Cork and Meath both sense a great opportunity in top-of-the-table clash

Having been appointed as interim manager of the Cork football team in 2022, John Cleay’s appointment was made official for the 2023 season.

Given the role of coach when Keith Ricken took on the top job, the Castlehaven man was the natural choice when health reasons forced Ricken to step aside that spring.

When the new season rolled around with the bainisteoir’s bib in the full custody of Cleary, there was a fitting feel to the opening game of the campaign – Meath were coming to what was still known as ‘just’ Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

In the opposite corner, the Royals were being led for the first time by Colm O’Rourke, who was such a central part of the team that became nemeses for the Cork side on which Cleary played.

From 1987-90, the counties had a stranglehold on the Sam Maguire Cup and, for a certain generation, their names will forever be intertwined. So strong is the association that it might be hard to believe that their four meetings in that era – All-Ireland finals in 1987, 1988 and 1990, with a replay in ’88 – represent exactly half of the counties’ championship encounters.

We won’t re-tread too much old ground on a period that has been done to death only to note how the robustness manifested itself in the scoring – two goalless games (1988 replay and 1990) final, with 2-91 the aggregate scoring tally.

There had been just one championship meeting prior to the confluence of Seán Boylan’s and Billy Morgan’s powerful creations – the 1967 All-Ireland, which Meath won – and just two since.

The Leinster county, still under Boylan, were successful in the 1999 decider and Cork won the 2007 semi-final.

That clash proved to be Morgan’s last win as Cork football manager as his second stint in charge came to an end after the All-Ireland final loss to Kerry. Given that, in 1967, county teams were still picked by committee, it meant that, up until last summer’s All-Ireland round-robin tie, every winning manager in a Meath-Cork championship fixture has either been Boylan or Morgan.

When two of their former players came face to face in 2023, it was O’Rourke’s Meath side who won, by 3-14 to 0-19, but both counties ended mid-table, as has been the case in the two subsequent leagues, too.

Meath’s sixth-placed finish meant they ended up in that season’s Tailteann Cup and victory in that laid a foundation that would see them go on to reach last year’s All-Ireland semi-finals. By that stage, Robbie Brennan had taken charge, with Cleary having outlasted his contemporary, this is fourth year in permanent charge and fifth campaign in which he has managed the side.

Given the starts that both counties have had in the current Division 2 season – the only counties with perfect records after three rounds – a mid-table finish for either would be disappointing.

Which is not to say that it can yet be classed as a remote possibility: the losers on Sunday will have their momentum pricked somewhat and there are tough tests waiting in the remaining rounds of the league.

The flipside is that the winners will be on eight points, with three matches to come in a division that looks set to be as tightly packed as last year, when ten points were enough for Monaghan to finish top.

Obviously, it won’t be of the same intensity as the championship clashes from the days of yore but it should be a step or two up from the normal league fare,

What is perhaps unusual after three rounds is that only one team, Derry, are within two points of the leaders. They will be expected to beat Offaly but the Louth-Tyrone and Cavan-Kildare games will see some of the other chasers drop points too, which only increases the value of standing four-from-four.

It’s a great opportunity for Cork, but also a great one for Meath.