Sunday will be a special day for Meath's Reynolds Family. "What's the first thing that you look for in a footballer?" Pat Reynolds thought deeply for as little as a second. "Determination." The reply came as simple and relaxed as if he had been asked his name. The interviewer should have known. No real need to ask the question, determination is the hallmark of Pat Reynolds the selector, Pat Reynolds the farmer and determination was the great characteristic of Pat Reynolds the footballer. An outstanding defender, his surging runs upfield turned defence into attack for Meath with the minimum of delay. Bursting through opposing attackers as if they didn't exist. Yes, Pat Reynolds was one of the best footballers ever produced by the Royal County and although they are not necessary to back up the statement, he has the medals to prove it. An All-Ireland in 1967, a National League in 1975, four Leinster Championship and Meath's first All-Star in 1971. At club level, he won Minor, Junior, Intermediate and Senior medals, the latter coming in 1978, the penultimate year of his success-laden career. It's eight years ago since Sean Boylan, in his uniquely persuasive manner, suggested to the Walterstown man that he should become involved, with him on Meath's management team. Sean was two years in the job; two years in which Meath had promised so much, but had failed to deliver against Dublin in both '83 and '84. The manager had been burdened by the county's cumbersome seven-man selection committee; in the Autumn of '84 he won the right to pick his own men. He sounded out Pat Reynolds, a man who had been through it all, at club and county level. Walterstown had just won their third successive County Championship and Pat had played his part as an influential mentor. He had earned the reputation as a shrewd assessor of a player's ability and a perceptive tactician as well. Mick O'Brien was the successful coach. Reynolds and his fellow selectors, the assessors. He didn't jump at Sean Boylan's invitation. "Ask Tony Brennan, he has the shrewdest tactical brain in the county," was his smiling reply. Boylan settled for both and a new chapter in Meath's illustrious history was about to begin. Tony Brennan and Pat Reynolds won All-Ireland medals together with Meath in 1967, at No 10 and No7 respectively. In practice games they played on each other, after the games they socialised together. When Meath travelled, they shared a room. When their football days were over, Pat, Tony and their families remained the best of friends. And they had been impressed by Sean Boylan's sincerity and his totally thorough approach. "Sean had brought a new approach with him in 1983. He introduced the idea of a back up team, medical and otherwise to the Meath scene. It was a professional-style approach." The new regime got away to the worst possible start with a Championship hammering by Laois in Tullamore in 1985. "We had great players but they often seemed to be content with that description. They hadn't won anything and there's not much point if you don't win. Even some of the more experienced players had to have their ambitions and their targets readjusted. So much of the game is about wanting to win." Meath started winning. Two All-Irelands, two National Leagues and five Leinster titles. It was demanding stuff, both for players and for selectors. "The players spend an awful lot of time with training and games but it's time consuming for us as well. We often spend hours upon hours deciding on a panel, or a team, when the players are long in bed." He is, of course, delighted with Meath's success. "The standard of footballers coming through at the moment is exceptional and I think that the quality of our football at Underage level is as good, if not better, than anywhere else. The scene is healthy at the moment. It's a high profile game nowadays and it's only fair that the players should be well treated. There are huge crowds going to the games and I don't think that interest was ever this high." But interest was always high in the Reynolds household. Pat's late father, Christy, was a native of Termonfeckin in County Louth, and wore the red and white of the 'Wee County'. Pat first saw the light of day in Termonfeckin but before he was six months old, the family moved to Gilltown in the parish of Walterstown. Pat attended Lismullen National School, but there wasn't much in the way of organised football; "and any-way I wasn't all that interested. I didn't show any promise as a Juvenile and couldn't get on the Walterstown team. It was only when I went to Gormanston College that things took off." He made the college Junior and Senior teams at the same time, a rare enough achievement in those days, and won three Minor Championship titles with Navan de la Salle, as Walterstown had no Minor team. In 1962, he donned the Meath jersey for the first time and starred in Meath's Leinster Minor Championship win over Kildare. An outstanding career had begun. In 1963, he was