Summerhill hope to avoid familiar fate
This is the year, right? The relief of ending a long barren spell without the Keegan Cup is not a factor. The Leinster Club SFC campaign starting so soon after winning the county title is not an excuse. No injuries. Riding the crest of a wave. The most talented forwards in the county. The meanest defence in Meath.
Everything is pointing in Summerhill's favour as they bid for provincial glory for the first time since the great team of 1977. Full transparency - the next part of this preview is just copy and paste from the preview that appeared in the Meath Chronicle ahead of Summerhill's bid for Leinster success in 2023, with just a few tweaks to update the appalling record of Meath sides in this competition.
It is 23 years and counting since Dunshaughlin won the Leinster Club SFC with a final victory over Mattock Rangers and even more glaring is that it's 21 years since Meath even had representation in the final when Skryne lost the 2004 decider to Portlaoise.
Many, many campaigns have ended with ignominious losses. Since 2014 the Meath champions - Ratoath (three times), Simonstown (twice), Navan O'Mahonys (twice), St Peter's, Wolfe Tones, Dunshaughlin and Summerhill - have lost to opponents from Westmeath (four times), Offaly (twice), Dublin (twice), Kildare and Longford.
Apart from the losses to the Dublin champions suffered by Wolfe Tones in 2021 and St Peter's in 2018 Meath's failure to progress in the flagship provincial championship is representative of the travails of football in the county.
One winner in the last 41 years, or 40 attempts because the 2020 Leinster Club SFC was cancelled due to Covid, is a crying shame for such a proud footballing county.
Dunshaughlin's victory in 2002 was that sole success in those 39 years since Walterstown defeated Walsh Island in 1983.
Meath teams haven't even gone close most of the time. Seneschalstown in 1994 and Skryne in 2004 were the only other teams to even reach a final in that spell and in the 53 year history of the competition Meath have only produced four winners with Walterstown also winning in 1980 after Summerhill were victorious in 1977.
Dunshaughlin and Skryne aside no other club in the years since 2002 have played any more than two games in Leinster with 12 of the 20 champions in that spell falling at the first hurdle.
So not only are Meath teams rarely, if ever, in the hunt for honours they have struggled to even win a game. Wolfe Tones' loss to Kilmacud Crokes in the first round in '21 was the sixth time in 10 years that the Meath champions had fallen at the first hurdle. Ratoath broke that spell with victory over Rhode last year, but then they fell short against The Downs in Croke Park.
Summerhill made it past Tullamore in 2023, but then lost to Naas. Last year Dunshaughlin were hammered by St Loman's Mullingar in round one.
The general consensus is that the Meath senior football champions are simply not good enough - I don't buy that for one minute.
The problem might be that the Keegan Cup is so fiercely fought and difficult to win that doing so (and celebrating the fact) takes a huge toll.
In other counties the champions that tend to do well in Leinster as multiple-time winners, often three or four-in-a-rowers. Their focus shifts to progressing in Leinster.
There is something different about this Summerhill side.
They timed their run in Meath to perfection. Showed their class when sweeping aside Trim in the quarter-finals after negotiating the uneasy group stages. Showed character and nerves of steel to get the better of champions Dunshaughlin in a semi-final thriller after extra-time and then showed all their experience to claim the crown again at Ratoath's expense.
Now they gave the chance to showcase their obvious abilities on the provincial stage in what is likely to be the final game played in front of the old Pairc Tailteann stand - maybe they can send it off on a high.
Standing in Summerhill's way of progressing beyond round one are Longford champions Emmet Og Killoe from Longford.
That name strikes fear into former Meath champions Navan O'Mahonys who lost out to Emmet Og in 2012 and 2015, and Summerhill will hope not to join that fate.
Emmet Og have a remarkable record in Longford having never lost a senior final and their year they claimed their 15th crown with a 2-9 to 1-11 win over Colmcille.
On the same weekend Emmet Og also won the county Junior A and Junior C titles, so the club are riding the crest of a wave and will be brimming with confidence when they come to Navan on Sunday.
The foundation of Summerhill's success has been their resolute defence and they will be tested by players like centre-forward Cian Farrelly, Danny Mimnagh and long time servant Mickey Quinn.
However Summerhill should have too much class for the visiting Longford men and advance to a quarter clash against either Baltinglas or Athy.