Ratoath's ambitions mushroom like their population as they chase dream double

Ratoath players, from left, Emmet Boyle, Cian O’Brien and Gareth Rooney celebrate following their side's victory in last year's county final. They put that crown on the line on Sunday. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

There was a time when if you saw a county player in Ratoath, he was probably passing through the little village on a rat-run out of Dublin.

Local county men were thin on the ground and for a village of around 500, until the population explosion in the 1990s, nobody expected a whole pile more.

Stan Gibney briefly broke the mould in 1986 when, off the back of the club reaching the intermediate quarter-finals in 1985, he was called into Sean Boylan's Meath panel.

It only lasted a year for Gibney but what a year, the Royals ending their Leinster championship hoodoo by claiming a first provincial title in 16 years.

And that was as good as it got for Ratoath who slipped back down to the junior ranks soon after and remained there until Gibney was long retired.

The hurlers, to their credit, did win the junior title in 1989 but they too got stuck ankle deep in mediocrity for many years.

It's a brief history that's worth recalling because tomorrow afternoon Ratoath begin the first leg of their quest for a historic senior football/hurling double.

They won their first senior football title last year - seven years after winning the junior - but if they could blitz the county in both codes it would be a landmark moment.

"Did I ever think I'd see days like these? Honestly, probably not," admitted Gibney, a local farmer who also hurled for the county at underage level.

"The place has just exploded in population. Everyone knows the stats; it was nearly the fastest growing village in Ireland at one stage, more kids under 14 than anywhere. It's a huge place now of 10,000 or 11,000 but my wife would often say to me, 'When I met you first there was nothing here!'

"I remember that intermediate quarter-final in '85. We had a good team but we had to wait something like 16 weeks for the game to be played, there were delays for all kinds of reasons before we were beaten by Martinstown/Athboy.

That was kind of it and some lads went to America and others dropped away and we struggled then.

With the first wave of families moving out to the area from Dublin around the early nineties came fresh hope. Soon the wave became a torrent and then a tsunami. Now there are around 11,000 people in Ratoath and the club has 1,500 members, well over 50 different teams and one hand on both senior titles. Loughmore-Castleiney couldn't quite pull it off in Tipperary but Ratoath are pre-final favourites in both codes.

There was a change of football management last winter from Davy Byrne to Brian Farrell - a power shift that wasn't to everyone's liking locally - but standards clearly haven't dipped while James McGrath, the 2012 and 2013 All-Ireland final replay referee, is in charge of the hurlers.

Both groups remain largely homegrown despite the arrival of so many into the community over the last two decades.

"Shane Duffy from Monaghan is there and Ciarán Ó Fearraigh from Donegal, the captain for the senior win last year, is involved and they've brought a huge amount to the club," said Gibney of the footballers. "I had to laugh, one of Brian Farrell's right-hand men is from the same club in Donegal as Ciaran and there was a bit of a discussion and they were chatting away in Irish! It was fantastic to see. Shane Duffy has been brilliant too, a former inter-county goalkeeper.

"My one gripe is that I'd be out and about and I'd see so many fit young people out jogging and I know a lot of them go back to places like Athlone and Arklow on the weekends to play on teams with their friends.

"A lot of those people will probably only row in with Ratoath when their own kids are playing. I think it's great to see the new lads coming in. Ciarán has made the team for me, he's a joy to watch the way he plays, driving forward, an inspirational kind of character."

Unlike Gibney's era, the team has plenty of county men now; 2019 All-Star nominee Conor McGill, one of a number of dual players, and Bryan McMahon leading the way. Eamon Wallace and Joey Wallace may also be available after a period of unavailability. Then it'll be onto the hurling final against Trim next weekend and the quest for a first title in that code since 1963. Men like Gibney couldn't have pictured this.

Sunday: Meath SFC final: Ratoath v Gaeil Colmcille, Pairc Tailteann,