‘If I was ever to get back to another All-Ireland final, I certainly didn’t think it would be in 1996’

FOR many the 26th September 1996 is a date that will live long in infamy, but for Tommy Dowd that day will be one he will never forget - the day he captained his county to All-Ireland glory.

Alongside lifting the Keegan Cup with his beloved Dunderry just a year earlier, Dowd insists that raising the Sam Maguire high above his head on the presentation plinth of the Hogan Stand as Meath captain ranks right up there as one of his proudest days.

It was a moment to savour for many reasons.

By 1996 Dowd believed his chances of All-Ireland glory had slipped by 1990 and '91. Never in his wildest dreams when he set off for the Hill of Tara in late 1995 to start preparations for the year ahead could he have expected such a mad adventure.

After being dropped for the final disappointment against Cork on 1990, Dowd returned and played a crucial role in Foley's goal against Dublin in 1991. A poor Leinster final showing against Dublin saw him hauled ashore at half-time and suddenly his place was in doubt.

However an unfortunate injury to Bob O'Malley gave Dowd a second chance and he grasped it with both hands to produce a man-of-the-match display against Roscommon in the ‘91 All-Ireland semi-final. However, the ultimate glory eluded Meath and as an aging warrior when crushed by Dublin in the 1995 Leinster SFC final Dowd must have thought his ship had sailed.

However, behind that disappointment some green shoots were blooming. Off the back of All-Ireland MFC glory in 1990 and 1992, an All-Ireland MFC final appearance in '93 and an All-Ireland u-21 FC success the same year Meath had plenty of prospects coming through, but would Dowd be around to see them bear fruit?

"After losing out in 1990 and 1991 if I was ever to get back to another All-Ireland final, I certainly didn't think it would be in 1996," Dowd told the Meath Chronicle.

"Sean (Boylan) was after bringing in half a dozen under-21s, so I didn't think we would be capable of making an impact straight away with such a young team.

"In came lads like Darren Fay, Mark O'Reilly, Paddy Reynolds and Barry Callaghan. We thought it would take a couple of years for them to bed in at senior football, but they brought a whole new lease of life to the whole set-up because they were serial winners at underage level and they just wanted to keep winning.

"After the first game when we played against Carlow we got a feeling that that team could go places. We gained momentum after that game and got more belief in ourselves. It was inevitable that we would go far once we had that belief," said Dowd.

When Dowd came onto the Meath scene he was thrown into a dressing room filled with strong characters, men like Mick Lyons, Liam Harnan, Colm O'Rourke, Kevin Foley - men who weren't shy in letting a youngster know their expectations.

As time passed by Dowd had to develop into one of those leaders and as those great heroes of Meath's past hung up their boots it was left to Dowd, Martin O'Connell and Colm Coyle to pick up the leadership roles and guide the raw young men into the future.

"My role on the team changed as the years went on. I went from being the young lad on the team to being the captain in 1996, so I had to assume more responsibilities," admitted the Dunderry man.

"Apart from playing I also had to do a bit more talking and also be a leader on the field as well. John McDermott was another of our big leaders, along with Martin O'Connell and Colm Coyle at the time too, as were Trevor Giles and Graham Geraghty.

"As captain I had more responsibility to give encouragement the whole time. Even if I never kicked a ball, I had to lead by example and give everything I had.

"I was fortunate to be named captain because Dunderry had won the championship against Kilmainhamwood in 1995, it was a great honour for me. When Sean and his selectors Frank Foley and Eamonn O'Brien told me in Gormanston one night that I would be the captain, little did I know that I would be the next Meath player to lift the Sam Maguire, it was a huge honour.

"When you play football you never know what is around the corner or what your fate will be, so to be named captain was great and then to win the All-Ireland as captain was an amazing feeling."

While '96 will almost always be remembered for the All-Ireland final replay, another abiding picture sticks in the mind of Dowd lifting the Delaney Cup, bloodied and scarred after a tough Leinster final victory over Dublin.

"I remember going down on a ball in the first-half of the Leinster final against Dublin and Keith Barr came in with his knee. He let on he was challenging for the ball, but he knew exactly what he was doing -it was the auld dog for the hard road with him," recalled Dowd.

"When you got a knock that time there was no such thing as concussion protocol. I had to go off and get a few stitches alright, but all I wanted to do was get back out onto the field and help the team win the match.

"That was a great breakthrough that day. It was only 0-10 to 0-8 on an awful wet, miserable day, but it was a great occasion. To see the joy on everyone's face that day, after waiting so long to win Leinster again, was brilliant. That was a great stepping stone for our young team."

However, the journey didn't end there for Dowd and his band of merry young men. Without fear and with a history of being winners, Meath's young guns produced one of the county's greatest ever performances to see off Tyrone in the semi-final - so in their last two games they had seen off the previous year's All-Ireland finalists. All that stood in their way of the ultimate glory was Mayo.

The drawn game was unremarkable until a remarkable equaliser from Colm Coyle, but in the replay sparks few as Meath caught fire and won their sixth All-Ireland crown.

"The drawn All-Ireland final against Mayo had no real incidents in it. It was a real nip and tuck game and it was Colm Coyle who scored the equaliser," remembered Dowd.

"Every time you talk to him he was further out of course, but it was a hit-and-hope punt forward in the hope that someone would get on the end of it, but thankfully it hopped over the bar and forced the replay.

"In fairness Mayo probably should have whipped us in both those games, but whatever it was about Meath teams at that time, whether it was the type of training we did, there was no end to our belief.

"We never gave up and we always had plenty of guts in us to keep going until the end. It didn't always work out, as it showed in '91 against Down, but the one thing that was instilled in us by Sean Boylan was that no one ever raised the the white flag of surrender.

"You had to keep going and going. We were like Navy Seals almost, no matter how badly we were wounded we had to keep going right until the end.

"Our intensity was something we prided ourselves on and we were definitely more psyched up going out the second day against Mayo than we were the first day.

"The first game was a timid enough affair and it was clear that if something did happen in the second game that everyone was going to get involved, no one was going to stand back.

"That (the row) wasn't something that we wanted to see and when the game was being televised all over the world it wasn't nice to look at.

"However, when you are in the heat of a battle and trying to win an All-Ireland you put your shoulder to the wheel. Certain things will always happen and you will always have controversy.

"Maybe nowadays that is what is wrong. There is no controversy at all, there is nothing to talk about only Dublin, it's all one-way traffic.

"If you train so hard for so many years to get to an All-Ireland final, of course there's a chance there will be controversy, but at the end of the day it is all about winning, it's all about lifting the Sam Maguire. It doesn't matter if there a row or a bit of a smozzle, it's all about winning. If you are beaten you take it on the chin and try to come back and win again.

"That final left a sour taste in the mouth for some Mayo and Meath people, but we have all gotten over it at this stage. If you go to Mayo now as a Meath person you wouldn't be treated any better any where else in the country, there's great respect there.

"The most disappointing thing for me after that game was that some people tried to say that Meath's worst player was sent-off, while Mayo had lost their best player - that was the greatest load of bullshit there ever was.

"When you look at all that Colm Coyle has done for Meath down through the years, you can see how crucial of a player he was for us.

"When you think of how hard a player he was and how much he put his body on the line to win Leinsters and All-Irelands, it was hard to hear that bullshit, it was very annoying. He had scored the point to force the replay after all.

"That wouldn't have bother Coyler too much because he is thick-skinned, but that was something that got up my goat a little bit," concluded Dowd who carries the honour of being one of just seven Meath men to lift Sam Maguire as captain with great pride and honour.