Jackie Tyrell and Paul Flynn pictured at the launch of Vanilla flavoured Avonmore Protein Milk.
By Cian O'Connell
Dublin versus Meath will always matter, and Paul Flynn remembers the 1990s when several gripping games took place.
“If you think about the current team, some of them were born in the 90’s, but I grew up anyway watching Meath beat Dublin a lot if the time,” Flynn recalls.
“It kind of ebbs and flows, it’s one of those kind of really great rivalries. I think the last three times we played them we’ve come out on top, but at the same time you treat each one as a different case.
“Especially this young team, a lot of them wouldn’t have been involved in those games so they’ll come in with an air of freedom and they’ll be really going at it. It’s still a Dublin-Meath rivalry.”
Meath eventually shrugged off Louth’s spirited challenge in an interesting Leinster SFC quarter-final, but Flynn doesn’t think the Royals were planning ahead for Dublin at that stage.
“I wouldn’t think so myself,” Flynn stated. “My own gut feeling would be that they wouldn’t have been complacent enough to overlook Louth because they had a good League campaign too.
“Now that they’re here, like any team they take it game by game to try to see who they are playing against and set themselves up that way.
“I think you have to nowadays because a lot of teams are playing with different setups, it’s not like it was with 15 against 15. Teams have different tactical setups now and you have to be able to evolve and adapt and be flexible in your own approach.”
Paul Flynn in action during the Allianz Football League Final.
Despite Dublin’s recent supremacy in the fixture Flynn reckons there still will be a good atmosphere at Croke Park. The Dublin fans are great,” Flynn said.
“They’ll be proud too. They always want to keep things on top. There’s always a good, healthy banter between the fans. I’m sure the Dublin people living in Meath - I remember teaching out in Ratoath College a couple of years back, in a past career, and half the school were Dubs and half the school were from Meath. That will lend itself to a good tension builder.”
Flynn can also recall using the Cusack rather than Hogan Stand dressing rooms the 2010 Championship encounter when Meath struck five goals to defeat Dublin.
“I remember that day, I took a shot. It was going in top corner, going in top corner, and it hit the post and went out. They went down and got a goal. Buried around eight more goals or something… five goals they got that day.
“It’s funny. That was such a turning point in this team - the way we set up. Went more defensive then. Got to the semi-final of the All-Ireland that year, should have beat Cork, who then played Down in the final.
“Sometimes you do need a wakeup call like that to say we need a drastic change, not just incremental change. That was an eye-opener. Certainly an eye-opener. I’ll never forget the atmosphere that day. It was probably four-to-one Dublin fans to Meath fans, but it felt the opposite way around.”
