'I don't regret that goal' – Joe Sheridan
The last-minute score broke Louth hearts but Meath's Joe Sheridan tells Ewan MacKenna that he doesn't need to apologise.

It took its time getting there but over a week after that goal and that win and that Leinster title, the letter addressed to Joe Sheridan of Seneschalstown GAA was brought by the postman straight to his house and dropped gently onto the hall floor. His mother, thinking it was club business, went ahead and opened it right up but it wasn't what she was expecting. The A4 page started off with 'Dear Joe' alright, but went on to say that her son had no respect, talked about how his ego was a disgrace and pronounced that he could keep his tainted Leinster medal because he was nothing other than a thief. What worried her was that the fire had turned to mere ashes at that stage and this had been written with a surgical, steely coldness.

There had been plenty of more heated and thoughtless abuse straight after the game as the inferno raged. Sheridan wasn't the only one to receive messages on his Facebook page but the ones he got were the most severe. When he logged onto his computer as a Leinster champion for the first time it didn't match up to his years of dreaming. Instead he was both a 'scumbag' and a 'cheating c**t' amongst other things. But he shrugged his shoulders and put it down to the fact that a lot of fans were jumping on the bandwagon for a Leinster final and weren't real GAA people.

Besides, there were plenty of those and for all the barbed comments it should be noted that there was a lot of support too. Returning to work on the Wednesday in Ballymount, his Louth bosses had a few kind words while the Westmeath guys there knocked a serious amount of craic out of it, the most common ribbing being that Canterbury, the rugby manufacturers, had been calling about a potential sponsorship deal. There were text messages too, Meath fans coming up to him on the street offering their congratulations. Even Louth manager Peter Fitzpatrick said well done.

"I came back from doing the interview after the game and he was actually outside the dressing room and he shook my hand. Peter could have ignored me and I appreciated that because I didn't do anything bad to them, I was just a forward trying to score a goal. He was a gent in the changing room and it was tough for him to come in but the way he came across, the words he said, we all appreciated that."

Now that it's all over, Sheridan is sitting in an Ashbourne hotel, a tired-looking man explaining a side of the story that's never seen the light of day. But if you've come looking for an apology you can pass right on through. "Apologise? I have heard that, people looking for me to say sorry, telling me what to say. I have a lot of sympathy for Louth but don't see why I should say sorry. That would suggest I did something wrong. I don't want to sound bad saying that but I didn't go out to cheat and I didn't cheat."

In fact, despite everything that's been said about him and his ways, he's actually found the aftermath of the Kildare defeat much harder to take because he cannot work out what happened after half-time. He was unmarkable in the early stages, the weeks of anger that had been bubbling away in his head finally spilling over as he took the Kildare defence apart. But then? That he can't put a finger on because he was sure this team were good enough to go close to an All Ireland, regardless of their public perception. That's the bit that's been really hurting.

"It hasn't helped that the opinions out there about us were crazy. There were analysts saying after the Kildare game that there is a God. Before it people were writing if there's any justice Meath will be beaten today. Like, what's that about? Why that abuse? That is ridiculous rubbish. We don't deserve that as players. We have never cheated. We are one of the most honest teams in the country and lads that played against us will tell you that. The crap we had to listen to was unreal, and worse still from lads who are meant to know about football, who make a living analysing it. They should know better.

"Let me turn the tables. Look at the Kildare game and the decisions that went against us. A bad decision was given against me just before their goal and where was the analysis? But those decisions happen and you have to move on. We knew the whole country was hoping we would lose but I don't think it affected us. Maybe losing was down to Kildare, but it wasn't down to what happened before. And I could talk about that decision but it's better to say Kildare were the better team because they were, whatever about the referee. My Dad said that these decisions balance out over a season. That might seem tough on Louth but I'd tend to agree with him and that's the way I look at it."

But while that quarter-final may be the most recent wound, it's not the scar you've come to talk about. In the immediate aftermath of the Louth game Sheridan was desperate for people to hear his take on it all but when he went to his manager Eamonn O'Brien, he was forced to think again. O'Brien had hired advice in dealing with the media and the consensus was that no matter what he said, it would be turned and twisted and picked up wrongly, and in the end his few words would only be drops in an ocean of sympathy for Louth. He was the bad guy and nothing would change that.

But now that he's free to speak, what about that goal?

