The central played host to royal legends and me

All-Ireland SFC winning captain Tommy Dowd, former Meath captain Anthony Moyles and Sam Maguire winner with Dublin Tomas Quinn were the guests of honour at a Leinster SFC Preview night in The Central last night where all funds went to Meath Women’s Refuge.
Hosted by LMFM’s David Sheehan, the well-attended event was a hugely enjoyable occasion with all three players giving an insightful look into where both Meath and Dublin are placed now in terms of potential provincial and All-Ireland success, while also looking back at their own illustrious careers.
All three tipped Dublin to claim the Leinster SFC and after plenty of debate the general consensus was that Jim Gavin’s side will also take all the beating as they bid to regain the All-Ireland SFC crown they won in 2013.
Moyles and Dowd were first on stage with Sheehan asking them questions about their playing days and they also compared and contrasted the differing situations of playing under the stability of one manager for many years, Sean Boylan, as opposed to the different managers Moyles played under (Sean Boylan, Eamon Barry, Colm Coyle, Eamonn O’Brien and Seamus McEnaney).
Quinn joined the pair on stage to give an insight into how Dublin prepare for the big games and how important he believes the Meath-Dublin rivalry continues to be.
The St Vincent’s star, who won an All-Ireland SFC with Dublin in 2011 and an All-Ireland Club SFC in 2014, also recalled the 2005 Leinster SFC quarter-final when Ciaran Whelan lashed out at Nigel Crawford at the throw-in, but only received a yellow card from referee John Bannon.
“I was in corner-forward that day and remember the incident and thinking to myself ‘how are we going to last a whole 70 minutes with just 14 men’, but the referee only gave a yellow, which was the right decision I think,” joked Quinn.
“Before the game Ciaran was all chat to the referee, asking how his wife and kids were and was he keeping well, so when he did what he did the ref must have thought ah sure he didn’t mean it, he’s a nice fella”.
Moyles recalled that he was at the front of the foursome for the throw-in and when he turned around he saw Crawford ‘on his arse’. “I immediately thought will I jump in here and burst Whelan? But then I realised that that would have been foolish because the ref had to have seen the whole thing and he would send Whelan off, I couldn’t believe it when he only gave him a yellow,” laughed Moyles.
The hugely entertaining night included an auction for a signed Meath jersey and The Central proprietor Michael Gavigan, before commencing the auction, recalled how Meath bounced back from a hammering by Dublin in 1995 to win the All-Ireland in 1996 and suggested that it ‘could be a very valuable jersey, an All-Ireland winning jersey if history was to repeat itself’.
The jersey went for e130 and combined with the proceeds of the raffle, for which prizes were donated by The Central and Jack Kiernan, a generous sum was raised for a very worthy cause, Meath Women’s Refuge.