The junior All-Ireland hurling crown rests in the Royal County once more this winter. Noel Coogan looks back at another successful campaign for Martin Curran's men. Here is a strange statistic by today's trends. Cork head the All-Ireland junior hurling roll of honour with 11 titles, just two more than Kilkenny and Tipperary. In recent years there have been outright successes for Cinderella counties of the game like Monaghan, Mayo and Meath, who have won three times in seven years. When Meath gained national honours in the grade in 1927 and '48 they beat strong counties of the small ball code like Limerick, Galway and Kilkenny. But then the championship was confined to weaker hurling counties from 1961 to '82. When the Royal County took the title for the third time, they beat Wicklow, Kerry, Leitrim and Hertfordshire from the Leinster final on. Teams from powers of the game like Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary were back winning the All-Ireland junior hurling title from 1983 up to '96 when Galway were the victors. Since then the competition has been confined to the first teams of 'third world' hurling counties as well as lower grade selections from second class counties. While some Division 2 counties like Westmeath, Carlow and Wicklow have not been interested enough to take part, Meath just can't be kept off the wagon and they finished with outright honours in 1998, 1999 and 2004. Over the last few years Meath have had to confine their selections to players who were intermediate or junior performers at club level the previous year. For a few years the championship was run on an open draw system and Meath and Monaghan clashed in the 1997 and '98 deciders. Monaghan won out in the first of those years and then it was Meath's turn to celebrate with the Farney County representatives being beaten by 1-14 to 1-9 at Clones. Despite having to field a new team, the title was retained in 1999 with a 2-11 to 0-9 final victory over Tyrone at Breffni Park. Players who contributed to Meath's All-Ireland senior B success in 1993 were aboard for those junior triumphs, Declan Murray in '98 and John Gorry, Martin Smith and Paddy Kelly the following year. Such a trend was continued in 2004 with Paul Donnelly at midfield as Meath reclaimed the title with Down being defeated in the decider at Clones. Donnelly was not the only 'golden oldie' aboard for Meath's sixth outright success in the All-Ireland junior hurling championship as team manager Martin Curran and his assistants recruited the services of two former St Vincent's (Dublin) clubmen, full back Eamonn Clancy and full forward Paul Tobin, with both playing very significant parts in the four-game campaign. Both of Meath's Leinster games were at Pairc Tailteann and with Kildare and Longford both being comfortably overcome it was suggested that Curran had got together a stronger side than in the previous year. Trevor Donohue of Navan O'Mahonys, who was the goalkeeper for the 1998 victory, was back between the posts and Cork-native Maurice O'Shaughnessy and Mark Scanlon, originally from Clare, gave the side a cosmopolitan look. The captain of the team, David Troy from Drumree, is a son of Tommy Troy, who was right full back on the 1970 winning team. When that victory was achieved, hurling had yet to be invented in Stamullen but 34 years on there were three St Patrick's players involved in the sixth success. Forwards Tobin and Scanlon and wing back John Paul Ryan. Moylagh is another relatively new hurling outpost and Joe Melia, who was on the minor football team which fell to Derry at the final hurdle in 2002, had a happier ending this time. Another young player who was even more prominent in the successful campaign was corner forward David Kirby from the Na Fianna club, who had been captain of the county minor hurling team earlier in the year. Kirby made his mark in the opener, scoring 2-4 in the 4-19 to 1-7 win over a poor Kildare side. Tobin matched Kirby's tally which equalled the entire return of the opposition while Melia sent over five points and Stephen Moran raised three white flags after joining the action as a substitute in the second quarter. Meath could have won that game by even more as they hit 18 wides, 15 of them in the second half. Meath wrapped up the Leinster JHC title for the third year in a row with a double scores (4-14 to 2-7) victory over Longford. After only losing the corresponding game by two points 12 months earlier, Longford were expected to make a bold bid for their first ever hurling championship success. But