Captain Jones confident of a bright future

When Ronan Jones was announced as new the Meath captain in succession to Donal Keogan it came as no real surprise that the St Peter's man was being elevated to the role.

Jones has all the qualities needed to be a captain.

He leads by example, he's cool, calm and composed, and hectic when he needs to be.

Mature beyond his young years, Jones is practically a veteran at this stage. His 16 championship appearances might not seem like a huge number, but with only Keogan, Padraic Harnan and Cillian O'Sullivan on the panel with more than 20 appearances the St Peter's man is the natural successor.

It is not just his football experience that makes him stand out. Jones is also a senior marketing manager with Whoop, the fitness tracker wearable that is taking the sporting world by storm.

His life experience is something else that stands him apart as a man with great leadership qualities.

As a 20 year old he headed to the United States to complete his college education in Northeastern University in Boston.

Having never been to the US before and never lived away from home, moving to America to go to college was a massive life learning curve for Jones and one he feels has helped him develop as a leader.

After a couple of years in DCU Jones moved to Northeastern in Boston in 2017 as part of his college programme which meant he had to do two years there.

Through that course in Boston he got an internship with Whoop in Boston where he worked out of offices overlooking Fenway Park for another year before moving back home in 2020.

"Living in the States was great, it was a big learning curve, but I loved it. College was tough, but it was enjoyable, there was a good group of Irish people over there," recalled Jones.

"I was very well looked after by (former Meath and Walterstown footballer) Charles McCarthy and ended up playing for Wolfe Tones. The first couple of days there Charles picked me up and brought me to Target and kitted out the house for me.

"He never met me before, he had never knew me, but Andy McEntee had given him a heads up that I was going over and he looked after me really well.

"I played for two years there. The first year we had a great team. A couple of lads came over from Meath, we had Paddy Keenan from Louth, Kevin Maguire from Westmeath.

"We played in that famous final (in August 2018) that Diarmuid Connolly played in for the star studded Donegal team. It was a great final, great standard and a great experience."

As his time in the US was winding down Jones flew over and back from Boston to play in a few league games for Meath and he enjoyed "the best of both worlds".

"I'm with Whoop six years, when I moved back in 2020 they weren't too well known, but in the last two or three years it has really taken off. Just keep an eye out for anyone's wrists in GAA games, you'll see a little bump with a bit of tape on it, that's their Whoop," said Jones.

"The device tracks recovery, training, strain, heart rate, sleep and then it feeds back on all those elements.

"It gives you feed back on your training and instead of wondering if certain things are working for you them you have data behind it and it will tell you whether it is working or not.

"It's a cool product to be involved in and it's a cool space for me because I'm obviously mad into sport and this is the intersection between sport and tech."

Now with his feet firmly planted back on home soil Jones is relishing the added responsibility of being captain, but it hasn't been an easy journey for the Dunboyne man who has suffered enough injuries that would have ended lesser men's careers.

"I was a bit taken by surprise (when named captain). Donal seemed happy enough, being the type of man he is it doesn't faze him at all. He turns up and works hard regardless, if anything it will take some of the pressure off him in terms of the internal admin that you have to do," said Jones.

"It is a huge honour. It won't change a whole pile in terms of what I do. I will still turn up and try to work hard everyday, but it is a huge honour.

"Injuries have been a bit of a thread throughout my career. I broke my leg, broke my arm which needed two surgeries, broke my finger, I've had shoulder surgery, they all happened at the worst of times too.

"Even last year I tore my PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) against Down in the group stages of the Tailteann Cup and only made it back for the final.

"Hopefully all those injuries are well behind me, but it has been a tough couple of years on that front.

"Those injuries probably were as a result of how I play. Most of them were contact injuries. Every time I play my Mother would be on the sideline holding her breath, but it's just the way I play.

