Who can fathom the psychological depths a football team can plunge to? At Croke Park yesterday Westmeath blew into a nine-point lead ahead of Meath during the opening 20 minutes of their All-Ireland quarter-final game. They were playing the best football seen anywhere this summer. Then they remembered themselves.
They remembered that Westmeath have never beaten Meath in championship football, they remembered that Westmeath should have beaten Meath back on June 3rd but contrived to lose by a point. They remembered that this is the Meath team that Westmeath players watch on the television when they get knocked out of the championship every year.
So even if this was a novel quarter-final on a distinctly novel weekend, Westmeath remembered their place in the footballing caste system. Untouchables to Meath's Brahmins.
It was unfortunate. From the time of remembering to the final whistle Meath were in pursuit. No team plays that game better. One thing which the Seβn Boylan era has given Meath is a tenacious faith in themselves, a belief that sometimes defies logic that any game can be won form any position.
This was one of the epic Meath resurrections. Westmeath had slapped them silly with wonderful football which was adorned by two lovely goals scored before the 20th minute. Paul Conway nipped in for the first. Michael Ennis in perpetual motion crashed the second home. By the time Dessie Dolan had his third point from play in the 20th minute Westmeath were nine points ahead. Any wonder they checked themselves and started wondering if all this wasn't just a trap.
Duly Meath hauled them in. Ollie Murphy scored a goal in the 22nd minute and another in the last minute to bookend a revival which had at it's core the patient promptings of Boylan. The longest serving manager in the country played his hand beautifully, every move having an effect on the game.
The teams meet again at Croke Park next Saturday for what will be Westmeath's ninth game of the championship season.
It means that the second All-Ireland semi-final is no clearer than it was before the weekend. Dublin's startling comeback against Kerry in Thurles on Saturday began a bad weekend for provincial champions. By yesterday evening none of them had won their quarter-finals.
Chaos on the roads, oul' Dub banter and quite a bit of oul' Dub urinating at the side of the gridlocked roads south were all part of another memorable entry in the Dublin-Kerry ledger. The All-Ireland champions were hardly the better of the late deluge of 2-3 - Vinnie Murphy and Darren Homan getting the goals - that hit them between the 59th and 68th minutes when Maurice Fitzgerald lofted over an equaliser from a sideline 45 metres out.
This replay will be next Saturday, same time, same place.
One man who may not be in quite the same place is Dublin manager Tom Carr, whose heated observations directed at referee Michael Curley are likely to land him in hot water. The GAC meets on Wednesday and the matter is likely to arise.
The first All-Ireland semi-final on August 26th is, however, finalised and it brings together two survivors of the qualifier system, Derry and Galway. The counties met at this stage of the championship three years ago when Galway won on the way to taking their first All- Ireland in a generation.
Derry avenged the result of the Ulster semi-final two months ago with a comprehensive win over provincial champions and neighbouring rivals Tyrone. Galway also overturned a provincial semi-final defeat with an equally decisive defeat of Roscommon.
