Royal rebel Cahill expecting a tough test on Leeside

Meath man with a foot in both camps in bygone days

Cork and Meath. The Rebels and the Royals. Kevin Cahill knows plenty about the football landscape in each county. He knows because he’s been there and has the medals to prove it. All-Ireland medals too.

There’s the Celtic Cross he won with Meath in 1996. Okay he didn’t play in any of the championship games that year as Sean Boylan’s side pushed on to claim the Sam Maguire after a mighty tussle with Mayo in the final replay, but he was on the subs’ bench ready to answer his county’s call if needed. “I think Sean made one substitute that year and it was Colm Brady, it’s all a bit different to what it’s like today,” he recalls. Then there’s the All-Ireland Club SFC medal he won with Cork giants Nemo Rangers. “I played with Nemo for seven years and that was probably the best time of my football career. We had a great run, we won three county titles, three in Munster and eventually won the All-Ireland in 2003, that was my last match.

“Billy Morgan was the coach and we had some great players, Stephen O’Brien, Colin Corkery, Martin Cronin, a very young James Masters, Joe Kavanagh, Larry Kavanagh, all inter-county players. I was at midfield for every single match for five straight years and I loved it.”

Winning an All-Ireland was quite a way to bow out, definitely a high point, yet, for Cahill, there is a sense of regret that runs through those years – and it relates to the Cork, Meath rivalry that was as intense in the 1980s and early ‘90s as any in the GAA down the decades.

“I almost joined the Cork panel at the start of 1999. I was playing with Nemo at that stage and Larry Tompkins (the then Cork manager) asked me to join the panel. I didn’t, I probably should have, but I didn’t.”

Why did he not take up offer, after all Tompkins himself is from Kildare? “It was just the Cork, Meath thing at that time, it was very competitive. It just wouldn’t have sat right with me at the time. Looking back now I wish I did because I never got to make it at inter-county level with Meath but maybe I would have had a shot at it with Cork – when someone wants you it’s different - but anyway that’s the way it worked out.”

From Kells, Kevin Cahill helped his local club Gaeil Colmcille to a Keegan Cup triumph in 1991 and quickly established himself as a talented midfielder. He was called into the Meath panel in 1992 as well as 1996 and ’97. He also won a Westmeath SFC title with Bernard Flynn and Mullingar Shamrocks in the mid 1990s. Then life intervened.

Employed by Kepak, the company opened up a new plant in Watergrasshill in Cork. Even though he was a young man they wanted Cahill to be the plant’s general manager (he later became CEO).

He joined Nemo and went on to enjoy many sweet victories. He has since returned to live in Kilmessan and has also taken up a new role with the Larry Goodman Group.

In recent years he has also shown himself to be an astute coach and will be always be remembered in Dunsany for leading the Reds to their first ever JFC success in 2024 - after numerous final defeats. Up until then the club appeared destined to be the outsiders. “That was amazingly satisfying because they had never done it before,” he recalls.

Over the years Cahill has watched as both Meath and Cork have fallen down the rankings. He feels both counties neglected the development of young players. That has all changed, he quickly adds, over the past decade or so. Now both the Rebels and the Royals are reaping a rich harvest.

He is full of admiration for those running the various underage teams in Meath; for their “care and commitment” to the cause of developing young footballers. He knows better than most what is demanded because his sons Harry and Stephen have been involved. This year Stephen played with the u-20s while Harry was part of the same set up in 2025.

Looking to Saturday’s clash between Cork and Meath in the All-Ireland series, Cahill admits he is more than a little concerned about the prospects of his native county emerging with a victory.

He points to the fact that Meath haven’t played a game since losing to Westmeath on 19th April while Cork had an intense workout in the Munster final where the lost to Kerry. There’s something else that concerns Cahill.

“It worries me a little bit (that the game is in Pairc Ui Rinn) because it shows how serious they are taking the Meath challenge. In Cork the first love is hurling, that’s why they have moved the game to the smaller Pairc Ui Rinn, instead of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, because they can fill the ground, there will be a raucous atmosphere. It can be an intimidating atmosphere.”

“Probably Meath overachieved last year, in my opinion, expectation was too high coming into this year but the fact they did so well in the league probably had us all thinking they were a little bit ahead of where they actually were, so the Westmeath defeat wasn’t a huge shock. I’d say Meath v Cork will be a 50-50 game, no more.

“I would slightly lean towards Cork because of home advantage and the fact that they’ve had a game to prepare.”

Whatever way the cookie crumbles the game, and all hullabaloo around it, will surely bring back memories to Kevin Cahill of those halcyon days when he was a footballer in both Meath and Cork and God was in His heaven.

The days when he crossed the great divide.