GAA News

There haven’t been a lot of good news stories emanating from the Meath football camp in recent weeks, but the return of a certain star forward could put a smile on the faces of Royal supporters.

Speculation is rife this morning that Joe Sheridan will return from Boston in the coming days, less than two months after he had headed stateside due to a lack of job prospects on the home front.

Sheridan’s return couldn’t come at a better time for followers of football in the Royal County as it has been a bit of shambles there in recent weeks to say the least.

A disastrous league campaign in Division Two ended in relegation to the third tier, while Seamus McEnaney narrowly survived an attempt to remove him as manager last week despite the fact that the majority of County Board delegates voted against retaining him as bainisteoir.

Add in some political manoeuvrings from under-fire Chairman Barney Allen and the dragging of the legendary Sean Boylan into the whole mess and it’s pretty clear that things are at a low ebb in one of football’s traditional strongholds and in need of a drastic turnaround before their Leinster Championship opener with Wicklow on 27 May.

While the potential return of Sheridan won’t necessarily inspire an instant reversal in fortunes, it can’t do any harm either.

The cueball attacker has been one of the Royals’ star forwards in recent years and providing he’s been keeping himself in decent nick while he’s been away, he’ll add a potent threat to Banty’s forward options for the summer months.

Many had predicted a short summer for the Royals given what's gone on in the county of late, but the return of Sheridan is a reason to suggest that you shouldn't write off the Meath footballers just yet.