Our fellahs are going to be put to the pin of their collar

LEINSTER IHC FINAL PREVIEW

On the field of play, there is probably no one as influential and key to the rise of Ratoath hurling over the last decade than their leader and captain for that period, Jack McGowan.

The 32-year-old has seen it all. He has led Ratoath from a very average hurling side to a now dominant force in Meath. He was the captain for all three of those beaten SHC finals and he has now led them to two successive Jubilee Cups.

The next item on McGowan’s and Ratoath's agenda is Leinster success and ahead of the Leinster Final with Danesfort, McGowan caught up with the Meath Chronicle to reflect on the very successful year to date and look ahead to that massive clash this weekend in Pairc Tailteann.

Jack, who is the eldest of the four McGowan brothers who all line out for Ratoath, firstly spoke about his role as captain and how it changes during the course of the year.

“Early in the year, you are chasing bodies and making sure that we have 15 bodies for a league game or a cup game. As a group, we do have quite a lot of lads away with inter-county hurling or football, so there is a bit of pulling and dragging needed early on. Once the championship comes around and you have everybody back, it's actually quite an easy role. There are leaders all across the field. I try not to get distracted by it and I try to focus on my own performance but there are elements that I get involved in like looking at the opposition and just making sure that we are in the right frame of mind.”

Everyone in Meath knows that Ratoath had their fair share of heartbreak in finals before they finally got over the line in 2024 and won their first Meath SHC in over 60 years. McGowan reflects differently on each of those beaten finals but did admit that the 2023 loss was a hard one to take.

“When you look back at some of the county finals that we lost over the years, each one of them probably had their own story. Probably the one that stung the most was the 2023 final against Kildalkey. We really felt like we performed that day. A speculative red card kind of cost us in the end. In 2022 against Trim, we were probably a bit lucky to make the final as we hadn't really struck a blow throughout that championship. The delayed final (2020) had its own difficulties as well regarding the whole situation. We really felt the game was there for us and even after we went down a man we probably felt like we could have came away with a result that day.”

The drawn 2025 SHC final was an absolute cracking encounter for the neutrals but in the immediate aftermath, it left McGowan and his teammates in a state of confusion. The Ratoath captain spoke about how much satisfaction the team got from the way they responded once they came to terms with what they needed to do in the replay.

“One of the highest levels of satisfaction from throughout the year was our response to the drawn final. We broke down our own performance very well and went about our business in good fashion the second day. The night of the drawn final was really difficult. We didn't really know what to do with ourselves. We were all standing in the GAA club, wondering what we should be doing. Ultimately, we were quite happy to have a second chance at it. Once we broke it down and figured out how to change our approach, we felt quite comfortable.” said McGowan.

“There was quite a decent wind with us in the first-half of the replay, so we knew that we had to get our noses fairly well in front. We had a grasp on the game early on but it wasn’t really shown on the scoreboard. In the second-quarter we really took a strong hold and at that stage we were quite confident. They came out in the second-half and started to gather a bit of momentum but thankfully we saw it out well.”

Even though there was huge relief in 2024 when Ratoath eventually did get over the line, McGowan says that the team got more satisfaction from the 2025 title. He did caveat that by saying their focus quickly turned to the Leinster championship.

“I think we got more satisfaction out of winning the championship this year than we did last year. After the footballers lost their final, I would not have liked to have been knocking around if we hadn’t gotten a result. Given what had happened the week before as well,it was just brilliant to get over the line. Having said that, our attention turned to Leinster quite quickly afterwards.” said McGowan

“In terms of opposition analysis, we were probably a little bit more prepared for Carnew Emmetts than we were for Bray last year. We felt like we were quite on top of Carnew that day and it was the same the last day against Lusmagh. There was a level of hurt there from 12 months ago and none of us were happy with how we exited Leinster last year.”

McGowan is under no illusion about the challenge that Danesfort will present in Sunday’s final at Pairc Tailteann. He spoke about their strength in depth all over the pitch but did say that Ratoath’s biggest challenge will be to limit the impact of the Kilkenny sides forwards. A challenge that Ratoath’s defence are more than capable of handling.

“The record of Kilkenny teams is there for everyone to see and they have been beaten very few times in this competition. They also have a really strong record of going on and winning All-Irelands. There is no team that comes out of Kilkenny that isn't absolutely top class. Danesfort have strength in depth all over the pitch and our preparation for them will be massive. We will have to figure out a way to impose on them and limit their strengths, that's the challenge that faces us.” said McGowan

“With the exception of the Kiltale games, we haven't conceded a lot of goals this year and we have been quite solid. On any different day, a different task presents itself and all of our backs would be given individual jobs to do. Sometimes we are really good in that area and sometimes we’re not. I think the challenge the next day will be to cope with Danesfort’s attack. Their inside line is really strong. Our fellahs again are going to be put to the pin of their collar at the back and some of those battles will be massive.”

Many would suggest that the fact that this game is in Pairc Tailteann, the last game before the redevelopment of the new stand, will be a huge advantage to Ratoath. However, McGowan played down that notion and said that Ratoath will only have a marginal advantage in that regard due to Danesfort being well used to playing on a stadium pitch. He also said that conditions will have a bigger impact on the Leinster Club IHC decider.

I don't know how many times we have played in Navan this year but one of the lads made a point that we have played more times in Navan this year than we have in Ratoath. So it’s probably a slight help that the game is in Pairc Tailteann but it's a stadium pitch and they will be well used to that. Any advantage that we will have from the game being in Navan, I think, will be fairly slight. It's a different game at this time of year and I think we have adapted well in that regard. When you get to this time of year, its no longer ball hopping off the ground into the inside line, it's more ball to hand, winning dirty ball. The other side of it is, you would like to think that Navan will be in better condition than Aughrim or Birr and you’d also like to think that would suit us but it could just as easily suit them. You don’t really know what you are facing. Ultimately, if you want to be successful at this time of year, you have to be able to do it all in different ways.