Durnin has no regrets as his troops fall short

Last year Peter Durnin guided Meath all the way to an u-21 All-Ireland B HC title. On Saturday he watched his side tumble out of the Leinster u-20 HC.

He was disappointed, of course, but not regretful. Meath could have opted to take part in the B competition and perhaps have won it again but Durnin felt the best option was to have a go at the A level, take a step outside the comfort zone and see what happens.

The plan didn't work out as hoped. Meath were sent tumbling out of the running. They were by some way second best to Kildare who could have been out of sight and over the horizon by half-time.

As it was Meath trailed 0-4 to 1-11 at the interval. The Lilywhites shot 12 wides in that opening half, some from what might be expected as eminently scorable positions.

Afterwards as Durnin reflected on the afternoon and sifted through the defeat he might have felt regretful that he didn't opt for the B championship. Not a bit of it. He had no regrets. It's always best, he feels, to test yourself. If you fall short, well, you fall short.

"I still think it is a better option to go in with the A teams. We could have gone for the B championship again, maybe have won it again, maybe not, but I think it's always best to test yourself at a higher level," he said.

"We lost by four points to Offaly in the u-20 Development League and they went on to win the League. We should have, could have, won that game. Against Westmeath we were only beaten by five, we defeated Carlow, lost here today. They are the teams you would want to be playing. Maybe in a few more years, playing regular games against teams like that will stand to the Meath players.

"It would be great to be going into the next round but this championship is pretty ruthless. If you lose you are out and unfortunately that's the way it is for us. It's a knock-out but with all the club games that have to be played there is probably no other option.

"These lads are playing adult hurling and a lot of them will be straight into football and hurling leagues every weekend, then the championship, so there's probably not the scope to have a round-robin format at u-20 inter-county level."

Durnin gave an insight into the kind of tactical dilemma the manager and selectors of an inter-county hurling team faces. There was the question, for example, of what tactics to use when trying to find a way through an opponent's defensive cover.

At times on Saturday Meath sought to move the ball forward with short-passing moves but more often than not those attacks broke down. They seemed to reap a greater harvest by hitting longer passes in the second-half. Finding the right balance was the challenge; it always is in the modern game.

"With teams playing so defensively, with an extra-man back, you can't just lump the ball forward they are going to mop that up all day long. There was a plan there that you have to work the ball up to at least half-way before you let it in to by-pass your opponent's half-back line and the body of players there. We struggled in the first-half to do that but we improved in the second-half, it worked out better for us."

"The first-half we had Joey (Cole) and Tom (Shine) inside and when the ball went in they were doing some damage but we couldn't get it into the forward division often enough, we were under serious pressure, Kildare were winning every breaking ball, every 50,50 ball, some frees went their way too. It was backs against the wall stuff but we pressed them hard in the second-half."

He talked about dealing with the kind of questions, unexpected questions, that can crop up for any manager such as what to do when the team struggles to find a foothold in the game - like Meath on Saturday.

From very early on it was clear the home side were struggling to deal with Kildare's enterprise and vigour. Switches were made and a more direct approach was taken - or at least that's how it seemed.

If there is one thing a manager loves to see from a team is the willingness of players to knuckle down and graft hard to try and get themselves out of a precarious position.

Meath's spirited second-half display helped them to exactly do that. Behind by 10 at the interval Meath cut the deficit to four at one stage in the second-half - then they seemed to run short of ideas.

"When it was 10 minutes in I thought if we can get it to half-time and we still have a chance we'll settle. I thought 10 points was a big ask but we reduced the deficit and gave ourselves a chance after missing three easy chances. It could have been a draw. If we had managed to get level I'm sure we would have kicked on," said the manager.

"You would have to credit our lads in the second-half the way they came out, it would have been very easy to drop the heads and lose by 20 points but they brought it right back down and you have to take a positive out of that."

That revival, however short-lived, was at least something for Meath players and management to feel proud about on Saturday. However, the bottom line is that they are out of the Leinster championship.

All Durnin can hope is that the players will learn from the experience - and be back to fight another day.