The Orchard effect

THE novelty factor has worn off now. This evening marks the fourth time Paul Grimley has faced off against Kieran McGeeney since he stepped down as his Kildare assistant manager at the end of 2009.

But that’s not to say it’s lost any of its flavour. The Armagh Harps man had to act as peacemaker when McGeeney and Seamus McEnaney tickled bellies during this year’s league game in Newbridge.

“It’s beginning to be a bit of a soap,” chuckles Grimley. “The last time I went into the Kildare changing rooms I could tell where they were all going to be sitting before I went in.”

The glory of 2002 and that magnificent winning bond shared by Grimley and McGeeney during Armagh’s golden years have made them loyal friends. But that connection is parked this week. In those three previous meetings, one when Grimley was with Monaghan and the two with Meath this year, McGeeney has come out on top.

But can he continue that streak? Forgive Grimley if he suggests he mightn’t.

“Kildare have been the best performing team in the country but it’s hard to keep that going for a long period.

“There’s somewhere along the line when you get a blip and it tests your character.

“Dublin had it last weekend against Wexford. They survived it.”

Grimley knows McGeeney enough to know what irritates him too. Like the spotlight on Kildare’s excellent second halves — they’ve “won” their last nine in the championship.

“It’s something he wants to deflect attention away from because when these things are highlighted they became a stone around your neck. The more media attention is on it, the more Geezer is afraid other teams will become aware of it. We’re aware of it that they are a strong second-half team. They’re a very physical team. Four years of strength and conditioning is bound to help. My thinking is now that you start the game with one team and you finish it with another. We’d be of the mind we have a team to put in a performance then a second team to finish out the game.”

Grimley looks at Kildare and sees what can be achieved when a county board puts faith in a manager. Meath are in year one of their development under the one manager whereas the visitors are in year four.

“I was with Geezer when he first came onto Kildare and it was very similar to what’s happening with us in Meath this year. We were very unimpressive in the league and we lost our first championship game (to Wicklow).

“We’re six months in this job and it’s not a long time. I would have known all these players before coming in but you don’t know them until you’re working with them. It’s taken awhile to do that.

“There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the team over the last few months but that’s all starting to go away now and players are starting to relax and play to their potential. There are no teams the same. Kieran has done wonders in Kildare and you can see over the four years that confidence has grown. Hopefully, the same can happen in Meath. These Meath players are exceptionally good. On paper, we have one of the best forward lines in Ireland. It just hasn’t been translated onto the scoreboard. The night it happens, God help who’s on the end of it.”

He agrees a weight has been lifted off Meath’s shoulders. The game against Louth, never mind the win, was a cathartic experience for them.

“It was a stone in the shoe more so than anything else. The criticism that Meath received for not offering Louth a replay hurt them. We weren’t involved last year so it was none of our business but the players were hugely relieved when the game was over. It put an end to the media speculation.”

The Graham Geraghty controversy (not the penalty) and Liam Harnan and Barry Callaghan’s subsequent resignations as selectors turned up the heat on McEnaney and Grimley obviously felt it.

He won’t say it was water off a duck’s back but McEnaney and his management team wouldn’t have got the nod from the Meath County Board if they weren’t prepared to roll with the punches.

“In these managerial jobs, whether they’re hurling or football, there’s pressure from the day you get the job until the day you leave it and anybody who says anything different is talking nonsense.

“One of the reasons you get these jobs is because you’re regarded as having the character to handle the pressure. It’s an essential ingredient now. To hold your nerve when you’re under pressure transfers onto the players.

“We’re in a much better position than when we were before the last time we played Kildare. We feel more confident in ourselves and home advantage should be a big thing.”

It was true grit that won it for them against Galway in Navan last week, though.

“At half-time, we went in 8-4 up but we were never comfortable with that because we realised that at some stage in, if there was anything in it at all, Galway were going to put up a fight,” admits Grimley.

“We wouldn’t be the first team to go 20-odd minutes without scoring and we won’t be the last.

“The most pleasing from our point of view was that we showed a bit of character in the way we came back.

“We were a point down, equalised and then went a point in front and then Brendan saved what looked a certain goal. These things are encouraging. It’s probably the Meath of old we saw in the last five minutes.”

A sprinkling of the old Armagh magic wouldn’t go astray either.

But Grimley knows only too well Kildare have it too.