Royals back in the groove

Saturday night's football at Parnell Park was just like watching Meath of old as the Royal County refused to surrender and pushed Dublin all the way to extra-time in a thrilling O'Byrne Shield final. There was an extra edge to the game as both teams finalised their plans for the start of the NFL this weekend. There was also a more familiar look to the team with the likes of Graham Reilly, Shane O'Rourke, Joe Sheridan, Nigel Crawford and Anthony Moyles all featuring. Manager Seamus McEnaney has now completed his trawl of the county in an effort to unearth some previously hidden games. The Monaghan man has used 39 players in the four competitive games between the O'Byrne Cup and Shield with others also tried in a number of challenge games. Players like Paddy Gilsenan, Ian Davis, David Morgan and Bryan Menton are all likely to feature in the manager's plans for 2011. Supporters who travel to O'Moore Park, Portlaoise on Saturday for the opening NFL Div 2 game against Laois will have been heartened by what they witnessed at Parnell Park last Saturday night. Meath had two points on the scoreboard inside 60 secondsas they exploded from the traps. However, they kicked 17 wides, trailed by five points at the interval, were six points down with five minutes remaining and then showed sufficient character to force extra-time. Even after conceding a goal within a minute of the resumption of that 20 minutes extra-time, they got back to level terms again and were unfortunate to end up on the wrong side of a 2-16 to 2-14 scoreline. This was thrill-a-minute stuff and augurs well for the next few months as McEnaney and his team of selectors attempt to lead Meath into the top flight of the NFL, a Leinster SFC title and, perhaps, an All-Ireland title. That's the expectations from the supporters, but regardless of how 2011 pans out for the manager and his team, the supporters will be quite happy if they get the level of performance on a regular basis that was produced on Saturday night. The game even had a little melee which produced yellow cards for Seamus Kenny and Brian Farrell, but Westmeath referee Sean Carroll got that one wrong as Dublin's Denis Bastic was the real culprit and escaped censure completely. Sheridan, who started his first game on Saturday night, finished with 2-2 to his credit while O'Rourke claimed four points. More accurate finishing from each player would surely have produced a victory. On this occasion, as the manager stated afterwards, the result was not important and it was all about the performance. Based on the latest evidence, things are looking positive for Meath. A more accurate assessment will be possible after Saturday's trip to O'Moore Park.