selected for the Royal County's Minor and Junior Championship teams and played his first game for the Seniors in a Tournament game at Stamullen. Minor, Junior and Senior in the same year! The following year signalled the arrival of the Walterstown man in a big way. It began with selection on the Junior team and ended with a Leinster Senior Championship medal and an All-Ireland semi-final appearance against Galway. Meath had won the Leinster Senior semi-final. There was a major surprise when he was selected at left half back on the Seniors with Willie McGurk losing out at corner back and Peter Darby moving to No 4. Directly opposed by Louth's Benny Gaughran, young Reynolds gave an outstanding performance and thereafter, the No 7 jersey was his. Disappointed followed when Galway beat a very talented Meath side in the semi-final and two years later, Meath gave a great display against Down to qualify for another tilt at the Connachtmen in the All-Ireland final. "We were over-confident in 1966. We were sure we had the beating of Galway but we had left it all behind us in the Down game." His performances against Kildare in the Leinster final and in the second half of the Down match were superb but there was no All-Ireland medal. Meath were largely unfancied for the 1967 title but once they emerged from Leinster, expectations increased. Mayo and Cork were beaten and the Sam Maguire returned to the Royal County. "There's no doubt at all about it; winning an All-Ireland is the greatest thrill for any footballer. That's what it's all about." When they returned from Australia, Meath's decline soon set in, and although they reached the 1970 All-Ireland, the bad days were on the way. Pat was centre half back when the league title was won with a sweet victory over All-Ireland champions Dublin in 1975, but in Championship fare, Heffo's Dubs seemed to have most of the luck in the clashes with their neighbours. "We were caught badly on the hop by Louth in the first round of the '75 Championship. We had overdone the League celebrations and were not tuned in." Throughout his career Pat had an aversion to training. "I dreaded it. " And yet he was able to compensate with his brilliant reading of the game. So how does he reconcile his position today in relation to training? "The game has speeded up unbelievably and there is no room for anybody who doesn't give 100% in training. It was just about possible to get away with it in my day, but I certainly wouldn't get away with it now." He had always the reputation of being an extremely hard worker and it was probably on account of his work on the farm that he was able to maintain a high degree of fitness without actually turning up for training. "Yes, we worked very hard, from dawn 'til dusk and the only way our father would give us time off was if we wanted to play football." The Reynolds brothers have all worn the Meath jersey at some level. Ray at Minor, Paul, Gerry and Christopher at Senior and, of course, they made a huge contribution to Walterstown's tremendous achievement in rising from Junior level, thro' Intermediate to take five Senior titles in the seven year period, 1978 to '84. Pat was at left half back when the Blacks won the Junior title in 1961 (he was just sixteen) and three years later, he starred in the Intermediate final success against Kilmainham-Wood. And when the Keegan Cup was finally captured in 1978, Pat, Paul and Christopher starred in that memorable triumph over Summerhill. And but for injury, Gerry would also have been on the team. Pat's outstanding career finally came to an end in 1980. On Sunday, he will fulfil his normal role in the Meath dug-out alongside Sean Boylan and Tony Brennan, as Meath and Dublin battle it out for a place in the Leinster final against Kildare. And he'll be an 'earlier-than-usual' arrival in Croke Park. Meath and Dublin will be in action in the Minor game and Meath's right half back will be Paddy Reynolds. Pat's son made his inter-county debut against Louth in the Minor Championship a month ago and observers were impressed. The dash, the style, the ability to read the game and the bravery. Young Reynolds had them in abundance. He cannot set a higher target than to be as good as his father was. Ever since he lined out for Walterstown in a tournament game in Johnstown in 1961, Pat Reynolds has never been less than whole-hearted in the pursuit of success with club and county. His input to Meath's All-Ireland and National League successes of the late eighties cannot be underestimated. "People think that I am the expert on the backs and that Tony is the expert on the forwards. But I know more about forwards than I do about backs. I played on them all through the years. And Tony knows about the backs for the same reason" And Sean? "He's the man who knows about all the players, how to get them ready, physically and mentally. He's the man." Taken from Hogan Stand Magazine 02/07/93. Tweet

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