"I'm self-aware enough, I'm not one of the most skilful players we have. We have beautiful footballers on the team like Mat (Costello) and Lynchy (Aaron Lynch) and lads like that who can glide around the place and kick points all day. I'm in a different camp where I have to work, put my body around and do what needs to be done, so perhaps my injuries are as a consequence of that."

After a topsy-turvy 2023 that saw Meath start brilliantly under new manager Colm O'Rourke with a sensational win over Cork, endure a blip that resulted in a relegation scrap in the league and a loss to Offaly in Leinster before recovering to win the Tailteann Cup, Jones is hoping to build on the positive end to the year.

"The loss to Offaly was very disappointing and with the make up of the team at that time it could have went one of two ways. It was a young team and a lot of older lads had stepped away.

"It was a case of looking at it like that was as low as we could go or we could look at it as the start of a tough couple of years ahead.

"Thankfully everybody bounced back after that game and it was led by a lot of the young lads who came in and stepped up.

"There is no substitute for games, so getting an extra five or six games in the Tailteann Cup was a boost. Maybe if we had beaten Offaly we might have got one or two more games and the possibility of maybe a trimming in the Leinster final, which would have meant we went out on a bit of a bum note.

"So to get five or six more games, to get a bit more confidence playing with each other, because the team was only coming together, was crucial. With the likes of Sean Coffey, Ciaran Caulfield and Conor Gray only really coming into the set-up then it was good to get the run of games and finish on a high note.

"Let's call a spade a spade. We are not coming back thinking we won a All-Ireland last year or we are untouchable. We knew what it was about and it was definitely good to get the run and the positives that have come out of it.

"There were games last year where we didn't actually play that badly. I'm thinking of the Louth game where we left it behind us, down in Limerick we just didn't show up in the first-half then put ourselves in a position to win, but we didn't.

"Those bum notes were disappointing, but the Down game in Parnell Park was a turning point. Coming through a really tight game in the championship was something that we really hadn't done for a few years, so that was definitely a boost.

"Then from there we were playing summer football, back training in brighter evenings, it was another six weeks together that we otherwise wouldn't have had."

A rising tide lifts all boats and as Meath started to string together a few wins, the supporters got behind the team and Jones believes that is crucial if Meath are to get back to the very top again.

"The fans were huge. It's great to have the support for the team, but we need to give the supporters something to get behind, the Tailteann Cup did give us that and it was something I hadn't experienced myself.

"There was great support for the team when we had the run in the Super 8s, but I was away that year, so I missed that, but it was great having the support behind us.

"The homecoming was special too. Being able to go out onto the pitch and kick a ball around with a few of the young supporters was special, they don't care who we are or what we have done, they were just excited that Meath were doing well, it's everything to them.

"The Tailteann Cup was a hugely positive run and a great experience to have."

Meath had their ups and down under Andy McEntee's management and Jones believes he developed as a player under his club man.

He feels now that the injection of younger players and Colm O'Rourke's philosophy of playing a more attacking style of football has helped move Meath on.

Progress can only be measured by success, so what does a good 2024 look like for Jones and Meath?

"I had great time for Andy and I developed a lot under him and I think a lot of lads did as well," said Jones.

"There is an injection of young talent coming through now. When you look at training games internally they are as competitive as they have ever been, if not more competitive and there are primarily younger lads there who weren't there two or three years ago that are coming through.

"Colm wants to play positive attacking football, the Tailteann Cup proved that, he wants to move the ball forward and with pace. We have to marry that with being cautious against the teams we play who have a more defensive style.

"There will be no easy games in Div 2. It is as competitive a league as there as ever been, anyone can take points off anyone.

"It is about performances for us. If we can push for promotion and get to a Div 2 final that would be fantastic, but it is about putting performances together and doing it consistently, which we didn't do last year.

"We had a couple of highs and a couple of lows, so if we can get that consistency and if everyone buys into the same style and pulls in the same direction then we can do well.

"We do have the honour of being in the All-Ireland series off the back of what we did last year, so we want to be consistent about how we play and look after our own game and hopefully the results will take care of themselves," concluded the new captain.