Meath dual star Megan Thynne ‘speechless’ at support after fixture controversy

The t-shirts, which had ‘Supporting Dual Players’ emblazoned on the front, were worn in response to the fixtures clash that saw Thynne play two National League semi-finals within the space of two hours

Meath players wore t-shirts in the warm-up to their Lidl NFL Division 2 semi-final victory against Cavan, showing support for dual players. Picture: Jimmy Duff

Meath dual player Megan Thynne said she was left “speechless” by the show of solidarity from her football teammates who wore specially printed t-shirts in support of dual players during the warm-up to their Division 2 League semi-final on Saturday.

The t-shirts, which had ‘Supporting Dual Players’ emblazoned on the front, were worn in response to the fixtures clash that saw Thynne play two National League semi-finals - one in Cavan, the other in Monaghan - within the space of two hours on Saturday.

Thynne had been kept in the dark about the Meath LGFA idea to print t-shirts calling for support of dual players after their pleas to move the county’s League semi-final to a different date “fell on deaf ears”.

The failure of the Camogie Association and LGFA to bring about a resolution to the fixtures clash meant a hectic Saturday for Thynne who began the afternoon at half-forward on the Meath football team in Division 2 semi-final action against Cavan at Kingspan Breffni.

Throwing-in at 1pm, Thynne played the first-half before being driven by her dad, Andy, to Inniskeen for the second-half of Meath’s Division 2 camogie semi-final with Antrim, a game that got underway at 2pm.

The outcome to either fixture - the footballers won by five, the camogie side fell by the minimum - took a firm backseat to the gesture of the Meath footballers, who wore the t-shirts for a team photograph taken before throw-in.

Thynne was incredibly appreciative for the show of support from her Royal teammates after the “toughest week” of the 22-year-old’s sporting career.

Meath dual star Megan Thynne Picture: Jimmy Duff.

The t-shirts, she added, sent “a strong message” to dual players across the country to continue playing both codes and not to allow others force you to choose one code over the other.

“I had no idea t-shirts had been printed and were going to be worn as we took to the field. I was speechless, I didn’t have words to describe the feeling. I was so grateful to my teammates, management, and the county board. They knew exactly what I was going through,” Thynne told the Irish Examiner.

“The t-shirts send out such a strong message to dual players that you can play both codes and have people behind you as you do it, that your teammates and management don’t want you to focus solely on one code, they are happy for you to play both.

“If it comes to a stage where you feel you can’t manage both codes, that is your decision then not to play both, but it shouldn’t be decided for you by others. I don’t think that’s fair.

I certainly don’t want girls coming up the ranks to be put in the position I was put in last week. Hopefully, something can change and we encourage girls to play both.

With the respective Meath managements having left the decision to Thynne as to which side she lined out for on Saturday, the young dual player briefly considered sitting out both games.

“How do you pick one over the other? I have been training with these panels for years.

“I don’t think I could physically go up to either management and teammates and say, ‘sorry, I won’t be there on Saturday as I am going to play with the other code’.

“I didn’t even want 24 hours between games, just three or four so I could play both.

“I am just hoping for other dual players that this won’t happen going into the future, but I don’t know if that will be the case. It could happen again during the summer.”

Meath ladies football manager Eamonn Murray expressed deep annoyance at the lack of communication between the Camogie Association and LGFA, for which players are suffering, he added.

Murray said Thynne, an All-Ireland intermediate camogie winner in 2017 and intermediate football winner in 2020, was “in tears” at training last week. She had to drive an hour and 10 minutes at half-time to get to the other game.

“I was worried sick till I heard she got to Inniskeen. That is a very bad road. You’d feel terrible if anything had happened to her.

“As much as the t-shirts were for Megan, they were also for every other dual player in the country. We hope we got our message across.”

When contacted by the Examiner, the Meath ladies football county board said they made an official request to the LGFA last week to have their game against Cavan switched to another date, but this was not acceded to.