Reilly handed a tough job

There was no procrastination when it came to appointing John Andrews" successor as Meath senior hurling manager. On Monday night the job was kept 'in house" when Hurling Committee chairman T J Reilly was handed the task of reviving Meath"s flagging fortunes. Reilly was part of the initial interview committee, however, the candidates Dave Foley, Pat O"Halloran and John Davis all withdrew. Reilly"s credentials are not in question. He is a well-respected and extremely well-liked hurling man with a vast amount of knowledge about the game. He has previous experience also having taken temporary charge a few years ago when John Hunt stepped down as Meath senior hurling boss. Reilly"s first game in charge resulted in a win over Wicklow in the NHL and he followed that with a couple more victories before Johnny Murray took the role on a full-time basis. The Boardsmill official will take over from Andrews who stepped down last month declaring that he couldn"t work with certain members of the Co Committee. Reilly is unlikely to have that problem as he is one of the leading figures on the executive. Reilly takes over Meath hurling at a low ebb. Poor form and a drastic restructuring will see Meath compete in NHL Div 3 and in the Nicky Rackard Cup for 2009, but Andrews has left a panel that are more than capable of winning all before them next season. 'I"m going to give this job the best shot I can and I"m looking forward to the challenge,' Reilly told the Meath Chronicle on Tuesday morning. 'We won"t be discarding anyone at the moment. We will be looking at new players and I"m not sure what the situation will be with the Kilmessan players for the start of the year because they may want to give their full commitment to the All-Ireland semi-final and hopefully a final. 'The Kilmessan lads have brought great honour to the county and we want to give them every chance. We would have five or six of those lads on our Meath team, but we will have to weigh up the situation and see when they will be available. 'We will be playing Down in the Kehoe Cup on Sunday, 11th January, but it is still early days for me. I have done no preparation yet, but over the next few days I"ll be getting things in motion. 'If the Kilmessan lads don"t want to play against Down then we will have to get the next best bunch of players on the field. We are planning to have a meeting with all the players on Friday night and we will work from there. 'We are going to try to build a panel of players for the next number of years. We hope that a lot of the good minors that worked with Paul Reilly will be able to come through and make an impact, but it is exciting times,' concluded the new senior hurling manager. Fellow Boardsmill club man Vinny Guy will succeed Dunboyne"s Paul Reilly as manager of the minor hurling team. Continuity is maintained at u-21 level with former Meath senior selector and player Kevin Dowd remaining in charge.