Meath 3-10 Kerry 1-7
The first person Vikki Wall ran to when Emma Duggan booted the ball high into the air and Maggie Farrelly sounded the final whistle at Croke Park was her sister, Sarah.
Like passing ships, Sarah isn’t long back from cruciate trouble and came on as a late sub while Vikki is expected to depart in the coming days for the AFLW and her new career with North Melbourne.
It was an emotional embrace, partly because Vikki knows just how much work it took for her younger sister to overcome her injury and to win her first All-Ireland senior medal on the field of play.
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The feel-good stories just keep coming with this charismatic Meath team who will gather at the Fair Green at 3pm on Bank Holiday Monday to share an even larger embrace with, we can only presume, thousands of their supporters.
When they won their maiden senior title last year, there was no party at all so expect this one to run and run.
Maybe they’ll even get a thank you card from the LGFA. Eamonn Murray suggested before the final that his team deserved as much from the game’s authorities for their 2021 heroics, given how they ripped up the blueprint with their innovative tactical approach and scored a win for the ages that gave every other team in the championship genuine hope.
Kerry picked up on that scent of success and, like bloodhounds, chased it down all season, paying no mind to their Division Two status and, remarkably, finding themselves five points to the good with six minutes gone in this final.
With 16 goals from their six previous championship games, ultimate success and a record 12th All-Ireland title, their first since 1993, beckoned. Meath, it seemed, had inspired a monster.
But it didn’t quite pan out that way. This Meath team is made of particularly stern stuff and, from there, they outscored Kerry by 3-10 to 0-5 to show just what a talented team they are.
As LGFA president Micheal Naughton said before presenting the Brendan Martin Cup to Shauna Ennis, good teams win one and great teams do it again.
“It takes a very special bunch to do two-in-a-row,” agreed Meath manager Murray.
Their Cinderella tale is well known at this stage but it’s worth repeating; Division Three league finalists in 2019, back-to-back All-Ireland senior champions now.
Murray and his coaching team can take plenty of credit because it is their counter-attacking strategy which has allowed the players to breathe fire and burn through all opposition.
Each score Meath got against Kerry came with the added bonus of allowing them to implement their press from the resulting kick-out, giving them a decent shot of immediately reclaiming possession.
Take the brief passage of play in the 20th and 21st minutes when Emma Troy, whose performance was even better than in last year’s final, which is saying something, added a point to her earlier goal after the Kerry kick-out was turned over. The next kick-out was fetched by Vikki Wall who both began and ended a move that yielded another point.
Or how about Player of the Match Niamh O’Sullivan’s 45th minute goal, Meath’s second, when Emma Duggan fielded straight from the Kerry kick-out and worked a move that ended with the net bulging.
Two minutes later O’Sullivan this time began a move from deep in her own half that finished with substitute Bridgetta Lynch slotting Meath’s third goal.
That was the killer strike, the point of no return for a game Kerry side that ultimately finished nine points behind, one less than when the sides last met in the 2021 Division Two decider.
The Munster finalists could hardly complain. They came intending to score goals and were swallowed up by Meath’s green and gold machine.
“We started the year quietly, won the league without playing well and started the championship then, we were getting better and better but we kept the best until last, today,” said Murray. “It’s good they [the players] gave us a handy day out and didn’t have us sweating in the end.”
It wasn’t handy, of course, but it wasn’t nearly as stressful for the Meath management as requiring Emma Duggan to bail them out with late scores, as she did previously against Galway and Donegal.
Duggan, one of the most potent forwards in the game, had a curious afternoon, lining out at half-back again and doing her best work in a defensive capacity. She kicked four score attempts short and notched just one point from a free. Otherwise, she was a dynamo.
Meath had other heroes this time, like Aoibhín Cleary, who must have ran O’Sullivan close for the Player of the Match award, the indefatigable Troy and Wall herself.
It ended in disappointment, of sorts, for Aussie-bound Wall, who was sin binned for the second game running. It appeared to be for an accumulation of fouls though referee Maggie Farrelly didn’t endear herself to either Wall or the Meath fans generally over the duration.
Still, they’ll hardly complain now. All in all, a tidy bit of work from a brilliant team.
MEATH: M Guirk; K Newe, MK Lynch, S Ennis; E Duggan (0-1, free), E Troy (1-1), A Leahy; M O’Shaughnessy, V Wall (0-3, two frees); A Cleary, S Grimes (0-3, two frees), O Lally; N O’Sullivan (1-2), K Nesbitt, M Thynne.
Subs: O Byrne for Leahy (22 mins), B Lynch (1-0) for Nesbitt (41), O Duff for Newe (57), S Wall for Thynne (57), E White for Grimes (57).
KERRY: C Butler; J O’Sullivan, K Cronin, E Lynch; A O’Connell, E Costello, C Murphy (0-1); L Scanlon (0-1), C Lynch; N Carmody, P McCarthy (0-1), A Galvin; D O’Leary, S O’Shea (0-2), L Ní Mhuircheartaigh (1-2, two frees).
Subs: N Ní Chonchuir for Carmody (33 mins), E McGlynn for McCarthy (45), A Dillane for O’Sullivan (54), E Evans for O’Leary (57), M O’Connell for A O’Connell (57).
Referee: M Farrelly (Cavan).
