GAELIC GAMES/Resignation of Sean Boylan: The ultimate answer to what had become a perennial question took people a bit by surprise.

Seán Boylan isn't known for hanging on the counsel of others so the decision to step down after 23 seasons in charge of the Meath footballers wasn't widely known by the time he announced it at Wednesday night's meeting of the county executive.

Boylan recalled that after many championship defeats he had been approached by fretful reporters apologising for the insensitivity of the inquiry but making it anyway. And he had always parried the question about his future and promised to return to it another day.

For those years when it was relevant Boylan persevered and waited until the late summer before allowing his name to go forward again. It was a time-honoured ritual and so when he again deferred a decision after losing to Cavan in July, the longer time went by the more it was assumed he would go for a 24th year.

"I'm good at putting things in boxes when it comes to this job," he said. "I never indicate that I'm interested until I've been nominated; otherwise you could end up with egg on your face."

With the preliminaries out of the way Boylan received notification about the selection process for the Meath appointment. The county has an annual procedure of seeking nominations for the position so the manager is appointed on a year-by-year basis.

"I was on holiday in Spain with the family and kids and when I came back there was a letter telling me about the interviews for the manager's position on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I had a slot on Tuesday but something unforeseen happened and I switched to Wednesday.

"I put my considering hat on before the meeting with people that I'm accountable to - to say the things I have to say. On Wednesday I went to the meeting and spoke with the officers.

"I'm not blind, I'm not stupid. I know the things that need to be done and that they'll take time and resources. And you need everyone going with you."

Although his statements on stepping down have been positive and free from rancour, Boylan is aware that support for him within the county has been slipping during what has been his most barren spell in charge of the team. Even the fact of his being challenged for the nomination over the past three years illustrates that.

"I've been through the '95 Leinster final when we lost to Dublin by 10 points and in '85 when Laois beat us. All of those things bring you back to earth. So my question was: could I do this again? It would take time and a lot of support and I couldn't be sure of that. I've been opposed for the last three years.

"It's four years since we last won Leinster. We have won an O'Byrne Cup and reached a couple of league finals. That mightn't be much but to me it meant that we weren't too far away."

He acknowledged that the expectations he did more than anyone to redefine run higher than Division Two finals and O'Byrne Cups, but that also everything is relative.

"I was coming home from holidays the day of the Cavan-Kerry All-Ireland semi-final in 1997 and passing the Tara Towers when I saw the Kerry fellas. I stopped and was talking to Páidí and Séamus MacGearailt and they were saying: 'if only we could get to an All-Ireland final'.

"You were talking 11 years since Kerry had last been in a final."

Just as Kerry would hardly settle for the mere reaching of All-Ireland finals nowadays, Meath expect more than they have been getting of late.

"Things have a life," said Boylan. "All I wanted to do was to help players to achieve excellence and see them do it. I was fortunate enough to be around teams that were in seven All-Ireland finals and won four; fortunate to be able to help them get there.

"In early 1996 I was able to say that with a bit of luck we'll win the All-Ireland. That's a big change around from a 10-point defeat the previous July."

The famous All-Ireland of nine years ago had come to haunt Boylan in recent years. If that success could be plucked from apparently nothing there had to be hope that the feat could be repeated. But unlike back then there have been no plentiful, underage tributaries flowing into the senior panel.

For the first time Boylan had to acknowledge that the task wasn't realistically going to be accomplished in the space of a year.

"If I was going to do it, I'd need longer. I know some of the nonsense that's been tossed about - that it's an ego trip, an obsession. I played on a Meath hurling team that lost to Kilkenny by 33 points but I was out in the front field the next day pucking a ball and out with the club the night after because it was about the love of the game.

"I leave Páirc Tailteann after 5,000 training sessions and about 900 matches. That's a lot of your time."

He has no intention of finding some other outlet for his managerial skills and looks forward to spending time with his young family although approaches from other counties are likely if not inevitable.

Despite his realistic assessment of future prospects, Boylan is optimistic in the medium term. "Give it a couple of years and the lads will come again."

It will be a massive upheaval for someone who has built his life around the preparation of Meath teams as well as for the county.

"It's a very big change for me and everybody else. It's a huge decision and a right decision."