Cathal Ó Bric: Meath counting on ‘wow’ factor to counter drilled Tyrone

With Saturday’s All-Ireland minor football final in mind, Ó Bric's gut feeling was that Tyrone haven’t faced a team quite like Meath yet

Cathal Ó Bric: ‘This is a very, very special group.’   Pic: Ramsey Cardy

Meath manager Cathal Ó Bric watched back the video of Tyrone’s demolition of Cork last weekend with a mixture of admiration and optimism.

He was impressed by the Ulster champions’ physical power and their ability to move the ball up through the field at pace, and ultimately their scoretaking, sniping 23 points.

But with Saturday’s Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor final in mind, his gut feeling was that Tyrone haven’t faced a team quite like Meath yet.

That’s a bullish statement to make ahead of an All-Ireland decider but Ó Bric believes he has assembled a “special” group of players, admitting they sometimes make him go ‘wow’ in training.

“We looked at the game Tyrone played against Cork and we looked at the Ulster final they played against Donegal,” said O Bric. “Definitely they’re an impressive outfit, they’re a fit and strong team. They move the ball at great pace.

“They definitely are a team that are well drilled. I just don’t think that they’ve met a team like Meath, I don’t think they’ve met a team with the skill and the intensity and the work rate that Meath will bring to the table.

“That’s no disrespect to Cork or to Donegal but I think there’s going to be a much bigger kick from Meath than Tyrone have experienced so far.

“They have an extremely high scoring rate, they scored 6-21 against Fermanagh, they scored 23 points the last day, so it’s very impressive scoring.

“Again, I would just question that I would think a lot of their scores were easy enough scores, they didn’t seem to be put under pressure for those scores and that’s something that definitely we’d be targeting and saying that if they get a shot off, they’ll be getting a shot off under extreme pressure and let’s see if they can build up the same tally with that pressure on them.”

With the 2020 Leinster minor championship spilling over into 2021, Meath ultimately won back to back provincial titles this year in a matter of weeks.

Four players — Sean Emmanuel, Jack Kinlough, Tomas Corbett, and Liam Kelly — are left over from the 2020 group and have enjoyed another strong campaign.

The highlight so far was the big Leinster final win over Dublin and the 2021 crew followed that up with last weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Connacht champions Sligo.

“They are a special group of players, there’s no doubt about it,” said Ó Bric, a national school principal. “We’re watching them in training sessions, we’re watching them in challenge matches, and you do walk away sometimes and go ‘Wow, this is a very, very special group of players’.

“They have gelled very well as a group but also individually, there’s great individual talent among them as well. We were optimistic that we would have a good run in the championship.”

Meath’s last minor final was in 2012 when a side managed by current senior boss Andy McEntee came up short against Dublin.

“I was chatting to Andy McEntee, I think he said that 12 or 13 of those minors, at different times, featured for the Meath (senior) team over the last six or seven years which is a fantastic return,” said Ó Bric.

“I think between the combined talents of the 2020 minor squad, who were defeated by Derry in an All-Ireland semi-final, and this squad that has reached the final, if they’re managed well over the next two or three years, I think there’s a strong chance that we’re going to be seeing a lot of these players pulling on Meath U20 and senior jerseys in years to come.”