PADDY MEEGAN, HOWTHSTOWN, BORN 1922

Paddy Meegan was a wonderful athlete in his youth and captained winning Meath All-Ireland football team in the 1952 final against Cavan. He was on the 1949 team which won the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time and was on the winning team in the All-Ireland final against Kerry in 1954. He comes from a farming background and farms the same land as his grandfather did in the 1870s. He talks about his schooldays, boarding at St. Finians college in Mullingar, and he recalls his father’s difficult financial circumstances during the Economic War. Following his father’s death in 1943 he inherited the farm which he expanded over time from 100 acres to 250 acres. He discusses his football career and he concludes the recording with a poem about Meath’s 1954 All-Ireland win, taken from his own book of poetry From the Life Around Me.