Banty's Meath reign defined by Kildare

 
John Fogarty

Were it a best-of-seven NBA finals, it would have been over earlier this year.

Kieran McGeeney and his Kildare men would be walking away with the Larry O’Brien trophy with four wins from four over Seamus McEnaney’s Meath.

Include Kildare’s win over McEnaney’s Monaghan in the 2010 Championship, which virtually ended his time in charge of his native county, it’s fair to say McGeeney has the Indian Sign over his Ulster neighbour.

Moreover, McGeeney’s Kildare have defined Meath under McEnaney. The Royals have gone out of both summer competitions last year at the hands of the Lilywhites.

It was their away win in Navan last March that sent Meath hurtling towards relegation and gave Kildare a platform to overcome opening defeats to Tyrone and Monaghan and power towards promotion.

Meath went into that game with two wins from two and designs on promotion. They left Páirc Tailteann with their confidence in shreds.

As selector and trainer Marty McElkennon admits: “You’d have to look back and say that it definitely took an edge off us. I don’t know if you’d say it was a complete watershed or a turning point.

“But the following week we lost a game by a point and over the course of them couple of weeks, being honest, we probably did feel a bit deflated.”

McElkennon recounts a “little push” on Shane McAnarney as he was kicking for a point in the last minute of the game.

“If that had have went over the bar that bogey was broke,” he says.

But there seems to be an excuse for every Meath defeat under McEnaney to McGeeney’s Kildare.

There is also one – and a genuine mitigating factor at that – given for McEnaney’s Monaghan losing the 2010 All-Ireland qualifier.

The cruel six-day turnaround from losing to Tyrone in an Ulster final certainly didn’t help.

However, it’s difficult to believe, as McElkennon asserts, that Kildare wouldn’t have beaten Meath had Graham Geraghty’s square ball goal been allowed to stand in last year’s Leinster quarter-final.

Sure, it would have brought Meath to within a point with seven minutes left but would the complexion of the game changed completely with Kildare enjoying a numerical advantage thanks to Brian Farrell’s dismissal?

As for Seamus Kenny’s injury in the subsequent qualifier in Navan, a setback rued by McElkennon, there does seem to be currency in McElkennon’s claim it was crucial.

Before the captain went off in the 57th minute, he was two points to no score up on his direct marker Emmet Bolton.

In those remaining minutes with a blood-soaked Kenny restricted to the sideline, Bolton grabbed 1-1. The difference between the sides in the end was three points.

McEnaney and McGeeney’s first duel as Meath and Kildare managers in March of last year was also a contentious one – at least from a Meath perspective.

McEnaney might not admit it publicly but he was incensed with some of the refereeing decisions by Marty Duffy towards the end of the game which Meath lost by two points.

Of course, that day offered us the iconic photograph of the managers squaring up to each other at the end of the game.

In those four games, the average difference between the sides is three points and Kildare have undoubtedly been the better team over them.

McElkennon’s questioning of Kildare’s victories this week will certainly raise an eyebrow or two among the Lilywhites.

But Meath, it seems, have their grievances lined up and ready to remember.

A proud man, it will be eating at McEnaney that he has yet to get one over on McGeeney since taking charging of Meath.

Under his guidance, the county has seen their position as the second best team in the province taken by Kildare.

It’s a classic case of the have and the have-nots as well. When McEnaney was appointed, he had to give an itemised account of what was going to be spent on team preparations in his first year.

Just last week, it was reported Kildare’s versatile player Eamonn Callaghan had flown to the US to undergo an operation on his groin.

The Kildare County Board have serious financial problems but the team have shown their ability to fundraise for themselves and ensure they receive the best support structures.

Meath aren’t exactly living on bread and water but as much as John Evans has been added to their training ticket they are dwarfed by Kildare as an operation.

As Tadhg Fennin said to the Irish Examiner recently about Kildare’s training camp in Portugal, “To get into the top four or top five, you have to speculate to accumulate and I think that’s very important.”

McGeeney, of course, was not Kildare’s first outside manager whereas McEnaney is Meath’s first – and possibly last for quite some time.

The Corduff man is realising the difficulties in being such a pioneer and the scrutiny, scepticism and paranoia associated with the role.

Kevin Reilly’s injury concern will be the last thing he wants going into Sunday’s derby if only for the fact there have been too many excuses for the previous defeats to Kildare.

The last thing he wants is to make another one.

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/yf-YsjeuxrQ/post.aspx

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