Reilly ready for championship opener against Louth

Those preparations include a physical dimension of course, but there is a mental routine too that all players appear to need these days to meet the specific challenges involved in a big championship clash.

“Definitely, towards the latter stages of the week you’d be visualising your role that Andy (McEntee) and the management team have set for you; visualising how you are going to get the best out of yourself,” he said by way of explaining what’s involved.

Sometimes the St Colmcille’s clubman finds it hard to believe it’s almost a decade since he started out with the Meath senior team.

Back then he was just a starry-eyed teenager, a little overawed to be part of the broader panel. He watched from the sidelines as then manager Colm Coyle led his troops to an All-Ireland semi-final in 2007 where they were defeated by Cork.

The following year Reilly made his championship debut against Carlow and he was on his way.

Over the years, he has learned some valuable lessons on how to deal with the unique demands of life as a high-profile footballer.

Demands such as trash-talking, something that appears to be as much part of Gaelic football as goalposts and county colours.   

There was a time when it used to really bother him; the sly, nasty comments whispered in his ear while the ball was at the other end of the pitch; the pinches, the more forceful digs all designed to put him off his game. The annoying thing from his perspective is that they often worked.  He’s in no doubt he’ll get some of that as soon as the action gets underway on Sunday, but feels he’s in a stronger position to deal with all that now.

“It’s how teams try to unsettle players, that’s how you test them. I’d be fully sure they are going to put someone on me who is going to test me physically and mentally, probably a bit of trash talk, but sure, look, you get used to that.
“I’m a 27-year-old man now, I’m not 18 or 19, it’s difficult, but now it’s in one ear and out the other ear. That’s what goes on, without doubt, every county does it.”

Reilly admits that in last year’s IFC final against Dunderry he lost the plot, retaliated against an opponent and ended up getting sent off in the opening minute. His side was fortunate to draw the first game before winning the replay. 

He describes that episode as one of the “greatest disappontments” of his career and is determined not to let it happen again. He has sought advice from various sources as he seeks to deal with the issue.
“I know we won the replay and the lads dug deep and a lot of them would say they did it for me because of what happened but for some reason, mentally, I wasn’t strong enough that day.

“I let a player get into my head, he was doing what he could to upset me, which is fine because teams, at club and county levels have done that in the past, but that day, for some reason, I reacted, but you won’t ever see that again.”

That tendency to get “too fired up” for games, he has come to understand, hampered his performances.

Now for him it’s about staying focused on the job in hand and that includes getting on the ball and embarking on those scorching forward surges that are so much a part of his locker.

He picked up a knock to his knee earlier this year and played his first match for six weeks when he lined out for St Colmcille’s in their SFC loss to Simonstown Gaels last week, but he feels ready to return to full combat.

Recently qualified in strength and conditioning, Reilly might have carved out a career for himself in soccer. He was offered a contract with Stockport County as a youngster. Sheffield Wednesday were also interested. He instead focused on Gaelic football and 10 years ago he started out on an inter-county career.

Now he hopes Meath can win another Leinster crown to add to the one claimed in the most controversial of circumstances in 2010. 
Reilly is ready for whatever comes his way on Sunday.