Meath GAA discussion thread

Hammer Archer

Like I said, the hope kills you.

What an utter shambles that was, in the first half especially. Still trying to figure out our game plan. For the second game in a row, Wallace was in and around the half back line. That can't have been his decision.
Second half was an improvement. May have gotten a bit closer had McQuillan not given Kildare a few ridiculous frees but we needed a goal and, for the first time in a long while, we never even looked like getting a half a chance.

You'd hope that we would beat one of the four teams we could face in the qualifiers but you just know we'd get Tyrone/Donegal after that.

Stoner

Hammer Archer wrote:

Like I said, the hope kills you.

You said that last year too, and possibly the year before too.

So it's either not true or you are hopeless!!!
you guys are coming on it's just a slow process as you say. Getting into division 1 would be a great move forward

Obrieski

Gutting, and waking up this morning doesn't make it any easier unfortunately.

Rather than come on giving out about our players though, I must say I was very impressed with Kildare. They played with aggression, power, pace and an incredible amount of skill. They have some very good players and play to a good system. Their powerful runners completely overran us and they kicked some great scores, in fact they missed a lot of chances too. I have actually placed a small wager on them at 11/2 to win the Leinster championship after what I saw yesterday.

As for our lads, I really hope we come back and prove what we can do from here. We haven't won a qualifier since 2011 (read that somewhere, possibly here) and we are a better team than what we showed yesterday. We cannot afford to look further ahead than that and I really hope we get a draw in Pairc Tailteann and the crowd comes out and supports our boys, no matter who or where we play. This is a time for us to get behind the players, they will be hurting even more than we are and they deserve our support.

iDave

My thoughts on it.

https://youtu.be/9gN6E6wTo2Q

S. Goodspeed

Lots to be frustrated about yesterday but the complete lack of interest in trying to get a goal with 15 / 20 mins to go really shows a lack of belief that they could actually win. Kicked some awful wides, the shots from 50m out were either laziness or lack of an attacking plan. Kildare were letting the lads kick points from 40 yards out knowing that they could easily keep us at arms length that way.

Sonny678

I think we do need to change things around. Anytime a team is sucessful through the back door, they do. They make changes. I would bring Brian Conlon and Brian Power into the defence and Newman and O Cilliean into the forwards. Wallace needs time on the bench. This season is not over yet. You could get a favourable draw. It's happened to many teams before. We could get Laois then Clare and and then Roscommon, and win those 3 games and we are in quarter final. But we could also get Derry, then Donegal or Mayo and then Monaghan or Tyrone . And then its curtains. Let's see how this all plays out .

rpurfield

I'm still disgusted now, I was well up for the match all week not really thinking we'd win but really thought we'd at least pin them down and cause problems. It looked like some of the players believed the hype since the Louth game as well. But I honestly believe we're somewhere between both games, if we can sort out a defensive plan and start getting a level of consistency we'd be halfway there.

Agree with whats said above about Kildare though, they are physically a year or two ahead of our lads and that's a gap we need to close.

Sonny678

Midfield has been a massive problem for 15 years. Since Big Mac retired. Been cleaned out at midfield is a regular occurrence. We lost 3 potential top class midfielders in Gillespie O Rourke and Nash. All those 3 could have become brillant midfielders. Rooney has been a big loss this year. He is our best fielder. And a Menton Rooney midfield partnership is probaly our best future bet. Even though Rooney has yet to deliver for us at top class level. He is young and I do think he has a bit steel about him. Menton is not a natural midfielder. His best position is wing back. So maybe Jones and Rooney would be a better option in the future .


For another problem Meath have has been the half back line. We have not had an effective one for 15 years. The opposition run up the heart of the Meath defence game after game . I would place Toibin Harnan and Menton . In the half back line. Toibin is wasted in the full back line. We are crying out for modern wing back. I think Toibin and Menton could do the business there . Centre back , we have not had an effective one since Enda McManus. For me Harnan has leadership qualities. Conlon looks a very dynamic option. And I am a big fan. While Power has not really performed. I still think he is the most natural holding centre back we have. Donal Keoghan is not a centre back. He is a top class corner back . One of the best in the county ,leave him there .

We need to sort out midfield and the half back line. They are so important in the modern game. And if we have that sorted out we are more then half way there. Truthfully it's going to take another year or 2 to try and sort all this out. And if Andy doesn't we are fecked. Because there's no one else in the county at the moment I can see doing a better job .

dixiefly

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Like I said, the hope kills you.

