Meath locals slow to cock a snook at Galway opponents ahead of decider

At McDermott Bros Eggs and Poultry, Navan, they know better than most that you should never count your chickens before they hatch.

So while special-edition egg cartons in green and gold share space in their window display with photographs of the county's past All-Ireland winners, nobody is overconfident, never mind cocksure, that Meath will have its latest clutch of champions tomorrow evening.

The shop that fronts the mainly wholesale business is a curiosity. The walls are decorated with posters ranging from the 1916 Proclamation to old EEC guidelines on egg sizes, while a colourful placard illustrates 80 breeds of poultry from around the world, including the Scots Grey, Mottled Belgian and Rhode Island Red. But the black-and-white photographs honouring former Meath rulers of the All-Ireland roost are attracting most of the attention this week.

The family patriarch, Peter McDermott, captained the side that won in 1954, having refereed the final the year before. But in keeping with the mood of a phlegmatic county, where the 15-point defeat of Kerry in the semi-final was regarded as unduly extravagant, he chooses to dwell on his first year in senior football, 1940.

His team lost to Galway in the league final then, and three months later suffered the same fate in the All-Ireland semis. He never played Galway again.

A visitor to the shop is more optimistic. Mick O'Brien, himself a veteran of the 1967 team and currently working on a history of the GAA in the county, thinks the Meath forwards will know too much for Galway on Sunday.

But he quickly takes out insurance on that prediction by pointing out, based on his research, that it was a Meathman who brought Gaelic football to Galway in the first place.

There has been some reverse migration since then.

And the presence in Meath of Galway families who settled here in the 1950s helps explain the maroon colours on offer from many of the local flag sellers.

The Stars and Stripes was on sale yesterday in Navan too, reflecting the broad shadow cast by last week's events in the US, which dominate the front page of the Meath Chronicle, even on All-Ireland weekend.