Trevor Giles recalls 1999 All-Ireland penalty pain
The Meath footballer’s penalty was comfortably saved by Cork keeper Kevin O’Dwyer in the early stages of the second-half at a time when the Royals held a three-point advantage. Cork kicked a point in the subsequent action and hit the front when Joe Kavanagh scored a superb goal.
“My main focus was on hitting the target [with the penalty]. In the process, I forgot to hit it with a bit of power or conviction.
“Not long after Joe Kavanagh scored one of the great All-Ireland final goals. Straight away you are thinking, ‘we are possibly going to lose this game and you are going to be remembered for missing a penalty’,” Giles says on his Laochra Gael show on TG4 this Sunday.
“In the last quarter, I won a few breaking balls, secured possession and got the ball into Graham [Geraghty] who got a couple of scores.”
Giles would also miss a penalty during Meath’s 2001 All-Ireland final defeat to Galway and revealed his parents were subjected to constant abuse from a Meath supporters throughout the game.
“We were five points down and not playing well. To me, if I had scored that penalty, anything could have happened.
“My Mam and Dad got a load of abuse during that game from some Meath supporter. Whatever about losing the game, I was really annoyed over my parents having to listen to some clown over the course of the game.”
