Cortown is once again in mourning following the death of Club President and 1949 All Ireland hero Johnny Meehan. Nicky Heary, who also had strong links to Cortown, passed away during the week and the death of Johnny Meehan has sent further shockwaves through the parish. 

Johnny Meehan, an All-Ireland medal winner in 1949, a founder member of Cortown and as good an interviewee out there as Royal County Meath GAA yearbook found out in 1998.

''In watering holes the county over, the legends of gaelic games remain immortal. Magical moments and heroic feats performed on the field are re-lived as stories of great acts and great men are recounted. These deeds are reported passionately, listened to intently. Often, the characters concerned become almost mythical and larger than life as, for effect, the stories are embellished by exaggeration. However, there is no need for any such sensationalism or padding when it comes to discussing Johnny Meehan - simply one of the greatest footballers the old Fordstown club ever produced.

''It seems that all great entertainers perform under an endless list of aliases, pseudonyms and nicknames; in this respect, Johnny Meehan was no exception. When he pulled on the Meath jersey, he was 'Jack' Meehan . . . or 'The Black' Meehan (to distinguish him from his brother Jim 'The Red' Meehan who was also aboard on the 49 panel and later became a folk hero in the Wee County when starring in Louth's 1957 All Ireland win over Cork) . . . or sometimes just pure and simple Johnny Meehan. No matter what you called him, he was always brilliant! As fine a full back as you could ever wish to have in your team. Indeed, but for persistent injury problems, we'd have heard much more about Johnny Meehan.

''Johnny Meehan is a Cortown man to the very marrow of his bone. His father Jimmy hailed from Cortown as did his grandfather and his great grandfather before him. His sons, too, are Cortown through and through.

''Johnny has always been interested in football. His father played the game and he can remember also travelling to watch his uncle, Jimmy, line out in the company of the likes of Nipsheen Farrelly for Kells Stars in the 1910s.

''There was no Cortown club in existence while 'Jack' was a player, and he and his three brothers - Bill, Jimmy and Francis - all played together with Fordstown. All four Meehans were involved with Fordstown from its inception in 1948; Johnny was resident full back until the club disbanded in the late 1950s.

Some of those 1949 heroes before the All Ireland final against Cavan at Croke Park. Front l-r: F. Byrne, K. McConnell, S. Heery, B. Smyth, C. Hand, Johnny Meehan, P. McDermott, P. Carolan. back l-r: C. Smith, L. McGuinness, P. Dixon, K. Smyth, D. Taaffe, T. Farrelly, W. Halpenny, James Meehan

''The arrival of Fordstown on the Royal County GAA scene was a real breath of fresh air. Suddenly, here was an exciting young team, built around the Meehan and Timmins clans but with other very talented performers in Ben Ward, Tom Collins and Mick Finnegan. They signalled their arrival by winning the Junior Championship in 1954. They also reached the intermediate decider of '58 but were beaten by one point by St. Mary's of Donore. Subsequently, many of the players emigrated and the club disbanded.

''Johnny started to play with Kells in 1960, but broke his leg that year. The injury effectively ended his career.'The Black' had broken on to the Meath junior team in 1949 . . . little did he realise that he was destined to win a senior All-Ireland medal that year.

''The juniors had reached the Leinster final, but Johnny was drafted onto the senior panel for the first round game against Kildare. The Lilywhites were duly defeated and Meath qualified for a second round clash with Wexford.

''In the meantime, Johnny injured his knee in a club game with Fordstown. The injury meant he missed the remainder of Meath's historic All-Ireland campaign. Seamus Heery took his place in the team, Johnny remained on the panel. He did appear as a substitute for Christo Hand in the Leinster final . . . but the injury recurred and he was consigned to the bench from there on in. He was on the bench for the decider and received a winners medal. He still has it.

''It is only fair that he has his memento because a fully fit Johnny Meehan would never have lost his place on the team that year.

''The injury dogged Johnny throughout his career. "Medical facilities in those days were nothing compared to what they are today," he recalls. "Nowadays, you have keyhole surgery and an injury can be cleared up in a matter of weeks. Back then, you had to grin and bear it and hope the problem cleared up. If you were brought to hospital, they'd throw a bandage around the injured limb and send you home."

''Jack' remembers clearly all the excitement surrounding his county's first All-Ireland win: "The whole county was buzzing and, even though very few people had cars or anything, a huge crowd attended the final. We played Cavan who were going for three in a row. There was a tremendous rivalry. Fr. Tully, the County Board Chairman, had taken over the running of the team for the first time and he had us really fit.

"In those days, we had what was known as Collective Training which meant the whole panel got together and trained every day for three weeks prior to the All-Ireland final. We were brought to Gibbstown and stayed together in the local Community School. Those were very memorable times. When we won it, the whole county joined in and there were bonfires and torchlit processions.

"Physically, we were as fit back then as players are today but it was a totally different game. There wasn't as much emphasis on coaching and tactics; players played in their position and didn't roam around all over the pitch. All the teams were playing catch and kick and there was very little hand-passing. The hand-passing has taken the spectacle out of the game. With the catch and kick, you used to get some spectacular catching."

''Johnny Meehan is well qualified to talk about catching. He himself had a devastating spring and an unbelievably clean pair of hands. Such was his ability that he never had to resort to playing the man. He played the game the way it was meant to be played - and was never once sent off during the course of his career.

''Johnny's brother Jim - 'The Red' - had also been drafted on to the senior panel in 1949, just after Meath were defeated in the Leinster junior final. He won his medal that year and went on to make history by playing a key role in Louth's All-Ireland triumph of 1957.

''A founder member of the Cortown club in 1969 and a selector on the club's senior team in '98, Johnny has been one of the driving forces behind Cortown for the best part of thirty years now. He recalls the events that led to the club's formation: "The Fordstown club had disintegrated and suddenly we found ourselves in the situation where we had a number of very talented players in Cortown, many of whom were playing with Bohermeen. So, we set the club up, based mainly around the Henry and Rennicks families."

''Today, Cortown are genuine contenders. In 1996, the won the Intermediate Championship. And, in '97, their first ever senior year, they went all the way to the semi-final of the SFC. "All of a sudden, we were one of the top four teams in the county," a proud 'Jack' states.

''When it comes to telling great stories, Johnny Meehan has a talent to rival the best of them! Take this little gem, for instance: "One of our selectors in 1949 was Paul Russell from Kerry. He always carried a couple of Baby Powers in his pocket and if any of the players were a bit nervous or off their game he'd bring them in and give them a drop. You wouldn't see anybody doing something like that today - but it seemed to work!"

''Johnny Meehan played in the company of some great players. He selects Ballinlough's Mattie McDonnell as probably the best but also rates Brian Smith and Paddy O'Brien very highly.

''But few were better than Johnny 'The Black' Meehan.

Our sincere thanks to David Rispin for all his help.

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