Meath senior football championship final
Summerhill 0-22
Ratoath 1-13
(After extra-time)
Paul Keane reports from Pairc Tailteann, Navan
THEY NEED AN extra 20 minutes or so to get the job done in Navan but after a decade without the Keegan Cup, the extra wait won’t have bothered Summerhill too much.
The fear around Meath was that this may be a dour final between two evenly matched teams but it turned out to be an epic that required well over 80 minutes to produce a winner.
In truth, Summerhill had the look of champions all throughout extra-time and having earlier been level on eight occasions, surprisingly powered past holders Ratoath by 0-7 to 0-1 in the additional two halves.
Man of the match Eoghan Frayne was among their scorers in extra-time and struck 0-6 overall while the exciting Barry Dardis weighed in with 0-5 and was one of 10 different players to get on the score sheet.
Summerhill would have kicked themselves had they not won their eighth county title because they were marginally the better side in normal time but were undone by nine wides – Ratoath struck just four – and they failed to take three different goal chances.
Their reward is a return to the Leinster club SFC and they will play Offaly’s Tullamore, in Offaly, in Round 1 on 21/22 October.
As for Ratoath it’s the end of the line having previously shown remarkable fortitude to come from behind when overcoming Dunshaughlin in the quarter-finals. They also beat Wolfe Tones in the semi-final despite failing to score in the second-half of that game and looked set to pull off another great escape when Daithi McGowan forced extra-time with a 63rd-minute point but that was as good as it got for them.
Defeated Ratoath were initially boosted by the availability of former Meath attacker Joey Wallace for his first start of 2023.
The speedy full-forward came on in the semi-final defeat of Wolfe Tones following his recovery from a cruciate knee ligament injury.
Wallace memorably played for a portion of last year’s final win over Summerhill whilst waiting on surgery having suffered the injury weeks earlier.
He had an immediate impact on this encounter with the angled delivery in the fourth minute which led to a Bryan McMahon goal for Ratoath, a fisted finish after the former Meath forward rose up above Ronan Ryan and goalkeeper Sean Muddiman.
Wallace won a free that Daithi McGowan later converted also though it was Summerhill that fought back to take a narrow 0-10 to 1-6 half-time lead.
Ratoath led by 1-1 to 0-0 after that early McMahon goal but Summerill wiped out the deficit by the 13th minute following points from Eoghan Frayne, Dardis and David Larkin.
In perfect conditions, Summerhill picked off a series of terrific scores from distance with rising county star Frayne and Dardis splitting seven points between them in the first-half alone.
Eamon Wallace, Joey’s big brother and also a former Meath forward, operates in the half-back line for Ratoath and burst through for a timely first-half point.
It was an open and enjoyable decider with a series of intriguing match-ups for the estimated crowd of around 3,000 to pore over.
Dardis was initially tracked by former Meath full-back Conor McGill whilst Ratoath’s Jack Flynn, the star of Meath’s Tailteann Cup final victory, went head to head with Summerhill’s powerful midfielder Adam Flanagan.
Joey Wallace was picked up by Summerhill corner-back Iarla Hughes until the defender’s exit midway through the second-half.
Ratoath restarted brightly and controlled the third quarter, outscoring Summerhill by 0-4 to 0-1 in the 15 or so minutes after the break.
Joey Wallace opened his own account with an eye-catching score off his left foot following a probing run from right to left across the 13-metre line.
There were points too from Donegal man Ciaran O Fearraigh, Cian O’Brien and McMahon as Ratoath took a two-point 1-10 to 0-11 lead into the final quarter.
They couldn’t close it out though and Summerhill fought back to level terms on three occasions late on, Lavelle putting the underdogs one up in the 65th minute before McGowan drilled the equaliser for a free with just three seconds of stoppage time remaining.
Summerhill were dominant in the opening half of extra-time with points from Dardis, Eoghan Frayne and Conor Lyons and only one in response from Ratoath’s Flynn.
And Summerhill duly finished the job with four more points in the second-half, allowing their supporters to finally savour a victory that was a decade in the making.
Summerhill scorers: Eoghan Frayne 0-6 (0-3f), Barry Dardis 0-5 (0-2m, 0-1f), David Larkin, Conor Frayne, Conor Lyons 0-2 each, Diarmuid McCabe, Adam McDonnell, John Lavelle, Davy Dalton, Padraig Jennings 0-1 each.
Ratoath scorers: Bryan McMahon 1-1, Daithi McGowan 0-4 (0-3f), Cian O’Brien, Jack Flynn 0-2 each, Joey Wallace, Cian Rogers, Eamon Wallace, Ciaran O Fearraigh 0-1 each.