"At the time I honestly did think it was a goal because of the way it happened. I got the ball and was pushed over the line and believed that was a goal. If a keeper catches a ball and goes over the line it's a goal, so I thought if a forward was pushed over the line then it was a goal too. That's not the case. I know that now. But I tried to kick it in. I didn't cheat, I didn't dive, you can ask anyone I ever played with or against. I tried my best to kick it in. And the only reason I said afterwards in an interview it was a goal was because in my mind it was. I wasn't gloating or trying to rub it into people's faces, I would never do that. Like, that interview on The Sunday Game, people talk about the way I went on but I had just scored a goal to win a Leinster title. It's what I've been waiting to do all my life."

Coming off the field he was beside Mark Ward but it was only in the players' lounge afterwards that he noticed the midfielder's fat lip. "What happened you?" Sheridan asked him. "Some fan ran up and thumped me." The famous picture of that incident now adorns Ward's phone while the same fan got in touch offering an apology, money and everything in between.

"But I was talking about much more than that with Mark afterwards because people say the referee didn't speak to the umpire. The umpire called him in and said 'Are we giving the goal or what?' Understandably, the last minute of a Leinster final, Louth were raging. But it has happened to many a team before and will happen many teams in the future. All teams have had it and it's an absolute killer to be so close. But even after that game journalists and county board people were coming up and talking about a replay. I told them that was never going to happen.

"I watched The Sunday Game at home with my Dad that night. I can understand why people reacted the way they did because it looked like I'd thrown it in. It's a split second thing and people don't realise but I know I didn't jump or dive, I was definitely fouled and that's what took me over the line. But even after that I didn't expect it to be blown up so much and it didn't help that so many guys that had played the game came out and were taking the easy option, saying what people wanted to hear and trying to look like the good guys. A game is won or lost on the day and if a bad decision is given you take it and roll with it. That's not meant to sound insensitive to Louth, it's just the right way for the game to be played."

The following day when the panel got together in Gormanston, Sheridan reiterated the point at a meeting that went on for more than two hours. The GAA had sent some information on the rules but there was no other involvement and no other guidance from them. And while Sheridan admits there were some players that were worried by the consequences and implications of not offering a replay, the decision was unanimous by the end.

"I spoke at that meeting and said what happens stays on the pitch. If it's a point given wide or vice versa, a bad call, a penalty, a sending off, it stays there. If you start replaying games it's going to open up a whole can of worms and teams will be looking for this and that. Where do you draw the line then? It's hard on Louth but there was no way we could replay it and I think that was a tough and brave decision. The GAA should from now on make it clear there will never be a replay no matter what happens and that pressure is then taken off the players."

So does this Leinster title mean any less?

"Absolutely not, that was one thing that annoyed me most, when people said it was tainted. It was the first Leinster for most of us and that will be treasured as much as if we had won by five or six points and cruising. It's a killer for them and I appreciate that. But it can't be tainted. What happens on the pitch, it's decided there. The game was over, we won the game. Okay, it wasn't a proper goal but it was a penalty anyway and you have to take the good decisions and the bad ones and hope you're on the right side of it. People were saying Louth put in all this hard work, and yes, I feel very sorry for them and I don't mean to sound patronising. But we've worked just as hard as they did so why shouldn't we enjoy winning it?

"Don't get me wrong, there were a few sleepless nights, but I've had them after bad games too. But it was bugging me because I was trying to appreciate what we did. I think people forget that we hammered Dublin, we were great against Laois in the replay, and we will now never get the credit we deserve. Maybe people will always remember that goal but I hope it's not what I am remembered for and I'd hope my fellow players realise what happened. I get on with a lot of lads, have great respect for them and I'd hope they have respect for me. I hope there's no animosity and I wouldn't expect it and that goes for the Louth lads too and the next time I see them I'll put out my hand and hope they accept the offer of a handshake."

As for that letter, when his mother called about it he asked was there a signature and when he heard it was nameless he told her to throw it in the bin. As for his Leinster medal, he won't get that until a presentation at the end of the year but he already knows where it's going. "I'll put it with my medals at home, my two club championship medals, and it will be number one on that list. People can say what they want but they can never take that away from me and never take away what it means to me."

Sinner or saint? Wronged or wrong? Think what you want but his conscience is clear and no amount of abuse will ever change that. "People have already made up their minds about me without knowing me but let them be that way. I've waited six or seven years to win it, I've worked so hard to win it and at last it's mine."

Sunday Tribune
8 August 2010