Bray not carried away with comfortable win

When Meath football was at its lowest ebb for many many years following the humbling All-Ireland SFC qualifier defeat by Limerick last July very few players could walk away with their head held high. Nobody went out to the Gaelic Grounds on that Saturday evening to play so poorly on purpose and no-one wanted to lose. So it was with wounded pride that the majority of those players returned under the new guidance of Eamonn O"Brien. Even through the bad times, the supporters still held high opinions of many players, and following Sunday"s comprehensive O"Byrne Cup victory over Westmeath Stephen Bray was declared the one player that the supporters believed stood head and shoulders above every one else. Meath Supporters Club Player-of-the-Year is an honour Bray was delighted to accept, but one he feels is bitter-sweet. 'It is a great honour to get and I"m delighted the fans choose me. Realistically Meath didn"t go too well so I don"t know if I"m justified in winning it,' said the ever-modest Bray. 'I"m lucky that my club did well and we had a very good run. I"m totally chuffed that the supporters have picked me and I"m honoured, but I"d prefer to win an award like this in different circumstances, like after winning an All-Ireland or something,' said the O"Mahonys man. With the memories of 2008 banished to the dustbin Bray believes that the only way is up for Meath football. His supreme talent and that of many of his colleagues could see the Royal County back at the summit. However, Bray knows that O"Brien needs time to shape things in his design and while the win over Westmeath is a good start, the O"Mahonys man is all too aware that Westmeath were a weakened side and that Meath will face tougher tests. 'It was a very good start to the year and I"m happy with the win. It is great for the new set-up to get off to a win as well,' said Bray. 'Because the management was appointed so late in the year it made their life a lot harder and with November and December being closed months we couldn"t train collectively so it was hard for the new manager to get everything in place. 'It wasn"t until the end of November that the lads got to meet up with Eamonn O"Brien and it was only around that time that we finished up for the year with the club. It has been difficult not being able to train collectively. You can train individually, but it is not the same. 'When you are training on your own you don"t have that intensity of being marked while you"re going for a ball or anything like that. So it is better to be back traning now collectively. 'Fair enough we didn"t start well today, but gradually we improved and got better as the game wore on. 'That Westmeath team was a second string outfit and they will be tougher and a lot stronger in the league. 'I know we put up a nice score, but it is always easier to get scores when you are on a roll. When we got a run we played well and the scores came,' said the outstanding Bray who will carry much of Meath"s attacking threat in 2009.