Meath GAA discussion thread

Hammer Archer

Sonny678 wrote: »

Sorry for contradicting u Hammer . But yes we rarely follow a win in the first game with the second. But the last time wasnt when we were relegated. The last time we won our first second and third game was in 2015 when we came so close to promotion. We had same points as Roscommon and much better scoring difference then them but lost on promotion on head to head.

2015 league Meath Div 2 ( The best start of any Meath league campaign in this decade)
1st Game Won v Galway
2nd Game Won v kildare
3rd Game Won v Westmeath

PS Keep up the great work Hammer , U always keep us informed and updated on all Meath GAA matters. A great Meath GAA supporter u r.

We lost that first game to Galway in Salthill, didn't we? That was the year where we were something like 7 or 8 up against Laois and ended up lucky to snatch a draw. Had we won that game, we'd have been promoted.

Sonny678

Hammer Archer wrote:

We lost that first game to Galway in Salthill, didn't we? That was the year where we were something like 7 or 8 up against Laois and ended up lucky to snatch a draw. Had we won that game, we'd have been promoted.

Yep ur r right Hammer. My memory is going. I got mixed up with first game in 2014 when we beat Galway in our first game. So 2012 is the last year we won our first two games. A long time to be waiting for two wins. Armagh and Cork games r the big ones. Win both games and that will set us up for a massive match in Navan v kildare. Donegal in Ballybofey wud be a massive upset. I wouldnt rule it out and I do expect a serious performance. But Armagh and Cork will be the winnable games and games we have to win. We need 6 points from 8 before we play kildare.

Cavan_King

Having seen Donegal in the McKenna Cup, they have some serious talent up front, offering a lot more than Tipp would have at the weekend. They have a very talented bunch of forwards coming from their U20s and I wouldn’t read too much into the Clare result - they got out of there with a win and it’s not an easy place to go.

Meath will need to hugely improve from Sunday’s performance to be competitive in Ballybofey. In fairness though, ye are a team that tend to do that.

Sonny678

Cavan_King wrote: »

Having seen Donegal in the McKenna Cup, they have some serious talent up front, offering a lot more than Tipp would have at the weekend. They have a very talented bunch of forwards coming from their U20s and I wouldn’t read too much into the Clare result - they got out of there with a win and it’s not an easy place to go.

Meath will need to hugely improve from Sunday’s performance to be competitive in Ballybofey. In fairness though, ye are a team that tend to do that.

Cannot disagree with any of that. A very fair assesment of the game on saturday.

Hammer Archer

Sonny678 wrote: »

Yep ur r right Hammer. My memory is going. I got mixed up with first game in 2014 when we beat Galway in our first game. So 2012 is the last year we won our first two games. A long time to be waiting for two wins. Armagh and Cork games r the big ones. Win both games and that will set us up for a massive match in Navan v kildare. Donegal in Ballybofey wud be a massive upset. I wouldnt rule it out and I do expect a serious performance. But Armagh and Cork will be the winnable games and games we have to win. We need 6 points from 8 before we play kildare.

I feel proud to remember something you didn't
I think 2012 is the only time since the divisions changed to division 1 - 4 that we've ever won our first two games. Even in division 3 we contrived to lose 2 of our first 3 games. Too many times since that year have we been left saying "if only we managed to win that game, we'd have been promoted" (Donegal in Ballybofey in 2014, Laois in 2015, Down in 2017).

Cavan_King wrote: »

Having seen Donegal in the McKenna Cup, they have some serious talent up front, offering a lot more than Tipp would have at the weekend. They have a very talented bunch of forwards coming from their U20s and I wouldn’t read too much into the Clare result - they got out of there with a win and it’s not an easy place to go.

Meath will need to hugely improve from Sunday’s performance to be competitive in Ballybofey. In fairness though, ye are a team that tend to do that.

No doubt they're massive favourites. I can't remember them being beaten in Ballybofey very often. But the Clare result does show that we can cause problems if we bother to put a performance (we won by 12 in Ennis last time we visited). But it will definitely need to improve from Sunday as it was a weak Tipp team.

