Four-goal Ward still got a Royal earful

WITH his four-goal salvo, Cian Ward showed on Saturday evening exactly what Seamus McEnaney was missing in the defeat to Kildare earlier this month.

But he still didn’t escape the clutches of a half-time dressing down from his Meath boss.

As Ward explained: “I think I had six shots for goal. Look, one or two of them I just thought they were on, I got a bit of a rollicking at half-time for going for goal all the time. But the opportunities presented themselves. It was just lucky because on another day you mightn’t get a sniff of a goal chance. I’m just delighted to put them away.”

His 4-3 haul went a long way to showing McEnaney he was wrong not to start him in the Leinster quarter-final. Ward was also quick to share the credit for the goals with his midfield and fellow forwards who teed him up for the strikes.

“The boys were absolutely outstanding. Seamus Kenny won a few balls there that he had no right to win, he was diving in at lads’ feet. He was putting his head in where lads just wouldn’t put there hands. It was unbelievable stuff. My job is to get on the end of a move and finish it but there wouldn’t be a move if they weren’t winning the ball in the first place. I thought they were outstanding.”

Relief was the prevailing feeling among Ward and his team-mates on Saturday evening after defeating Louth. The last 11 months had been a burden although Meath weren’t buying into the billing of the game as a potential revenge mission for their opponents after last year’s controversial Leinster SFC final.

“I know what happened last year, I know the media were building it up as this big rematch but it wasn’t.

“It was two totally different teams out there, in a totally different place. We both had disappointing games in the Leinster championship. One team was going to move on from Saturday, and one team was going to be gone.

“And we’re delighted to have got through to the next round.”

With Galway now travelling to Páirc Tailteann on Saturday week, Meath have a pep in their step again.

Ward knows there’s plenty to work on but he was particularly pleased with his defence’s performance in Cavan.

“It’s very hard, when you’re playing in the game you’re so focused on what you’re trying to do that it’s hard to analyse. But I know from watching at the other end of the pitch that our backs were outstanding, if one man got slipped there was another man in to make a tackle. I think we made a few blocks in the first half and turned them over when they were in dangerous positions, and they were key moments. It’s always the forwards who get the headlines but it’s the backs at the other end of the pitch that make the difference between winning and losing.”