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The Meath County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (Irish: Cummann Luthchleas Gael Coiste An Mhí) or Meath GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic Games in County Meath. The county board is also responsible for the Meath inter-county football, hurling, camogie and ladies football teams.
History
Meath official Dick Blake was the first great GAA reformer. He was also responsible for getting their first team to an All-Ireland in 1894. After that game, the referee wrote to the papers after the match admitting that one of Tipperary's points should have been disallowed but magnanimous Meath decided not to demand a replay. In 1911 Meath were declared Leinster football champions for 20 minutes, but when Kilkenny arrived late for the final, Meath agreed to play the match and were beaten.
Gaelic football
Meath's big breakthrough came in 1949 with a goal from Bill Halfpenny. That great team of 1948-54 came out worst in two thrilling All-Ireland finals, one of them replayed, a semi-final and a League final against their neighbours, Cavan, but garnered another All Ireland with the help of a Tom Moriarty goal in 1954. Another neighbour Louth struck up a rivalry similar to that with Dublin and Kildare in the 1990s: in the six championships between 1948 and 1953 the sides met each year. The 1949 match went to three meetings, those of 1950 and 1951 were replayed.
Meath's team of the 1960s showed a great reluctance to score until after half-time might have reached the 1964 All Ireland final had not Jack Quinn's goal been controversially disallowed. They were beaten in the 1966 final but Terry Kearns secured the Sam Maguire with a punched goal in 1967. Meath looked far from All-Ireland Championship material when they lost to Wexford in 1981 and Longford in 1982. Then a series of goalkeeping errors cost them the 1983 Leinster quarter-final against Dublin. By then they had converted the hurling team's masseur, Sean Boylan into a fully fledged team manager and 17 years later, he remains the country's longest serving manager and the steward of the most successful era in his county's history.
The 1980s team progressed cautiously to victory. They missed Mick Lyons for the 1984 Leinster final against Dublin and in 1985 slipped up against Laois in the semi-final. So it was not until 1986 that Meath won the first of three-in-a-row in Leinster and followed it up with All-Ireland victories in 1987 and 1988. In 1991 Meath doggedness brought them back from behind on four different occasions to draw with and eventually beat Dublin. Meath came back from six points down to force a draw with Mayo in the 1996 All Ireland and their new team of players such as Trevor Giles helped win the replay.
Honours
- All-Ireland Senior Football Championships: 7
- 1949, 1954, 1967, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1999
- All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 4
- 1998
- All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championships: 1
- 1993
- All-Ireland Minor Football Championships: 3
- 1957, 1990 and 1992
- National Football League: 7
- 1933, 1946, 1951, 1975, 1988, 1990, 1994
- Leinster Senior Football Championships: 17
- 1895, 1939, 1940, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1999
Famous Players
Hurling
Twice Meath hurlers held half-time leads over traditional hurling counties in Leinster quarter-finals: over Dublin by 2-2 to 1-1 in 1936, and Kilkenny by 2-6 to 1-6 in 1949. In 1951 they held Wexford to a draw in the quarter-final, but lost the replay and Wexford went on to win the Leinster championship and join the elite. Having beaten Offaly to qualify for their ninth and last Leinster semi-final in 1954, Meath regressed until they won the 1985 Kehoe cup and the 1993 Senior B title,
After they re-entered the senior championship in 1994 their exploits included victories over Offaly, All-Ireland champions at the time, by 1-12 to 1-11 in a February 1995 NHL match in Athboy, and Wexford by 1-16 to 0-16 a fortnight later in Enniscorthy.
Honours
- All-Ireland Senior Hurling "B" Championships: 1
- 1993
- All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championships: 1
- 1993
Ladies' Gaelic football
Honours
- All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championships: 1
- 1994
External links
"Meath GAA"