1990 and a semi-final tussle that left its mark on both Meath and Donegal

In the end, and with the benefit of quite a bit of hindsight, Bernard Flynn believes it was a contest that hinted that a legendary Meath side was on the slide while Donegal’s trajectory was perhaps finally on its way up.

The Royals would lose the 1990 All-Ireland final to Cork while just two short seasons later, Donegal were back in Croke Park with Anthony Molloy finally getting his hands on Sam Maguire.

The full-time scoreline of 3-9 to 1-7 in Donegal’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Meath 35 years ago only tells half the story.

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Seán Boylan’s famous outfit were expected to get over the line and they did. But Royal legend Flynn is adamant they were flattered by the winning margin as the sides were level midway through the second half after Donegal had missed some serious chances.

In fact, the game was right in the balance up until the final 10 minutes when Flynn and Brian Stafford scored goals that eventually powered Meath through.

In a nervy opening half, the sides were locked at 1-4 each at the break with Donegal’s worrying wides tally already at six with Meath’s much more economic figure reading just one.

The nature of Flynn’s first goal probably hinted that Donegal’s luck was out as his effort came back off the butt of the post but cruelly rebounded back off Gary Walsh and into the net.

Approaching the 50-minute mark, matters remained deadlocked at 1-6 each but a disastrous capitulation between then and the end had Meath crossing the line with eight to spare.

Donegal, by that stage, had fluffed their lines 13 times with Meath off cue, over the entire hour, just three times.

Croke Park, 35 years ago well, as Flynn explains, it was a much different battleground. That August Sunday was heavy and wet, while the back rows of both the old Hogan and Cusack stands soon blending into darkness from the middle rows on.

There was a real nervousness to matters, amongst the Donegal supporters at least, as they navigated their way through the creaky turnstiles, attempting to find their way to those old wooden bench seats.

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Flynn says it was a much more primitive environment to the modern one that will greet Donegal and Meath supporters and, indeed players, as they run out in front of a packed HQ at the weekend.

Donegal 1983’s heartbreak, at the hands of Galway, also had to have weighed on the Ulster champions’ minds back then.

In fact, the county’s record in All-Ireland semi-finals up to that point was dismal, having also suffered losses in both ‘72 to Offaly and to the Tribesmen again, just two years later, in ‘74.

Having strung back-to-back All-Ireland titles together in 1987 and 1988, Flynn says Meath were probably on the winddown or in their own Autumn of that period of dominance.

But the fumes of all of that, and indeed experience and guile, still stood the test that day against Brian McEniff’s Donegal.

“Genuinely, I think that’s what it boiled down to in the end,” Flynn told DonegalLive. “The scoreline, in black and white, 35 years ago now, anyone throwing a casual eye at that might think we eased past Donegal.

“That couldn’t be further from the truth. Donegal missed some huge opportunities that day and we just got that real rub of the green in the last ten or 15 minutes.

“Our first and second goals, they would have come at huge moments and by that I mean they came against the run of play.

“But the one thing that stands out, and the one thing I still remember, is the physicality Donegal brought that day. I’d never felt anything like that.

“That was our game - that was the approach we prided ourselves on. But Donegal were men possessed.

Liam Hayes goes through the back of Anthony Molloy in that 1990 clash 

“The thing about Donegal, and they proved it two years later, they possessed so many naturally brilliant footballers.

“Maybe on that day, their inexperience meant when they were finding some joy in that approach, they zoned in a little too much on it.

“Some of the hits that went on our players, I remember I cracked the sternum bone in my chest. Martin ‘Rambo’ Gavigan… my god.

“It came about in the first-half and it was the hardest tackle I ever felt, the most power that I ever felt on a Gaelic football field.

“We’d three or four bad injuries after that game. Again, I need to emphasise, there wasn’t anything dirty about it. Like ourselves, it was hard and fair and all within the rules.

“But the point I’m trying to make is that Donegal had some serious power that certainly caught us by surprise.

“And the funny thing is, I got to know Martin really well the season after as part of the Compromise Rules side that went to Australia.

“What an unbelievable man - I’d some great conversations with him. As a vice-captain, he was fantastic. He was one of the most impressive leaders I ever played with.

“I just remember Donegal missed some big chances in 1990 - some very good ones at that. But the thing I took away from that day was that if Donegal found the right balance, the right blend of power and the skill they always had; there was an All-Ireland in them”.

Meath were that season’s reigning league champions but Donegal also looked like they’d had their number in a quarter-final clash, in Clones, that fell on April Fools Day.

McEniff’s side led by six going into the last quarter there but Meath turned it on and a whirlwind blitz saw the Leinster kingpins prevail 2-12 to 0-13.

Perhaps the manner in which Meath tossed Donegal aside in that encounter prompted McEniff to reevaluate the direction they’d look to steer matters when their paths next crossed?

“I wouldn’t say that,” John Cunningham recalls. “That was usually the way it was in Ulster those days anyway. If anything, we just wanted to match Meath’s intensity going into an All-Ireland semi-final.

“They’d a huge reputation, some great footballers and Cork as well as Meath, they were the benchmarks at that time.

“I don’t remember it being spoken about but it was probably obvious to all of us that we had to match them, when it came to that side of things. It was a brutal battle, a very physical game.

