BOYLAN TALKS SPORT: An eventful first year with Team Meath Chronicle

I was in the carpark of the Blanchardstown Centre when taking the call from the Sports Editor of this local institution. A call which, it will be openly admitted, had been yearned for for as long as the one typing finger here knew its way around a keyboard.

So it took the sum total of about two seconds to answer in the affirmative once the offer was made. After all, this was the equivalent of getting the call from Colm O’Rourke or Seoirse Bulfin for county service.

As it was the day after the opening episode of The Sunday Game for the season, there was no shortage of material with which to work. In that regard, Donal Og Cusack is the gift that keeps on giving.

Back then, he was rife with indignation because the vast majority of Cork’s hurling matches during the summer season were to be on the GAAGo platform rather than ‘normal’ television.

So you can imagine what the cranky Cloyne man is like this week after it was announced Pat Ryan’s charges would again be surfing the web for their coverage in 2024.

However, thankfully that noise can be ignored for now. Simply because there has been no shortage of local sporting success for which to hold the back page for.

Top billing, for this writer at least, has to be - in a glorious tricast - the return of Sean Boylan to the Meath senior football setup, the Tailteann Cup success and the National League and Christy Ring Cup double achieved by Seoirse Bulfin’s county senior hurlers.

But there was also the Peadar Lehane Cup staying at home thanks to our talented Minor hurlers and, even though two separate final defeats was ultimately their lot, it was a year of progress for the county senior camogie team which should bode well for incoming manager Neil Cole.

Furthermore, the success achieved by Na Fianna towards the back end of the year should, at the very least, continue to raise the profile of the game in the county. Especially with players like the very talented Shauna Ennis bringing the next generation on in our schools.

Speaking of our All Ireland winning captain and her colleagues in the realm of the bigger ball, after being astride the plateau of the mountain in recent seasons, a coldly analytical view might suggest they have lost their footing somewhat from those heights.

However, I believe a fairer appraisal of their current status must take into account the fact that the vast majority of the players have been on the go for the past half decade without a break.

That’s without even taking account the loss of players - for various reasons - such as Orlaith Duff, Emma Troy, Orlagh Lally, Vikki Wall, Kelsey Nesbitt and Bridgetta Lynch. Not to mention the turmoil which transpired off the field. All is far from lost.

In soccer, it has been very much a mixed bag for the locals plying their trade at a high level. Most notably Evan Ferguson continuing the meteoric rise of his status in the game.

We had Dunboyne’s Josh Keeley to the fore with the Republic Of Ireland U-19s while other Meath players Jamie McGrath and Sam Curtis making waves in their own right.

Just as this piece was being put together, news emerged that Keeley’s older brother Conor has signed for St Patrick’s Athletic, Where he will of course link up with club President Tom O’Mahony and midfielder Tommy Lonergan. Thus continuing a connection between the village and the Inchicore club which goes back generations.

It hasn’t been all rainbows and roses on the soccer front though. Darragh Lenihan - the first Meath man capped by the Republic Of Ireland at senior level - faces a lengthy spell on the sideline with an Achilles Tendon injury.

Moving on to horse racing, locals in that particular discipline have once again been to the fore of some of top stories therein. Beginning with Colin Keane being crowned Champion Flat jockey for a fifth time.

Meanwhile, Gordon Elliott, Gavin Cromwell and Noel Meade added to their status within the sport while other locals like Keith Donoghue, Caragh Monaghan, Matthew Smith and Chris Timmons continued to build theirs.

Switching attention to rugby and, besides the (growing number of) local clubs holding their own at their various levels, the switch of Vikki Wall from Ladies Football and/or Australian Football League to the Irish 7s rugby setup was certainly one of the more left of field sporting developments of the year.

Though her latest sporting switch will be an incalculable loss to both Dunboyne and Meath football, if she does conquer her last sporting ambition - and knowing her she absolutely will - it will give a unique local connection to the next Olympic Games.

At the time of typing, Duleek’s Keane Barry was awaiting the mountainous task of a clash with Michael Van Gerwen at the PDC World Darts Championship.

Closer to home, there’s much to look forward to in the new sporting year. It will scarcely shock anybody that I’m especially anticipating the commencement of the 2024 GAA season.

There’s much to look forward to. Our 2021 All Ireland winning Minor football team should have an excellent chance of affording the county a desperately needed boost at U-20 level.

For the senior footballers, a year of challenge and opportunity awaits. Div 2 of the National League looks feverishly competitive but between that and being back in the All Ireland Championship, it is not unreasonable to feel further progress is possible.

It will also be very interesting to see how the senior hurlers fare out having gained promotion in both the league and their championship competition.

Elsewhere, with both starting out with new management teams, chances are consolidation will be the name of the game for both the lady footballers and the camogie team, but it wouldn’t surprise me if progress was possible for both too.

Finally, in what might be a surprising development to some observers, there are a couple of off field developments to which I am looking forward perhaps even more so than what goes on on the pitch.

Namely, to see what projects accrue on foot of the JP McManus donations and, even more especially from a personal perspective, seeing the redevelopment of Pairc Tailteann get underway. Most obviously the part thereof which is closest to my heart.

A happy and healthy sporting New Year to you all.