Meath Sports Awards - MARCH (four of four) ANDY MCENTEE
The countdown is on for the Meath Chronicle Sportsperson of the Year awards with the 13th annual ceremony scheduled for its traditional home at Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim next Friday evening.
TICKETS
You can still buy tickets as there is limited availability - If you wish to attend contact Linda Cahill in the Meath Chronicle by Wednesday - linda.cahill@meathchronicle.ie or the Ticketline at (046) 9079654 - 10am - 2pm - Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.
The overall 2019 Sportsperson of the Year will be selected from the monthly winners who will each be honoured on the night in recognition of their specific achievements during 2019.
The 2019 Sportsperson of the Year awards will be hosted by RTE’s Evanne Ni Chuilinn.
The list of contenders is listed at the end of this article and in this piece the focus is on one of the four March winners, Meath GAA football team manager Andy McEntee.
ANDY MCENTEE
Andy McEntee guided Meath to a top of the table finish in the 2019 NFL Div 2 and secured promotion back to the top flight for the first time since 2006.
The return to Div 1 football was confirmed on Sunday 24th March following the 2-12 to 0-11 victory over Fermanagh at Pairc Tailteann.
Barry Dardis and James McEntee had the honour of scoring the goals that got Meath over the line, but a huge bulk of the credit must go to McEntee and his management team of selectors Donal Curtis, Finian Murtagh and Gerry Cooney and coach Colm Nally.
The foundation of promotion was laid with an opening round win over Tipperary.
The trip to Ballybofey to take on Donegal proved to be Meath's only blip, but there were enough positives for 55-60 minutes from that game for Meath not to lose heart.
ANDY WITH THE LOCAL MEDIA IN PAIRC TAILTEANN - FERGAL LYNCH AND BRENDAN CUMMINS
The promotion bid got back on track with a 2-13 to 0-13 win over Armagh and a 2-12 to 1-9 against Cork.
Against Kildare and it needed a late penalty to seal a 1-9 to 1-8 win and when Meath travelled to Clare they won by 1-12 to 1-7 to set up the clash with Fermanagh.
Donegal proved too strong in the NFL Div 2 final, but Andy had achieved his first goal of 2019 - guiding Meath back to the top table of league football.
MONTHLY WINNERS
January - Gavin Kennedy (Ashbourne RFC); February - Shane Aston (Trim AC); March - Ger Lyons (horseracing), Andy McEntee (GAA); Keith Donoghue (horseracing), Gavin Cromwell (horseracing), April - Ray Moloney (Navan RFC), Gordon Elliott (horseracing); May - Eamonn Murray (GAA); June - Nick Fitzgerald (GAA); July - Donal Keogan (GAA); August - Colin Keane (horseracing); September - Brian Carroll & Gary McConnell (handball); October - Cian Carey (motorsport); November - Mary Watters (athletics); December - Alan Murphy (Trim Celtic).
OTHER AWARDS
Other awards that will be presented include
Team of the Year - Na Fianna Camogie (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Outstanding Achievement Male - Jack Regan (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Outstanding Achievement Female - Natalya Coyle (voted by Meath Chronicle readers)
Young Sportsperson of the Year - TBA on the night (selected by Meath Chronicle)
There will be some Facebook live from the Knightsbrook next Friday night.