WHEN MEATH NEEDED a rescue act, perhaps the source should not have been surprising.
Reaching the end game in Croke Park last Saturday night, they were in danger of suffering another blow at the hands of neighbours Louth, their conquerors in last summer’s Leinster final.
Meath had seen their 11-point interval advantage evaporate. They trailed by one as the ball was ferried across from the Cusack Stand side. When Jack Flynn gathered the ball, he initially advanced carefully to his left.
Then he made a sudden direct burst towards goal, before turning back inside just as he reached the edge of the two-point arc, engineering a pocket of space as two Louth players attempted a block, and swinging a glorious right-foot shot that saw the ball travel high in the night sky before dropping over the bar in front of Hill 16.
The waving of the orange flag confirmed the significance of the score; it propelled Meath into the lead with 30 seconds left on the clock.
They closed out the game from there, maintained their perfect league record after three games and reinforced their claims for Division 2 promotion.
🏐 Allianz National Football League Division 2 Round 3 🧭 full time
Meath 01:20
Louth 00:22
Jack Flynn is claiming the last minute hero status once again … Meath steal the win right at the death 😮💨🫡#MeathGAA#BectiveStud#MEAvLOU
Flynn was critical on Saturday, just like he was in firing over a late two-pointer to edge out Cavan a fortnight previously, and just like he was on the opening league night when he amassed 0-7 in victory over Derry to canter away with the man-of-the-match award.
Zone coverage. Man-to-man. Same outcome — over the bar. 🎯
Jack Flynn with a couple of huge game-winning bombs for Meath in back to back games. 👏 pic.twitter.com/H1Ix80JJWT
Sunday’s meeting of Offaly and Cork in Tullamore didn’t have a dramatic flourish comparable to Flynn’s kick, but did have a midfielder’s scoring contribution at the heart of the winning display.
If Cork laid the foundations for their success over Offaly in the opening half, then Colm O’Callaghan was the chief engineer. He fired to the roof of the net after 10 minutes, and then side-stepped Offaly goalkeeper Conor Melia to strike home his second before half-time. Both goals were the products of moves where he started the break outside the arc, ran in support and gathered passes from Chris Óg Jones.
O’Callaghan finished the day with 2-1 from play, firing over a point to lift Cork from their slump in the final quarter, and helping set up two further points to help Cork pull clear in the face of Offaly’s second-half fightback.
Colm O'Callaghan signs an autograph after Cork's win over Offaly. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
The result ensured Cork’s unbeaten run was maintained, with full points from three games to match Meath at the summit of the second tier. That’s the backdrop before the two pace-setters meet in Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday afternoon. There is a heightened awareness of the significance of a victory for either, particularly with Derry, Tyrone and Kildare lurking behind in the table.
And in a game weighted with importance in the promotion race, the impact of those around the middle will be key.
“He’s a beast of a man,” Meath boss Robbie Brennan said of Flynn following the Royals’ opening success over Derry. The Ratoath man was in terrific form that night in Croke Park, finishing with seven points to his name, a tally adorned by a pair of two-pointers.
“His ball carrying ability is fantastic, he’s excellent in the air. He’s obviously two-footed. He has it all.”
It was a reminder what Meath missed last summer. A hamstring injury sidelined Flynn for Meath’s last four games as he missed the showdowns with Roscommon, Kerry, Galway and Donegal as they travelled deep into the championship. The round-robin game against Cork at the end of last May in Navan served as Flynn’s last appearance in 2025.
Jack Flynn in action for Meath against Derry's Conor Glass. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
But he has begun the new season in style. His rising confidence levels and assumption of leadership were illustrated in the frantic finale of their local derby with Cavan. As Meath trailed by one after a Cavan score, Flynn caught the kickout from Sean Brennan and offloaded. He walked around the middle as Meath mounted an attack, but the Ratoath man injected urgency at the right time, gaining possession and booming over a kick off his right.
James Conlon nudged Meath ahead by two with the insurance score shortly afterwards, but Flynn’s kick was the key one in guaranteeing Meath a first win at Breffni Park in 61 years.