they were no match for the home side. Robert Flanagan from Kells, who strangely did not score in any of the other games, grabbed the headlines after the defeat of the Midlanders, the corner forward helping himself to three goals and a point. All of those scores came in the first half. It was 3-6 to 1-3 at the break and a number of the Longford attacks were stopped by Clancy, who had an inspiring outing. Mayo, who had won out in 2003, provided the penultimate round opposition and a 2-15 to 3-3 win was recorded. Even though there was nine points between the sides at the end, the Connacht side was on level terms with just over ten minutes left. Mayo hurling had been making significant improvement and they also reached the senior B final in 2004. While Meath had players from 12 clubs in their squad, there are no more six adult hurling clubs in Mayo. Coached by Galway man Gerry Spellman, Mayo held their own in the first half, at the end of which they were on level terms, 2-3 to 1-6, Paul Tobin firing in Meath's first goal. The veteran full forward finished up as the top scorer with 1-6. David Kirby had another productive outing, scoring 1-3, his goal being netted at the end after opposing 'keeper Stephen Leneghan saved from Joe Melia. After a slow start, Paul Donnelly and David Geraghty got on top at midfield and all three of the St Patrick's lads got among the scorers, Mark Scanlon getting on his bike for his point midway through the second half and John Paul Ryan shooting over near the finish. When the Meath players trooped off the Clones pitch after defeating Down by 1-10 to 1-6, none of them hardly realised that the final score was the same as in the 1949 All-Ireland SFC final when the Royal County captured the blue riband for the first time at the expense of Cavan. Meath were watched by a couple of hundred more than had seen them in the earlier rounds although the admission charge of 15 euro must have made some of them feel like scratching their heads. Down, seeking a first national title in the grade for 40 years, made the better start and they had scored 1-1 before Meath got on the board. Again Paul Tobin was Meath's top scorer, this time contributing a goal and four points. The goal arrived in the 22nd minute with the number 14 flicking a centre from Mark Scanlon to the net. That major score kept Meath well in touch and they trailed by just a point, 1-3 to 1-4, at the break. Corner forward Jonathan McCusker scored the early goal for Down but after that Trevor Donohue kept out everything that was fired at him. In front of the custodian, Eamonn Clancy was sometimes caught for speed and was withdrawn inside the last ten minutes with Robert Flanagan dropping back to defence. David Troy was forced off for a spell in the third quarter but returned to complete another good day's work. Midfielder David Geraghty made more of an impact as the game went on and the man from Athboy sent over two points. His partner around the halfway line, Paul Donnelly, was carrying on a fine family tradition. There were two Kilmessan Donnellys, Tony and Pat, on the 1948 winning team. Down had the better of the third quarter and they were on level terms with six minutes to go. But then Meath moved up a gear and sent over the four points which separated the sides at the end with Tobin (two), Stephen Moran and Geraghty shooting over. "They showed a never say die attitude and it came good for them at the end. They finished the stronger. I'm delighted for those lads, they're a nice bunch and they deserve something," said manager Martin Curran. The Kilmessan clubman had Dessie Ferguson, Sean Colgan, Liam Kerrane and Noel Keating as his fellow selectors. The winning Meath team was : Trevor Donohue (Navan O'Mahonys); Seamus Duignan (Navan O'Mahonys), Eamonn Clancy (Clann na nGael), Brendan Flynn (Na Fianna); Chris Doyle (Drumree), David Troy (Drumree), J. P. Ryan (St Patrick's); Paul Donnelly (Kilmessan), David Geraghty (Clann na nGael); Mark Scanlon (St Patrick's), Joe Melia (Moylagh), Stephen Moran (Dunboyne); David Kirby (Na Fianna), Paul Tobin (St Patrick's), Robert Flanagan (Gaeil Colmcille). Subs - Barry Higgins (Clann na nGael) for Clancy, David Donoghue (Kiltale), Maurice O'Shaughnessy (Kilmessan), Fergus Fagan (Na Fianna), Barry Doherty (Clann na nGael), Paul Kirwan (Ratoath), Liam Newman (Gaeil Colmcille), Colm Doherty (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Charlie Usher (Gaeil Colmcille), Donal Kirwan (Ratoath), Ronan Curley (Drumree). Tweet

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