‘What a day to be a Meath man' – Overjoyed Gordon Elliott beams in pics with GAA stars after famous win over Dublin

The Irish Sun

28-04-2025

GORDON ELLIOTT joined in the celebrations following Meath's momentous win over Dublin.
The
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Gordon Elliott joined in the celebrations after Meath's win over Dublin
Credit: PA:Press Association
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Gordon Elliott and Eoghan Frayne
Credit: Twitter/gelliott_racing
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Gordon Elliott and Ronan Ryan
Credit: Twitter/gelliott_racing
It was Dublin's first provincial defeat since 2010 - with Meath being on the receiving end of a result nine times since then.
It made the celebrations on the pitch in Portlaoise that bit sweeter, with Irish race horse trainer Gordon Elliott joining in the fun.
The Meath man beamed in photographs alongside a number of the day's heroes, including captain Eoghan Frayne and Ronan Ryan.
Elliott said: "What a day to be a Meath man!
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"Well done to the whole team #UpTheRoyals"
Sunday's contest sets up a provincial final between Louth and Meath - a repeat of the 2010 final which was the last to not feature the Dubs.
And speaking on The Sunday Game, former Tyrone star Enda McGinley claimed it was a
He said: "Dublin will be disappointed with the result tonight but everybody else in Ireland will be delighted.
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"That's even as a Tyrone man saying I'm delighted for Meath. Meath were fantastic."
Speaking after the game, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell pointed to his squad's depleted status.
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Eoin Murchan, Lee Gannon, Cian Murphy, Luke Breathnach and Seán MacMahon were all unavailable.
While Paul Mannion, James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Michael Fitzsimons and Brian Fenton are gone for good having retired.
There have been cracks in their armour, with Wicklow providing unexpectedly stiff competition in their Leinster quarter-final in Aughrim.
And McGinley warned that the Dublin team of 2025 is not the same side that dominated the province for over a decade.
He said: "Dublin were not the team they were.
"They obviously lost some key, key men over the winter as well. Their performances have been hit and miss, crucially.
"They have been hit in Croke Park this year and a real miss outside of Croke Park and I think that fed into Meath believing in themselves today.
"We have been so used to teams giving Dublin a good fight, maybe being in a winning position, and Dublin grinding them down and seeing it out with an air of inevitability.
"That game felt like that in the last ten minutes but up in the room where we were watching it, we were saying this isn't the normal Dublin team and sure enough Meath got the critical scores at the end."