By Kevin Egan

Of the 15 games taking place this weekend in the Allianz Football League, the meeting of Mayo and Meath in Castlebar this Sunday is somewhat down the pecking order when it comes to neutral interest.

Both counties have started the season with consecutive wins, so they will each play promotion playoff fixtures, regardless of the result at Elverys MacHale Park. It’s incredibly difficult to know how the Southern Section of Division Two will play out, so it’s not like either management team could sit down and pick out which opponent they feel would be best suited to their own team, so outside of the core group of Meath and Mayo supporters, who will be looking on with curiosity to see if players like Jason Doherty, Mickey Newman and Aidan O’Shea get some playing time, the fixture doesn’t leap off the page.

Yet for many Mayo people, there will always be a little shiver down the spine at the idea of a game against Meath, as it will evoke memories of 25 years ago and their fateful All-Ireland final and replay clashes with the Royal county, contests that have gone down in the annals of GAA history for several reasons.

John Casey was full forward for Mayo that afternoon, and he’s not afraid to say that both for him personally and for the wider Mayo football community, failing to get over the line in either of those games has left an indelible mark.

“I can’t believe it’s 25 years, but even after all this time, the reminders are everywhere,” the Charlestown man said to GAA.ie.

“Seán Boylan is sending some herbal stuff down my way at the moment, only yesterday someone asked me who was the best player I ever marked – which would have to be Darren Fay – and now this game,” he said.

“The whole saga is something you’d take to the grave with you. You think of the row, the bouncing of the ball over the bar, being four points up until the last few minutes, it’s not unfair to say it completely changed the course of Mayo’s future. I genuinely believe that if that one went or way, then players like Aidan O’Shea and Keith Higgins that came after us would have two or three All-Ireland medals by now”.

It’s not that Casey looks to relive the experience, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Five years ago he was asked onto LMFM radio to discuss the two games, with Evan Kelly and Tommy Dowd of Meath also on the same broadcast, an ordeal he describes as “absolute pain”. He doesn’t look back on the footage either – save a look at the infamous fight that broke out, to see who it was that actually hit him – while his media work often brings him back to the scene, where it’s impossible to think of anything else.

“I was lucky enough to be in Croke Park for last year’s final, and for several other big games as well. You can’t help it, you look out at the pitch, you look at the match programme and take in everything else that goes with the occasion, and all you can think of is ‘I was part of that’ before”.

The atmosphere in Castlebar this week will be very different however, with spectators still prohibited and both managers likely to seize their only opportunity to play a fixture where the result isn’t hugely important.

“Both teams have a license to do whatever they like” is how Casey sees it.

“They’ve a rare opportunity to experiment, and while they might have one eye on Division Two South and thinking about who they’d rather play in a promotion shootout, it’s hard to tell what’s the ideal draw. Clare have been the surprise package. At the start of the competition, people would have said that Cork and Kildare would have been the favourites, but the league tables don’t lie, and Clare have their destiny in their own hands right now. It’s impossible to tell who’ll be the toughest opponent for either Meath or Mayo when we get to that stage”.