The point may be moot as, by the looks of it, it's doubtful whether the game will be even played at the weekend due to the weather.

Hammer Archer

Two point defeat and it seems like the same old story. 4 points up halfway through the second half and we failed to score for the remainder of the game (25 minutes including injury time).

Nidgeweasel

Meath were decent tonight for what it’s worth and really should have won. Will be sick at having let it slip.

Sonny678

Still alot of positives to take from the game. Up to 60th min Meath were in control of the game 4 points up , should have really being 5 or 6 at least. Playing direct intelligent good standard of gaelic football. Donegal got a a bit of freaky goal with one long kick from outfield that somehow got in the net.


Donegal showed their class and skill and won out. But Meath still had chances in injury time to get a result. But Donegal r not Ulster champions and unbeaten in Ballybofey in the league since 2010 for nothing. They had the know how and experience to win tight matchs and talent. Some real good young talent in Donegal. Definatly in my book a very young skilful team that cud be All Ireland champions in 3 to 4 years time. They won while the other team should have is a good sign for Donegal.


For Meath this was a better performance then Tyrone loss last year. Meath had 6 players starting last night that didnt play v Tyrone and 5 who started last night who were not even on the panel last year. Allot of these young new Meath players are off Meath Under 20 team which was the only team to beat All Ireland champions kildare last year in the championship. These young Meath players are different to young players we have had come through in last few years. Our young players who came thru in last few years had no underage sucess and were beaten consistently by kildare and Dublin at underage.


These new players year that played last night have been part of underage teams that r winning underage leinster titles and beating kildare and particularly Dublin consistently. They seem more confident then players that came thru the Meath ranks in allot of this decade. The hope is and there is evidence that this cud be start of underage sucessful teams coming thru in Meath more frequently in the future . Serious work has been done on the ground in the last few year and even this year underage work went up a level in terms of organisation, preparation and coaching in Meath and also in kildare.


Meath r in the same boat as kildare kind of. Both are starting to make inroads at underage . Both have problems beating Ulster opposition. Meath were knocked out 7 times in last 15 years by Ulster opposition in the championship . kildare were knocked out 7 or 8 times in last 15 years by Ulster teams in the championship. But can go toe to toe for 70s mins with div 1 teams, but both fail to get over the line.


In last 2 years Kildare have played really well for 70 mins but failed to beat Galway Monaghan Donegal Tyrone and did beat Mayo. In last two years Meath have played really well for 70 mins but failed to beat Donegal twice Tyrone Roscommon ( draw) and did beat Galway.


This is a classic development stage for teams trying to make the break thru. A team has one or two tough year's eg Offaly 76 77 , Meath 82 83 84 , Kildare 91 . Then the team enters a second stage and has moral victories, losses in injury, hard luck loses , loss with last minute points or goals eg Offaly 1979 Meath 84 94 Kildare 93 97. Then after 4 or 5 years the breakthru comes eg Offaly 80 , Meath 86 96 and kildare 98. Those 4 teams are the most sucessful teams in leinster football outside Dublin in last 45 years.


]Meath and kildare are in moral victories stage, cannot get over the line stage. The question is can eitheir of them get the breakthrough which is to stay in div 1 and get to super 8 and compete sucessfully. kildare are ahead of Meath, but both r in the same boat pretty much.

For Meath there is an improvement is in defence. Meath havent made serious impact in the championship since 2010 and failed to get to div 1 since 2006. Changing managers and lack of underage sucess has not helped. But 4 problem areas have been massive issue since Boylan left.


1 Shakey defence , problems in the half back line
2 Problems at midfield with kickout strategy and breaking ball
3 Attack falling down between two stools eg hand passing and kicking game
4 Inconsistency.


1 The improvement is in the defence so far this year. Lavin McGill and Ryan have played as well as I have seen a Meath football back line in years. Meath in the past have produced more great defenders then probaly any other county other then kerry and especially great full back lines. We have been shakey at the back for a while now. Lavin McGill Ryan have been our best performancers this year , strongest line of the field. Thats the first time I have said that about Meath full back line in this decade.


