Wolfe Tones ‘leaving no stone unturned’ in bid to rectify Meath’s dire Leinster club record

Wolfe Tones manager Shane McCoy has been putting in the miles as the new county champions set out on their bid to break the bleak record of Meath clubs in the Leinster club Senior Football Championship.The weekend before the Meath final, McCoy travelled to Aughrim to watch the Wicklow SFC decider between An Tóchar and Blessington. The winners of that game had been drawn to meet the winners of the Meath final in Leinster, so McCoy hopped in his car and headed for the Garden County.“We’ll be leaving no stone unturned to go as far as we can in Leinster,” said McCoy. “It was a Sunday to myself and the wife wasn’t too pleased but, yeah, I went to Aughrim to see the Wicklow final.”When it comes to Meath clubs in the provincial competition, a dire recent history demonstrates you can never be too prepared.READ MORENo Meath side has won the Leinster club football title since Dunshaughlin in 2002. It is the county’s only triumph in the Leinster club SFC over the last 40 years.[ Wolfe Tones prove the kicking kings as they secure a third Meath crownOpens in new window ]No club from the county has even contested a final since Skryne in 2004. The last time a Meath club managed to win consecutive games in the provincial championship was Skryne in 2010. There have been far too many one-and-done campaigns. From 2011 until 2025, Meath clubs have contested 20 Leinster championship games and won only six.Since Skryne’s appearance in the 2004 final, eight different Leinster counties have been represented in at least one provincial decider – Meath, Wexford and Wicklow are the outliers. Kilkenny clubs don’t play in the club senior football championship.Wolfe Tones won their third Meath SFC last Sunday with a comprehensive victory over Donaghmore/Ashbourne.Unbridled joy among the Wolfe Tones players at the final whistle of Sunday's Meath SFC final against Donaghmore/Ashbourne in Ashbourne. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho In their previous two forays into Leinster, Wolfe Tones collected just one win – beating St Joseph’s of Louth in a first-round fixture in 2006. That was followed by a defeat to Dublin champions UCD in a quarter-final, while they lost to Kilmacud Crokes after winning the Meath crown in 2021. An Tóchar collected a first Wicklow title in 31 years with a 0-21 to 1-7 victory over Blessington two weekends ago. The Wolfe Tones vs An Tóchar game will take place in Ashbourne on Sunday, November 15th.“We’ve got a couple of weeks to prepare for that,” said McCoy. ”We’ll enjoy the next couple of days but, to be honest with you, these boys expect you to be prepared for a couple of weeks’ time. That’ll be the Leinster campaign. “When you look through the panel, there’s a lot of boys in their mid-twenties so there is definitely a maturity and leadership within the group.”Thomas O’Reilly is one of those leaders. The 29-year-old was superb in Sunday’s final, finishing the game with 0-3 and causing havoc all afternoon. O’Reilly played in the 2021 defeat to Kilmacud Crokes and says the current crop of players are determined to make a mark on the provincial championship.“We want this journey to go as far as we can take it,” he said. “We’ll celebrate this first, but at least we have a bit of a period now before the Leinster championship starts. We want to give a good account of ourselves.”Summerhill beat Killoe Young Emmets of Longford in the opening round last year but subsequently lost to Athy by 10 points.Tom Gavigan of Wolfe Tones scores his side's first goal in the Meath SFC final against Donaghmore Ashbourne. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho In 2024, Dunshaughlin suffered a 13-point drubbing at the hands of St Loman’s Mullingar while in 2023 it was a 10-point loss for Summerhill against Naas. So, it hasn’t necessarily been a case of narrow losses either for Meath clubs in Leinster.Dublin clubs have dominated the competition over the last decade. The last time a non-Dublin side won the Seán McCabe Cup was 2018, with Mullinalaghta’s surprise victory over Kilmacud Crokes the anomaly. Some 14 of the last 15 Leinster senior club football finals have included a club from the capital. Cuala are already installed as favourites to win it this year but the Dublin champions are on the stacked side of the draw.Their first outing is a round-one tie against Tullamore, who are a seasoned outfit having recently completed a four-in-a-row in Offaly. The winners of that game will then meet the Kildare champions in a quarter-final.Laois champions Portarlington or Carlow’s Rathvilly will be waiting in a semi-final.On the other side of the draw, if Wolfe Tones can negotiate safe passage beyond An Tóchar they would progress to a semi-final against either the champions of Westmeath, Longford, Wexford or Louth.So there is a genuine opportunity for Wolfe Tones to rectify the dismal record of Meath outfits in the competition.“It’s a special club with a lot of great people,” added O’Reilly. “We’ve been chasing this [county title] for the last number of years, [and] we probably felt like we left one behind us in 2024 when we lost the final to Dunshaughlin.“It was a bit disappointing the following year. Then Shane and Ciarán [Marks] came in this year and set out their stall early on what they wanted us to go and achieve. They knew we had a lot of potential in the group.”The challenge for Wolfe Tones now is to prove that potential extends beyond the county border.