‘The reality is we didn’t do ourselves justice’

There was a look of Moses lost in the desert about Summerhill after the final whistle of Saturday's Leinster Club SFC quarter-final loss to Athy in St Conleth's Park Newbridge.

Moses' 40 years in the wilderness is eclipsed by Summerhill's 48 years since their last, and only, Leinster Club SFC success in 1977.

There was no burning bush in Newbridge on Saturday night, only the red blur of a rampant Athy who cruised to victory in scintillating style in the second period.

The 23 year wait for a first Meath champion in Leinster since Dunshaughlin in '02 and the 21 year barren spell without so much as a finalist since Skryne in '04 goes on for Meath sides, but Summerhill boss Dave Clare believes the gap is closing and the Meath championship is improving, although he isn't a fan of a proposed Senior B championship and wants to see minor moved from under 17 back to under 18.

"I've been involved in the Kildare championship for a good few years (Clare managed Celbridge for three years), and the Meath Championship is not far off that level and that's the reality of it," said Clare.

"I feel for Kilbride today because they were against Sallins. Sallins will be a top four Kildare side next year in the senior championship, if not a top two side. So that's probably a generational side they were playing against today.

"Ourselves today, the reality is we didn't do ourselves justice and there was a lot more in us. Losing Eoghan Frayne was huge, Meath would struggle without him. A club side accordingly is going to struggle without him and that's what happened.

"I felt that we would get a bounce out of Barry Dardis today. Barry was well marshalled but we couldn't get ball into him. Liam Shaw did most of his best work running back in our own half-backline chasing runs.

"Meath football is on the rise but we just have to stick at it. You look at NUI Maynooth and the partnership there with Meath football, that's reaping its rewards as well and getting a lot more lads into Sigerson football.

"Also maybe having another school outside of St Pat's of Navan operating at that level would help as well.

"I think first of all the change from 17 to 18 is key. I'm not sold on the Senior B. I've seen it in action in Dublin where you've seen this year Skerries won it then what happens, it's a dead-end cul-de-sac competition.

"You look at the same in Offaly where they have their senior B competition, in real terms all it is is intermediate football.

"I'm just reluctant to look at that. The cut-throat nature of the four teams going back into relegation has improved things. I'd just be worried that if we tinker too much we might lose our soul, lose our identity."

The loss of Eoghan Frayne was a huge blow for Summerhill and the calf injury he picked up at training in Dunganny last week looks set to rule the Meath captain out of the early rounds of NFL Div 2 action.

Without Frayne Summerhill struggled to create many opportunities and Athy's aggression at the kickouts and around the middle, especially in the second-half proved decisive.

"In the second half, we couldn't get our hands on the ball and then when we did win short kick outs they turned us over," recalled the Summerhill manager.

"They dominate around the middle, especially on break and ball and also the loss of Eoghan Frayne, the Meath captain was a huge loss for us.

"We thought we could navigate it, but the reality was the wind went out of our sails accordingly. The man who fixes it on the field for us, the most intelligent footballer I've ever worked with, wasn't there and missing him was a huge loss today.

"He had a three C tear on his calf muscle, so he could be out for two to three months. He went down to Jim O'Donovan, former Munster and Leinster player, down in Mullingar, but there was nothing that could be done.

"We knew we'd have a purple patch and we didn't make as much hay as we should have in that time. Trying to navigate without Frayner there was hard, because some of the plays that we work on, he's our general, he's the one out calling the shots, he's the fella moving the chess pieces the whole time. While other lads stepped up and did the breach, it was a lot harder to do so.

"I don't think we had a shot on goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half. We went short, got turned over, we went long, lost the breaks, but we went away from our processes.

"We just needed to get a couple of lads riding shotgun for (Adam) Flanagan around the middle of the park, clear the space and keep doing it. We didn't, we went short and they made hay accordingly.

"It wasn't a bad first-half, but we didn't make as much hay as we should have out of that purple patch when we dominated on kick-outs. We cut their short kick-out out completely and yet, we found ourselves not where we should be.

"We should have had a five or six point buffer at that stage, playing with what bit of a win there was there. We just never got into the straps in the second half."

Despite the defeat Clare can reflect on what was a great year for Summerhill with a huge amount of satisfaction.

The work load of dual players took its toll on some of the Summerhill lads and Clare also revealed that full-back and captain Ronan Ryan is set for a spell on the sidelines.

"It was a brilliant year, especially from where we were coming from. We knew there was a lot more in these lads. We felt we really could do a job at this level.

"Look at the Killoe game, the middle 30 minutes the last day was as good as I've seen from a Summerhill team or a Meath team in a Leinster Club Championship in a long, long time.

"We against the Longford champions who won an provincial title in 2018 with Mullinalaghta St Columba's. So we know we're not that far off.

"This Athy side are good. They'll go deep. There's a lot to be done in the Leinster Club Championship, but Meath teams can go there.

"Ronan Ryan will probably have to get a hip operation, Eoghan Frayne the same thing. Look at Jack (Bannon) and Iarla (Hughes) and all those lads (who hurled right up to the end of the season with Kiltale), they've all had the same thing.

"It's overuse. There's too many people pulling from them and that's something that you have to look at.

"Paul Divilly and Paddy Mulligan, as physio, are now going in with Kildare, they're as good as you can have around. If they can get them on the field, that's great, but then you're getting them on the field at 85% of what they can be."

After a long season Clare is looking forward to a small break before turning his attention to the Feis Cup where the conveyor belt of talent in Summerhill will once again be used to good effect.