Half back line has been an issue for Meath football for years. Our last effective centre back was Enda McManus in late 90s and we havent produced a top class wing back since O Connell in late 80s. Centre back has been problem area for two decades. Our half back line changes every year .


This year is the best Meath half back line I have seen in years. J McEntee Donal keoghan Niall Kane have been excellent. Good defenders , but particularly good attacking. McEntee has excelled at wing back after moving from the half forwards . And keoghan, who is the best Meath defender of his generation was wasted at corner back. Keoghan cud become a great Meath centre back up there with two greatest centres back in Meath football history eg Liam Harnan and Bertie Cunningham. And Niall kane has been the best wing back in Meath club football for years. Together it means Meaths weakest line for years is now probaly our strongest line now. And the half back line is the most important line in modern football eg McCarthy Sullivan McCaffrey , Harte Gormley Jordan, O Se Brosnan O Mahoney , Keegan Vaughan Boyle. You cannot be top team without a top class half backs.

At midfield we basically had a kickout that started in 30s and continued til the last few years. Drive the ball out to centre of midfield and a big man wins the ball. Under Rodgers we now seem to have a proper sucessful functioning kickout. While breaking ball with kane who is very good at breaking ball has improved. We always had breaking ball specialist in the past eg Kevin Foley Pat Reynolds jnr and Seamus Kenny. However we do lack top class midfielders with the best Meath midfielders of their generation missing for different reasons eg Conor Gillespie Conor Nash Shane O Rourke Harry Rooney and Ronan Jones.

We seem to be more direct this year. Nally the new coach is definitely having a positive impact. Since Boylan we have failed with our attack by falling between a hand passing game and a kicking game.And failing to deliver either sucessfully. A more direct style wud suit Meath football and this year we r seeing a more direct game then we have seen in a while.

But a worry cud be the forwards. We have good forwards like Newman Sullivan Reilly Campion but we do lack a real marquee forward. And we need more scores from play from Brennan and Thomas O Reilly. Its a pity our best forward in the last two years and best forward in Meath club football, Donal lenihan has gone travelling for the year.


The last issue which is still a big issue is inconsistency. What r the chances Meath lose to Armagh . If Meath play like we did last night we will beat Armagh and be hard to beat in the following games. But since Boylan has left inconsistency has bedevilled Meath football. A great performance is usually followed by poor performance. This is an area that needs to improve.

Last night again like Tyrone last year and Donegal in 2017 we went toe to toe with top div 1 team, but lost for the third time in injury time after been level after 70s mins in those 3 above games v top division 1 opposition. All these teams our provicial champions and have the know how and quality to win big matchs/ tight matchs. Meath dont have the know how. But the quality of football is improving based on good defence.

Performance v Donegal in 2017 and Tyrone last year was bit helter-skelter plenty of passion and determination , but a bit all over the place at times and Donegal and Tyrone had good patchs of play. Last night was a more improved performance were Meath controlled the game for 60 mins with smart direct good quality football. That is an improvement on Tyrone performance. 6 changes to the team that played Tyrone is a reason. It means we can leave Sullivan and Reilly our best two attackers on the bench. It would have been unthinkable in last 4 years to play Donegal in a game and leave both those guys on the bench.


Meath still have a long road to travel with this young team. And if we lose to Armagh the inconsistency problems still lingers. But if we do beat Armagh and Cork, which we cud win and we cud lose. Two victories there though cud lead to almost a promotion decider with kildare in game 5. Then we will see were we are since kildare gave us two heavy beatings in 2017. Have Meath closed the gap and have Meath made real progress?. Meath are improving. But its slow process and will have many ups and downs. But there are good signs evident . Hopefully if we can get promotion. That cud be a game game changer for Meath football. It is also important McEntee stays manager for a couple more years. He is the best manager we have available to us. And we need him to be there when these young talented players come thru in next few seasons. One other issue is the lack of quality sucessful Meath coachs and managers. We haven't had a Meath man managing an another county since Coyle managed Monaghan and Hayes managed Carlow in the mid 00s. This is an area we need to improve in.

