‘It’s great to have two teams in an All-Ireland semi-final’

GETTING over the quarter final ‘hump’ was one of Meath’s targets at the start of the year, manager Shane McCormack said after his side swept aside the challenge of Tipperary in the All-Ireland last eight tie at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday.

Over the past two year Meath has bowed out at the quarter final stage, losing to Kerry on both occasions but they eventually ended that losing run in emphatic fashion.

“We've achieved that, but there's still a lot to work on,” McCormack continued. “The girls in fairness, they will stay grounded, they're a super bunch, and we'll just look forward to training Tuesday night.

“I just want to acknowledge the girls, super performance, and the management team there as well. We've got a couple of new lads in on the management team this year and they're making a huge difference.

“We've got a lot of criticism over the last year and a half, we said we were always rebuilding and we were. There are a lot of new girls on the panel, I think there were 10 or 11, this was their first involvement in an All-Ireland quarter-final and it's going to be the same in two weeks' time in the semi-final. There are only a few girls remaining from 2022 but it’s a testament to them, the commitment and motivation from them all.”

McCormack agreed at home advantage was a big plus.

“Going down to Tralee last year and the year before to take on Kerry was tough. The home crowd here today was phenomenal. Every block, every tackle, every point, turnover, the crowd was behind us, so credit to them for coming out today.

“The two goals we got were super scores and we could have had a few more goals as well but the keeper made a good save there. It's a good winning margin. As I said, we'll work on the few bits we need to improve on after today.

“We asked for a 60 minute performance and we got it. Even with six substitutes on they kept going as if we were a point behind. That's what you want as a management team.

“I know we haven't got to the semi-final in a couple of years, but there is a lot of work still to do. There's one or two things that we wouldn’t be happy with even though we won by a good margin, there were a couple of handling errors and a couple of shot selections, but we've a few weeks now to work on that.”

The prospect of a semi-final meeting with Kerry acted as an incentive to get past Tipperary according to McCormack.

“The first job was Tipperary, but we did mention the carrot there was taking on the All-Ireland champions. That's a super carrot to be going for, but we had to just focus on ourselves today and focus on Tipperary. There was only a kick of a ball between ourselves and Tipperary in the group stages here 12 months ago so we had to be wary of them.

“There’s a super buzz in the county at present. It's great to have two teams in an All-Ireland semi-final.”

Niamh Gallogly was awarded player of the match as the Royals took one step closer to regaining the Brendan Martin Cup on Sunday. Speaking to TG4 after the game, Gallogly spoke about how ecstatic she was for herself and her teammates.

"It was extremely tough. You know, it's championship football. When you get to an All-Ireland quarter final, it's never easy and Tipperary brought a ferocious pace, energy and intensity to that game, which we knew they would. I'm absolutely thrilled for the girls and because everyone just really, really pushed on from the starting 15 to the impact subs that came on, it was just absolutely huge. The last two years we travelled down to Tralee and lost two years in a row. So getting over that line and getting back into another and semi-final is great, and it's where we want to be."

The Royals had plenty of time to prepare for this quarter-final contest. Their last game before Sunday was a clash with Kildare three weeks previous.Gallogly says the break allowed Meath to work on aspects of their game that they wanted to improve.

"We've been working really hard the last three weeks and the break was really good because we got to focus on ourselves and work on things that we wanted to improve on. The conditioning work was tough, so I'm glad it paid off. Every single one of the girls out there was just absolutely phenomenal. So I'm so proud of them."

Gallogly went on to speak about the freedom that she and her teammates have on the pitch regarding their positioning.

"No one really has a position. I'm written down as 11 but you could be wing back, you're at midfield, you're kind of playing everywhere. It doesn't matter what number you're wearing, you're covering every part of the pitch. I suppose that's something maybe we didn't do enough of in the league and in the Leinster campaign. We've really pushed on that in the last few weeks, so I'm happy that it showed out there today."

At half-time, Meath held a comfortable cushion of 2-9 to 0-2 but despite that large advantage, Gallogly spoke about how Meath were not going to let their standards drop in the second-half.

"We knew going in at half-time that the game was not over. We didn't want our standards to drop Tipperary were going to come out and try to get a goal, or try to get a high ball in. We knew we had to come out with serious energy and serious pace. The girls stood up. I'm just so, so proud of everyone out there. They just played absolutely phenomenal."

Gallogly finished off her post-match interview by praising the support that the fans gave the Royals in Pairc Tailteann on Sunday.

"We're so grateful that we have such good supporters and they get in behind us. We're so, so lucky to have them. It really does matter when you get a block or a turnover or score, that roar just drives every one of us on. So we hope everyone now will get behind us in two weeks for the game against Kerry."