GIVEN that Paddy O’Rourke has been playing his football on the outskirts of Sydney for the last three and-a-half years, it was to be expected that he wouldn’t be among the crowd for Saturday’s Tailteann Cup final at Croke Park.
Yet, the former Meath netminder will nearly be within touching distance of Headquarters this weekend and still not get to see his native county’s tilt at national glory in the flesh. Home for a friend’s wedding which will clash with the Tailteann decider, O’Rourke will be forced to attempt streaming the Royals’ meeting with Down on his phone from the reception.
However, O’Rourke managed a flying visit to Croke Park midweek, where he gave a thumbs up to the progress the Meath footballers have made under his uncle Colm this year to date.
“I think Colm’s number one thing when he came in was that he was going to go through the county and invite in as many players as possible to try and blood in new talent and start afresh and he’s done that,” said Paddy.
“There’s a real feel good factor within the county and the way the spread of players has come from across Meath as well, I think there’s a general sense of goodwill behind this team. The open day they had during the week in Páirc Tailteann, you see the amount of families in there with kids and people going in just to see Colm or to see Sean [Boylan] or to see some of the lads that they would have grown up idolising, I think it’s great.
“There is a bit of a buzz beginning to come back into Meath football and it’s generally down to the young fellas who have put their shoulders to the wheel, they might be new faces but they’re making names for themselves.”
Victory in Saturday’s final would turn a solid year into an overwhelmingly successful one for Meath football – first round defeat in Leinster notwithstanding – and Paddy O’Rourke believes the seeds of progress were sown early in the league campaign.
“The defining game could be this weekend but, looking back to the way they started the league, to beat Cork who have gone on to play in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland, the way they opened them up and the expansive football that Colm wanted to play was clear,” the Skryne native added.
“Maybe teams naively at the beginning of the league didn’t pass much remarks on Meath with a new management and a whole new load of faces in the squad. But there was a couple of boys who played in that game – Shane Walsh is hurt, Cillian O’Sullivan picked up injuries, James McEntee missed a bit of game time in the late league and early in the Tailteann Cup – so he had to rejig the playing squad and the format that he had, but this could be a launch pad for the squad and the whole playing base to sign off with a good year.
“To bring back so many, 15 or so, young lads who have worn the Meath jersey for the first time into a squad next year and build on confidence, build on the feel good factor that they have around the county, a management team that have nothing but the best of Meath football in their interests will be massive.”
Before he took the reins for this year, many thought Colm O’Rourke’s chance of managing the county he had such success with as a player had passed him by. Now, he’s within touching distance of leading them to a national title.
“I think he probably wanted to do it at some point and it was a stage of now or never and I think he has gone on record to say he didn’t want it in the past,” his nephew said.
“One thing maybe back the years was having his own son involved and having a nephew and a couple of other nephews that were close enough to be on extended panels and that maybe put him off a little, but it got to a stage where it was probably one last chance to take the reins and, yeah, so far so good.
“He’s putting his own stamp and style on it and long may it continue.”
