By Noel Coogan

Over a number of decades, All-Ireland semi-finals provided thrills and
excitement in the month of August. Meath have an impressive record in
SFC penultimate round, games, winning in 15 of their 21 appearances.

The Royals have come up against opposition The following year from 12
counties between 1939 and 2009 and only Kerry (three times), Galway
(twice) and Cork have defeated them.

In Meath’s first All-Ireland semi-final outing in 1939 the side
captained by Mattie Gilsenan outscored Cavan by 1-9 to 1-1 before
narrowly losing out to Kerry in the Sam Maguire Cup decider. The
following year Meath were back in Croke Park in August but Galway
were six points too good, 2-8 to 1-5.

When Meath met Kerry in the second of the 1947 All-Ireland SFC
semi-finals, the prize for the winners was a trip to New York to face
Cavan in the title decider. Kerry won comfortably, 1-11 to 0-5, before
losing the final to the John Joe O’Reilly captained Breffni men. There
was no stopping the Royal County two years later when after mastering
Mayo in the penultimate round, treble seeking Cavan were conquered on
the fourth Sunday of September.

Meath played in three All-Ireland semi-finals in the fifties, winning
all of them. Narrow victories over Antrim and Roscommon in 1951 and
52 were followed by final losses to Mayo and Cavan. In 1954 the side
captained by Peter McDermott went all the way to claim the Sam Maguire
Cup for the second time. After a minimum margin ‘semi’ success over
Cavan, holders and hot favourites Kerry were trounced in the final.

There were also three penultimate round appearances in the sixties.
After a gap of 10 years, there was a Royal return in 1964 when Galway
edged out the Leinster champions in a controversial encounter. In 1966
a spectacular August annihilation of Down raised hopes of All-Ireland
glory but Galway dominated the decider to complete a three-in-a-row.

Meath went one better in 1967 with a semi-final success over Mayo
followed by a final triumph at the expense of Cork. Three years later
the Royals recorded a first senior championship victory over Galway
before losing the 80 minute decider to Kerry. It would be another 16 years
before they reached the last four and there were eight such
achievements during the Sean Boylan era.

The first of them was in Boylan’s fourth term at the helm in 1986 when
the Dublin bogey was laid to rest before Kerry had seven points to
spare over the resurgent Royals. Meath obviously learned from that
loss, winning the next two All-Irelands, conquering Cork in both title
deciders after ‘semi’ successes over Derry and Mayo.

Meath reached four Sam Maguire Cup decider’s in the nineties, in ’90,
’91. ’96 and’ 99. Donegal, Roscommon, Tyrone and Armagh were overcome
at the second last hurdles. After disappointing final failures
against Cork and Down, there were title-winning triumphs at the
expense of Mayo and Cork to bring Meath’s title total to seven.

There were three more All-Ireland semi-final appearances for the
Leinster green and golds in the first decade of the new century. In
2001, following a bizarre win over Kerry, Galway brought them down
on earth with a nine points trimming. In 2007 and 2009 Meath got to
the last four under the stewardship of Colm Coyle and Eamonn O’Brien
but defeats were suffered against Cork and Kerry..

Meath have never lost to Ulster opposition in a penultimate round
outing , defeating seven of the nine counties in the province. In two
years after winning out in Leinster, Meath did not contest an
All-Ireland semi-final. That happened in 1895 when there were no
championships in Connacht or Ulster and in 2010 when Kildare ousted
them after the controversial win over Louth.

Strangely, in Meath’s 21 All-Ireland SFC semi-finals, none of them
ended in a draw.

Above pic; Sean Boylan who has managed Meath in eight All Ireland semi-finals

with Paddy White, another man who has excelled in sport with his rally driving skills at

international and national level.