Summerhill come from behind to defeat Killoe Young Emmets
LEINSTER SFC: Summerhill’s Jamie O'Shea and Mickey Quinn of Killoe Young Emmets. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
It's over 20 years since a Meath club last reached a Leinster SFC final, and more again since they actually won one.
Summerhill still have a long way to go and star-studded Athy are next up for them under the lights in Newbridge on November 15.
That'll be a quarter-final tie that really tests the Meath champions' mettle - but they're giving the impression that they're up to it.
Six points down approaching half-time in Navan, and playing into the stiff wind, the 1977 champions turned on the afterburners to win with nine to spare.
The 15-point turnaround didn't flatter them, with midfielders Adam Flanagan and Adam McDonnell again dominant while county captain Eoghan Frayne and goalscorer Jamie O'Shea displayed their quality too.
In all, a dozen different Summerhill players scored and manager David Clare refused to place any ceiling on their ambitions.
"Let's be honest about it, Robbie Brennan has raised the standards in Meath football," said Clare, when reminded that Dunshaughlin was the last club from the county to win Leinster, in 2002.Â
"Even Conor O'Donoghue, who has been tinkering with the championship structure over the last couple of years, that's helped. And this is what it looks like now, better performances.
"I was looking at Kilbride playing in the Leinster intermediate championship on Saturday, and the junior representatives from Meath as well, they're all winning. Why? Because standards in Meath are coming up."
And yet Clare is expecting a giant challenge from Athy. He managed Celbridge for three seasons and is familiar with players like Kevin Feely, the Kellys, Cathal McCarron and David Hyland.
Kildare captain Feely and county colleague Hyland play at midfield for Athy and will run into Summerhill's thriving McDonnell/Flanagan axis. That's a battle that'll be worth travelling for on its own.
"I was probably the only one that backed Celbridge against Naas in the county final because I knew how well they matched up," said Clare, part of Robbie Brennan's Kilmacud Crokes backroom team in 2024.
Not that there was much talk of Athy late in the first-half in Navan as Killoe kicked up a storm.
Aided by the stiff wind, the 15-times champions led 1-10 to 0-7 after Larry Moran's well worked goal, suggesting that their first win in the province since beating Navan O'Mahonys - the club located next door to Pairc Tailteann - in 2015 was achievable.
It turned out they had shot their bolt though, managing just six more points in the entire game, and only two from open play. In all, Summerhill outscored Killoe by 2-15 to 0-6 between the Moran goal in the 26th minute and full-time.
"Killoe are an awesome side and I think 90 percent of their scores come from inside the D, so we talked beforehand about having to defend narrower," said Clare.
"You have to change everything when you're playing them. Everything we'd worked on this year, working around the arc and that, it's out the window because when you're playing them, you have to come inside the arc and defend very narrow. It's old school, like Dublin used to attack. We talked about that and we doubled down on our plan at half-time and stuck to it well then in the second-half."
O'Shea didn't know much about his 28th minute goal for Summerhill. Frayne contested a long delivery and the ball eventually ricocheted in off O'Shea's leg.
But it was a big turning point and trailing by just a point at half-time, 1-10 to 1-11, Summerhill knew that they could ride the wind in the second-half and quickly turn things around. Pretty much how it panned out.
J O'Shea 1-2; E Frayne 0-5 (1 tpf, 1 free); A McDonnell 0-4 (1 tp); A Flanagan 1-0; D McCabe, S Muddiman (2 45s), L Shaw 0-2 each; C Frayne, D Larkin, K Ryan, C Lyons, J Lavelle 0-1 each.
: P Moran 0-7 (5 frees); L Moran 1-0; Michael Hughes (tpf), P Kiernan (tp), J Moran 0-2 each; Mark Hughes, C Farrelly, R McGoldrick 0-1 each.
S Muddiman; I Hughes, Ronan Ryan, B Moran; J Bannon, Ross Ryan, J O'Shea; A McDonnell, A Flanagan; D McCabe, K Ryan, D Larkin; C Frayne, E Frayne, L Shaw.
P Geraghty for Bannon (43); C Lyons for O'Shea & J Lavelle for Hughes (48); B Dardis for C Frayne (55); K Lyons for Larkin (57).
M Hughes; L Hughes, D Moffett, R Moffett; J Moran, N Farrelly, G Farrelly; M Quinn, R Keogh; P Kiernan, D Mimnagh, C Farrelly; L Moran, P Moran, M Hughes.
R McGoldrick for L Moran (47); C Dooner for Kiernan (50); E Farrelly for C Farrelly (55); G Hughes for Keogh (56).
A Coyne (Westmeath).
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