What an utter shambles that was, in the first half especially. Still trying to figure out our game plan. For the second game in a row, Wallace was in and around the half back line. That can't have been his decision.
Second half was an improvement. May have gotten a bit closer had McQuillan not given Kildare a few ridiculous frees but we needed a goal and, for the first time in a long while, we never even looked like getting a half a chance.

You'd hope that we would beat one of the four teams we could face in the qualifiers but you just know we'd get Tyrone/Donegal after that.

I really respect your committment to the county and your frustration as we all have but lets put this one to bed. The ref had nothing to do with us losing the game or in the margin of the defeat.

We were beatenn fair and square in most areas of the pitch for most of the game (bar a few minutes after half time). And more importantly our management were out thought and almost certainly out prepared.

I fully support Andy still but I think there is a bit of tunnel vision going on and I have to ask what is gerry bringing to the party. my hero in the eighties and a very successful surgeon but what has he (ever) done to get the gig here? I think an ex club manager who is experienced tactically would be a better option.

As you can imagine I am pretty annoyed but I must say that Kildare were excellent and I really hope that they win the final. For the first time in years i will be really rooting for a team other than meath in the Leinster final. Leinster football needs a kildare win and, based on yesterday, I think / hope that they can do it.

Sonny678

Well he was offered the Meath job in 1982 as a player before Boylan took it. Which is impressive. And if he wanted the job anytime since Boylan left it was his. Why ? He is highly respected Meath man. He is a winner and a natural leader. He was involved with underage Dublin teams. Also led a very average St Brigids team to a Dublin county title taking out the highly rated Brogan led Piunketts. He is highly rated figure in Dublin football. He was also involved with the Kilkenny hurlers , the greatest team ever, and they thanked him in the Hogan stand twice for all the help and inspiration speechs he gave to them.
He is a impressive driven winner. And with him and Andy this is the best management teams we have had with Boylan.

A lack of underage sucess and losses over and over again to these Kildare footballers at minor and u21. And the fact that Kildare play like 15 all stars when they play us . Are big factors. It takes a while to sort things out. Last year Kildare were dreadful . This year they are transformed. We need time and patience. But I cannot think of two better people in charge then Andy and Gerry.

rpurfield

Sonny678 wrote: »

Well he was offered the Meath job in 1982 as a player before Boylan took it. Which is impressive. And if he wanted the job anytime since Boylan left it was his. Why ? He is highly respected Meath man. He is a winner and a natural leader. He was involved with underage Dublin teams. Also led a very average St Brigids team to a Dublin county title taking out the highly rated Brogan led Piunketts. He is highly rated figure in Dublin football. He was also involved with the Kilkenny hurlers , the greatest team ever, and they thanked him in the Hogan stand twice for all the help and inspiration speechs he gave to them.
He is a impressive driven winner. And with him and Andy this is the best management teams we have had with Boylan.

A lack of underage sucess and losses over and over again to these Kildare footballers at minor and u21. And the fact that Kildare play like 15 all stars when they play us . Are big factors. It takes a while to sort things out. Last year Kildare were dreadful . This year they are transformed. We need time and patience. But I cannot think of two better people in charge then Andy and Gerry.

Spot on, of the pair of them I'd see Andy as the one that's more of a coach but I'm sure Gerry is an addition to have there. He's doing the right thing in terms of the back room team, talent and attitude on the field with the players will define them though.

Felexicon

Jesus that was hard viewing yesterday. Really thought we had a decent chance to turn them over and get some revenge for the pasting we got in the league.

Very disappointed with the tactics employed. Leaving 2 and sometimes only 1 man inside and dropping balls in on top of them is never going to win you a game at this level.
Also how did Cillian O'Sullivan stay on the field for so long. He is one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen in a Meath jersey. Has all the ability in the world but just makes bad decision after bad decision.

