Ian O'Riordan talks to the Meath manager who, in his 22nd season in charge, has started on a winning note

Trial and error is a large part of O'Byrne Cup football, though it always helps when error is kept to a minimum. Meath sent out a trial team against Longford last Sunday and it appeared they could do little wrong. And while no manager knows better than Seán Boylan that nothing much is won in the month of January the performance hasn't gone unnoticed.

Form is also mostly futile this time of year and a good start is not always half the battle but there's talk already Boylan is in the process of working another oracle. Not just because Meath played well, but because they played well with so many fresh faces. Something about their body language suggested they meant business. Next up is Sunday's semi-final meeting with Offaly in Navan and another chance to test the new strength in depth.

Boylan, however, isn't making any grand predictions about his newly shaped team. Longford were disappointing last Sunday compared to their surprisingly easy win over Laois, and his latest effort of regenerating Meath football is still in its earliest stages.

"I was quite happy with last Sunday," says Boylan, "and pleased with the way things worked out. You can do all the training and practice in the world, but it's only in competition, no matter what the competition is, and how you perform in it that you get the true measure of where you're going. So from that point of view I was definitely happy with the way the game ended up.

"But to be honest I would take the O'Byrne Cup seriously every year. In the past with whatever success we've had we might have been away on holiday or just back from holiday. The fact that we weren't away this year, simply because we didn't earn the right to, meant that we have got together a fuller squad than usual. So we honestly would like to do well in this competition. And we'll get another idea on Sunday of exactly where we are at this time of the year. That's the important thing."

Among the more conspicuous changes to the Meath team last Sunday was the introduction of three former Meath minors. Brian Farrell, Joe Sheridan and Tom O'Connor all played in the All-Ireland final against Derry two years ago, and while Meath were outclassed on that occasion, all three showed great potential.

Now it seems they are ready to deliver on that potential. Full forwards Sheridan and Farrell picked up 0-5 between them last Sunday, and O'Connor slipped perfectly into the half-back line. But again Boylan is not getting carried away.

"We actually brought some of them in last year at different times, just to introduce them to the pace of the senior game and that. And they are coming through well now. But there is still huge demand on players at that age between college and county under-21 football. But I have a good agreement now with Benny Reddy, who looks after the under-21s, so we're not going to burn them up."

"We'll probably use some of them again on Sunday but a couple more players have come back into contention, such as Darren Fay, who was out for a long time with an ankle injury. But we'll have a team ready for Thursday night and we'll go with that."

Last summer was a disappointment for Meath, and Boylan freely admits it. Losing to Fermanagh in the All-Ireland qualifiers was clearly the low point.

"But I would never take anything from the way Fermanagh played that day," he says. "It was a great day for them and they deserved that win."

Yet it did leave a cloud of uncertainty over Boylan's future. After 21 uninterrupted years as senior football manager he was suddenly reluctant to think ahead. And under the new format of electing the county manager in Meath it was November before that future was again opened up to him.

"People say if you're a good politician you'll have all your team in place beforehand," he jokes. "But I suppose GAA politics and ordinary politics are very different. So I didn't assume or presume anything.

"But we've been back together now since late November and like every year I would reassess things at the beginning. I would never try to do the same things again, and I've always been like that. Every year I think I have the right things when we're starting off, and I've been proved wrong on a lot of occasions.

"But the most important thing is the assessment of the players that are with you, and at what stage they are at. I'm working with Declan Mullen and David Beggy, and it's very important that they see everyone, and that gives a good balance to the thing. I might have an idea about somebody, but they'll make up their own mind as well, and I won't try to influence them."

For now at least Boylan can be well satisfied at how his 22nd season as manager has started out. And he'll know too that the rest of Leinster has noted with interest.