Meath Vs. Galway

mickrourke

Well I would like to hear peoples thoughts on this, I think it's going to be close but Meath will just about shade it (Ok, I'm biased towards Meath), but I do think that Meath have performed quite well this year, we did bring Dublin to a replay, defeated Kildare, Down and Fermanagh (Granted those 3 games weren't exactly the best ever, but you can only beat what was put in front of you and conditions were bad for the last 2) but if our defence holds (Fay has been outstanding this year), Bray has a good day along with Farrell (was good against Fermanagh) and Midfield plays like they did against Dublin on the first day, we could be in for a win. Galway on the other hand could be missing Savage, but they have Bergin and Coleman and not forgettting Meehan and Joyce in the forwards. On paper they could be better and if they play like they did against Mayo, well then we will have to play like we did against Dublin.

I am delighted we got this far, I think we have made an improvement on last year and confidence is back in the team and the support is coming back in numbers. Whatever happens, I think it's going to be a good high scoring, hard fought game (barring bad weather).

Please don't let this thread turn into a Geraghty vs. Whelo debate, I'm getting a little bit bored with it.

meathman 007

I was just about to start a similar thread. I am excited about the game but at the same time id be fairly worried for meath. I think there is a big game in galway and on paper they have a lot of talented players in their squad. However ill try to be an optimist and talk about how meath could win the game:

Heres the team i would like to see start the game:

murphy

harrington fay mc cauge

Kenny K.Reilly king

Ward McCarthy/Moyles

Moyles/Mccarthy geragthy p byrne

bray o'rourke farell

i think we have a fairly good team. But we have a couple of major weaknesses that need to be addressed -

1. we have big problems at center back: That problem is solved by playing moyles there - but i think we have to play moyles around the midfield area to have any chance of winning...... so what are we left with? not much! - i dont think theres any real alternative to playing the kev reilly there who has been terrible all year....

2. we are terrible in the midfield area - ward and crawford are playing badly but i think the problems are bigger than that. We have to be one of the worst breaking ball teams in the country - its just so frustrating watching meath play and continiously lose the breaking balls.

Potential solution.....: personally i would drop crawford because he is performing very badly and is living on past glories.
I would give charles Mccarthy a chance - personally i dont rate him, but he is tall and cant perform much worse than crawford.
I would then put moyles in the half forward line - his presence there would be a massive boost around the midfield area..

I think we have a quality full forward line......bray has been quality all year and farrell is starting to regain his league form...... i am also a big fan of playing o'rourke full forward - it gives us a whole new dimension in the full forward line.....

Galway have some real quality players. Mckeighe is our best man marker and i would put him on meehan. I would put kenny on nicky joyce because king is a terrible marker. Pauric Joyce destroyed fay in 2001 - im sure he would love to have his revenge on saturday.....

Really looking forward to it..... my heart says we will win it by 2 points. My head is telling me we will lose it by 3-4 points......

whassupp2

Hard to call this one. I'm a neutral btw. I saw meath in league final v Roscommon and they were far superior. I reckon that Bray is a class act. I saw galway in connacht final. They'll be out to make amends for that dismal display while i believe meath will be affected by the geraghty saga which i reckon will have taken their players eyes off the ball.

Galway to scrape it

One Cold Hand

I can't wait for this game, I reckon it could be a cracker. My Dad and all his family are from Galway, and my Mam and all her family are from Meath, so I couldn't be more neutral. I think Galway will just about shade it, but thats only if both teams play to their potential. It's really down to who's hungrier and wants it more. Galway were truely awful against Sligo, and they'll be out to prove something. Meath are really improving but need another year or two before they could be confident going into a game like this. Galway by 2 points.

GalwayDub2

I cant WAIT for this game. Its going to be non-stop from the second the whistle blows I'd say. Galway were so bad against sligo, but I think they thought they just had to turn up in Roscommon that day, they didnt know what hit them, and sligo wanted it more.

I can see it ending up a draw......

mickrourke

I agree with Meathman about our midfield - They have been bad all along, with patches of brilliance, I was at the Meath V. Wicklow in the league and they were bad in the first half and great in the 2nd, so midfield could come good during the game, but using Moyles there is really a good option. I still think we could shade it though, but that may just be my heart and the renewed faith in the team.....

Don't forget Peadar Byrne, that lads got great potential and works really hard, might be a little hot headed but he is young and will learn.

But like I said, I think it's got the ability to be a cracker of a match. Lets hope the weather doesn't spoil it!

Pride Fighter

Meath have already played potential all Ireland champions in Dublin so have some hard games behind them. Galway look to be going backwards somehow. They have one of the best squads in the land but there seems to be something missing.