An injury disrupted 2025 league and championship campaign saw Flynn strike 0-14. He has hit the 13 figure already after three games this spring, with a quartet of two-pointers in that return.
If comeback is the theme of Flynn’s story, consistency is at the core of O’Callaghan’s.
Since John Cleary took charge of Cork on a permanent basis in July 2022, O’Callaghan has been a constant fixture in his team. As Stephen Barry pointed out in his profile of O’Callaghan in the Echo last June, that amounted at the time to 3,358 minutes of action out of 3,360 across 48 consecutive games over four seasons.
The number has swelled further since, playing full games against Roscommon and Dublin as Cork closed out the 2025 championship, and an ever-present in Cork’s opening three league ties of 2026.
Colm O'Callaghan kicks a point for Cork against Roscommon last season. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
Across that unbroken run of 53 appearances in league and championship, his scoring rate has grown to match that consistency. The Éire Óg clubman struck 0-2 in five of Cork’s six championship outings last summer, matched that tally in January’s McGrath Cup final win over Kerry, and then scored 2-1 last Sunday. For a team with only two goals from their previous five competitive games in 2026, the goal supply was a boost.
“We had few goals up to now, and so three goals is welcome,” noted John Cleary after the Offaly game.
“He (O’Callaghan) drifted in behind, in fairness, he put them away very well.”
Jack Flynn in action for the Meath U20 side in 2021. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO
Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
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Colm O'Callaghan scoring a goal in the 2019 All-Ireland U20 final. Ken Sutton / INPHO
Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO
Flynn notched two points as part of a Meath U20 team that lost a Leinster semi-final at the hands of Dublin in 2021. O’Callaghan bundled home a goal for a Cork U20 side that defeated Dublin to take All-Ireland honours in 2019.
Both have graduated to senior setups in different ways and the importance to their respective teams is clear with their current red-hot form.
In a wider sense, the prize of promotion is a vital one for Meath and Cork. Across the ten seasons, 2017-26, the pair have spent nine of them together in Division 2.
The exception was in 2020 when Meath sampled life in Division 1 and Cork spent a few months in Division 3, but by the close of play, relegation for the former and promotion for the latter saw them reunited in the second tier again.
Reaching Division 1 football is a key target in their development, Sunday a stepping stone in realising that goal.
And from their key men in midfield, both Meath and Cork will hope to source the inspiration for their promotion push.
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'He's a beast of a man' – Meath and Cork powerhouses key in promotion push
WHEN MEATH NEEDED a rescue act, perhaps the source should not have been surprising.
Reaching the end game in Croke Park last Saturday night, they were in danger of suffering another blow at the hands of neighbours Louth, their conquerors in last summer’s Leinster final.
Meath had seen their 11-point interval advantage evaporate. They trailed by one as the ball was ferried across from the Cusack Stand side. When Jack Flynn gathered the ball, he initially advanced carefully to his left.
Then he made a sudden direct burst towards goal, before turning back inside just as he reached the edge of the two-point arc, engineering a pocket of space as two Louth players attempted a block, and swinging a glorious right-foot shot that saw the ball travel high in the night sky before dropping over the bar in front of Hill 16.
The waving of the orange flag confirmed the significance of the score; it propelled Meath into the lead with 30 seconds left on the clock.
They closed out the game from there, maintained their perfect league record after three games and reinforced their claims for Division 2 promotion.
Flynn was critical on Saturday, just like he was in firing over a late two-pointer to edge out Cavan a fortnight previously, and just like he was on the opening league night when he amassed 0-7 in victory over Derry to canter away with the man-of-the-match award.
Sunday’s meeting of Offaly and Cork in Tullamore didn’t have a dramatic flourish comparable to Flynn’s kick, but did have a midfielder’s scoring contribution at the heart of the winning display.
If Cork laid the foundations for their success over Offaly in the opening half, then Colm O’Callaghan was the chief engineer. He fired to the roof of the net after 10 minutes, and then side-stepped Offaly goalkeeper Conor Melia to strike home his second before half-time. Both goals were the products of moves where he started the break outside the arc, ran in support and gathered passes from Chris Óg Jones.
