Minors provide hope for future

IT wasn"t all about Dublin on Sunday at Croke Park. They won their fourth successive Leinster title but it was also a day of hope for Meath football supporters as the Leinster MFC title was bagged at headquarters. Less than 24 hours after Limerick sent Meath tumbling out of the All-Ireland SFC qualifier with a lamentable display in Pairc na nGael it was left up to the underage players to do the business with a 1-14 to 2-10 victory over Offaly. As you might expect the celebrations were boisterous in the winners" dressingroom and Minor Committee chairman Ultan Fitzpatrick sang a verse of 'Beautiful Meath" to a huge cheer, before he was soaked in water by the players. Now Meath face Tipperary in an All-Ireland MFC quarter-final. They will probably be favourites to win that game although Meath will understandably be wary of Munster opposition after what unfolded at the Gaelic Grounds on a Black Saturday for Colm Coyle and Meath football. On a sunsplashed Croke Park it was a different story for Meath, the players of the future as well as manager Pat Coyle and his selectors. Coyle is no stranger to success at underage level having guided teams from the Curraha area to various titles. He has led Meath teams to success with excellent performances in the Ulster Minor League and in winning the Gerry Reilly Cup. This was something special with much talk afterwards about the unity in the panel born out of the players having come through the ranks together. As Sunday"s minor final slipped into injury-time it looked like the the game would end in a draw. Then David Ryan fired the ball between the posts for the winning point. The Dublin fans on Hill 16 greeted the score with stony silence, an indication that there remains little love lost among Dublin supporters when it comes to Meath football. However, when the Meath players paraded the trophy at the end of the game they were applauded by many members of Paul Caffrey"s Blue Army. Unlike the lob-sided Dublin, Wexford senior encounter the minors served up an entertaining game full of adventurous football. Three times the sides were level in the opening half. They were on level terms twice after the break until Ryan slotted over his last-gasp winner. At one stage in the opening-half the young Royals led by four points before Offaly whipped in two quick-fire goals to put them in the ascendancy. Meath came back to level however, at the interval Offaly edged in front, 2-4 to 0-9. There were plenty of scares for the Meath defence in a breathless second-half with the game flowing one way then the other and goalkeeper Padraig Curran had to be alert to stem the tide. Changes made by the management team at the interval added some steel to the backline. A huge boost for Meath came on 44 minutes when Bective"s Darragh Smyth skilfully directed the ball to the net after Mark Collins had lofted a free into a jam-packed goalmouth. The goal gave the Meath side renewed hope, confidence and the momentum to go on and notch up a welcome victory for football in the Royal County.