“We were hungry, even then we felt we were good enough so we wanted to throw the kitchen sink at it.

“And, to be fair, we did. I mean the goal we let in of Bernard’s, it was just rotten luck, a really poor one to concede.

“We were 1-2 to a point down then and even though things were level at the break, we’d missed some great chances by then.

“It was just on a knife edge up until the last ten minutes when the wheels just came off. But we had a great chance in the first half when Brian Murray got through.

“We’d another half chance that, I just remember the opportunity being there but it just didn’t materialise. There was some hesitation and the ball got turned over.

“And that’s when they went down the field and Bernard got that first goal. I mean those kind of margins, you could call it bad luck but Meath were seasoned and just seemed to get the bounce of the ball when it was needed.

“Like, the majority of the chances that came their way, they took them, whereas we just struggled to make the most of what came our way. Which was probably enough to win the game.

“But I do remember thinking after the game that we were good enough, we weren’t that far away.

“And it probably did suggest, in a strange kind of way, that a changing of the guard was on its way. Now, we didn’t come immediately after, Down did.

“Then we got there in 1992 while the likes of Derry and Down again in 1994 followed that up. And Tyrone probably should have won it in 1995”.

Cunningham’s own role that day was a specific one - to stop Colm O’Rourke dictating things.

He says part of his success was probably down to the fact that he’d little or no real time, in the lead-up, to fret all that much about his high-profile assignment.

“The funny thing about it is that I got married just two weeks before the game. Myself and my wife Fionnuala even went down the country for a week!

“They were different times. I doubt that would happen today in the lead-in to all All-Ireland semi-final”.

Fast-forwarding three and a half decades, the variables are much different in more ways than one. For a start, Meath go into the weekend’s encounter as big underdogs.

However, Flynn says there is something stirring once again in the Royal County and he wouldn’t be one bit surprised if an upset occurs.

Bernard Flynn in action against Matt Gallagher with John Cunningham in the foreground 

“Meath are a really dangerous proposition as they have absolutely nothing to lose,” he explained. “I believe they have a serious chance

“Donegal need to go for Meath early on, the first 20 minutes. Because if Meath are still in the game with ten minutes to go, I think we’ll win. There are some real learnings to take from Donegal’s first-half against Monaghan.

“Robbie Brennan is a very shrewd individual. Meath are seriously fit and with the sides they’ve beaten, they’ll respect Donegal but certainly won’t fear them.

“Meath came with young sides in both 1986 and 1996. And I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself but this has that same kind of feel to it.

“But Jim McGuinness is back to do one thing, and that’s to win the All-Ireland. And that brings a certain kind of pressure too.

“I’d a really good chat with Jim and Neil McGee the weekend of the testing of the new FRC rules at Croke Park. We spoke in the hotel across the road.

“I felt they threw it away last year as the opportunity was there against Galway. I still feel they’d have had Armagh’s number in the final.

“But you could see the hurt in the two lads’ eyes that night, recalling all of that. So Donegal are primed, have their own motivation and will also be going all out.

“So I genuinely can’t wait for Sunday. As a Meath man, it’s very exciting. I just hope it lives up to the expectations”.

And if there is any degree of complacency, the kind that allowed Monaghan to go seven up at the break, Cunningham says there’ll be no Meath capitulation.

“Donegal simply can’t start the way they did against Monaghan. It has to be a 70-minute effort.

“Caolan McGonagle too, if we see him on the teamsheet ahead of the weekend, we’ll all be that little bit more confident.

“The kickout - under the new rules - is everything. It dictates the momentum of the game.

Meath are a big side, and Caolan stepping up into that bank of big men across the middle, it just strengthens us as that middle sector now is vital.

“Jason McGee as well. The signs have been very encouraging from him as he works his way back.

“So if we have those two, along with the Hugh McFaddens, Ciaran Thomspons and Michael Murphys when he drifts out, it might prevent Meath from building up a head of steam.

“And once that is going one way, it’s very hard to break it. Monaghan strangled us in that first-half with a really big press.

“And Armagh couldn’t live with Kerry once they tightened that same screw. This one will no doubt come down to who edges all of that”.

Donegal: Gary Walsh; Matt Gallagher, Paul Carr, John Cunningham; Donal Reid, Martin Gavigan, Martin Shovlin; Anthony Molloy, Brian Murray; James McHugh, Martin McHugh, Joyce McMullan; Declan Bonner (0-3), Tony Boyle (0-1), Manus Boyle (1-2, 1 pen,1f).

Subs: Tommy Ryan for J McHugh (50 mins), Luke Gavigan for M McHugh (61 mins).

Meath: Donal Smyth; Robbie O'Malley, Mick Lyons, Terry Ferguson; Martin O'Connell, Kevin Foley, Brendan Reilly; Liam Hayes, Colm Brady; David Beggy (0-1), P. J. Gillic (0-2), Tommy Dowd; Colm O'Rourke, Brian Stafford (1-2, 1f), Bernard Flynn (2-2).

Subs: Gerry McEntee for Colm Brady (45 mins), Mattie McCabe for Tommy Dowd (58 mins), Colm Brady for Gerry McEntee (60 mins)

Referee: Pat Russell (Tipperary)