Meath manager Colm O'Rourke optimistic for Meath's future

Colm O'Rourke is optimistic about the future of Meath and his tenure with the Royals despite their championship exit at the hands of Monaghan.

Meath failed to secure a win in the All-Ireland championship after winning the Tailteann Cup in 2023.

However O'Rourke commended his team's spirit and determination in final quarter against Meath after they hit seven unanswered points to reduce the deficit to just two.

"For three quarters of the game we seemed to be a bit timid and not playing well, and then when the game was gone beyond us, we seemed to show the traditional Meath spirit," O'Rourke said.

"We really had a very good last 15 minutes. It's a pity we just didn’t start a bit earlier."

Reflecting on the 2024 season, O'Rourke told RTE Sport; "Well, it wasn't a great year. We had a good enough league, but the championship has been very disappointing. Obviously, we've had 3 defeats in our group games, today was the closest we’ve got.

"We’re building. I thought we’d make progress quicker, but it’s quite slow it’s going to take a while."

In his second season as manager O'Rourke has been tasked with introducing new players to the squad and with the recent underage success he remains positive about the potential of the group.

"The biggest problem we have, is that we haven’t a core of very experienced players available to us and we’re building with a lot of young players.

"Today we probably showed a bit of inexperience early on, and then when they really had to fight for it, they went for it.

"The big thing is to try and develop these players further and the only way we will do that is patience and keeping them together."

The two-time All Ireland winner is optimistic about Meath's future, crediting the work ethic and commitment of his