Meath by 4 points.

TomMc

^^^ Hope your right, but a third game in successive weeks, tends to take its toll on a team. They may have just been against Down & Fermanagh beforehand, but playing most Ulster teams is still hard on the limbs.

Pride Fighter

Look whats happening to Tipp in the hurling. They are building momentum and I think Meath are doing the same. Galway have no confidence and look terrible. The more games you have can galvanize a team.

meathman 007

no matter what happens - that ref has tried his best to give the game to galway - penalty? what a joke

meathman 007

absolutely delighted - fantastic performance to a man - terrible decision by the ref to give galway a penalty - but we didnt let out heads drop - bray must a shoe in for an all star.....

mickrourke

I agree about the penalty as did the panel, comentators and probably most of tomorrows paper reviews, unless i or they see something untoward in a different angle replay. I am really glad we got this far, the spirit is back, confidence etc.

Can't play Dublin in next match....

Shame really. I'm sure the whole country would have loved another Meath/Dublin game.

I felt Meath fell asleep in the 1st 20 mins of 2nd half, I knew Galway would come out gunning for a goal at the start of the 2nd half and they would have got it too if it wasn't for Murphy. The first 20 mins of the 1st half were also bad for both teams.

Anyway on we march, commisurations to Galway, they are not as bad as their last 2 games.

Nalced_irl

Galway looked like a team with the heads down from the throw in. They are clearly lacking confidence. The penalty looked a little odd in all fairness but was taken very well. That started a bit of a comeback but Meath always looked like taking it imo. Bray looked great today however i wouldnt say he is a shoe-in just yet, there is alot of competition there. Thought he should have taken the shot for a 3rd goal himself. There is being unselfish but thats a bit over the top. I suppose had the pass been in front of the player it was a certain goal tho.

Nalced_irl

mickrourke wrote:

Can't play Dublin in next match....

Shame really. I'm sure the whole country would have loved another Meath/Dublin game.

You can, its only teams that met in a provincal final that cant meet again as far as i know

sofireland

Good game, woke up after a dull opening.
Bray played well, but so did Farrell and O'Rourke.
Meath did well to weather the storm second half, after a dubious penalty had been given.
They're coming along nicely, and won't be an easy proposition for whoever we draw in the next round.

meathman 007

sofireland wrote:

Good game, woke up after a dull opening.
Bray played well, but so did Farrell and O'Rourke.
Meath did well to weather the storm second half, after a dubious penalty had been given.
They're coming along nicely, and won't be an easy proposition for whoever we draw in the next round.

agreed we wont be easy compitition for anyone - although they looked good at times - sligo is obviously the best draw we could get. They have never had the tag of favourites before, and we have a lot more experience of playing in croke park than them . Id be very confident of beating them...

Other than that. The other 3 teams, kerry, tyrone and dublin would be very tough opposition. The media would love meath v dublin again. We all know how good tyrone and kerry can be - but i wouldnt go into either game with any fear.....

kaimera

Week ban Flukey after some thinking.

A clampdown is a clampdown and there will be no favouritism etc etc shown.

mickrourke

Sorry I was wrong, we can get Dublin. I hope we don't, Will have problems getting tickets to Croker if we do...

Aedh Baclamh

Haha, what did Flukey say then?

Good performance that. Midfield is still a dodgy area for us but we did slightly better today in that department. Crawford needs to be dropped soon or he really will cost us a game. Bray was excellent, goods games from Farrell and King. Byrne did well again, great hassler. Referee nearly cost us the game and was basically anti-Meath the entire match. Some ridiculous decisions against us, including about one million yellow cards given - yes, one million.

Bring on the Dubs I say.

kaimera

Gotta catch em all...not enough hours in the day.

mm007, wtf like? Can you please please for the love of god tone it down some when you post.

I'm sure the ref was bad but there are better descriptions...

meathman 007

kaimera wrote:

Gotta catch em all...not enough hours in the day.

mm007, wtf like? Can you please please for the love of god tone it down some when you post.

I'm sure the ref was bad but there are better descriptions...

heat of the moment comment - too strong of a word, but the decision was discraceful and could have cost us the game....

meathman 007

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Haha, what did Flukey say then?

Good performance that. Midfield is still a dodgy area for us but we did slightly better today in that department. Crawford needs to be dropped soon or he really will cost us a game. Bray was excellent, goods games from Farrell and King. Byrne did well again, great hassler. Referee nearly cost us the game and was basically anti-Meath the entire match. Some ridiculous decisions against us, including about one million yellow cards given - yes, one million.

