Cummins and Reilly honoured at Meath GAA awards

With two years of awards to catch up on Meath GAA were busy at the Castle Arch Hotel on Friday night where the annual presentations for 2020 and 2021 were dispensed at a hugely enjoyable night to honour the players, stewards and sponsors.

The winners of the various players of the year prizes, along with the club of the year, referees of the year and grounds of the year were flagged well in advance and most were in Trim to receive their accolades in person.

However, the undoubted highlights of the evening were the surprise presentations to long-serving Co Board official Brendan Cummins and the redoubtable Boardsmill man and former Meath Hurling Board chairman and senior manager TJ Reilly, honoured as the latest inductees into the Meath GAA Hall of Fame for 2020 and 2021 respectively.

The opening presentation of the evening was also a surprise one, with former Meath Chronicle sports editor Conall Collier recognised for his 34 years service to sport and the GAA in the local paper with a special merit award.

There were also special merit presentations made to John McBride who is the head groundsman in Pairc Tailteann and Tara Rowan who started working in the Meath GAA office 25 years ago.

Dunsany man Brendan Cummins was stunned as it became clearer with each passing word of Meath Co Board chairman John Kavanagh's inducting speech that he was the latest member of the prestigious Hall of Fame.

Upon accepting his Hall of Fame trophy Cummins was, very rarely for the hugely respected LMFM sports broadcaster, almost speechless.

He thanked Meath Co Board for the honour and had to emotionally cut short his few words, finishing by declaring he was "thrilled".

After having time to gather his emotions during the meal, Cummins resumed as the MC for the evening and revealed the winners of the various awards with Trim's Alan Douglas and Donaghmore/Ashbourne’s Bryan Menton named 2020 Hurler and Footballer of the Year respectively while Kiltale's James Kelly and Wolfe Tones' Cian Ward were declared the 2021 winners.

The Young Hurler of the Year awards went to Killyon's Justin Coyne (2020)and Trim's James Murray (2021), while 2020 Leinster MFC winning captain Eoghan Frayne from Summerhill and 2021 All-Ireland MFC winning captain Liam Kelly from Ratoath received the Young Footballer of the Year prizes.

A great night for Trim GAA was capped when they picked up the 2021 Club of the Year, in succession to 2020 winners Ballinabrackey.

The Grounds of the Year awards went to Drumconrath for 2020 and to Blackhall Gael's Kilcloon pitch for 2021.

The Referee of the Year awards saw Ballivor's Henri Clifford and Curraha's Patrick Coyle receive the 2020 and 2021 prizes respectively with Na Fianna's Derek Ryan and Dunsany's Ciaran Flynn presented with the Most Improved Referee's awards for those years.

There were also awards for Ballinlough's Susan Farrell and Walterstown's Ruth Chambers as they picked up PRO awards for 2020 and 2021.

The night concluded with TJ Reilly's induction into the Hall of Fame.

The Boardsmill man admitted he had been "tricked" into being at the awards, but he also confessed to being "honoured".

Unlike Brendan Cummins earlier in the evening TJ was certainly not stuck for words.

n an excellent interview with the MC Reilly revealed his many highs and lows and some of the toughest and most joyous days he has endured and enjoyed in his many years of involvement with Meath GAA.

It was a superb engagement between the two latest inductees into the Meath GAA Hall of Fame and a great way to end a hugely enjoyable night.