Odowd not surprised at rooneys impact

One of the stars of Meath’s opening round victory over Wicklow was Skryne teenager Harry Rooney.
The 19-year-old midfielder produced a dominant display and deservedly claimed the man-of-the-match accolade, but the level of Rooney’s performance came as no surprise to Meath manager Mick O’Dowd who has watch his club mate develop as a youngster.
“He (Rooney) lives at the top of my road, but I can’t say I was following him around. I managed him since u-16 and at minor with the club, he is a great lad and a great prospect. To give such a performance on his debut was a credit to him. It was no real surprise to me,” said O’Dowd.
“He has all the attributes to make it at this level. He was with the minors and u-21s over the last three years so he has a good bit behind him. He was a bit unfortunate this year that he played the first two rounds of the league and then missed the next five games, that was tough on him, but he came back strong and showed that last Sunday.
“There are varied types of inter-county midfielders on the go at the moment, but Harry slots closer to the traditional one. He is a very powerful runner, he has good mobility and great strength. His game will keep developing and he will get better.
“He isn’t what some teams have in the middle of the field, but then there are other teams that have that type of traditional midfielder.”
Looking forward to the Westmeath game O’Dowd revealed that he is happy to have a tough test under his belt ahead of the provincial semi-final and while he expects to have to set up differently for the Lake County challenge he feels that his side is ideally suited to playing in Croke Park.
“Most championship games are generally decided between the 60th and 70th minutes, so it was good that in our opening game the heat was on and players had to step up and find the scores to settle the game. That has to be a plus for the team.
“I’d imagine that some of the players who made their debuts and were a little bit nervous will be glad of the experience, that is done and dusted now. They have come through it and will be the better for the occasion.
“You certainly change tactics in terms of the opposition, but not necessarily because you are playing in Croke Park. Pairc Tailteann is very similar in that it is a big wide pitch.
“A lot of the long term building of this squad has been built around players that can perform in Croke Park in terms of mobility and pace. We are looking forward to getting back there.
Someone like Padraic Harnan is going into his third Leinster SFC semi-final in Croke Park and he hasn’t even turned 21 yet and there is a lot of experience there even with the younger players.
“When you get into the thick of championship football all you can do is try to win your next game. That can be your only focus at this time. We played last Sunday and now had two weeks to prepare for Westmeath and that is all we can think about,” said O’Dowd.