The dual jewel in the Meath crown
Meath's young sportsperson of the year Megan Thynne is part of an increasingly rare, but not yet extinct, group of people on the GAA scene these days - the dual player.
On Sunday Thynne, who lives in Dunsany and plays for Kilmessan, will step out onto the Croke Park pitch just two weeks after appearing for Meath in their defeat to Tipperary in the Ladies All-Ireland IFC semi-final at Semple Stadium, Thurles.
Thynne is one of a number of players that include Kildalkey's Maire Keogh and Fiona O'Neill and Paula Dunne from Dunboyne who have sought to help out their county in both codes this year.
Unfortunately for Keogh and O'Neill their progress has been hampered by injuries while 19-year-old Thynne has continued to power on, her skill and high-energy commitment much sought after by managers of camogie and football teams at club and county levels.
“It can be difficult all right to balance everything, but if you love playing you just deal with it. I'm out most nights of the week between games and training and then the weekend, you just have to get on with it.”
Thynne's abilities as a richly talented camogie player have been long recognised, even though she's one of the youngest members of John Davis's squad.
She's not the tallest player on the team but when it comes to skill and sheer, gritty, derring-do there are few to match her.
She was simply too young to take part in Meath's march to the All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie triumph in 2012, but she did make an appearance for Meath as a substitute when they defeated Down 3-21 to 0-9 in Intermediate Camogie Championship at Croke Park last year - and she's hoping to experience another win at headquarters on Sunday.
Despite her youth Thynne recognises the importance of something the legendary Cork player Christy Ring hightlighted as a must for all ambitious hurlers and that is to practice with a stick and ball everyday. “It's very important, even to bang the sliotar against a wall for a few minutes everyday,” she said.
She describes winning the All-Ireland Junior Camogie title with Kilmessan in 2014 as “one of the best days of my life” and would love to add an All-Ireland medal to her collection.
As neatly as she might side-step an opponent on the playing fields Thynne says she would never pick camogie over football or vice versa. She enjoys both of them equally.
She talks of the “great bond” that exists between the players on the camogie squad and how they are focused on lowering the colours of the Rebel County at Croke Park.
That’s the next target for a player who has the ability to make a major contribution for the Royal County on Sunday.