Joyce wary of Leitrim test

Date Published: 13-Jun-2008

THERE ARE only two of them left now, the boys of ’98. Padraic Joyce and Deckie Meehan, just two names from the side which brightened up a summer and gave joy back to a footballing county which had long since lost its pride.

Hard to believe that ten years have passed since a gifted bunch of youngsters seemed to come out of
nowhere to set Croke Park alight and end a 32 year famine in the process. That almost a decade has passed since John O’Mahony’s side overcame Kildare in a thrilling All-Ireland final.

Gradually, one by one, the old faces have drifted away, so that Joyce and Meehan are the only two names from that era which will appear on Liam Sammon’s team-sheet on Sunday. Another Connacht
championship clash for two men who have ten provincial medals between them.

Joyce, captain for the fourth time in a glittering career, is enjoying his football under Sammon’s reign and seems to have found a new lease of life on a team which looked stale and tired 12 months ago. The 31-year old, a man with two All-Ireland medals, three All-Star awards, five Connacht and three county medals, gives you the firm impression that he doesn’t live in the past.

Rejuvenated by the arrival on the scene of the likes of Paul Conroy and Mark Lydon, young men with
dreams of Croke Park glories in the maroon shirt to rival what he achieved alongside players like Michael Donnellan and Derek Savage ten years ago.

He doesn’t dwell on the past, but it hits…