'It's not the same Dublin team - but it's not the same Meath team either'

MEATH MANAGER ROBBIE Brennan acknowledged that Dublin aren’t the force they once were after claiming a shock Leinster SFC win over the 15-in-a-row provincial winners.

But the Royals chief also made it clear that it’s ‘not the same Meath team either’, insisting that his new look side is moving forward with no baggage from past defeats to the six-in-a-row winning Dubs team.

Asked if he felt this afternoon’s dramatic four-point win over Dublin was coming for Meath, Brennan nodded.

“I did, yeah, someone said to me before the game that they didn’t believe what I was saying, when I was saying we could win, but we all felt we could,” said Brennan. “We absolutely felt we could.

“The reality is that it’s not the same Dublin team – but it’s not the same Meath team either. The fact that it’s out of Croke Park and all of those things certainly played into our favour. We had a great belief that we could go and do it.”

Bryan Menton, who returned to midfield this season after retiring in 2022, and veteran defender Donal Keogan were among those who did suffer plenty of punishing defeats to Dublin over the years.

Brennan said he was particularly delighted for the duo that they finally got the better of Dublin in a huge Championship game.

“They are two phenomenal characters, I thought Keogs and Mento had phenomenal games again too,” said Brennan. “There’s that blend there of youth too who probably haven’t got the scars from Dublin games.

“Yes, they’ve lost a couple of times but they’ve not been through the mill with the Diarmuid Connollys, the Paul Mannions, that kind of team. So, yeah, it’s massive for Keogy and Mento and a couple that might have had tough defeats at the hands of Dublin.

“But overall, I didn’t sense mental scars beforehand. The buzz was good and it was quite relaxed coming down. The belief was there and they delivered, which was the biggest thing.

“We felt we had the footballers there to cause them trouble, if we could get the defensive side of it right, which we did. And look, a lot of stuff bounced our way and things like that. You always need that bit of luck to beat a great team like Dublin.”

Meath will play Louth, another neighbour and old rival, in the provincial final at Croke Park on May 11.

“We have to take it on to the next game now, that’s the key for us,” said Brennan. “Two weeks to go, a massive game against Louth who obviously did us up in Inniskeen the last day in the league. We have a lot to work on.”

Dublin will attempt to rebuild in the All-Ireland series. Aside from the five players they lost to retirement from last year’s Championship team – Mannion, James McCarthy, Brian Fenton, Michael Fitzsimons and Jack McCaffrey – they were also missing injured regulars like Sean Bugler and Eoin Murchan while Lee Gannon, Cian Murphy, Luke Breathnach and Sean MacMahon were unavailable too.

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell said he almost felt a sense of destiny about the result as Meath built up a huge early lead thanks to four two-point scores whilst, in the second-half with the wind, Dublin scored just two two-pointers and struck four attempts wide.

“The shooting efficiency on the two-pointers wouldn’t have been great today,” said Farrell. “On another day, like down in Kerry, they were going over – they just didn’t today. It’s just one of those days, it may have been written in the stars.

“But I think there’s huge lessons in it for us. I’m still very proud of the boys the way they dug in, got themselves right back into it. Just maybe some wrong decisions and some poor execution towards the end cost us. It could have been different but it was not to be and we build from here.”

Farrell refused to get too down with the defeat which few expected. Dublin may have stumbled past Wicklow previously in Leinster but they did beat Mayo, Derry, Galway and Kerry in the league.

“For the newer players, it’s a great baptism,” said Farrell of the experience of a full-blooded Leinster championship clash with old rivals Meath. “You can’t replicate that at training, as hard and all as you try.

“It’s a huge learning curve for lads, and not just for the younger lads but the older lads too I’d say. We were very depleted today but that’s not taking away from Meath’s win. They were fully deserving of it but we have a lot of bodies to get back and to get healthy please God over the next couple of weeks and we’ll look forward to the All-Ireland series.”

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