Meath 1-19 Tipperary 0-11
Maybe in the glory days Colm O’Rourke might have taken some offence at being called also-rans. But in his old familiar realm on Saturday evening O’Rourke wasn’t lingering on Meath’s distant past, instead their distant future.
Any question of Meath’s interest in the Tailteann Cup was duly answered, on the field first, then soon afterwards off it. O’Rourke was inevitably confronted with the notion of his once RTÉ punditry colleague Dónal Óg Cusack that it’s “a sort of Gaelic football Grand National for disappointed also-rans”.
Well, if O’Rourke was disappointed by the former Cork hurling goalkeeper he wasn’t showing it. Meath aren’t suffering any illusions of grandeur and his only approach to the second-tier football competition – “a great competition” is to set about winning it.
“The gentleman involved, I wouldn’t pass the slightest remarks about what he would say about anything,” O’Rourke said of Cusack, before adding, “I didn’t find it any way insulting. I thought it was a reflection of him, rather than anything else.”
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The Meath manager is unruffled. At a sparsely crowded Páirc Tailteann, his team beat Tipperary by exactly double scores, and with that have already set themselves up to make the playoffs. Waterford are up next weekend, and when the best player on show is championship debutant Aaron Lynch wearing number 15 there is clearly something to build on.
“It could have been a huge blow, too, after losing to Offaly,” O’Rourke adds, pointing back at their Leinster quarter-final loss. “But the following Wednesday night we got together every single player on the panel, and they were all willing to get stuck into the competition.
“There was no such thing as anybody opting out, saying ‘we don’t think it is worth taking part in’. I am delighted with the commitment, they are a great bunch of fellows, and I don’t think any other Meath team I have been involved with had any more commitment.
“We didn’t want to find ourselves in this position. Finishing sixth in the second division we thought we would be in the top group. But so be it, we are fully immersed in it and our players and taking it very seriously. I don’t suffer from any illusion of grandeur and neither does any of the fellahs who are involved.”
Indeed it was Meath’s first win since the second round of the league, and Tipperary, although starting brightly, were soon brushed aside. Meath finished with nine different scorers, Thomas O’Reilly adding three from the bench, Donal Lenihan another one too, Lynch finishing with 1-3 – his goal deftly finished on 44 minutes, served up by Matthew Costello, who intercepted a kick-out.
That put Meath up 1-10 to 0-5, and there was no coming back for Tipperary from there. Costello scored 0-3 and Jordan Morris an excellent 0-4, all from play, Jack Flynn and Jack O’Connor brought plenty of pace in the half-forward line, and Conor Gray lorded midfield.
Tipperary lost their star forward Stephen O’Brien to injury early in the second half, Meath’s confidence growing all the while. Ultimately that’s what O’Rourke is trying to build.
“A lot of these players have been kicked around a little bit, things haven’t gone well underage for Meath, and at county level, at senior level. They are lacking in confidence, and a few wins would do them a world of good. We’re just going to try get the best of them.
“If you look back on the Meath senior team, over the last decade, there haven’t been too many bright days. A lot of these players have grown up without seeing Meath win anything, no tradition of winning. So they have to create their own bit of history. “We are playing the long game here. We are very patient with these fellows.”
Tipp certainly came to play football, starting brightly when goalkeeper Michael O’Reilly struck first, and they led Meath for the first quarter, O’Brien keeping their noses in front.
Meath during that same opening period were surprisingly tame and timid, before full forward Costello got some scoring mojo working with a fisted point, after a full 13 minutes of play. A second point, from Morris, was hard earned but well finished, and four points without reply from Meath gave them a neat little cushion at the break, 0-7 to 0-4.
“Six players made their championship debuts against Offaly, three more made their debuts tonight,” added O’Rourke. “If people are patient, we have a big future.”
MEATH: S Brennan; A O’Neill, R Ryan, M Flood; D Keogan (capt) (0-1), P Harnan, S Coffey; R Jones, C Gray (0-1); C O’Sullivan, J Flynn (0-1, free), J O’Connor (0-2); J Morris (0-4), M Costello (0-3, two frees), A Lynch (1-3, one free, one mark).
Subs: T O’Reilly (0-3) for Flynn (h-t), H O’Higgins for O’Neill (50 mins), D McGowan for Jones, C Hickey for O’Connor (both 58), D Lenihan (0-1) for O’Sullian (59).
TIPPERARY: M O’Reilly (0-2, one 45, one free); S O’Connell, J Feehan, W Eviston; K Fahey, C O’Shaughnessy, K Ryan; P Feehan, C Kennedy (0-1); T Doyle (0-1, one mark), J Kennedy (0-3, one 45), C Deely; M O’Shea, S Quirke, S O’Brien (capt) (0-2, one mark).
Subs: R Collins for Deely (10 mins, inj), S O’Connor for O’Brien (37, inj), M Russell (0-1) for Doyle, L McGrath (0-1) for O’Shea (both 45), C Kennedy for Feehan (58),
Referee: Brendan Griffin (Kerry).
