Clones on a grey Saturday evening in the middle of May is not the most appetising of places to find yourself. A bed of roses it ain't. To compound things, if the reason you've travelled to Monaghan's famous border-town is to watch a National League game, then you're quite possibly in dire straits. But this is exactly what Derry fans found themselves doing in May 2000, when the Oak Leafers took on Meath in an NFL Final replay, and they went home a happy bunch.
Coming a week after Derry had opened up their Ulster Championship campaign with a facile victory over Cavan, it's intriguing to think how we might have approached this Final if defeat had befallen us at Breffni Park. Imagine playing a league game after you've been knocked out of the Championship. Imagine smiling for photos on a Church & General podium knowing that the NFL game you've just won would be your last inter-county outing until the following January. Would any Derry fans have even made the trip? Lucky enough, we were spared finding out how fans, management and players might have treated such a unique scenario and instead were able to look forward to attempting to pick up another National title safe in the knowledge that the summer that was yet to truly start, was not already over.
The drawn NFL Final at Croke Park was nothing much to write home about, but it would be remembered for Anthony Tohill's spectacular first half goal. The Swatragh-man rose highest to field a Meath kickout before passing the ball on and making his way into the forward line, from where he collected possession back again and drove the ball to the net off the post. Tohill at his best. And he would reach those heights again in the replay at Clones when he raced onto an inch-perfect, defence-dissecting pass from teenager Paddy Bradley and smashed the ball to the net.
It was those two moments that would define the 2000 NFL Final, and are sitting pride of place in a packed Tohill highlight reel, but they were out of keeping with the remainder of that decider. At Clones, Derry really only played well for about ten minutes, scoring 1-5 without reply in the first half. Meath brought themselves back into it before the break with Trevor Giles pulling the strings from centre half-forward and Ollie Murphy in dangerous poaching form at full-forward. But All-Star Graham Geraghty was sitting in the Gerry Arthur Stand. Geraghty had got into an altercation with Derry goalkeeper Eoin McCloskey in the drawn match at Croke Park and both players were suspended for the replay. So with Tohill outplaying John McDermott at midfield and the combined threat of Muldoon and Bradley in the forward line, the Oak Leafers had put themselves into a decent position at the break, leading the Royals by two points.
And then, in the second half - almost without any warning - Derry gave a defensive masterclass. As this (rather terse) RTÉ report from the game alludes, at times it looked like the Oak Leafers did not want to score. Maybe the Italians would call it catenaccio. But call it what you like, this was an exercise in total pragmatism and is something we probably haven't done enough of since (a similar tactic helped defeat Tyrone in an All-Ireland quarter-final in 2001). Only four points were scored in the entire second half (two apiece). Almost every red and white shirt got behind the ball as Eamon Coleman decided that only a goal could win it for Meath. They never came close. This was the blanket defence before it had even been invented. It might have been dour to watch, but it was another masterstroke from Coleman that helped capture his second NFL title as Derry manager.
They would have their swansong in 2001, but on that dark Saturday night in Clones the great Derry team of the 1990s - and their illustrious manager - had captured one last national title. And best of all... this wasn't just any old Meath team. These were the current All-Ireland champions, managed by the great Seán Boylan. This was Seán Boylan's Meath team.
And they couldn't find a way past Derry.
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Derry: M Conlon; K McKeever, S Lockhart, D O'Neill; G Coleman, H Downey, P McFlynn; A Tohill (1-3, 0-2 frees) D Heaney; N McCusker (0-1), D Dougan (0-1), R Rocks; P Bradley (0-1, free), E Muldoon (0-1), J McBride (0-1). Subs: C Gilligan for Rocks, S McLarnon for Gilligan.
Meath: C Sullivan; M O'Reilly, D Fay, C Murphy; N Nestor, A Moyles, R Kealy; N Crawford, J McDermott; E Kelly, T Giles (0-6, 0-5 frees), D Curtis; O Murphy (0-2), R Fitzsimons, J Devine. Subs: B Callaghan (0-1) for Devine, T Dowd for Curtis, S Dillon for Kelly.
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