BOYLAN TALKS SPORT: “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”

It’s always there. You might have to dig to the bowels of your gut to find it. But it’s always there. That bit of, well, something. It’s probably indefinable. That something that’s obviously, gloriously, woven into the DNA of Meath GAA teams.

Perhaps a different iteration of but the exact same thought process as the seminal line from the final speech by former North Carolina State basketball head coach, the late Jim Valvano - “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up” - way back in 1984.

How far back does one want to go to draw examples? For this writer, the dying embers of the drawn All Ireland SFC Final of 1988. David Beggy somehow convincing referee Tommy Sugrue to give him a free to earn the Royal County another day out. 1991 - again, the green and gold manage to extricate themselves from the quicksand in three of the four games against Dublin and then constructed the greatest goal ever scored in Croke Park to swing the fourth encounter their way.

Onto 1996. Colm Coyle’s Hail Mary ball which bounces in the square and over the bar. Giving himself and his colleagues another crack at Mayo. 1997, Jody Devine, enough said. So then we head to 2001. Twelve minutes to go in the Leinster quarter final against Westmeath. Two annoyingly noisy Kildare lads STANDING in front of the disabled viewing ‘facilities’ in the Cusack Stand grotesquely proclaim “Christ it’s great to be here to see the last of (Sean) Boylan”.

Anyway, much to the chagrin of my quiet, peaceful father, there was no way I was taking that sitting down without a riposte. “Here lads, there’s 12 minutes to go, we’re not dead yet”! To which I could hear the elder lemon purposely audibly muttering in the direction of yours truly “Will ya be quiet, we’ve no chance”. The rest, as they say, is history!

Jump forward another 12 months. An occasion which goes very close to rivalling July 6th 1991 as the greatest Meath comeback of them all. You remember it, Ollie McDonnell and Mark Stanfield fired goals that had those who were then Paddy Carr’s charges foot loose and fancy free. Until Messrs Kealy, Murphy and Geraghty had other ideas!

And so we arrive at Sunday last. Yes, I believe Meath’s astonishing recovery effort which nearly began the redevelopment of Pairc Tailteann ahead of schedule as the roars of the crowd which greeted the deeds of those clad in unfamiliar navy heroically reeled in the Faithful County in a fashion which cast the mind back to days which will warm the heart for an eternity.

To get the ugliness out of the first, having lost the toss, Robbie Brennan’s charges found themselves playing into the stiff breeze. And, while they would have of course expected Offaly to make the most of having said elements at their back, giving them an eight point head start absolutely wouldn’t have been in the script.

Yet through Cormac Egan and Keith O’Neill and Dylan Hyland and Jack Bryant and Shane Tierney, that’s exactly what happened before Eoghan Frayne belatedly woke the locals from their unwanted slumber.

It was a bit like buses then as the returned Sean Coffey and Mat Costello (three) got Meath onto a handful of scores, but still only within two handfuls of their opponents at the break.

Now, thanks to the brilliant restructuring of Gaelic football, a 10 point deficit is not the terrifying edifice it once was, but as Gaels of a certain vintage would readily express, the wind never won a match for anybody.

However, after using every grain of sand in the half time timer, when Bryan Menton pointed immediately after the restart it kick started an amazing spell of football in which the 2023 Tailteann Cup winners scored nine points in a twelve minute blitz, courtesy of Conor Duke (2x2PT), Costello (2x2PT) and Frayne (1x2PT) before the introduced James Conlon within 20 seconds of being introduced tested the load-bearing capacity of the roof on the much maligned stand in old ground when lofting over a somewhat incredible equaliser.

Then, in a real hark back to days of old, Brennan’s brigade made the best of their way home. Firstly as a monstrous effort by Jack Flynn from out around Garlow Cross gave Meath the lead for the first time with exactly 10 minutes left.

When Aaron Lynch and Conlon pointed, again, leaving the ebullient locals four clear, temptation might have been to breathe a little easier, but in the modern game that isn’t an option.

A converted 45 from Offaly’s mercurial netminder Paddy Dunican left just a lengthy kick of the ball between the sides.

Until, that is, the swings and roundabouts of the modern Gaelic football world were seen in all their chaotic glory. Billy Hogan rapidly finding Jack Flynn who in turn located Lynch out under the stand. The Trim clubman duly dispatching a Garryowen in the direction of the Navan O’Mahonys clubhouse as Dunican dashed back like a woman who smells her cake on fire in the oven but couldn’t get there before Conlon beat the nearest Offaly defender to the jump and ensured the Dubs will be coming into view on the horizon.

Now more than ever that bit of ‘something’ will be required. But it is in there, and it’s not only Sunday’s game that proves it. Against Roscommon who, there’s no shame in admitting are at least a few rungs ahead of us on the ladder, Meath played the best football seen from a team in green - particularly against a higher ranked opponent - in quite a while.

But still, when endurance, obduracy and a bit of grunt were needed against Westmeath, they had that too. So now we arrive at the perhaps unanswerable question - what would represent a good outcome from a Royal County viewpoint in Portlaoise on Sunday week? Can we entertain realistic ambitions of beating the men who can’t be moved?

Well, while with the greatest of respect to the Garden County, we should be at the very least capable of giving them as much of a rattle as Wicklow did, I wouldn’t be making bold predictions either way. For the simple reason that Meath’s season doesn’t need to and shouldn’t be defined but just one match. We currently occupy different airspace in the GAA galaxy.

There’s not a thing wrong with that being the case either. Regardless of what transpires in the midlands, we’re guaranteed three more games which will undoubtedly stand to the lads going forward.

Of even greater importance though, at the time of typing at least, our underage teams still have a whirl of momentum behind them. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but at least they had the foundations in.