the game would have been back in the melting pot.

“But it didn’t and games change on small things like that and, as a result, when a long ball was kicked in, we were able to get another goal and it finished the game.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” said O’Brien. “We heard about the blanket defence and bringing people back but they played a more traditional type of game and when we saw the team that was picked we saw that it probably wasn’t geared towards that type of game.

“We were ready to play it whatever way it emerged the way you have to be ready for whatever happens. ”

The contrast with Meath’s rearguard was stark. Suspect against Offaly, it leaked considerably in the drawn game against Laois but the concession of just ten points in that replay proved the more reliable barometer.

The manager insisted: “I had confidence in the defence. If you look at the records and what they concede it is not too high. Having said that, we have Kevin Reilly back and that gives us great confidence and great solidity to Eoghan and to Chris beside him.”