‘O’Rourke has massive talent at his disposal from every corner of Meath’
MEATH fans who fear there is a dearth of talent in the county should not be so concerned. Mayo footballer David Brady believes there is every reason for Meath to be optimistic that they will get back to the golden circle of Gaelic football soon. Brady, who played for Mayo in the 1990s and early noughties (including the 1996 All-Ireland final when the Connacht side lost to Meath after a controversial replay), says that from what he has seen the Royal County is certainly not short of talented footballers. In fact, the opposite is the case.
Brady, who lives in Castleknock, watched Ratoath, the team he now manages, kick-start their SFC campaign last week with a resounding 5-16 to 3-14 win over Simonstown Gaels - but it wasn't only what he saw in that game that convinces him the talent is in the Royal County just waiting to be tapped.
"From the perspective of an outsider coming in - I'm now half a Meathman! - but there is an awful lot of talent out there. I'm listening to these stories, these opinions that say otherwise but I'm telling you now, I've seen a lot of football and a lot of players in the last 32 years of my life and by Jaysus, there's nothing far wrong with Meath football. That's clear from every game I've seen," he told the Meath Chronicle.
"From the first game this year Ballinabrackey beat us by something like 12 points, they are a good team. I look at teams like Summerhill, Seneschalstown, Wolfe Tones, Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Gaeil Colmcille two teams in our group, all of them are very impressive, very impressive.
"Let me be 100 per cent straight, I have seen such quality in club football in Meath. Colm O'Rourke, who by the way I wish the height of luck as Meath manager, is in a very enviable position in that he has massive talent at his disposal across every corner of Meath.
"I have seen a few nuggets too who have not yet made the county team and I think I'm long enough on the ground now to be the judge of a good footballer and there is a lot of them around the playing fields of Meath. A lot of good teams. There is no difference to what I have seen down in Mayo or anywhere else."
The 2019 and 2020 Keegan cup winners were in blistering form against Simonstown at times on a warm evening in Ashbourne. At times they moved the ball around at bewildering speed, the team transitioning from defence to attack with rocket-like rapidity. They got five goals it could easily have been more.
Not that Brady (who won an All-Ireland Club SFC medal with Ballina Stephenites in 2005 and later managed the club's senior team) was entirely happy with Ratoath's display describing it as "good but not overly impressive." He says there is still a lot of room for improvement which doesn't augur well for Gaeil Colmcille and Donaghmore/Ashbourne who are also in Ratoath's group.
"We have to improve on every single aspect of our game because if you think you are going to be able to rest on your laurels, well then you’re in trouble.
“The championship is a different animal than the league or any other competition so you have to be focused. It's nice to win yeah but we have a lot of things to work on. We had a talk (after the Simonstown win) and we have identified five things we really need to focus on.
"This is being driven by the players who are just a lovely, lovely bunch of guys. I'm just a conduit, a piece of the jigsaw but they are really focused on improving all the time."
Brady, who played in two All-Ireland finals with Mayo in '96 and 2004 (which he also lost) admitted that managing is a lot different to playing, bringing with it it's own pressures.
"There's never a day as a player or manager that you don't go out for a championship game and not have a tingle in your stomach. Yet, I always slept well as a player before games, All-Irelands whatever, never bothered me in the slightest. I don't know if I got a wink of sleep before the Simonstown game."