NufcNavan

It was the same old story from Meath. Have seen that game play out so many times over the last 10 years.

Meath were the better team and cruising with a 4 point lead, and tbh Donegal didn't look like they had the fight in them at this stage.

That all changed due to a howler from Colgan. It wouldn't be seen in Junior D.

After that Donegal got belief and the crowd behind them and Meath did their thing. They shrink in the big moments. There's no leader in the forwards and hasn't been probably since Stephen Bray.

There's always a game that 'costs' Meath promotion each year so at least we got it out of the way early this campaign.

enricoh

Meath match on first on the telly- wonders will never cease to amaze me!
Was listening on lmfm n the goal sounded bad, that was woeful though .
Still live in hope, but kildare n donegal have to be favourites.

Sonny678

Interesting stats from weekend. Both teams had inexperienced and young teams. But in many ways Meath were just as inexperienced.

9 of the Donegal players who played at the weekend are the under the age of 22.
7 of Meath of the Meath players who played at the weekend were under the age of 23.
Meath had 5 under 21 players playing at the weekend.

1 of the Donegal starting 15 was not on the Donegal senior panel last year.
5 of the Meath players who started were not on the Meath senior panel last year.

4 of the Donegal players who played at the weekend were not on Donegal panel last year.
7 of Meath players who played at the weekend were not on the Meath panel last year.

17 of the Donegal players who played at the weekend have Ulster senior medal.
1 of the Meath players who played at weekend have leinster senior medal.

Everyone knows Donegal had a young inexperienced team at weekend. But Meath also had young inexperienced team also.

bilbot79

Can you just rock up to the stadium tomorrow and get a ticket?

Hammer Archer

Yeah there'll be no problem getting a ticket at the gate. Maybe get there a bit early in case there's a big queue.

Hammer Archer

Hooray, another second half collapse.

CrabRevolution

Reading the chronicle there about the Antrim game last week, and it seems that not once under Fitzgerald's tenure has another team beaten us. It is apparently always the referee's fault.

We've played 4 games this season and for 3 of them he has blamed the ref, The only reason I haven't included the 4th was because I didn't see any interview with him after the Mayo game but the odds are good he blamed the ref there too.

It's more bizarre considering he's a referee in Meath himself.

Hammer Archer

Good finish and Donegal losing means we're top.
Two absolutely massive games coming up away to Cork and home to Kildare.

Cavan_King

Mickey Newman is invaluable to yas lads. He needs to stay fit. In the Cavan game last week, we were 4 up against Kerry. They started coming back and our free taker Ray Galligan missed two frees at vital points in the game when we were one ahead and then when the scores were even.

Today, Meath were under the cosh and Newman nailed the frees when he needed to. For a young and inexperienced team, that’s huge.

You could see the jitters but it took bravery to steady the ship and get the eventual win.

rpurfield

Great result to dig that game out today. After 20 minutes it didn't look great at all but for once we showed some fight to steady the ship. As Cavan King says the frees were invaluable but massive credit to Donal Keogan for driving on to win them too. Top on scoring difference after 3 games, we'd all have taken that a month ago.

Ali Bomaye

Very impressed with Meath's tackling this year. Too much standing off in previous years, great to see them pressing high up the pitch, hunting in packs and forcing turnovers. Thought Lavin, McEntee and Keogan all had great games in the backs today.

Cavan_King

Ali Bomaye wrote: »

Very impressed with Meath's tackling this year. Too much standing off in previous years, great to see them pressing high up the pitch, hunting in packs and forcing turnovers. Thought Lavin, McEntee and Keogan all had great games in the backs today.

McEntee I thought drifted out of it second half a bit today but he’s been your best player over the two games I saw IMO.

Hammer Archer

Important 6 point win for the hurlers against London that should guarantee that they stay in 2A.

CrabRevolution

First round of club hurling league played over the weekend. I've noticed a lot of the match reports seem at pains to emphasize how many players they were missing...

An observation or 3:

1. Drumree must be in dire straits; their juniors lost by 28 points to Ratoath Saturday evening and their first team lost by 35 points to Na Fianna the next day.