Sonny678

I think Sullivan has a touch of class about him. Remeber him scoring 5 points from play in a minor All Ireland a couple of years. Since that I always marked him out as a player to watch . He has pace but he has something that is very rare in the game today, vision. There is no Trevor Giles Blaney or McGuigan in the country at the moment a playmaker. I'm not saying O Sullivan is in that league. But he does have vision, which is rare. In the league v Galway he passed a great pass to lenihan who scored the winning goal from it. It was like Giles passing to Ollie Murphy. We don't have any other player in team that could do that

His problem is he trys to make a killer run every time he gets the ball. And against div 2 and 3 teams he gets room . Against top team he's facing a sweeper and blanket of defenders. He needs to get experience dealing with this sort of defending. And regurcitate the ball more instead of looking for the killer run. Like Kilkenny does. He passes the ball across and back til there is an opening . This is something Sullivan and Reilly need to do more.

Also I think he plays better at 10 a wing foward then as a centre forward. At wing forward he has more room because he's running at a angle. While when he is centre forward he runs into centre back and the sweeper. On the wing there is a little more room. And I notice he plays much better in this position. He needs to improve his decision making . But in my view he is class and can become a top class player.
.
Also he doesn't hide he looks for responsibty. Even thought things weren't going well on Saturday he still looked for the ball. That's a good sign for the future. He can be the leader of our forwards in the next couple of years. Give him time and as he gets more experience I think he will do the business for us.

One player who has really come on this year is Donal Lenihan. In both Kildare games he was the only forward that stood up. With Bray retired we need another quality inside forward. I think we have found him in Lenihan.

Also O Coilean scored 3 brillant points when he came on. He has scored 6 points from play from.the bench in 2 championship games. I think he needs to start ahead of Wallace the next day. Newman should start also. We need to re jig the line up for the next qualifier. Are our championship could be a really really short one. A forward line of 10 Sullivan 11 Reilly 12 O Coilean 13 McMahon 14 Newman 15 Lenihan. There is scores in that forward line.

Sonny678

Andy and Gerry are the 2 right men to bring us forward. I have total faith in both of them. But there is criticisms to be made.

To play with 1 man up forward was poor tactics. Thats why I think we need Newman the next day. He has some critics. But he is an inter county forward who has been one of the highest scorers in the leinster championship in the last few years.

In the first few league games we were playing Brian Sheridan as a target man. It didn't work . We changed to a more possession counter attacking game in the remaining league games and it worked. I also thought in the first half yesterday we went back to how we played in Kildare and Down league match. I could understand why Andy and Gerry want to play a more traditional way. It is the Meath way . The way that won us 7 All Irelands. And the McEntees are steeped in Meath football. But in the modern game possession game is the only way to succeed.

The modern way of playing will take time. It took another traditional county Galway 3 years under Walsh before they started to succeed with a new modern style of play. Kildare have always been a more possession atletic type of team . They didn't need to adapt. We do.

We just need a bit of patience , we are not as bad as people want to make us out to be . We are top Division 2 team. With one of the youngest teams in the country . Who have been knocking on door to Division 1 for a couple of years. And we have a management team that can go toe to toe with any in the country. We also have some good quality inter county footballers eg Keoghan Toibin Menton Rooney Reilly Sulivan Forde and lenihan. To get us into Division 1 is the real target. And it is very attainable. Staying is the next goal . And that is not impossible. By 2019 and 3 years under the McEntees and hopefully in Division 1 , we will see a much improved Meath. But it's going to be up and down til then. Keep the faith. Up da Royals.

iDave

Sligo in Navan.

I'll take it.

dixiefly

Sonny678 wrote: »

Well he was offered the Meath job in 1982 as a player before Boylan took it. Which is impressive. And if he wanted the job anytime since Boylan left it was his. Why ? He is highly respected Meath man. He is a winner and a natural leader. He was involved with underage Dublin teams. Also led a very average St Brigids team to a Dublin county title taking out the highly rated Brogan led Piunketts. He is highly rated figure in Dublin football. He was also involved with the Kilkenny hurlers , the greatest team ever, and they thanked him in the Hogan stand twice for all the help and inspiration speechs he gave to them.
He is a impressive driven winner. And with him and Andy this is the best management teams we have had with Boylan.

Well they didnt cover themselves in glory Saturday night. I had heard good things about the Kildare management and it was demonstrated in spades on Saturday.

At this stage for me the best manager / management team since Boylan was Eamonn O'Brien. But, it's their first year and they can only be properly assessed or compared to others after 2 or 3 years in the job. Despite my (and many others') frustrations on Saturday and since, I am still 100% behind them.

Hammer Archer

Junior footballers leading 14 points to 3 at half time in the Leinster final against Louth.

