MEATH WORE THEIR traditional green and gold at the weekend, but the splash of unfamiliar red may have puzzled those watching on from afar.
Upon closer examination, the crest definitely would have.
It turns out the Royals were wearing the jerseys of Waterford club team Gaultier after a kitbag malfunction. It’s understood Meath only brought their white away strip to Fraher Field by mistake.
The Gaultier jerseys were easily accessed, and a clash with Waterford’s customary white and blue was avoided.
We would like to say a big thank you to @GaultierLGFC for their assistance at our game yesterday with @WaterfordLGFA
— Meath LGFA (@meathladiesMLGF) February 5, 2024
Wishing you the best of luck in the season ahead. pic.twitter.com/LJjyGvaSJR
Meath maintained their perfect start to the league with a 2-10 to 2-5 win, having previously overcome Dublin and Mayo.
With new manager Shane McCormack at the helm, the 2021 and 2022 All-Ireland champions share 100% records thus far with Kerry and Armagh.
“It’s nice to get back on a winning streak,” Mary Kate Lynch tells The 42.
“Last year was obviously disappointing for us. I suppose we weren’t a million miles off, we never really got hammered in a game. It was always those couple of points and silly mistakes.
“You need that fresh start and obviously that’s hard to change too. You have to admit that. We had a management for five years there, you were doing the same things and the same drills, you knew how things were ran. It’s hard to change and there’s no point saying otherwise. It’s good having that clean slate and a positive start.”
McCormack arrived from the Armagh hot-seat in the wake of a turbulent 2023 on the Banks of the Boyne. Meath struggled with life after Eamonn Murray, with Davy Nelson departing just before championship and Jenny Rispin taking charge on an interim basis.
Former Kildare goalkeeper McCormack has steadied the ship, with his LGFA experience key.
“He’s great,” All-Star defender Lynch says. “He’s really approachable as a person but he’s very, very passionate when he gets on the pitch and has that love for the game. Everyone seems to be enjoying the sessions and enjoying the way things are being ran.
“He knows teams inside out. He was obviously looking at us in a different view. It’s great having that experience coming in and knowing how things are evolving. They’re bringing in new ideas and new players, which is really, really good.”
Two notable absentees are Vikki Wall and Niamh O’Sullivan. Wall, Footballer of the Year in 2021, is pursuing Rugby Sevens with Ireland, while attacking star O’Sullivan has retired from inter-county football.
Lynch hails both, with mixed emotions evident in the wake of Wall helping Ireland to historic success in recent weeks. “It’s a change. People are moving on.
“For Vikki, to be going out and winning a Sevens Series, it’s a fantastic opportunity. When opportunities like that come up, you can’t really not take them. She’s given an awful lot to Meath and hopefully, maybe someday she might be back in the meath jersey. You just don’t know.
“Look, there’s really exciting talent coming through as well. They’re slotting in nicely.”
Lynch did that herself a few years back. The Summerhill star first joined the Meath set-up as an extended panel member in the summer of 2019. She was still a minor and watched the Royals lose that year’s All-Ireland intermediate final from the Croke Park stands.
The following December, she came off the bench as Meath made it third time lucky and reigned supreme. In 2021, Lynch established herself as the starting full-back and rounded the year off with an historic All-Ireland senior title, Division 2 league medal and an All-Star. She added another Celtic Cross and Division 1 glory in 2022.
“When I was coming into my last year with the minors, I actually did think it was my last year in a Meath jersey, to be honest,” Lynch, who is working as a facilitator for the GPA’s Head of the Game programme, a school Liaison Officer for Maynooth University and targeting a Maters in Applied Sports Psychology, says.
“I was very, very fortunate to get called in and be part of some of the most memorable and historic times with Meath. There were some tough times before that, but I came in at a better time, which I’ve been very grateful for.
“It’s just been absolutely mental. I still don’t think any of us really believe what we’ve done and the impact we’ve had on football.
“When we played Dublin in Navan the other week, I had a father and a daughter come up and say, ‘We travelled from Down because we love watching ye play.’ It’s just amazing to see that development, that interest, it’s fantastic.”
Mary Kate Lynch was speaking at a STATSports event on technology in Ladies Gaelic football. Clubs can enter a competition to win access to their cutting-edge GPS technology here.