2. I know hurling isn't their priority, but Donaghmore/Ashbourne getting tanked at home by Trim's 2nd team is a dreadful performance from another club that should be doing better.

3. Ratoath seem to be fielding 3 teams, with 1 each in divisions 4A and 4B. I take it one is designated as the 2nd team and its players can't play in the 3rd team? What happens in the unlikely event they both qualify for the semi finals?

Hammer Archer

6 point win away to Cork is always a good result but going by LMFM it should have been more.
How bad are Cork now though? I can't remember when we beat them last, even when they weren't great. But they just sounded awful today and they could very easily be in division 3 next year.

mickrourke

Hammer Archer wrote: »

6 point win away to Cork is always a good result but going by LMFM it should have been more.
How bad are Cork now though? I can't remember when we beat them last, even when they weren't great. But they just sounded awful today and they could very easily be in division 3 next year.

I'd say they will end up there.
I'm beginning to hope again now and it's the thing that kills ya.

Ali Bomaye

Great win tonight. Not the best performance. Very sloppy in the first half, a lot of ball given away poorly and let Cork hang around. Second half was much better but knocked off again amd got sloppy after we got the first goal. Barry Dardis had a big impact when he came on. Scored a great point and got the goal to finish the game off.
Should be a big crowd in Navan next week for the Kildare game.

clint_silver

mickrourke wrote: »

I'd say they will end up there.
I'm beginning to hope again now and it's the thing that kills ya.

What’s gone on with cork, their decade fall from top tier shows no sign of slowing up at county and club. Similar to our own really. Strange one.

Hammer Archer

Surprising loss for Donegal again today. I truly hope that our loss in Ballybofey doesn't come back to haunt us. We'd be all but promoted already had we won that.
Kildare is an interesting game. Form says it'll be tight but both times Andy's faced them, we've been annihilated. You'd think that a win next weekend and we couldn't possibly throw it away....

Another narrow loss for the hurlers. Likely that they'll stay up but we could have had 4 from 4. Westmeath's first score of the game was a goal and it always looked like that was going to be the difference.

sc86

CrabRevolution wrote: »

First round of club hurling league played over the weekend. I've noticed a lot of the match reports seem at pains to emphasize how many players they were missing...

An observation or 3:

1. Drumree must be in dire straits; their juniors lost by 28 points to Ratoath Saturday evening and their first team lost by 35 points to Na Fianna the next day.

2. I know hurling isn't their priority, but Donaghmore/Ashbourne getting tanked at home by Trim's 2nd team is a dreadful performance from another club that should be doing better.

3. Ratoath seem to be fielding 3 teams, with 1 each in divisions 4A and 4B. I take it one is designated as the 2nd team and its players can't play in the 3rd team? What happens in the unlikely event they both qualify for the semi finals?

Drumree are in big trouble , nobody from dunshaughlin plays and its not pushed in the schools at all , its sad to see , they need to hit the primary schools hard because they have big catchment area , but that club will die like the football team did if they are not carefull

Asbourne again have huge catchment area and were on par with ratoath a few years ago , ratoath put in huge push at underage , ashbourne didnt , it seams from talking to people over there that ashbourne would be happy enough if hurling died off , the football side of the club rules

That whole area of meath is waisted hurling wise , if the county coard actually gave a crap , should have hurling people going into the schools and make a effort with the kids and push it.
st pats dont do much , think they have few underage teams again ?
st colmcilles have underage teams now i think?

When you consider how much of the population of the county actually doesnt really play at all its crazy
The whole county plays football , but most kids dont get option to play hurling
Does st pats school in navan have a hurling team?

westernfrenzy

think st pats school have hurling teams. not sure what level they'd be but they were doing hurling when i finished a few years ago

Littlehorny

I live in Ashbourne myself but am from Athboy. Hurling has always been the poor relation alright. Even on underage county panels years ago, lads who were also on the county football panel would tell how much better they got treated.
Around Ashbourne you might see a few young ones with hurling sticks but never young lads, it's very sad to see.