GAVIN CUMMISKEYfinds the much-travelled Armagh man ready to face yet another of his former bosses when Meath take on Kieran McGeeney's Kildare tonight

PAUL GRIMLEY has been in this awkward situation before. The most travelled Number Two in Gaelic football yet again is preparing players to stare down a team he once coached. Along with Kieran McGeeney, he came up against his native Armagh when part of the Kildare set-up.

Then, as assistant to Séamus McEnaney in Monaghan last season, he sat forlornly on the sideline watching Kildare power into an All-Ireland quarter-final.

It seemed the end of a short-lived partnership between McEnaney and Grimley.

That was until Banty got the Meath job. An outsider on those storied Royal paddocks, McEnaney brought with him a man fluent in the language only bequeathed to those who have captured Sam Maguire.

Grimley, of course, was standing at Joe Kernan’s right hand when McGeeney carried that final ball out of defence on September 22nd, 2002.

His connection with McGeeney runs deep. They only parted ways in late 2009 after two years shaping the Lilywhites into a team Grimley now, ironically enough, sees in a similar light to the 2003, 2005 and 2008 All-Ireland champions.

“You look at the white jerseys and think to yourself ‘is there is a red hand somewhere on there?’ They are coming at you in waves just like Tyrone from a few years back.

“And maybe still are,” he quickly adds.

“Kieran is going to become one of the great managers, no question of that, because he is a player who won an All-Ireland but he didn’t rest on that. A lot of guys come into management believing their reputation as a player will get them through but they quickly find out that it doesn’t.”

The bedding-in period for men of McEnaney and Grimley’s experience has proved exceptionally difficult in Meath.

The county board and club delegates have made some erratic managerial appointments and dismissals since Seán Boylan stepped away in 2006 after 23 years’ service.

As this season’s league campaign spluttered out some terrible results the rancour about appointing someone from north of the borderline to do a Meath man’s duty was already audible.

“It was a difficult couple of months. We were under pressure before a ball was kicked because Meath people struggled to accept an outside management. I understand that. And we still are under pressure.”

The whisperers of discontent were handed a megaphone when McEnaney tapped Graham Geraghty’s digits into his mobile.

Meath-born selectors Liam Harnan and Barry Callaghan resigned in protest.

For that brief moment, when Geraghty stole into the Kildare square late in the Leinster quarter-final to pouch a “goal”, McEnaney and Grimley would be forgiven for thinking they knew everything there is to know about this game.

Suddenly, despite Kildare’s blatant superiority, it was a one-point game. That is until referee Syl Doyle countermanded his umpires. Square ball. Free out. Back to the drawing board.

Soon after Geraghty’s Achilles snapped in training. It helped tha Cian Ward’s four goals buried Louth. Then they stumbled past Galway last Saturday in Navan.

“Even now that Graham is out for the year that decision is not regretted in any shape or form,” said Grimley.

“When we got the job we were working with Liam and Barry. The decision was made with Graham and everybody was aware of it, no matter what has been said. Four of us were totally aware of it. They didn’t agree with it. That was their opinion.

“We made the right decision at the time and stand by it. If Graham was fit he would be strongly in our plans for Saturday night.”

Geraghty is still around training while Trevor Giles was down this week. “He looks as fit as ever,” Grimley confirmed. At 36, he is younger than Geraghty . . . But no, the management are not thinking about repeating a ploy that, ultimately, failed to reap any tangible reward.

Immediately after sneaking past Galway, McEnaney spoke about finally seeing “the old Meath”.

He claimed the “real character” of the team appeared when the contest was in the “melting pot”.

The old Meath rarely went scoreless for 30 minutes of a championship second half. “Of course, we weren’t happy about that,” Grimley continued, “but that happens to teams in big matches.

“Our build-up play was very good. We just didn’t finish it off.”

He cites the positive attitude of established players like Nigel Crawford, Graham Reilly, Cian Ward and Brian Farrell. All four were used off the bench against Galway.

“This has been a learning process for the management. No matter what anybody says it does take time. You know of the players but you don’t really get to know them until you are working with them.”

That means compromise.

Of late, the players have been given a freedom to combine the McEnaney/Grimley doctrine with their own natural style.

“When you got the likes of Cian Ward, Stephen Bray, Brian Farrell, Paddy O’Rourke, Shane O’Rourke and Joe Sheridan, I think you have to accept it; just let them play instinctively.

“A lot of that would have been my fault. Training would have been overly structured.

“But we changed that and it is more relaxed. It seems to have made the boys more relaxed. Sure, there are plans in place but we will just let them play. We are playing a lot of ball through the hands now. We can adapt our game.”

There is another obvious advantage. Meath against Kildare in a packed Páirc Tailteann is a very different proposition to their last meeting back on June 5th.

“Kildare will not be overly-enthusiastic about coming up. It would have suited them to have the game in Croke Park. I would suppose in their mind there would be some concern about that looking at their style of play. The Navan pitch is a lot tighter.

“Past performances are no guarantee of future performances. The players who played well that day for Kildare may not perform well again. We also acknowledge our second- half performance was nowhere near good enough.

“People ask who has learned the most from the last game. You can look back and pick out a number of things. It can be a false dawn. It might not be relevant to this game.”

Or maybe he is just planting a seed of doubt. Either way, win or lose, the natives are waiting.

Paul Grimley The Ultimate Number Two

PAUL Grimley was many people's favourite to succeed Joe Kernan as Armagh football manager in 2008 but it went to Peter McDonnell, who guided the under-21s to the All-Ireland title in 2004.

When McDonnell stepped down after a two-year term, Grimley refused to seek an interview and the job went to Down's Paddy O'Rourke.

"I had to be careful. Nobody likes to be made a fool of once and certainly not twice. I was fearful of that," said Grimley in June, 2010.

He now accepts that Kieran McGeeney, Justin McNulty or another from the panel that delivered Sam Maguire in 2002 will be next in line:

"It probably wasn't meant for me. What's in the past is better staying in the past. The next manager has to come from the 2002 squad."

Armaghunder Joe Kernan (2002-06)

Cavanunder Donal Keoghan (2006-2007)

Kildareunder Kieran McGeeney (2007-09)

Monaghanunder Séamus McEnaney (2010)

Meathunder Séamus McEnaney (2011-present)