‘Nothing replaces playing’

This is the time of the year that Kevin Reilly loved when he was a Meath footballer. The lengthening evenings. The fast approaching summer. The dry sod. The prospect of taking part in big championship games for club and county. The tantalising prospect of facing a team like Dublin, the age-old rivals, in front of a heaving, rocking Croke Park.

He loved it all. The comraderie, the training, the games. Even the defeats - while initially crushing - could be softened by the prospect that there will always be another day. Another year.

"Looking back, that gap between the league and the championship was probably the time when you trained the hardest," he recalled last Thursday morning when he spoke to the Meath Chroncle.

"There was that air of expectation and excitement of what was around the corner. The hope for the summer ahead, regardless of what kind of league campaign you and your team had put in, whether it was good or bad. It was very much like a bright, new start, the training was ramped up, the standards ramped up. There was always a real good vibe among the players heading into the championship."

Then it suddenly stopped. That was always going to happen, of course, but for Reilly the curtain came down on his career at a time when many players are at their peak. He was only 29 when he had no other alternative but to hang up the boots after a decade playing at the highest level in the green and gold.

He had fought hard to maintain his fitness over the years, often painfully. He simply refused to be sidelined by a litany of injuries. When others might have given up the ghost he kept playing for as long as he could, sustained by the prospect of protracting his career for one more game, one more campaign.

There were the injuries that affected his hip and Achilles tendon. There were also the bulging discs, the frequent hamstring tears, the pesky quad and hip flexor tears, the searing pain that went with a broken wrist, foot, nose (fractured a few times), fingers and vertebrae. Then, not to be forgotten, was the chronic tendonitis in his shoulders and Achilles tendons.

Finally what did him was a knock to the hip he received in the 2014 Leinster final against Dublin. It was a damaging blow, one from which he ultimately was unable to shake off. He did come back and play in the 2015 championsip for Meath but in the end the hip injury compelled him to call a halt to his time as a inter-county footballer

CAREER

Kevin Reilly's career certainly had it's moments. High points such as a Leinster SFC triumph with Meath in 2010 and the four Keegan Cup victories in the colours of his club Navan O'Mahonys.

Then there were the appearances with the Irish team in the International Rules series against Australia. More proud moments. Against that there was an awful lot of pain and discomfort as he grappled with the injuries. There was so much pain you might think Reilly, who is still only 36, was only too glad to see the end of his playing days. To wave goodbye to it all but that was never the case.

A teacher in Colaiste na Mhi in Johnstown, Kevin and his wife Eimear are busily engaged in bringing up their family of three, yet it's hard to stay clear of football.

Last year, as manager, he guided Trim to the Meath IFC title and an All-Ireland IFC Club final where they were defeated by Derry side Steelstown. Trim went 21 games undefeated. There was a lot of satisfaction in all that but still even the best of days on the sideline, he insists, can never match the exhilaration, the "buzz" of playing.

"I still miss playing desperately and I don't have a problem in saying that," he added. "You feel like you have an awful lot more to give even though your body doesn't let you. That's probably one of the reasons why I got into coaching so young. Managing and coaching is second best but it gets you very close to the action, you're able to influence games and things like that, but ultimately nothing beats playing.

"It's only when you are out of that environment, team environment, competitive environment, you miss it. People who are in there would know what I'm talking about. There is no better feeling than running out onto Croke Park with your team and ready to play against some of the best players in Ireland."

Reilly was still only at the foothills of his career when in 2005 he was thrown in against Dublin in a Leinster SFC tie at headquarters. Instead of wilting under the pressure and expectation of it all he enjoyed it greatly - and that day remains special. Still.

"The stadium was almost full, just the noise, the excitement, the atmosphere in Croke Park, playing your greatest rivals, all that it never leaves you. That day was very special for me and it's always a sign that you are doing ok when the Hill starts trying to get on your back."

Reflecting on his own career Reilly points to occasions when the Meath football team looked like it was going to get back into GAA's Golden Circle.

In 2007, under Colm Coyle, the Royals reached the All-Ireland semi-final only to be defeated by Cork, 0-9 to 1-16.

In 2010, with Eamonn O'Brien at the helm, there was the remarkable 5-9 to 0-13 hammering of Dublin followed by the controversial victory over Louth in the Leinster final. Next time out against Kildare in the All-Ireland quarter-finals defeat was Meath's fate. Hopes once more dashed by cruel reality.

"We probably didn't have the consistency we needed in those years. I thought we had a very good squad with exceptional players but I think we lacked the consistency that one coach would bring over a number of years.

"We changed managers fairly frequently and every time we did that we had to re-set. We had to go back with a new style of play, new tactics, in order to go forward again. I know hindsight is a great thing but we could have done with more consistency in the managerial sense."

PRESSURES

Well aware of the pressures of inter-county football Reilly is still clearly envious of the current crop of Meath footballers. They are, after all, about to embark on another journey in the championship. Another exhiliarating trip into the unknown.

As a Meath Gael he is ever hopeful Andy McEntee's side can make an impact this year; that the team can put behind them recent setbacks and disappointments - and he has got some advice for the players gleaned from his own playing days.

"I think as a player it's important you don't dwell on previous results or performances. It's only about the next game. We know the current crop of Meath players have the potential to do good things. We know they have the capacity to put in big performances and it's important the players buy into this idea that they can push on.

"It's important they believe they can deliver a performance the next day and, you never know, build a little bit of momentum. They could then go on a little bit of a run, regardless of previous form.

"It's amazing how teams can pull things together for the championship. We've seen that time and again over the years.

"Meath have had a mixed bag in the league this year, you can't move away from that fact, but in the first couple of games they were missing a lot of players.

"When the big name players came back the dynamic changed and performances got better. After the first couple of games we probably would have taken the position we finished up in.

"Obviously the Meath management would have had greater ambitions at the start of the campaign but after the first couple of results people were talking about relegation, there was talk of dropping back to Div 3, but in fairness to the players they put their shoulders to the wheel and consolidated their place in Div 2 for another year, which was the best outcome after those first few defeats.

"I would be optimistic by nature and like every other Meath supporter I would be hoping they could pull it together for the championship and go on a run."

Kevin Reilly would just love to be part of it all, out there on the field play doing his bit for the cause.

* Current Meath players are unavailable for interview due the ongoing dispute between the GAA and the GPA.