'A Lot Of Unforced Turnovers And Our Execution Was Off': Scully On Why Dublin Lost To Meath

When Niall Scully woke up on Monday morning, the five-time All-Ireland winner had to do something he never before did in a long and storied inter-county career.

The forward had to figure out how Dublin lost to Meath, their first provincial defeat in 15 years, and the first of Scully's intercounty career.

That involved watching the game, then rewinding and going over his own performance with a pad and paper.

It’s simple, and the start of a process of understanding how Dublin’s 14-year provincial dominance came to an end over 70-minutes at Laois Hire O'Moore Park.

“I woke up and I was, obviously, disappointed,” he said at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Wednesday, after SuperValu has today announced a five-year extension of their partnership with the GAA.

“I watched the game back on Monday morning and I don't think, as a team and as a collective, you can't have any complaints from the performances of both sides on the day.

“Meath are a good side. We won the Sam Maguire from Division 2 and they probably should have been promoted, just missed out promotion to Division 1 this year. They came with a game plan and they executed it. Down the last 10 minutes, we’d a lot of unforced turnovers and our execution was off. Against Kerry down there, all those opportunities that we had come off and the execution was correct. It's probably a fine balance between the two.”

The result radiated across the country, from SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh where Cork hosted Tipperary to Clones, as Donegal celebrated their victory over Down in the Ulster Senior Football Championship.

The immediate questions where the same as the day when the seven in a row drive died against Mayo, is this the end for one of the greatest teams the sport has ever seen?

And when people ask is this the end, Scully turns away from the noise and looks to those who’s opinion matters the most, his Dublin team-mates.

“Ever since I've been involved, I’ve tried to avoid the external chat and the external conversation,” he said.

“We're going to regroup. We won't be focusing on what everybody else is going to say about us. Everybody will have their opinions but what matters most is what we're discussing with ourselves.”

One thing the group is talking about is managing the next few weeks as they get ready an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship group stage that involves ties with the Connacht winners, beaten Ulster finalists, and a Derry side just over a year removed from winning Division 1 in the league.

Before Scully and his team-mates can think that far ahead, they have to get through a mini-injury crisis that has plagued the penal in recent weeks.

That sidelined Sean MacMahon, Eoin Murchan, Cian Murphy, Luke Breathnach, and Lee Gannon for the Meath game. Sean Bugler also missed out, after a start to the season that has seen the forward win four Man of the Match awards.

Scully knows the state of play, and is thankful for the break before the group stage begins.

“Yeah, there's a fair few,” he talked about the Dublin panel as a whole.

“As a group, we’d 100% much prefer to be in a Leinster final, but we're not. So we will have a three or four week period, depending on what province you're drawn against, so we'll have three or four weeks with the fit players to figure things out and three or four weeks for the lads that are injured to come back when they’re ready.”

They'll be needed as the Dubs were drawn into the Group of Death in yesterday's Sam Maguire draw. They'll travel west to face the winners of Sunday's Connacht final in Round One. There are no easy games from here in.

Pictured is Niall Scully (Dublin) at SuperValu’s launch of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh and showing their support for diversity and inclusion within the GAA. SuperValu has today announced a five-year extension of their partnership with the GAA, marking a 20-year commitment to communities across Ireland and making SuperValu the longest standing sponsor of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan