Maguire wants the O'Mahonys underdogs to bark

A quick glance at the Meath GAA Roll of Honour will tell you all you need to know about the importance of next Saturday's IFC final for Navan O'Mahonys.

The Brews Hill club are the most successful side in Meath football championship history with 20 senior crowns to their name, only Skryne come any where near them, seven behind.

Remarkably, if O'Mahonys were to see off Meath Hill in the Mattie McDonnell Cup decider they would become the joint fifth most successful club in the second tier too.

O'Mahonys won the IFC crown in 1956 and came straight back up to senior to win four Keegan Cups in succession - how they'd dream of a scenario like that now.

Even when they were relegated to Intermediate again in 2001 O'Mahonys bounced back to win four more senior titles before, unbelievely, being relegated again in 2022 when Seneschalstown sent them down.

When they went down two years ago there were fears that they could struggle to come back up for a long time, but there's something special stirring on Brews Hill again and it's being driven by O'Mahonys men.

One of those men, Rory Maguire, ended up in Navan after starting off his playing days with Longwood. Indeed his parting act with the Villagers was to help them to a Div 4 league title.

Since becoming an adopted O'Mahonys man Maguire has immersed himself in the club and won a Keegan Cup in 2015.

Now as joint manager along with Damo Moran and a backroom team that includes club stalwarts like Marky Brennan, Ross Geraghty, Simon O'Connor and Barry Dunphy, Maguire is hoping to lead O'Mahonys back to where they belong.

"I'm only a small part of the management team. The other lads are great, there's no job too big or too small for them," Maguire told the Meath Chronicle.

"We have all played football, we are a good group of friends as well. We all have a huge passion and love for the club and we just want to see the best for the group.

"When the other lads were asked two years to get involved with myself and Damo (Moran), straight away they said 'let's get stuck into it', 'what can we do to help', every day since it has been the same.

"We are a nice tightknit group and that close friendship certainly helps. There have been plenty of tricky moments for everyone, and we can all be very honest. It is great to be part of it with them. "It is a big occasion for us. This is another step on the journey in terms of improving everyone, so it's all systems go for the final."

While relegation from A FL Div 1 might seem like a negative and a very bad start to the year Maguire chooses to focus on the positives and the experience the players gain from playing against senior opposition every week.

While relegation was their ultimate fate from Div 1, many of those defeats were narrow ones, character building ones suggests the joint-manager.

"We were the only Intermediate team in Div 1 so that was always going to be tricky. We were playing top sides week in and week out and while it wasn't nice getting some of the results we got in the league it was about building character and people learning their trade," said Maguire.

"Every game we tried to improve bit by bit. Not too many games went really badly, we were on the narrow side of a few defeats in games where we performed fairly well in, so we were happy with some of performances in the league, but no one likes getting beat every game.

"As it went into the championship we didn't play well in the first game and got a rude awakening against Walterstown, so we had to start again. We got a good result against St Michael's after a tough first-half.

"Against Kilbride we were under a bit of pressure in that we needed results to go our way and we needed to win by seven, but we came through it well and bit by bit we got better.

"Every game as got a bit tougher as we have gone on and it will be the same again in the final."

What that tough league campaign did was bring on the younger players significantly, but Maguire cannot highlight enough the importance of the the more experienced players on the panel and the invaluable traits they bring.

"Any team needs that mix of experience and youth and that's crucial for us," insisted Maguire.

"We have a nice blend at the minute. Some of the older lads like Brian Dillon, Darragh Maguire, Mike O'Reilly, Oisin O'Brien, Jake Regan, who is out with a cruciate, all still offer a huge amount of experience to the group and that is needed.

"We need to be bringing young lads through every year and we are doing that at the minute in small steps, but if you continue to do that then you give yourself a chance to improve year on year

"They are all good guys, they all work hard, they all want to learn and you need that togetherness when you are on a journey like this."

So Meath Hill stand between O'Mahonys and a return to senior football and Lord only knows what could happen if history were to repeat itself.

However, Maguire isn't looking that far ahead. He is well aware of the size of the task ahead of the O'Mahonys.

"Every time you see Meath Hill you can see the level of passion and aggression. They have a few seriously talented individuals as well," assured Maguire.

"You know what you are going to get with them. We are going to be have to be at our best just to perform with them, we certainly aren't under-estimating the job at hand.

"They will probably go into the final as favourites, they haven't lost a game this year, so deservedly so. We will have to be right up to it to perform on the day and do our own little bit," he concluded with a smile.