It’s 25 years to the day since Meath GAA landed their last All-Ireland senior title. That 1-11 to 1-8 victory over Cork at Croke Park didn’t spell the end of an era as the Royals would make another decider in 2001, losing out to Galway. After that they would slowly slide away as a serious force in the game to the point now where they’re a bottom half of Division 2 side, with no real All-Ireland ambitions.
Read More: Paul Clarke's Dublin celebrate 40th anniverday of famous All-Ireland win Read More: Robbie Brennan adds former Meath GAA star to his ticket It’s a far cry from the all conquering Sean Boylan era where Meath landed four Sam Maguires in 13 astonishing years, to go with the three previous All-Irelands they’d won in 1949, 1954 and 1967. No-one claimed more All-Irelands from the end of the Kerry ‘golden years’ era (1987) until the turn of the new Millennium. The tally for those 13 years was Meath (4), Cork (2), Down (2), Donegal (1), Derry (1), Dublin (1), Kerry (1) and Galway (1) in an era when Gaelic football was wide open.
Of those eight counties, Meath were the only ones who built two entirely different All-Ireland winning sides - bar the redoubtable Martin O’Connell. At the time, many would have felt that Meath were here to stay as a serious footballing force, but it didn’t work out that way. Sean Boylan resigned at the end of the 2005 season, after 23 years in charge.
Boylan was ahead of the game. Evan Kelly was playing Junior B football with Dr.
