Of all the league fixtures this weekend, one is already assuming major significance. Meath play Down in Navan with both counties on no points at the bottom of Division Two after two matches.
“I think Sunday’s game is already looking like a relegation playoff,” according Down All-Ireland winner and former manager Ross Carr. “There are three or four counties in danger, Down, Meath, Offaly and Cork and you’d fancy Cork to find five or six points to pull clear so whoever loses at the weekend has an uphill path.”
The significance of who stays in the division is accentuated this year by championship considerations. Teams relegated are on a fast track to the new Tier 2 championship. It’s a symmetrical challenge: avoiding the Tailteann trapdoor in Páirc Tailteann.
For a competition intended to provide opportunity for lower-ranked counties its existence functions like a hovering menace for teams who don’t see themselves in that category.
Down and Meath have the reassurance that they have both played two of the top three teams to date and have less intimidating fixtures after Sunday and potentially there is the escape clause that if you get to your provincial final, you stay in the Sam Maguire.
Realistically for Down in Ulster, that path would require them to go through the same side of the draw as Monaghan and Tyrone, both Division One teams. Meath are seeded for the Leinster semi-finals but the draw won’t take place until later in the year.
As a matter of record they have lost their most recent championship matches against the other three seeds, Dublin, Kildare and Westmeath. Both counties have every reason to want to rely on their league status rather than reaching a provincial final.
Consequences
Trevor Giles has two All-Ireland medals with Meath and was Footballer of the Year both seasons, as well as a county selector more recently. He says the consequences of Sunday’s match are already causing comment.
“Some people have mentioned the spectre of being relegated to Division Three and going into the Tailteann Cup. Initially people were hoping for promotion but the way the first two games went, promotion is probably gone now and at the moment I’d say they’d be happy enough to stay in Division Two.
“If you ended up in a situation where you weren’t in the Sam Maguire that would be a big thing for a lot of Meath supporters. The prospect is gaining a little bit of traction at the moment. It’s seen as a possibility. The next two games are really big for Down and Meath and Offaly.”
The circumstances of the two counties are different. Down have struggled in recent years and just hung on to Division Two status last season. For Carr, any potential regrading of his county has been coming for a while. He believes the county has been too slow to learn from best practice and points out the lack of success at underage up until last year’s Ulster under-20 title.
He is pessimistic even with that breakthrough and the victory of Kilcoo in last weekend’s All-Ireland club football final:
“Under-20s aren’t ready. It takes a while for 19-year olds to come through at senior. It was a great achievement by Kilcoo but it’s not a game changer for Down even if a good few agree to come on board. It would strengthen the panel, though.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t get too caught up in All-Irelands. It’s nearly 30 years since we won an Ulster at senior level.”
Meath are in a different situation. Their overall trajectory has been upwards in recent years, including winning last year’s minor All-Ireland. This season, however, has stalled. They are having an injury crisis at the wrong time and the strain told in the Roscommon defeat when manager Andy McEntee was red carded towards the end of the match.
Pressure
“In one sense, pressure is mounting,” says Giles. “For the last few years, Meath have been in Division Two and finishing in the top half. The feeling is that we’re a top 12 team. We touched on Division One for a season and competed well. We qualified for the Super 8s and ran Donegal, Mayo and Kerry close for 60 minutes, anyway. I think everyone was happy at that stage with progress.
Stuck between a promising future and a fraught present, Meath desperately need to keep afloat
“The mood is currently a little bit lower and expectations a little bit lower but we would see ourselves as top 12 - and definitely top 16.
“We’re looking forward to getting the minors through. There’s loads of good stuff going on at underage and a load of good young players who want to play for Meath.”
Ross Carr is more pessimistic about his county’s prospects even though he has sympathy for his former team-mate James McCartan, back in the manager’s seat.
“What James achieved in 2010 (reaching an All-Ireland final) was phenomenal but as a county we didn’t produce enough players to back that up for him. That’s still an issue.
“You have to go a certain level before you realise that you have to change. That moment of clarity when there’s only you and the mirror. The only person you’re talking to is the boy in the mirror and you can’t tell him any lies. I’m not sure Down’s level is Sam Maguire but if relegation happens and they’re out to improve, well go and win the Tailteann Cup.
“But do you think that there are teams in the Tailteann Cup that will fear Down if you drew them? I don’t.”
Stuck between a promising future and a fraught present, Meath desperately need to keep afloat but as Giles says, a county with their tradition and history don’t want to settle for a starting line as the ultimate achievement.
“Look, you’d hope that if it went wrong you could bounce back but I don’t think people want to be just in the Sam Maguire. They want to be competing in it.”
