John Fogarty
AAhead of facing their bogey team, Meath selector Marty McElkennon says the team are due a break against Kildare.
The Lilywhites’ run of bad luck has been well documented, with Tomás O’Connor’s legitimate goal in last year’s All-Ireland quarter semi-final against Donegal ruled out.
At the same stage in 2010, Benny Coulter’s square ball goal was allowed to stand against them.
But McElkennon reckons Meath are owed a rub of the green against their neighbours after Graham Geraghty’s disallowed goal in last year’s Leinster quarter-final and then Seamus Kenny’s ill-timed injury in the subsequent Navan qualifier.
It’s the Tyrone man’s assertion that Kildare wouldn’t have won the quarter-final had Geraghty’s goal not been disallowed.
“When you look at a DVD of a game again, you do look back on those crucial moments Meath probably didn’t get the break, as they could have in other games.
“This team is due a break. There’s definitely no doubt about it — had Graham’s goal gone in, the story would have ended up differently. Seamus Kenny, to me, was man of the match on the second day. He scored two points off Emmet Bolton.”
For Seamus McEnaney and his trainer McElkennon, Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare have been a scourge. In 2010, they sent the pair’s Monaghan team out of the Championship, which was enough to convince the county board that their time was up.
They’ve since linked up with Meath but they’ve yet to beat Kildare in five meetings. They got close in March’s Division 2 meeting but the visitors eked out the win in Páirc Tailteann, going on to win promotion and the division while Meath descended into eventual relegation.
McElkennon recalled about that game: “Shane McAnarney was given a wee push as he was taking a shot in the last minute of a game and if that had have went over the bar, that bogey was broke.”
As for McGeeney’s perceived power over McEnaney’s teams, McElkennon remembers Monaghan had just six days to prepare from losing an Ulster final for Kildare. “I don’t think McGeeney or Kildare on any other given day there would’ve been a kick in it.”
McElkennon is a long-time friend of McEnaney’s but his admiration for the man strengthened in the wake of relegation to Division 3, when the county executive failed in their attempt to axe him.
“I felt Seamus took a lot of heat after the National League, I think, unfairly, but he held his dignity.
“He didn’t run to the media and come out and say things that maybe could have been said and I felt he came out of it well and held his dignity.
“I think the players respected that and I think a lot of people out there respected that, the way he kept his head about it in tough times.
“It didn’t (look good for him). He’s a fighter. I think he’ll be the better for it in the long run.”
Twice a week, McElkennon makes a 200-mile round trip from north of Cookstown to training in Navan.
As much as Kildare are hot favourites, he’s seen enough of the players to know there’s a performance in them on Sunday. “I think the players have enough belief in themselves that on a given day they’re as good as anybody.”
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/LuWjwS9OarM/post.aspx
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