Unassuming Murphy hero of replay

Another day, another hero. Ollie Murphy, his wirey hair cropped tightly to his scalp, is what Sean Boylan calls "an unassuming man." He's sitting bare-chested on a bench in the Meath dressing room, fiddling with his boot laces and getting nowhere.

The man who has just played a bigger part than anyone else in finishing the Meath-Kildare saga, and securing a place for his team in the Bank of Ireland Leinster championship final with Offaly at Croke Park on Saturday week, isn't accustomed to public speaking, never mind donning Superman's red cloak.

Tell it like it is, Ollie.

"Well, I'm tired now. I suppose that's the biggest performance I've ever put in and we're all glad to get it over with in just the 70 minutes. I thought it was going to extra-time and I don't think my legs could have lasted any longer."

And the goal?

"I just picked my spot. Lucky enough it didn't skid off the edge of my boot or anything. Lucky."

Luck didn't have too much a part to play. Murphy, scorer of 1-4 from play in Meath's 1-12 to 1-10 win in the provincial semi-final second replay, was marked by three different Kildare defenders, all with no great deal of success, and will have more reason than some of his team-mates to remember August 3rd, 1997.

The last instalment of the Meath-Kildare rivalry for the year was exciting but lacked the high-quality play of the two previous encounters. In fact, it was a game marred by the dismissal of four players, two from Meath (Mark O'Reilly and Darren Fay) and two from Kildare (Davy Dalton and Brian Murphy).

And another Meath player, John McDermott, was fortunate not to walk for an "encounter" of the close kind with Martin Lynch, who required six stitches to a facial wound after the game.

On the same day as their All-Ireland final victims of last year were retaining the Connacht title - Mayo were unconvincing winners over Sligo in Hyde Park by 011 to 1-7, earning an All-Ireland semi-final date with the eventual Leinster champions - Meath, after 240 minutes of semi-final fare, were booking their place in the Leinster final, in front of a crowd of 55,572 at GAA Headquarters.

But the cost was high with O'Reilly and Fay both automatically ruled out of the August 16th match with Offaly as a consequence of yesterday's sendings-off. Even if either of the pair was to get the minimum two-week ban, the Leinster Council's decision to bring forward the match to a Saturday would ensure their absence from playing duty.

Indeed, Meath will have to play that match without three players. Apart from O'Reilly and Fay, the two main discoveries in their march to the Sam Maguire last year, and both members of the team's full-back line, Graham Geraghty (who received a one-month suspension for being sent off in the first replay) will also be unavailable to the Meath selectors.

Add in the injury concern about Brendan Reilly, who was stretchered off yesterday suffering from concussion, and the on-going injury worries to Barry Callaghan and Colm Brady, and Meath's problems cannot be overstated. "We have 24 or 25 players in the panel and it is just a matter of whoever is asked to wear the green jersey to go out [against Offaly] and do the job," insisted Tommy Dowd, attempting to negate the dwindling resources on offer to his management.

The performance of referee Pat O'Toole provoked chagrin among supporters of both camps afterwards, but Meath manager Sean Boylan tactfully evaded blaming anyone, other than the wet conditions. "The heat of the game is so incredible that it is very difficult for any referee to keep up with it . . . I wouldn't like his job. I've never done it, I wouldn't have the guts to do it." The Kildare camp was, naturally enough, down and out - and whatever brave words were being spoken were coming from a man who has enjoyed every accolade in the game, but not with Kildare. Mick O'Dywer, who has another year to go in this (his second) stint as manager, was emphasising there was "only a kick of the ball" between the teams after four hours of football. "We have come a long, long way," he said, "and had four great championship games." Even in these dark times, he's looking ahead to a new summer.

Out of the Cusack Stand dungeons which house the dressing rooms, the only sound out on the pitch is of seagulls scavenging for the discarded rubbish on Hill 16. And on Jones's Road, a Meath supporter is wearing a t-shirt with the words "Meath Men Don't Whinge". That much, anyway, is true.