'You're changing the nappy before you go out, you only think of the game when you're there'
AN HOUR OR so after winning the Keegan Cup with Summerhill on Sunday afternoon, Adam Flanagan popped his two-week old daughter into the silver canister.
“She started crying the minute we put her in but she settled down then,” smiled the new father, who doubles as Summerhill’s powerhouse midfielder. “Ah it’s great, great memories to look back on in years.”
Baby Isla certainly left her mark on this year’s Meath SFC, arriving into the world in Dublin’s Holles Street Hospital a matter of minutes before Summerhill’s semi-final against holders Dunshaughlin threw-in, a game Summerhill won after extra-time.
Former Meath midfielder Flanagan ultimately missed that game, as time simply ran out for him to be involved, but not before he’d exhausted all possibilities.
“There was a car ready for me if required but the timing of it was just too awkward in the end,” he explained, recalling the drama of the day. “It was about an hour before the semi-final that she arrived. Jen, my wife, woke me up earlier saying, ‘I have news here, there’s definitely something happening’, so up we went to the hospital.
“I rang the manager and told him, ‘Look, I’m probably not going to make this game if things progress as they are’. Fair play to the lads, they dug in against Dunshaughlin. They dug me out of a hole because I felt awful not being there. I remember kind of testing the water with the nurses in there, ‘Should I be playing this game? I have a game at four’. But they were like, ‘No…’. Ah, I was never going to go anywhere. I wasn’t going to miss that.”
Flanagan, an All-Ireland minor finalist with Meath in 2012, was returned to the team for Sunday’s county final against old rivals Ratoath, a game they won by three points in the end.
But two-week old Isla was at it again, giving him plenty to think about in the build up to the game.
“About 10 to 12, we were just leaving, and she does one into the nappy!” he smiled. “So you’re changing the nappy before you go out. You only get to think of the game itself when you’re there, which is good, because it allowed me to come in completely relaxed. Ah it’s great, I can’t get over it, how it all worked out.”
Flanagan turned in an excellent final performance on Sunday alongside midfield colleague and man of the match Adam McDonnell. Between them, they pounced on anything that resembled a breaking ball while Flanagan chimed in with some outstanding fetches too.
“In fairness to Jen, she gave me the spare room for the two nights beforehand, so I slept very well,” he said. “I got eight hours on the Friday night and 10 hours the night before the game, while she was up slaving away. She took one for the team there.
“The first week was rough but Dave Clare (Summerhill manager) was very good on the football side. I didn’t train until the Friday. It took my mind off the final and coming into it I was completely relaxed. Win or lose, you know what you have waiting at home for you and it’s great.”
Meath manager Robbie Brennan sat in the main stand watching Sunday’s final, along with new coach Aaron Kernan. Flanagan must have impressed them and he has inter-county experience already having started for the Royals against Armagh in a final round qualifier in 2014 and again the following summer in the opening round of the Leinster championship.
But a Royal County return for 2026 doesn’t appear to interest him much.
“I did my time,” he said of county activity. “I didn’t overly enjoy my time if I’m being honest. A lot of that was down to you’d be starting one week, or you’d come on, and then you wouldn’t see the pitch maybe the next week.
“I wasn’t playing regularly. Being honest, it’s not worth your while if you’re not playing, with the amount of commitment.
“Now, that was under a different setup. This new setup looks really good with Robbie Brennan and the lads. But no, it’s two different stages of my life. I’m very busy with work, a daughter now as well and I’m just very content with the level of football here with Summerhill.
“It’s a great mix of really good football and then if you need to miss a session here or there, that’s okay. In fact, if you need to miss a semi-final you can do that too! But no, content now.”
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