EAMONN MURRAY RECKONS the public still view Meath as one hit wonders – and is determined to prove them wrong.
The Royal County ladies swept to a shock All-Ireland win last year and have backed it up so far in 2022 with big league wins over Cork and Waterford.
They’ll wrap up their Division 1B group campaign on Saturday with the ultimate test against Dublin in Navan.
That’ll be a repeat of last September’s All-Ireland decider when Meath led virtually from start to finish and denied the Dubs a famous five-in-a-row.
Thousands are expected in Navan and Meath manager Murray predicted that ‘revenge, pure revenge’ will motivate Dublin.
Speaking to help promote The Big Heart Charity Cycle in memory of Trim man Stephen Leonard which takes place on May 1, Murray said Meath are determined to prove themselves again.
Murray said: “We can’t get carried away with ourselves or keep looking back. We have to try to keep that in our heads, that people are still looking at us and thinking we’re one-hit wonders. So far, I think we’ve proven that there’s a bit more about us than being one-hit wonders and no better characters than we have to keep proving that point.”
Dublin and Meath are already through to the league semi-finals so it could be considered a dead rubber.
But Murray laughed: “You must be joking. You might think it means nothing but when you have Dublin versus Meath, it always means something. This time last year we weren’t even in Division 1, we couldn’t have dreamed of days like these when we first took over. We could hardly get anyone to play us in a challenge game.
“Our first game of the season against Cork in Navan was a magic game, very special. This will be twice as big as that again.
“Dublin will be thinking about revenge, pure revenge. They’ll be back in full force this year, don’t you worry about that. They’ll probably be favourites to win the All-Ireland, Cork will be there or thereabouts too.”
Murray reckons Dublin deserve to be the bookmakers’ favourites for the All-Ireland. He also believes that had they won the five-in-a-row, their long serving manager Mick Bohan would have stood down.
Instead, Bohan stayed on and ultra experienced performers like Lyndsey Davey and Sinead Aherne signed up again too.
Murray said: “I think Mick Bohan was probably going to go. I think if they’d done the five-in-a-row he would have left. He’s not going to leave it on that note of losing to us. They’re some team. I don’t see anyone doing four-in-a-row again. I know Cork did something like 11 in 12 years but it’s gone so competitive and so strong that I can’t see it happening.”
Meath will definitely play Dublin again in the Leinster championship in early May but Murray is banking on plenty more meetings than that.
He said: “If things go right for us, we could play them five or six times in the next few months. We have the two league and Championship games, hopefully a league and Leinster final and then possibly even a group game in the Championship. Dublin are still the benchmark for me so the more times we play them the better.”
* The Big Heart Charity Cycle in memory of Trim man Stephen Leonard will take place on Sunday, May 1. Funds raised will go to the Irish Heart Foundation and towards a new first aid pilot programme in Trim to teach life saving skills to schoolchildren. See Stephen Leonard Memorial Cycle Facebook page for details.
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