One day at a time for Captain Frayne

CAPTAIN'S LOG Summerhill leader keeping focus firmly on the next task ahead

Eoghan Frayne has had an extraordinary few months with Meath. Robbie Brennan entrusted him with the captaincy and this week he will lead Meath into a Leinster SFC final against Louth, writes Tom Gannon.

The 22-year-old had a massive game against Dublin in the famous semi-final victory in Portlaoise. He contributed 0-11 and was one of several Meath men who stunned the Dubs with an excellent performance. Speaking at the recent press launch for next Sunday's final, Frayne described how he felt at the final whistle after the historic win.

"It was a bit surreal, to be honest, we had a belief that we could win but when it happened it was pure joy. I've only been in the panel a few years but the likes of Donal Keogan, Cillian O'Sullivan and Bryan Menton, have been on the end of some hammerings from Dublin, that is tough going so I am delighted for them."

The Maynooth University student spoke about how Meath dismantled Dublin by squeezing Stephen Cluxton's kick-outs and trying to get as many shots away as possible.

"The wind factor and winning the toss in the first-half helped a lot. We were trying to squeeze the kick-outs and get as many shots away as possible to rack up as big a score as possible. When you have the wind, you have to go after the two-pointers. A few breaks fell our way as well. We were efficient enough in the second-half. We got turned over a few times but at that stage, the nerves were creeping in a bit. We had a couple of individual big wins in that like winning the kick-out after they scored the goal. Overall we were very pleased."

Speaking about his appointment as captain, the Business Management student said that he was honoured to be asked and also praised some of the more experienced heads in the Meath dressing room for helping him out with some of the duties.

"I was a bit shocked to be asked to be captain. I had aspirations to be captain later down the line but it has come quite soon. I didn't have to think about it much, I said yes straight away. It is a great honour for myself, for the family and my club as well. It is what you dream about, especially now that I am in the fortunate position of captaining Meath in a Leinster final." said Frayne.

"The captain's duties don't all fall on me. There are good heads in the group that help me out and make sure that we are not getting too high or too low. It's definitely a team effort, some of the older lads take a bit of the load which is great for me."

Frayne was only seven years old when Meath won that infamous Leinster final against Louth in 2010. He doesn't remember anything about the game. He also spoke about the impact that success at senior level can have on young Meath supporters.

"I can't remember a thing about that 2010 final, I was only seven at the time. I was probably at the game but I don't remember anything about it. It's important that the kids today see other teams other than Dublin be successful. It gives you hope. Hopefully, kids see the success we are having and it gives them the dream of playing for Meath one day."

The Meath skipper admitted that Louth have had the upper hand on Meath in their last couple of meetings but he also detailed the impact that the venue had in those two encounters.

"Louth have had our number the last twice in Inniskeen. They have some serious footballers and it will take an even better performance than the Dublin game to beat them. I don't think they have any weaknesses in any area of the field. We can't have any complaints about the last two times that they have beat us." said Frayne

"Inniskeen as a venue has probably helped them a bit too. It's a small ground, but the Louth fans packed it out and it probably helps them get a bit of momentum. The atmosphere in those games has been mad and it probably played into our mentality as well. It benefited them anyways."

Frayne is taking the build-up to the Leinster final one day at a time as he knows the importance of getting the most out of every training session.

"You just have to take the build-up day by day. If you are looking down the line at the final then you are not getting the most out of every session. At the moment we just have to take it session by session and hopefully, we will be in the best place possible to win a Leinster final."

Following their league campaign, Meath hit national headlines when Martin Corey and Joe McMahon stepped away from the management team.

Frayne explained how the players didn't dwell on their departure for too long,

"When we lost Martin Corey and Joe McMahon, it could have been detrimental. Luckily it has gone the other way. We all just knuckled down a bit and said there is no point in dwelling on this. At the end of the day, it is us that is going to get the slack or the praise. To be fair, we just got on with it."

A big part of Meath's success this year has been their ability to kick two-pointers and the Summerhill man has been a big fan of the introduction of the two-pointers.

"We are lucky enough that we have plenty of lads who can kick two-pointers and are accurate from long-range. We don't necessarily work on them in training or anything, the success that we have had with two-pointers comes down to lads doing their own bit of shooting practice after training or whenever," said Frayne.

"I do like the two-pointers though, I think it's a good addition to the game. Even when I'm not playing I like to see lads taking shots on from long-range and hitting shots from distance with the outside of the boot. Like what Diarmuid Connelly used to do, you would be lying if you said it wasn't entertaining. It has helped the game massively from an attacking perspective anyway."