Hammer Archer

Result was never in doubt. 19 points to 10 Meath win.

iDave

Well done to them. Any trophy is good news.

Hammer Archer

The Juniors will play the British JFC champions in the semi final. That'll be either Warwickshire or Kilkenny (yup).

dixiefly

After last weeks complete capitulation to Kildare and Andy's slow reaction on the sideline I would really hope that the team that finished the game is closer to his starting lineup than the one he started. Andy went with a team he has gradually been working towards over recent months and it blew up in his face and some of the players let him down or just were not experienced enough in the case of Jones.
Andy has held on to players like Power, Douglas and O'Brien while not really using them and Newman is returning from injury. These players have persevered and should be used in a complete freshening up of the team from the Kildare game. If Andy starts the same team against Sligo and they win again then its back to the same process and no improvement and a similar capitulation to occur again at some stage.

Obrieski

There is not a hope, in my opinion, that he will drastically change the team. We'll be looking at a maximum of 3 changes I'd say, and even that might be a push. O Coilean will likely start in place of Wallace and in fact, that might be the only change we'll see. 
While Newman is a good player, the fact he has not seen one minute of action thus far would lead me to believe he will not feature. Andy has never been one to rush a player back post injury. O'Brien has hardly seen a sniff of action so he will not be seen I reckon. Power might have a chance of game time if he is back fit but the same logic as Newman might apply, although his injury not as serious. Douglas has seen very little action also, although he was decent whenever I saw him. Our half back line could do with the bit more steel he'd provide in there - but will he remove his son, who wasn't the worst the last day. 
We should have enough to beat Sligo but I would be looking for a much more structured performance. The evidence of a constant presence in the half forward line, more link play and better decision making. Most importantly, a whole lot more intensity. 
Team will be names Friday morning I assume but I do not expect wholesale changes.
P.S. Apparently we beat Roscommon in a challenge match last weekend, any further word on this? I know challenges mean very little but anyone know a team or more details?

Hammer Archer

U17s beat Dublin 1-15 to 1-10 this evening. Wasn't at it but supposedly a 5 point loss was very flattering for Dublin.

EICVD

Hammer Archer wrote: »

U17s beat Dublin 1-15 to 1-10 this evening. Wasn't at it but supposedly a 5 point loss was very flattering for Dublin.

Getting excited about beating the Dubs at U17 level, desperate times & all that....

Hammer Archer

EICVD wrote: »

Getting excited about beating the Dubs at U17 level, desperate times & all that....

I think you're the one that's getting excited
I just posted the result

Obrieski

Team announced:
1. P. O'Rourke
2. M. Burke
3. C. McGill
4. D. Tobin
5. P. Harnan
6. D. Keogan
7. S. McEntee
8. B. Menton
9. R. Jones
10. J. Toher
11. C. O'Sullivan
12. R. O Coilean
13. G. Reilly
14. S. Tobin
15. D. Lenihan

Didn't see the Tobin one coming, going for size rather than pace replacing McMahon. No surprise for me to see Wallace taken out, hasn't done much in the two games so far.

Hammer Archer

Eamonn has spent most of the first two championship games hovering around the half back line. That surely can't be his own decision.
Either way, he seems to have lost a good bit of speed in the last couple of years since his cruciate injury. ROC was always going to start after his cameo against Kildare.
Bit harsh on McMahon I feel. Baffled that not a single member of the back line has been changed. Tobin is simply not a corner back.

rpurfield

Is Bryan McMahon injured as he isn't on the bench either. I see Adam Flanagan and Kevin Ross in the subs, bit harsh on the junior team if they are used now.

Obrieski

16.  Joe Sheridan                      Seneschalstown
17.  James McEntee                 Curraha
18. Brian Power                       Ratoath
19.  Alan Douglas                    Trim
20. Brian Conlon                      Simonstown Gaels
21.  Thomas O Reilly               Wolfe Tones
22. Cian O’Brien                       Ratoath
23.  Eamon Wallace                Ratoath
24. Kevin Ross                         Castletown
25. Adam Flanagan                Clonard
26.Michael Newman             Kilmainham

That's the subs according to the Meath GAA email. Can only assume B.Mac is injured - i thought he was impressive in the league and against Louth. Would seem very harsh to be completely dropped

iDave

Fergal Lynch tweeted McMahon will miss rest of season with a shoulder injury.