Bring on the Dubs I say.

yea the referee was a complete joke the whole game - i was sure he would send off a meath player in the second half - it was a very clean game with a few hard hits from both sets of players - i seem to remember that refs face from a previous meath game - cant remember which one though.......?

Yea the dubs would be a hell of a game - id still prefer sligo though....

mickrourke

What I really didn't like about today was the booing, whistling, etc, when Meehan was taking the peno, granted it may not have been a justified penalty, but do we really want that kind of response from the supporters?

Ref wasn't great, but sure theres 31 counties out there who could be winners of this years All ireland..... if it wasn't for the ref...

Aedh Baclamh

Nah Mick, this was extreme today. Haven't seen a ref so bad in a long time. Obviously had a grudge against Meath and it showed. Let's hope he doesn't cross our path again.

copacetic

I thought meath deserved it but the galway defence was asleep for a lot of the first half. As a neutral, I thought the ref was fussy but apart from the pen, not at all anti-meath.

As a dub I hope we don't get ye again, not that I don't think we could win again, but I'd prefer a less hyped game with football as the main talking point.

TomMc

We will still be in the Championship in August - That's progress. Now the lads can have a well earned two or three week break. We will be underdogs from here onwards, so nothing to lose. We might even make a scalp along the way.

The future's bright, the future's green (& gold).:D

Kojak

copacetic wrote:

I thought meath deserved it but the galway defence was asleep for a lot of the first half. As a neutral, I thought the ref was fussy but apart from the pen, not at all anti-meath.

No, in fact he gave a lot of 50/50 decisions to Meath, but that wasn't the reason they won. If Galway had even bothered to mark Bray for the goals, then (probably) neither of them would have gone in.

Meath are building a very strong and physically big team that, in a year or two, should be strong contendors for Leinster and maybe All-Ireland honours.

Galway are in terminal decline and I believe that we have seen the last match for Peter Forde as Galway manager

dixiefly

I have been at all Meath's games this year and to be honest, besides the penalty, I did not think he was out to ride us. He gave decisions both ways.
Compared to the referreing in both Meath Dublin games and the Meath Down game where I thought that we were being rode I did not have a major problem with the ref.
It was great to see the lads step up to the mark when Galway drew level. Feel for Kenny and Harrington - we will need to replace them just when the standard of opposition is rising significantly.

Aedh Baclamh

Must watch the game on tv if it's repeated over the next few days. Am positive that he rode us out of it on a number of occasions. From what I heard from people around me at the match and on the radio on the way home, I can safely say that I'm not alone on these thoughts. Linesman was rubbish too, could have made some input but decided to shut up.

Ruu_Old

Great result, fair play to all the lads. My Dad would have been at the game and all I could do is listen in on the wireless, will have to find a way of getting the next one on the telly (in the US).

mickrourke

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Must watch the game on tv if it's repeated over the next few days. Am positive that he rode us out of it on a number of occasions. From what I heard from people around me at the match and on the radio on the way home, I can safely say that I'm not alone on these thoughts. Linesman was rubbish too, could have made some input but decided to shut up.

The Sunday Game is on tonight, it should be on that. TBH, I thought the ref at the Fermanagh match was a lot worse, nah it looked alright on the TV bar the penalty and one or two dubious decisions for both sides, i didn't think he was too bad. However, there was a lot of jostling and handbags off camera that we only heard about, and you tend to see a lot of that at the match. We could have lost the match because of the penalty, but we didn't, Galway drew level and we pulled away again. Roll on the next match, delighted we got this far it's the first time we have got out of the qualifiers and has made my summer, anything else now is a huge bonus, but the building blocks are in place.

Nalced_irl

The booing was bad. Not gonna condem Meath for it, god knows the Dubs are no angels on that front! Unfortunately it is a regular thing these days in sport. As for getting Sligo, they have a great record in Croker, altho they rarely get to play there. Obviously they are the team to get all the same. A Dublin Meath quarter final would be some event tho also. With 2 very close games already this year, another higher profile fixture would make for a great game.

copacetic

i agree that the booing was not a major deal, however I am waiting for the rest of the meath fans on here who said all dublin fans are scumbags cos some booed frees to now admit that all meath fans are scumbags. Or more sensibly to grow up and act like adults.

aran5

hey i was at the game. regarding the booing, it was mainly towards ja fallon as he hit seamus kenny off the ball and as a result he fell and done his shoulder. some booing was towards no5 for galway as he hit peader byrne aswell. the penalty had some boos but in the main very little, but as he went to hit the ball their was alot of shouting. i just watching it now and i dont think it was too bad. people are just making something out of nothing. it just sounds like a very small group as its in the background

bigman7

i would agree wit aran5. a small crowd was at it, but half of them were from louth as they were messing with the galway fans

