‘We’re not underestimating Kildare at all. We know they’re a very good side. We know we’re going to have to work extremely hard and whoever wants it most at the end of the day will be heading to Croke Park the following week’
BY DAIRE WALSH
WHILE she remains a vital member of the Meath senior ladies football team in her sporting life, Dunsany’s Megan Thynne has opted for an interesting career change away from the field of play.
Previously employed as a preschool teacher, Thynne decided in more recent times to enrol in The Garda College in Templemore along with her brother Daniel. Whereas her sibling is now a full member of An Garda Síochána, Megan is currently on a placement in Dublin after beginning Stage 2 of her training in March.
While being a childcare practitioner was something that she embraced, Thynne is thrilled to have taken her career down an entirely different path.
“A big career change, but I’m delighted with my decision. I really enjoyed my career up until now, but just thinking future wise, I need to make sure I’m well prepared for the future. I always kind of suited my life around sport,” Thynne explained.
“Pre-school teaching suited my sporting life, so I just want to make sure I’m prepped for down the road in a good few years hopefully. Just that I have a good job and that I’m happy. I think it has even given me a bit more of a lease of life with my football.
“It’s tough going at times, but I just think it has given me something else. I go to work and I don’t think about football as much and then after when I go to football, I’m not thinking of work as much. There’s a good balance there. I’m happy.”
Although she acknowledges it will be out of her control, Thynne is hoping to be based in either Dublin or her native county upon becoming a fully-fledged member of An Garda Síochána. As the standard working hours for a Guard differ substantially to the occupations held by the vast majority of her inter-county colleagues, it would be ideal for her to be located as close to Meath’s training base as humanly possible.
“At the moment where I’m based now, I’m very lucky. I’m not far from our training base. The travelling is grand. Going forward, I hope to be based somewhere like in Dublin, just so I can be that bit closer to training. Where I’m working and with the football team as well, they’re very supportive and they understand my situation.
“I can’t say where I’ll be placed now going forward when I do get tested at the end of the summer. That’s not up to me, but I do hope that I’ll be based somewhere that I can still get to training and games easily. Hopefully it will happen.”
Moving back to the world of sport, there has been an upbeat mood around Meath in the past week following a magnificent 0-23 to 1-16 victory for the men’s football team over Dublin in the semi-final of the Leinster Senior Football Championship at Laois Hire O’Moore Park in Portlaoise last Sunday.
In addition to booking their spot in the provincial decider against neighbours Louth at Croke Park on May 11, Robbie Brennan’s side also ended Dublin’s quest to secure a 15th consecutive Leinster senior title.
Their female counterparts have had a similar stranglehold on the provincial scene with last year’s Leinster LGFA final success over Meath being their 11th in succession. Should they overcome Kildare at Cedral St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge tomorrow afternoon, the Royals will face Dublin in a provincial showpiece for the fourth consecutive year.
This would lead to a unique occasion for the Royal County as the Leinster ladies final is set to be part of a double-header with the aforementioned men’s showdown between Meath and Louth on Sunday week. Yet having lost out to them by five points (2-7 to 1-5) when the two sides clashed in Division 1 of the Lidl National Football League back on February 23, Thynne and her team-mates aren’t looking past the challenge of Kildare.
“We’re not underestimating Kildare at all. We know they’re a very good side and we met them there earlier in the year in the league. We know we’re going to have to work extremely hard and whoever wants it most at the end of the day will be heading to Croke Park the following week. We know it’s going to take everything we have in us to win on Sunday.”
Megan during the Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 match between against Dublin at Parnell Park (Ray McManus/Sportsfile)
What will add extra spice to tomorrow’s game is the fact there is a strong Kildare connection within the Meath backroom team. In addition to Allenwood’s Shane McCormack now being in his second season as Royals boss, Monasterevin club men Wayne Freeman and Lee Hunt – both of whom helped Clare to reach the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate championship final against Kildare in 2023 – are also part of the set-up this year.
“We just have a really good set-up there now. The fresh aspect that they bring to it, and their knowledge as well, has just been brilliant. Definitely I think for them as well, they’d love to get the win on Sunday, being from Kildare!”
Even though a Leinster senior title has eluded her since she first made her Meath senior debut in 2015, Thynne has enjoyed remarkable success with the Royals over the past decade. In addition to winning back-to-back TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship titles in the wake of securing an All-Ireland intermediate crown in 2020, Thynne also has winners’ medals in the top three divisions of the Lidl National Football League.
The former inter-county dual star is one of several players from those monumental triumphs to still be on board for the current campaign, but Thynne is eager to develop new memories for some of the younger players within the squad to savour.
“From playing from such a young age (she was still an underage player when she made her senior bow), the games that I got to play in, and the teams I got to be a part of, it’s a great experience,” Thynne added.
“It has stood to me now, but I’d love to get back to those days as well. I’d love for the younger girls to get to experience them as well, as much as I did. It would be great for everyone if we could get to those days again.”
Megan Thynne of Meath during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship quarter-final match against Kerry at Austin Stack Park in Tralee (Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile)