O’Callaghan finished the day with 2-1 from play, firing over a point to lift Cork from their slump in the final quarter, and helping set up two further points to help Cork pull clear in the face of Offaly’s second-half fightback.
The result ensured Cork’s unbeaten run was maintained, with full points from three games to match Meath at the summit of the second tier. That’s the backdrop before the two pace-setters meet in Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday afternoon. There is a heightened awareness of the significance of a victory for either, particularly with Derry, Tyrone and Kildare lurking behind in the table.
And in a game weighted with importance in the promotion race, the impact of those around the middle will be key.
“He’s a beast of a man,” Meath boss Robbie Brennan said of Flynn following the Royals’ opening success over Derry. The Ratoath man was in terrific form that night in Croke Park, finishing with seven points to his name, a tally adorned by a pair of two-pointers.
“His ball carrying ability is fantastic, he’s excellent in the air. He’s obviously two-footed. He has it all.”
It was a reminder what Meath missed last summer. A hamstring injury sidelined Flynn for Meath’s last four games as he missed the showdowns with Roscommon, Kerry, Galway and Donegal as they travelled deep into the championship. The round-robin game against Cork at the end of last May in Navan served as Flynn’s last appearance in 2025.
But he has begun the new season in style. His rising confidence levels and assumption of leadership were illustrated in the frantic finale of their local derby with Cavan. As Meath trailed by one after a Cavan score, Flynn caught the kickout from Sean Brennan and offloaded. He walked around the middle as Meath mounted an attack, but the Ratoath man injected urgency at the right time, gaining possession and booming over a kick off his right.
James Conlon nudged Meath ahead by two with the insurance score shortly afterwards, but Flynn’s kick was the key one in guaranteeing Meath a first win at Breffni Park in 61 years.
An injury disrupted 2025 league and championship campaign saw Flynn strike 0-14. He has hit the 13 figure already after three games this spring, with a quartet of two-pointers in that return.
If comeback is the theme of Flynn’s story, consistency is at the core of O’Callaghan’s.
Since John Cleary took charge of Cork on a permanent basis in July 2022, O’Callaghan has been a constant fixture in his team. As Stephen Barry pointed out in his profile of O’Callaghan in the Echo last June, that amounted at the time to 3,358 minutes of action out of 3,360 across 48 consecutive games over four seasons.
The number has swelled further since, playing full games against Roscommon and Dublin as Cork closed out the 2025 championship, and an ever-present in Cork’s opening three league ties of 2026.
Across that unbroken run of 53 appearances in league and championship, his scoring rate has grown to match that consistency. The Éire Óg clubman struck 0-2 in five of Cork’s six championship outings last summer, matched that tally in January’s McGrath Cup final win over Kerry, and then scored 2-1 last Sunday. For a team with only two goals from their previous five competitive games in 2026, the goal supply was a boost.
“We had few goals up to now, and so three goals is welcome,” noted John Cleary after the Offaly game.
“He (O’Callaghan) drifted in behind, in fairness, he put them away very well.”
Flynn notched two points as part of a Meath U20 team that lost a Leinster semi-final at the hands of Dublin in 2021. O’Callaghan bundled home a goal for a Cork U20 side that defeated Dublin to take All-Ireland honours in 2019.
Both have graduated to senior setups in different ways and the importance to their respective teams is clear with their current red-hot form.
In a wider sense, the prize of promotion is a vital one for Meath and Cork. Across the ten seasons, 2017-26, the pair have spent nine of them together in Division 2.
The exception was in 2020 when Meath sampled life in Division 1 and Cork spent a few months in Division 3, but by the close of play, relegation for the former and promotion for the latter saw them reunited in the second tier again.
Reaching Division 1 football is a key target in their development, Sunday a stepping stone in realising that goal.
And from their key men in midfield, both Meath and Cork will hope to source the inspiration for their promotion push.
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