Nalced_irl

Well, im not making anything out of it anyway as in all fairness, booing and shouting as someone is about to kick really doesnt put them off much as its constant. Its not like a sudden bang as your about to strike which shocks you and hence puts you off.

popebenny16

I really loved the Meath supporters singing that soccer chant and jumping up and down whilst clapping their hands........ :rolleyes:

blackbelt

Meath looked very strong against a Galway team that are in rapid decline.Somebody made a comment weeks ago that no team from the West had a chance.Little did we know how true that comment was as we would have expected Mayo to come back.

Bray is definitely on my short list for an all-star.O Rourke looked very promising and is showing signs that he could be a major threat to the big teams.I really really really really hope Meath get Tyrone.That would be a match made in heaven.

Aedh Baclamh

Anyone else shocked that there wasn't more made out of the Ja Fallon incident? The guy put Kenny's shoulder out when he pinned him to the ground and yet nothing was really said about it?

blackbelt

kaimera wrote:

Week ban Flukey after some thinking.

A clampdown is a clampdown and there will be no favouritism etc etc shown.

On a side note,what was Flukey banned for?He's one of the last people you'd expect to get banned.

Utopia Parkway

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Anyone else shocked that there wasn't more made out of the Ja Fallon incident? The guy put Kenny's shoulder out when he pinned him to the ground and yet nothing was really said about it?

Probably because nobody saw it. The camera didn't really show anything clearly until after the event.

In fairness Ja is just about the farthest thing imaginable from a dirty footballer. I highly doubt he put Kenny's shoulder out on purpose. More than likely they got into some pushing and shoving and and they fell on top of each other when is when Kenny's shoulder got hurt.

blackbelt

A 95% clean good game of ball was played between Meath and Galway apart from one incident that was duly dealt with a yellow card.If only all matches could be played in this fashion.

mickrourke

Shame about Kenny and Harrington, thats put a bit of a downer on the whole thing, I saw some hard hits on the TV, but i didn't think anything was malicious. Looks like those 2 might not make the next match but the rumours are rife that Joe Sheridan will make a return so it might not be all bad news

meathman 007

lmfm said today that kennys injury is not as bad as harrington but is still unlikely to be fit for the next game - such a pity because we have no quality replacements....

if big joe comes back, it could end up looking like this:

murphy
mckeighe
Fay
???
Reilly - left half back
Moyles
King
Crawford
Ward
Sheridan
Geraghty
Byrne
Bray
O'Rourke
Farrell

Thats a fairly savage forward line that would scare any defence - midfield improved signidicantly in the last game - they need to perform the same or even better in the next game if we are to win......

Im not sure about who to put corner back - coyle will most likely play mcgabhann there - but he got roasted in the last game and is not a great marker.........any views...?

mickrourke

Would Moyles be any good at corner back? We really don't have many options there and Moyles is a good all-rounder, and maybe put Peter Curran around Midfield, or drop Peader Byrne a bit deeper and let Curran play where Byrne is, not many options though and I would be loathe to move Moyles from where he is now, but McGabhann did get a bit of a roasting.

meathman 007

yea we really cant afford to move moyles that far back, he is too important to us. We could see donegan from rathkenny is the half back line or even corner back - i wish kev reilly would be dropped because he has been awful all year - but as you said we dont have many options...... i hope the loss of the 2 players is not the reason we fall short in the quarters - if we come up against a better team than that is fair enough - but if its because of injuries than that will be hard to take....

tred

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Anyone else shocked that there wasn't more made out of the Ja Fallon incident? The guy put Kenny's shoulder out when he pinned him to the ground and yet nothing was really said about it?

I was stuck in the middle of meath fans at the goal nearest that incident. This is what happend. Kenny wresteled fallon to the ground off the ball as he was making a run for a ball, that never came. AS the 2 of them were on the ground, neither would let go, Fallon then used his strength to get up, possibly pressurising kennys shoulder, then kenny went off. There were 2 of them in it, both as culpable. Meath fans went nuts.
Actually I cheered for the meath men against the dubs, after that experience with them on Saturday, ill be cheering the Dubs. It was obscene some of it, considering kids around as well, and the older they got, the worse and more obscene they were. Meath deserved to Win. On the day, if we had Savage on the other wing, and played more balls in front of them like 2001, we could have won this game. Thats my theory. Kicking high balls into Darren Fay didnt do much.