'They wanted him to play': James Conlon misses grandfather's funeral to help Meath beat Cork

Meath's hangover from the Leinster final was evident in the first 27 minutes as they scored twice from 12 opportunities.

James Conlon scored two points for Meath in the All-Ireland SFC group 2 victory over Cork. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Robbie Brennan praised James Conlon as he missed his grandfather’s funeral to line out for Meath in this opening All-Ireland SFC, Group 2 victory over Cork.

With the wishes of his family, Conlon lined out and scored two points as The Royals bounced back from their Leinster SFC final loss to Louth 13 days’s earlier.

Brennan gushed: “For James Conlon, obviously to miss his grandfather's funeral today to play the match, I don't know how he did it, but I was so proud of him, and I know his family are a big footballing family and they really wanted him to play, and they should all be very, very proud of him today.

“You wouldn’t have known, his preparation was phenomenal. Obviously, we knew earlier during the week, but there was never a doubt that he wasn't going to play, and that's what you get I suppose when you have a football family. To actually go out and perform like he did, he got a brilliant score at one stage there in the second half, so absolutely delighted for him.” 

The hangover from the Leinster final was certainly evident in the first 27 minutes as Meath scored twice from 12 scoring opportunities. That disappointment took several days to get over, Brennan conceded.

“I think you're never sure coming off a defeat, the occasion and Croke Park and all that kind of stuff. It was, apart from the result, it was brilliant and a great experience, but you're never sure.

"If you'd been honest, training mightn't have been as good as we would have liked. There was a little bit of sloppiness and stuff like that, so the first half probably wasn't a surprise maybe, because there was definitely some signs of that in training.

"However, we were creating the chances, which was still also encouraging, and then the end of the first half, that bit of magic from Jordie (Morris’s goal) I think just gave us that bit of confidence again to go at it again and reset.” 

Only three up at half-time despite enjoying the strong wind, Brennan was concerned. “Not too dissimilar to Dublin, only that we didn't take our chances obviously, but we still had the same gameplan coming out of the second half.

“Second half then, with the wind in your face, I think it faded a little bit with that rain, but it was a real dirty battle, a lot of loose ball, a lot of scrappy ball.”