NHL PREVIEW: ‘I don’t want to be yo-yoing all the time’

He has been a familiar figure in Meath hurling teams in recent years. Padraic 'Podge' O'Hanrahan that is. A player who can be guaranteed to give it socks in general play; to give the proverbial 100 per cent commitment. Everything.

That willingness to work and strive for every ball - added to the fact that he is now the team's number one freetaker - makes Padraic (he's frequently referred to as Padraig) an integral part of the team as the new season starts to pick up momentum.

He was at it again on Saturday at Hawkfield stepping up to the plate to take the frees in the Kehoe Cup against hosts Kildare. He converted 11 of them too including some splendid efforts, but he missed one or two also, which suggests he has some work to do but you can be guaranteed the Ratoath player's quest for perfection will not be shortchanged or railroaded. Giving it everything is just the way he is. You can tell that by the way he plays. Full on. Relentless. Always, for club or county.

O'Hanrahan intends to make himself available for the league just as he has been doing since he started his senior inter-county career with Meath in 2019 - and when you consider what he does for a living it's a formidable achievement for him to be playing inter-county hurling at all.

The 32-year-old Ratoath player works in European sales for a medical company. Invariably that results in him chalking up a lot of air miles but somehow he manages to get the required training in; to prepare himself for the physical and mental demands of being the team's marksman.

"Yeah I do a lot of travelling I was in the UK this week but I'm lucky in that I do a lot of hybrid working, I work from home some days, so I try to work at home as much as possible on the days I train and I hit the road or am in the office on the days I'm not training and have a bit of time," he said on Saturday after Meath had lost out to Kildare in the Kehoe Cup.

"My boss is also a big GAA man so he understands, he lets me pick my travels to the UK and other places as long as it suits me and I can get over and back. I do trade shows regularly travelling to the UK, Germany, countries like that, but mostly Ireland and the UK.

"It's a huge commitment and if you look at it last year and what we got out of it, that's what you are committing for, to be part of victories like that. Hopefully this year we can really kick on and possibly get a league win and do well in the Joe McDonagh."

That reference by O'Hanrahan to last year was of course an acknowledgement of how Meath won the Christy Ring Cup and Div 2B double. Great days but O'Hanrahan knows success brings with it even more formidable, testing challenges.

This Sunday Meath kick-start their NHL Div 2A campaign and a lengthy list of big quality games are lined up starting with Kildare at Pairc Tailteann. The matches come thick and often with games against Carlow, Kerry, Laois and Down then on the demanding schedule. It's a big step up no matter what way you look at it.

Last Saturday's defeat to Kildare will not have helped in terms of morale or confidence ahead of this week's return encounter against the Lilywhites.

The fact that O'Hanrahan garnered 11 points from frees in the 1-19 to 1-22 defeat suggests Meath could make hay from placed balls once again but a worrying statistic from Saturday’s game was that Kildare's marksman Jack Sheridan hit a remarkable 1-18, 13 points from frees. He also missed a number of scorable frees.

All that suggests that Meath will need to be a lot more disciplined this week. ‘Cut down on frees concede’ will have to be the mantra. O'Hanrahan knows everything will be a lot tougher for Meath this season - but he wants to stay at the higher altitude.

"You see how even when Offaly went down to the Christy Ring Cup it took them two years to get back up again so it's not easy to get out of that competition. We were delighted to get out of it straightaway, I don't want to be yo-yoing all the time."

It will help the Meath cause that there will be no relegation from Div 2A this season. It's all part of a restructuring plan. Not that O'Hanrahan, who is one of the team's vice-captains, will be using that as an excuse to take it easy. There are other motivations. Slacking off just wouldn't be his way in any case. "We're not looking at that really. We need a performance in the league to make sure we're ready for the Joe McDonagh," he added as he stood outside the Meath dressing rooms in the splendid facilities at Hawkfield which now include an all-seater stand no less.

"We will be trying to get a couple of scalps on the way, make sure to put in a lot of good performances so that we can push on for the Joe McDonagh."

O'Hanrahan started his inter-county career relatively late - "that was probably my own fault" - but he has certainly made his presence felt since taking up the baton. Now another league campaign begins. Another journey for the well-travelled O'Hanrahan is about to begin.