Old rivals meet in unusual surrounds

SEAMUS McENANEY’S appointment as Meath manager last winter may have stirred up a hornet’s nest at the time — and continues to do so — but ‘outside’ influences haven’t been confined to the man charged with guiding the senior footballers.

The migration westwards of thousands of Dublin families in recent times has prompted a growing proliferation of Dublin flags and jerseys on the roads and in the fields while the men leading tomorrow’s county finalists in Navan both hail from Cavan.

It won’t be the first time that Summerhill’s Dermot McCabe and Dunshaughlin’s Gary Farrelly have crossed paths.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, the pair became accustomed to seeing one another when the former ran out for Gowna and the latter with Ramor.

They never met in a county final but McCabe remembers Ramor relieving Gowna of their senior title in 1989 before adding quickly that his lads got the better of their encounters in the years and meetings that followed.

“Gary might remember it differently,” he laughs.

McCabe isn’t sure of the exact details or where the family trees intersect but is pretty sure that the two are related in some distant way and the men and their families have remained acquainted away from the field of play in the years since.

That they meet again tomorrow in a Meath county final is a reunion neither man could have foreseen, not just because of their backgrounds in a neighbouring ‘jurisdiction’ but by dint of the fact that no-one in Meath had seen this pairing coming.

Meath have produced five different county champions in the last half-dozen years but there is a group of usual suspects that usually comes to the fore — teams like Navan O’Mahony’s, Seneschalstown, Skryne and Wolfe Tones.

Dunshaughlin and Summerhill have enjoyed their glory days in the past and both have been producing some up-and-coming talent of late but any shock at their progress this far has been tempered by the bluebloods they have evicted on the way.

“There would be at least seven or eight clubs who feel they have a serious chance of winning it at the start of the season,” says McCabe, “but it seems to be the same few that get to the top most years.

“We wouldn’t be mentioned in that top bracket but if you looked at the stats at the start of the year we would have always felt that we had a chance.”

Of the two, Summerhill’s participation is that bit less surprising. The club that launched men like Mattie Kerrigan, Mick Lyons and Mark O’Reilly to glory in green at Croke Park, they reached this stage three years ago but froze on the day against O’Mahony’s.

McCabe only pitched up in the parish down by the Kildare border 10 years ago but he has seen first-hand the work that has gone into the underage structure and that diligence has delivered a plethora of titles from U12 to U21.

Only the big one, the Keegan Cup, remains elusive.

“As we’ve seen everywhere down the years, underage success is no guarantee of success at senior level and it is a big step up for young lads. They haven’t stepped up to do that yet and they didn’tperform on the day three years ago in the final.”

It is 25 years since Summerhill last claimed the trophy and almost a decade since Dunshaughlin completed a three-in-a-row that eventually led to a provincial title in 2003 as well but neither side would be fancied to emulate that particular achievement later this year.

Neither is stocked with well-known names. Dunshaughlin’s Caoimhin King is the only current inter-county footballer on either side that might be stopped on the street, even if he can count former county men like Tommy Dowd and Richie Kealy as colleagues.

When Farrelly talks of his team he uses words like balance and honesty and maybe it’s no coincidence that when McCabe looks back on their past jousts as players he speaks about an opponent who was tough but fair and a pleasure to play against.

That will do for starters tomorrow.

*Tomorrow: Meath SFC final: Summerhill v Dunshaughlin, Páirc Tailteann, 3.30pm.