Robbie Brennan hailed the ‘genius’ of Jordan Morris as Meath pulled off yet another massive Championship shock.
Rewind back to April and there were many nervous Meath fans in Navan before their Leinster SFC game against Offaly.
But a couple of months on the Royals are just one win from a first All-Ireland final appearance in nearly a quarter of a century.
In any other season they’d probably have the Sam Maguire Cup already tucked away after beating Division 1 heavyweights Dublin, Kerry and now Galway.
They could yet reach that Holy Grail too because they keep making fools of anyone who dares to write them off.
And in Morris they have a player in All-Star form with the capacity to punish the very best defences.
He blasted 1-6 from play and showed all his quality in the crucial last 10 minutes as the underdogs turned the screw.
It looked like the Championship’s dark horses had run their race when Galway reeled off 2-3 without response at the start of the final quarter.
The Connacht champions showed all their experience and big-game quality during that spell of supremacy with goals from Cillian McDaid and Liam Silke.
But their dream of going one better than the 2022 and 2024 final defeats was dashed by a remarkable Meath finale.
And Morris was at the hub of it with 1-2 from the Kingscourt clubman in the closing eight minutes alone.
Goalscorer Conor Gray had a big impact when he came on too while the fit again Mathew Costello showed all his class.
And there were huge displays from Ruairi Kinsella, Donal Keogan, Sean Rafferty and Bryan Menton too.
But Morris conjured the magic that dragged once mighty Meath back to a first semi-final in 15 years.
Boss Brennan said: “I keep saying to people, there’s a touch of genius about Jordan. I’ve referenced before the likes of Shane Walsh for Galway, who was out there playing, and maybe Paul Mannion too having worked with these guys.
“But Jordan is absolutely in that category. He is impossible to mark at times, literally impossible to mark.
“At other times he might have a turnover and lose the ball but they’re what we call creative turnovers. You’re allowed to have them when you’re that type of player.
“Even at half-time, I spoke to Jordan. We were saying, ‘Keep on trying for it, keep on trying it’ because we knew what he has, that ability, and we knew it would come good for him eventually.
“And he showed it in the second-half there. He’s just unreal. He can’t be stopped when he’s in form like that.”
Brennan has brought vital belief to a Meath side that struggled badly under Colm O’Rourke last year.
They played five Championship games in 2024 and lost the last four. Dublin and Kerry hammered them last year and Monaghan knocked them out of the Championship.
But all of those teams have been eliminated from this year’s race for Sam while Meath are still standing.
Brennan threw it back on the players and said their stunning form and huge fitness reserves have made it possible, claiming Rafferty and Kinsella are certain All-Stars.
Brennan beamed: “We backed our fitness. I knew we’d run all day with the work that David Drake and the S&C lads had done with them. I knew we could keep going no matter what the temperature, the humidity, that they’d be able to just keep going and going and going.
“And then we had a brilliant impact off the bench as well. So all round I think a top-notch performance.”
Even Brennan would accept that Meath made mistakes though, particularly in the first-half.
Costello spilled a routine possession, gifting the ball back to Galway, and Ciaran Caulfield kicked a free straight out over the sideline.
But Meath were still more direct and attack-minded whilst Galway seemed to want to slow up the play.
Galway finished the half strongly to lead 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval before returning to Meath’s slipstream throughout the third quarter.
Costello and Morris split five points between them after the restart before Gray capped a speedy breakaway with Meath’s first goal.
Galway felt Daniel O’Flaherty was fouled but Martin McNally waved play on and Sean Coffey kick-passed long to Gray who barrelled through the defence before netting.
Morris thumped the air in delight as Meath roared 1-12 to 0-9 clear but their six-point lead was a short lived thing.
Walsh drilled a two-pointer for Galway. Then Rob Finnerty played in McDaid for a Galway goal and Silke grabbed another four minutes later.
Suddenly, Meath trailed by 1-12 to 2-12 and looked to have succumbed to Galway’s quality and big-game experience.
But the last Leinster team left in the Championship had stored up one final kick for the last lap of an incredible race.
Meath 2-16
Galway 2-15
Meath: B Hogan; S Lavin, S Rafferty, R Ryan; D Keogan 0-1, S Coffey 0-1, C Caulfield; B Menton 0-1, A O’Neill; C Duke, R Kinsella 0-1, M Costello 0-4, 1f; J Morris 1-6, K Curtis, E Frayne 0-1.
Subs: C Hickey 0-1, for Curtis 42, B O’Halloran for Lavin 46-49, blood, C Gray 1-0 for O’Neill 46, O’Halloran for Rafferty 55, Rafferty for Lavin 61, E Harkin for Duke 64-f/t, blood, C McBride for Menton 68.
Galway: C Gleeson; S Fitzgerald, J McGrath, J Glynn; D McHugh, L Silke 1-0, C Hernon; P Cooke, J Maher 0-1; C Darcy, M Tierney 0-2, S Kelly 0-1; R Finnerty 0-3, 2f, S Walsh 0-5, 1 tpf, 1 tp, M Thompson 0-2.
Subs: P Conroy for Hernon 42, C McDaid 1-0 for Cooke 44, D O’Flaherty for McHugh 51, D Comer 0-1 for Tierney 51, K Molloy for Kelly 64.
Ref: M McNally (Monaghan).