Summerhill
- 1. Sean Muddiman
- 2. Iarla Hughes
- 3. Ronan Ryan
- 4. John Lavelle
- 5. Adam McDonnell
- 6. Ross Ryan
- 7. Padhraig Geraghty – Captain
- 8. Adam Flanagan
- 18. John Keane
- 10. David Larkin
- 20. Diarmuid McCabe
- 12. Kevin Ryan
- 14. Conor Frayne
- 11. Eoghan Frayne
- 15. Barry Dardis
Subs:
- 18. Micheal Byrne for Keane (17)
- 13. Conor Lyons for Kevin Ryan (40)
- 17. Padraig Jennings for Hughes (43)
- 19. Jamie O’Shea for McDonnell (45)
- 30. Davy Dalton for McCabe (56)
- 21. Eamon McDonnell for Dardis (60-62, blood)
- McDonnell for Conor Frayne (68)
- 23. Ben Moran for Geraghty (h/t e/t)
- 25. Sean Dalton for Eoghan Frayne (72)
Ratoath
- 1. Shane Duffy
- 3. Conor McGill
- 2. Ben Wyer
- 4. Ciaran O Fearraigh
- 5. Andrew Gerrard
- 6. Gavin McGowan
- 7. Eamon Wallace
- 8. Jack Flynn
- 9. Ben McGowan
- 10. Keith McCabe
- 11. Daithi McGowan
- 12. Cian O’Brien
- 13. Cian Rogers
- 15. Bryan McMahon – Captain
- 14. Joey Wallace
Subs:
- 29. Bobby O’Brien for McCabe (48)
- 21. Brian Daly for Gerrard (49)
- 19. Padraig Byrne for Ben McGowan (53)
- 23. Conor Rooney for O’Brien (62)
- 16. Cian O’Farrell for Duffy (e/t)
- 27. Liam Kelly for Gavin McGowan (66)
- 28. Tom Fadden for Joey Wallace (69)
- 26. Ronan Byrne for McMahon (69)
Referee: David Coldrick.
Excellent article Murray. It’s the passing that’s concerning. A basic skill, you would assume at this level it certainly ought to be dealt with in training as regards timing. It can’t be perfect in training & poor in matches. So where are the standards vs Joe time when was non negotiable. Jamie O is young but a poor passer when moving and evident since his Leinster debut. We rarely pass in front of each other, almost always static in receiving, and when there is a 1st phase move, it gets stuck in midfield on contact. Bar Hugo try v Italy, very little innovation, attempts to do so. Extremely low risk rugby SA aside, since RWC. And while we love Hugo, nothing in attack from returned kicks. Little evidence Andrew Goodman was the right choice. You can swap the above comments for Leinster too.
@Mark Kearney: agree and add the waning of our ‘power game’ – that’s another point of difference for France and England and why they both ‘destroyed’ Wales and we didn’t.
@Mark Kearney: good point. Lancaster was really hot on passing accuracy and that meant the majority of players coming into Ireland camp under him were on top of their skills. Connacht also playing attacking style since Lam. New Munster/Ulster coaches also emphasize ball handling. I think the change in style at Leinster is really having a big impact on IRL attack. Leinster players concentrate on chasing kicks and being aggressive in défense. Leinster’s attack has been really poor these last 2 seasons but their brilliant defense means they still win. Cc LRO game was case in point. Irelands last 2 6n’s were also built on solid defense btw. People like to praise the IRL attack but it’s our defence was the foundation of our attack. We conceded more tries this 6n’s than in the last 2 combined.
The key statistic is professional playing numbers. In Ireland, we have 180, France, and England have very many more. It’s probably 8 to 10 times more, especially in France. Long-term strategy is surely to have a fifth team probably off the island.
@D Farrell: agree, but we have what we have. We have to revert to having a point of difference, back to most of Joe’s time in Lein & Ireland, was passing. That you can do with existing structure, if you first accept there is an issue. I don’t think we do, and poor standards are accepted across the provinces. That’s on the coaches, and players wanting to improve.
@D Farrell: Wishful thinking, I fear. The revenue to support a 5th team does not exist. Frankly I doubt whether we have the revenue to support four. Especially if the growth of Women’s pro rugby is already acting like an additional province in terms of its financial impact
I haven’t gone back to check but I imagine what has been said (by both fans and media) about this Ireland team/players/coaches is nothing compared to what the French will have had to put up with when we did them last season. They didn’t go through a massive clean out, and I don’t think we need to either. The other provinces other than Leinster do need to pull their socks up though.
It’s no coincidence our attack faltered when Andy Farrell was away. I think it’s forgotten that he is heavily involved in Irelands innovative attack plays and his absence definitely affected this. Also it’s worth mentioning Catt started very poorly with Ireland and became instrumental in our brilliant attack over the last few years. Maybe Goodman needs time to bed in also
Being third in what many considered a two horse race can’t be considered a success .
However it reflects the approach of the Irish management based on defence . Both Irish wings selection and reputations based on their performance on a catch and kick game .
But teams have stopped kicking deep as blocking in front of the catcher is penalized and the objective is to ensure the ball is behind the defending pack . Thus the reason to pick paceless wings no longer exists .
As previously noted 9 of the 23 are over 30 whose best games are behind them .
I considered that this was last 6 nations for more than PoM Murray and Healy and the preference for Leinster Blue was undeserved by several players .
@SAMUEL T McGLADERY: Who do you think should have been picked on the wings instead of Hansen and Lowe?