Football

Down Royals: How a unique bond was formed in battle between Mournemen and Meath

A bond was formed on the field of battle when Down defeated Meath in the All-Ireland final 30 years ago but, as they prepare to meet again in a crunch League clash this Sunday, Neil Loughran talks to former Royals favourite Bernard Flynn about why both counties have fallen off the pace since those glory days…

The late Eamonn Burns was one of the stars of Down's 1991 All-Ireland final victory over Meath, which ended a 23-year wait for the Sam Maguire to return to the Mourne County. Picture by INPHO
The late Eamonn Burns was one of the stars of Down's 1991 All-Ireland final victory over Meath, which ended a 23-year wait for the Sam Maguire to return to the Mourne County. Picture by INPHO The late Eamonn Burns was one of the stars of Down's 1991 All-Ireland final victory over Meath, which ended a 23-year wait for the Sam Maguire to return to the Mourne County. Picture by INPHO

EVERY time you think Bernard Flynn has finished with the roll call, names and faces pop up that keep him coming back for more.

“Ross, DJ, they’re all… you’ve men like Conor Deegan, James McCartan, fellas like that who you’d be talking to and meeting up and down the road… Brendan McKernan, Neil Collins, Paul Higgins, every one of them, you know… Liam Austin…”

By the time he’s done, the entire Down ’91 side has been rattled off. Even boss Pete McGrath, the man who led the Mourne County to the All-Ireland title at Meath’s expense that September, gets an honorary mention.

The connection formed between former foes, across all of sport, is somewhat unique. Whether it’s grudging respect, a knowing nod or a warm embrace, only a select few really understand.

Sean Boylan’s Meath sides, and particularly the late 1980s/early ’90s collective, are renowned for being tight as a drum. On the pitch they went to war together, decades on they have each other’s back still.

Just look at former Royals captain Gerry McEntee’s considered rebuke to criticism of Boylan in the wake of an RTE documentary that aired last summer.

The following weekend, Sunday Independent columnist Tommy Conlon wrote a piece centred around the question: how could such a nice man send out such brutish team? Basically, were there two Sean Boylans?

McEntee hit straight back in a letter to Sindo, defending his former manager’s honour.

“There is no enigma,” he said, “what you see is what you get - a true gentleman”.

And the bond those players have with the Dunboyne man also extends to the men in red and black who crushed their dreams 30 years ago.

That same summer Meath emerged the right side of a remarkable four-game series against Dublin to kickstart their All-Ireland campaign – the depth of feeling that drove them on, game after game, would, over time, evolve into something special.

But the connection with that Down squad has grown stronger year on year, a bond formed in battle on the biggest stage.

“Ah there’s a serious respect between the two squads,” says Flynn, the livewire corner-forward in an inside line also boasting the twin talents of Colm O’Rourke and Brian Stafford.

“There are some brilliant human beings, some exceptional people on both sides. We would’ve known the Dublin players personally very well off the field but I’d have to say, as a contingent of superb individuals, you will not get better than the Down ’91 team as men.”

And when Down bid farewell to the likes of Ambrose Rogers and Eamonn Burns - a hero of that ’91 final - in the intervening years, grief extended far beyond the county’s borders.

“It was so sad, and to see the effect it had on every one of the players - you could see what Eamonn meant to them all,” he said of the Bryansford man, who passed away in 2019.

“The same with Ambrose - I remember that vividly, the high esteem in which he was held. He was loved by all his fellow players and the supporters.

“It’s very tough, but it was incredible see the bond between those guys. When you win something, it does create something extra, something unique I think. I can relate to that with our squad because we’re very close as a unit 30 years on.”

Yet while friendships remain strong, memories of those glory days are fading fast in both counties. Down are without an Ulster title since 1994 and, given the dominance of Donegal, Monaghan and Tyrone over the past decade, as well as the emergence of Cavan last year, the Anglo-Celt feels as far away as ever.

Meath, meanwhile, find themselves in a provincial Championship that has become a one horse race, the last two Leinster finals having ended in harrowing 16 and 21 point defeats to all-conquering Dublin.

And while the Dubs prepare to take on likely contenders-in-chief Kerry on Sunday afternoon, the Down-Meath rivalry will be renewed in Armagh, avoiding the drop from Division Two uppermost in both managers’ minds.

“We’re very similar,” says Flynn.

“When you have two managers who stayed on as long as Sean and Pete McGrath, two brilliant men, you get so used to them and everything they’re about. Neither county probably put the work in at a time when we thought things were going to last forever.

“Talking to Down players, the exact same problems are in both counties. It’s not by accident that both have fallen back, we have not put the investment and the resources, and the structures, in place that then other teams have done.”

Back in January Flynn was named manager of the Meath U20s and while he is encouraged by the direction in which the county is beginning to move at underage level, the two-time Allstar still believes the Royals remain “five or 10 years behind the curve”.

“I probably would have got involved a bit earlier only my personal circumstances didn’t allow me. I feel I have to do it, I want to do it.

“We had taken the eye off the ball - all of us, myself included – and we have paid the price, big time. We can dress it up any way we like but that’s where we are. We’re about five or 10 years behind the curve.

“I don’t know what change I’ll make but we’ve gone in there, we’ve made a big effort, there’s structures being changed right across the board at underage level. The minor manager of last year, John McCarthy, is going to be the U20 manager after I finish next year, Cathal O’Bric is taking over from him with the minors, so we have some good people, some continuity and a vision there.

“But the extent of the two defeats to Dublin in the last two Leinster finals was pretty brutal and that has really dropped us as a county. For young lads watching that, it’s not easy.

“The Down players are in a similar boat. They’re trying their damnedest but they’re being judged constantly on past great teams. It’s not easy on young lads listening to that, and it’s a long way back to where they were for both counties.”