Meehan's long wait for Ireland cap
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It was a long time coming but Gerry Meehan said it was worth the wait. Thirty-eight years after making three youth international appearances for the Republic of Ireland, the Letterkenny, Co Donegal, native was finally presented with his cap this week. Meehan, who is now 55 and the vice-chairman of Letterkenny Rovers, attended his overdue presentation night on Monday at the Station House Hotel.
Meehan played alongside some men who went on to become synonymous with Irish soccer, such as the Arsenal trio of Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton and David O'Leary, as well as Dave Langan. In November 1973, whilst playing locally for Letterkenny Rovers and the Letterkenny Technical School, Meehan, a skilful left-footed player, impressed at trials in Dublin and was called up for an eight-team tournament in Monte Carlo. France, Italy and West Germany would provide the opposition in the Irish group.
Meehan, then 17, came off the bench for the last 30 minutes against the French. Ireland lost by a solitary goal but the cameo appearance made Meehan the first Donegal man to be capped for Ireland at youth level. He then started against Italy, scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 draw and was in from the off in the last game too, which was a 5-1 loss against the Germans.
In August, John Delaney was at Letterkenny Rovers' Leckview Park for the opening of Ulster Senior League club's 200-seater stand. That evening, Meehan and Delaney shared a few yarns and when the FAI Chief Executive Officer heard of the non-awarding of caps, promised to rectify the situation.
"I had tried on a few occasions before to get the caps," Meehan, a retired psychiatric nurse, said last week. "I travelled to the 1988 European Championships in West Germany and the World Cup in 1990 and on each occasion met Fran Fields, who was a former chairman of Finn Harps
and president of the FAI.
"He promised me he'd look into it but nothing ever came of it. At the time a couple of fellas I knew from around here made appearances and got caps - Jimmy Barclay represented the Irish amateur team and Con McLaughlin played for the juniors.
"I had spoken to John Delaney about four years ago and after Rovers opened the stand he was in Letterkenny and was present afterwards at the function in the Central Bar, where he spoke to everyone as he was going around the tables.
"I was sitting beside Eric White, who is a friend of mine and club secretary at Letterkenny Rovers, and said all I needed with John Delaney was one minute. In fairness, after I called him aside he recognised me from talking before and after I told him the story he scribbled his email address on a piece of paper and told me to send on the details, which I did in the days that followed.
"Within three days I received an email back from a man called Philip Behan, who is the international teams affairs manager and had been delegated to help me out. He was a great help and told me he would provide the cap and he came true to his word."
Meehan's photograph will be featured in the match programme for the Republic of Ireland's second leg Euro 2012 against Estonia at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday week, November 15. A firm follower of the boys in green, Meehan will be attending the first leg in Tallinn before the Dublin return.
On Monday, Meehan was presented with his cap by Dessie Kelly, a Letterkenny Rovers clubman who is on the FAI's senior council. Local councillors Victor Fisher and Tadgh Culbert were present and passed on their congratulations, as was Highland Radio's Charlie Collins, who worked with Meehan as a psychiatric nurse and on the board of Letterkenny Rovers for the best part of 15 years.
"I was delighted to get the cap but to be honest it was great to get Letterkenny Rovers some publicity," Meehan added. "I kept the speech brief but had to thank to likes of Eric White and Dessie Kelly at Letterkenny Rovers and John Delaney and Philip Behan of the FAI. It was great to get the chance to play for Ireland and I had a great time playing football. I think the people who showed the foresight to build Leckview Park in the 1960s and those who set up the Donegal League in 1971 did great things for football in Donegal."
