Character and fitness the key to victory for Brennan

The scenes on the TV screens at the final whistle of last Sunday's remarkable All-Ireland SFC quarter-final brought memories of the good old days flooding back.

Meath manager Robbie Brennan was smothered under a wave of players and backroom lads. Donal Keogan took his cap and waved it in celebration to the loyal Royal supporters.

It was unbridled joy and fully deserved after a simply magnificent display from a Meath team that were once again written off in all quarters.

By the time Brennan made his way off the pitch and into the media auditorium under the Cusack Stand he had regained his composure, although still no less delighted.

The mantra all year from the manager has been 'next possession, next training session, next game'. He didn't set any targets, not publicly anyway, but now his side are most certainly in bonus territory and Brennan is loving every minute of it.

"It was part of the plan I suppose, realistically. We came to win the game, so, yeah, overall I'm delighted we got it done," was the pragmatic response from the Meath boss when asked how he was feeling.

"I thought it was brilliant character by the lads, particularly after the second goal went in. We were screaming in to the players, just trying to keep playing clever ball and chip away and try and reduce that score.

To be fair to the lads, they did that incredibly well then after that.

"Turnovers are such a key part of the game that you have to be able to do it.

"We probably felt at half-time that when we did win the ball back we were a little bit slow, a little bit static in our transition, and on the basis that we feel we can go all day, we felt we needed to go a little bit quicker in the transition second half and see if we could tire Galway out a little bit, and I think that's what happened."

That spell that Brennan referenced was the five minute period between the 61st and 66th minutes when Meath lost Sean Rafferty to an injury and saw their six-point lead turned on its head to a three-point deficit.

As he stood helpless on the sideline, what was running through Brennan's head as his footballing world went into chaos?

"I can’t say. We probably felt we needed a little bit more, particularly with the Galway attack. They have a lot of threats there, but when you look at the first half and the amount of chances we were getting and we were missing we still felt there were going to be gaps there," recalled Brennan.

"The big thing for us, was backing our fitness. I knew we'd run all day with the work that Drakey (David Drake) and Phil (Campbell) have done with the lads, that we could keep going no matter what the temperature, the humidity, that they'd be able to just keep going and going and going and going.

"Then we had a brilliant impact off the bench as well. So, all round I think it was a top-notch performance.

"It was maybe just a little bit of miscommunication (around Rafferty's substitution). It's hard to hear what was going on.

"Once he came off, he said, “listen I can stay on. We were just waiting for the chance to get him back in, and thankfully we did.

"In my opinion, he's the best full-back in the country. I hear other managers bigging up their players for All-stars.

"If he isn't an All-star, and if this guy sitting beside me (Ruairi Kinsella) isn't an All-Star, then whoever picks them is not doing their job.

"They're two incredible, incredible players, and we're very lucky to have them."

During that tricky spell when the dream of prolonging the championship summer for at least another two years seemed to be slipping away, Meath's character was questioned and they responded in style to follow up wins over Dublin, Cork and Kerry with a victory over Galway.

While other's might have questioned Meath's character and ability to get back into the fight, Brennan never had any doubt and he once again referenced the hurt and lessons learned from the Leinster final loss to Louth.

"I think that's that character piece and we didn't panic. I was in here yesterday (for Donegal v Monaghan and Tyrone v Dublin) and I saw a few examples of panicky shots and stuff, and we didn't do that, even when that squeeze came on, and we just kept waiting and trying to build and build and build," Brennan said calmly when asked about his side's character.

"I keep referencing but the Leinster final was a massive learning. Like all of those games, you have to take learnings from them or else what's the point of doing them?

"I think we've put a lot of those learnings from that Leinster final into place and now we're the last team in Leinster now and we'll keep the flag flying.

"You know us, we just go session by session and game by game. So, that's all we've ever really done.

"I think the Leinster final probably stood to us. We said in that dressing room that day that we'd be back here this year. No matter what we had to do, we'd get back here.

"We're probably lucky. Isn't that what everyone says? We keep getting lucky. We were lucky against Dublin. We were lucky against Kerry and I guess we were lucky again today.

"So, we'll see who we get in the semi now and we'll have to be lucky again, I suppose.

A huge part of that 'luck' that Brennan referenced has been driven by the Meath supporters who were once again magnificent in Croke Park on Sunday.

Brennan does not under estimate the impact the fans have on his team and the joy his side are giving to the supporters.

"They were just exceptional. We were coming in again with the Garda escort and it was just mental, heading down the Navan Road when the cars are beeping and everything. Then you get here and it's time to throw-in, and it was packed, it makes the whole thing (special).

"Anyone who's been at any of the big games, I think it makes a huge difference to the occasion. Win or lose, even the Leinster final was an amazing occasion.

"If anyone has holiday's booked, please, God, just change them, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks with a bit of luck."

The highlight of the magnificent Sunday afternoon was the genius of Jordan Morris. There were times, particularly in the first-half, when Morris took a solo too many or lost possession in contact and that had the potential to frustrate, but Brennan allows his maverick magician license to do as he wants.

"There's a touch of genius about Jordan. I've referenced before the likes of Walshie (Shane Walsh), who was out there, and maybe Paul Mannion who I have worked with before are special players and Jordan is absolutely in that category.

"He is impossible to mark at times, literally impossible to mark, and other times he can have a little turnover, but they're what we call creative turnovers. You're allowed to have them when you're that type of player," concluded Brennan.