When the throw in takes place in the Tailteann Cup decider on Saturday Meaths attacking ace Jack O’Connor will switch into laid back mode but as always looks can be deceptive.
At last weeks media night O’Connor said, ” This is my third time to play there and it’s a cool place to be. I’ve been there also as a supporter many times but it’s nice to be out there on the pitch, it can be a nervy place when you are out there looking up at the stands, especially if there is a decent crowd in place, then it can be a bit daunting, you just have to shut all that out.”
He’s managed to do that quite well up to now even when the Meath crew hit a few bumpy patches on their way to the decider.
Like the close shave against Waterford in the famed Fraher field.
Looking back O’Connor can’t really offer any explanation as to why the Royals were poor that day, but in fairness the Curraha man does try.
He said, ” I don’t know what happened, my best guess is the travelling down maybe put us off because we were sluggish and sloppy. Thankfully we got over the line at the end but we really needed a good second-half to win that game.”
Winning when playing poorly is the sign of a decent team and Meath managed to do just that again when overcoming Antrim in the semi final, O’Connor conceding they rode their luck and acknowledging they can’t rely on luck this weekend.
“”We tried to keep the tempo going but we showed a lack of ruthlessness, we really had opportunities to kill the game off, didn’t take them and Antrim took full advantage. We were lucky we got away with it at the end. We know that if the same happens against Down we won’t get the same outcome.”
If he and his team mates get the right result against the Mourne men then Croke Park will be upgraded from a cool place to play to a REALLY cool place to play.
