Joe Sheridan (centre) met Queen Elizabeth and President Mary McAleese at Croke Park.

Joe Sheridan to seek FF nomination for local elections

Footballer Joe Sheridan, recently dropped from the Meath senior panel, is turning to a new interest - politics.

The Seneschalstown clubman is to seek a nomination to run in next year's county council elections in Meath, following in the footsteps of his father, Damien, a former Navan urban councillor.

The county’s top-scoring full-forward, who famously met Queen Elizabeth and Michelle Obama when they visited Dublin two years ago, said this week he was happy to put his name forward for selection, but as he was bordering a number of electoral areas, he hadn’t yet decided what was the best option for both himself and the party.

He said he had been asked to put his name forward around a year ago but had asked for time to think about it. When when he was asked again a few weeks ago, he agreed to go forward to seek a nomination.

'I have been involved in the local community over the last number of years and enjoyed that and this is something I could give back to them; I could give them a voice,' he told the Meath Chronicle this week.

A member of the county minor team that lost out to Derry in the 2002 All-Ireland final, Sheridan was handed a senior championship debut by Sean Boylan in 2004. However, he had to wait until 2010 for his only Leinster SFC medal when his late controversial goal won Meath the title and deprived Louth of a first provincial success since 1957.

Ann Casey has the full story in today's Meath Chronicle.