Murray's Meath team create history

Meath manager Eamonn Murray saluted the county’s ‘heroes for life’ after his team created a piece of history by lifting the Brendan Martin Cup at Croke Park yesterday writes DARRAGH SMALL.

The Royals were crowned TG4 All-Ireland Senior champions for the first time after a phenomenal win over the five-in-a-row chasing Dublin.

Emma Duggan’s goal was the difference in the end, but it was the collective effort that held Dublin at bay, especially in the second half as the 2020 Intermediate champions stayed on track for a memorable win over their Leinster rivals.

“We need to forget about the bad days, those bad days are gone thank God,” said Murray.

“These are heroes and will be heroes for life if they never kick another ball. They’ll go down in history now. I never questioned for one minute that they wouldn’t win.

“They’re (Dublin) a class outfit, an unbelievable team. To be the best you have to beat the best and we certainly did that today. We were by far the best team today.

“We had the luck with us all year but it’s not luck when you beat all of these top teams. They are a very special bunch of players I’m dealing with here.

“They have come a long way, this is as high as it goes so where do we go from here?”

Meath were Lidl National Football League Division 3 champions in May 2019 and after the Covid-19 affected campaign that followed they won Division 2 earlier this year.

But no one expected them to win Intermediate and Senior Championships in successive years, a marvellous success for Murray’s side.