By Michael Devlin

“It was devastating. I’ve never watched it back.”

There are some games that just gnaw away at you, that stick in your craw more than others, even years later. For Tony Duffy, Mayo versus Meath in the 2012 All-Ireland Minor Semi-final at Croke Park was one of those games.

“We were playing very well,” says Duffy, the Mayo manager that day. “We had prepared very well going into it, had a really good victory over a fancied Tipperary side who had won the previous All-Ireland, so that was a huge win for us that gave us a massive confidence lift going into the game.”

Both teams had lost their provincial finals, Mayo to Roscommon, Meath to Dublin, but here they were, just one game away from an All-Ireland final.

From the first whistle, Mayo took off, building up a seven point lead early on thanks to a Diarmuid O’Connor goal, and while Meath clawed it back a touch by halftime, their opponents had built up the gap again as the second half began. By the 34th minute, Mayo looked good for the win with seven points again the margin. But then, they simply switched off.

Duffy watched on as his team failed to score for 28 minutes, and Meath to their credit never said die. Mayo’s Adam Gallagher was penalised for a foot block on Cillian O’Sullivan in the box, and Fiachra Ward converted the spot kick, and minutes from the end, the Royals took the lead for the first time after Patrick Kennelly lashed home a loose ball. Mayo’s implosion was complete.

“We really dominated from start to finish,” says Duffy, who still has reservations over the penalty decision that went against his team and kick-started Meath’s resurrection. “It was devastating. On mature reflection it definitely was a very, very tough one to take.

“Being that far ahead with a few minutes to go, I remember saying to one of my selectors beside me, Vinny Walsh, ‘We’ve this game in the bag, the way we are playing. As long as we don’t concede a goal’. It was a tough one to take, and it took a while to get over it.”

On the sideline for Meath that day was Andy McEntee, who will lead the county into Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC quarterfinal against Mayo. Cian Ward, then Meath senior forward, was Maor Uisce for the game, and he recalls the stirring comeback from the young Royals.

“Meath were quite far behind but rallied fairly strongly at the end of the game to get the win,” says Ward, whose younger brother Fiachra scored the penalty that turned the game. “They showed good character on the day to get back.

“Mayo had a lead that probably should have been enough to see them win the game. We had two goals in the second half that really brought us back into the game, and in fairness to the lads they really stuck to the task and did really well to get over the line in the end.”

A lot of cast members from the 2012 clash are currently senior inter-county stars for their counties seven years later. For Mayo, Michael Plunkett, Paddy Durcan, Stephen Coen and Dairmuid O’Connor have all graduated to the senior ranks, while a much larger cohort of Meath’s team - Shane Gallagher, Padraic Harnan, Adam Flanagan, Seamus Lavin, Shane and James McEntee, Cillian O’Sullivan and Barry Dardis – have come through from minors to re-join Andy McEntee in the senior setup.

“Probably more of them have progressed that would be the norm for many minor teams,” says Ward. “Fair play to them, the lads that maybe wouldn’t have been the stars at minor have significantly improved over the years. They’ve shown great dedication to go on and become serious inter-county players.

“Andy would know the character of the lads, and he’d know their games from having coached them from minor level. With his own son Shane at that age group, he’s seen a lot of these lads playing from a very young age. He’s got a fair knowledge of them over the years. It certainly was a decent crop for Meath to get through at the time.”

Duffy knew for sure the talent that was coming though from his squad too, and while 2012 ended in disappointment, Mayo enjoyed minor and U21 All-Ireland titles in the subsequent years.

“There has been a steady stream of success in Mayo in fairness, the underage structures have been quite strong. There has been a focus on development and getting guys through, and it has worked.

“Paddy Durcan was always going to come through, he just had that drive and determination that’s required, very keen to learn and improve. Stephen Coen is a great lad as he’s proven since, captaining minor, U21 and Sigerson winning teams.

“I’d know Diarmuid from the club here in Ballintubber, he was always likely to follow through with his ability. Michael Plunkett only joined that panel later that year. I spotted him playing in a club minor game for Ballintubber and I thought he was really good. I brought him with us to play Peter McGrath’s Down team in a challenge game, put him in corner back and we was really good. He made the team based on that.

“We also had a very good keeper in Conor O’Malley, he was an outstanding keeper. I would have predicted big things for Conor, but he went down the soccer road, he is with Peterborough now. “

Ward sees this weekend as a huge challenge for Meath, but also a huge opportunity. The nine point losing margin against Donegal last weekend was probably an unfair reflection of the persistent display from McEntee’s side, while Mayo looked as weary as their six games so far would suggest against Kerry.

“It’s exactly what they would have wanted at the start of the year, to be playing in a big game in Croke Park against one of the top teams, with very well established pedigree at the latter end of the championship,” says Ward.

“They’ll know there is a massive opportunity for them, if they can perform to the levels that they would expect of themselves I’m sure that they would have great confidence in their ability to win the game.”

Duffy meanwhile is plumping for his county to bounce back from the defeat in Killarney, and perhaps to dole out a bit of retribution for 2012. “I think there’s a kick in Mayo. They were definitely flat in Killarney, but this is do-or-die and generally they are pretty good at dealing with those situations. I’d fancy them to pull it off.