Meath GAA discussion thread

CrabRevolution

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118498199#Comment_118498199

I haven't heard about that, but would doubt it. There's probably no more than a half dozen "North Meath" players on the panel, and I don't see lads like Donal Keogan or Thomas O'Reilly starting any mutinies....

Cavan_King

Anyone know the outcome of the Morris hearing? All gone very quiet. Rumour was that he had told Nobber if the move was rejected he’d just go to America for the Summer and then he’s free to transfer to whomever he wants when he gets back.

paul71

Congratulations to Trim on reaching the All-Ireland final.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-40796244.html

Cavan_King

Any Meath team named for tomorrow yet?

poppers

Meath: Harry Hogan Longwood, Robin Clarke Duleek Bellewstown, Conor McGill Ratoath, Eoin Harkin Dunsany, Cathal Hickey Seneschalstown, Shane McEntee Dunboyne, Donal Keogan Rathkenny, Padraic Harnan Moynalvey, Ethan Devine Na Fianna, Cillian O’Sullivan Moynalvey, Bryan McMahon Ratoath, Mathew Costello Dunshaughlin, James Conlon St. Colmcilles, Shane Walsh Na Fianna, Joey Wallace Ratoath

enricoh

What's the prognosis for the league lads? Watching the dubs at the minute, no great shakes.

Hammer Archer

Don't really have much expectations to be honest. With our two main midfielders out for the entirety of the league, we'll no doubt struggle in that area. Don't see there being much improvement in kickouts either which have plagued us. And with our two most difficult games (on paper) coming first, we could easily get into trouble if we don't hit the ground running.

Well done to Trim. Tough task up against Steelstown of Derry who beat the favourites Na Gaeil even with 14 men for most of the second half.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551614#Comment_118551614

Where is Ronan Jones and the other mid? Injured?

Steelstown are impressive. Cut right through Butlersbridge from Cavan in the Ulster semi final.

Xander10

Don't often see a team not managing to register a score in a half of football

Hammer Archer

Jesus Christ! That half will be in our hall of shame for sure.

Strong wind and Galway far too good for Division 2.

vapor trails

The pre-match vibes were not good. I'd even say the pre-season vibes were not good. No one likes O'Byrne cups in January but McEntee was particularly vocal in his dislike of it. From there a general sense of malaise & negativity seems to be emanating from the camp. We know there are injuries & COVID but we can't be the only team impacted by them. If we are not careful relegation wouldn't be beyond this team if they don't buck up.

mattser

45 minutes before 1st score. No excuses.

enricoh

I thought the Sunday game last night would show about 30 seconds of play n discuss the match for another 30 seconds towards the end of the programme. Instead they put it on first!

Whatever about not scoring their was some very half hearted tackling / non existent tackling on show.

Cavan_King

First home game today that people can attend in nearly two years and no comment in near a week on this thread. Have yas lost the passion for this set of players altogether lads?

snowgal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118589930#Comment_118589930

yes!! ah, not much to say really. I didnt get to the game as was in Croker for the Trim game but listened to it on the way. Cian Ward was on LMFM and judging by his comments, we are a lost cause at the moment. no direction, no defence, no one taking the game when it needs to.... Then McEntee gets a red card to top it off, hes unhinged at this stage to be honest and hes not helping the team at all...now fighting to survive division 2, its disheartening stuff...

Obrieski

It's a sad state of affairs currently alright.

I made the mistake of visiting the discussion pages of a well-known message board earlier which I have avoided for a number of years and remember why I left. Some very vitriolic comments, I will try to avoid that here.

Fact is - we are not good enough. Players and management and county board...the whole thing seems way off.

I was a huge supporter of AndyMc getting the job in the first place, but it is becoming quite clear he has run his course.

Have we made much progress under his guidance, i would say no, on an overall basis. Yes there were flashes but I cannot say with any honesty that we are any further along. Is it all his fault, of course not. Basic skills lacking, that cannot be management's fault at this level. Game structures and plans are management's fault however, and with still no obvious kick-out strategy, defined defensive system or attacking cohesion - it leaves a lot to chance and individual brilliance, which happens less and less as other counties are far more structured. Playing against a strong wind yesterday, we get a dream start and we should have shut up shop for the first half, but to be overrun from there to the end of the half isn't good enough at this level.

Unfortunately, we have no real stand-out players anymore. I mean, when the club championships are on, it's not like the county players dominate...which is made worse when you see how poor our senior championship is based on Leinster record of our clubs (intermediate and junior is an exception as we have done well at club level at these grades over the years but senior record is dreadful).

I fear it will be a rough year but you never know, adversity brings out the best in teams sometimes and maybe we just need a grim, bitter result to turn our fortunes. We are in a huge relegation dog-fight now. Home to Down in 2 weeks time is a must-win, simple as that.

Lemlin

Jordan Morris to Kingscourt transfer confirmed as per We Are Cavan.

Hammer Archer

Great start for the ladies in division 1, beating Cork 2-7 to 1-8.

Hammer Archer

Good lord how grim was that second half? Somehow manage a respectable scoreline against the wind to stay in touch only to manage just 3 points in the second half. Relegation is now a distinct possibility. We've played two home games and only managed 1 point. Now we've a must win game against Offaly in 6 days (with Offaly having a long break). Lose that and we're all but down.

Ladies managed the conditions a lot better down in Dungarvan. They held Waterford scoreless in the second half and won easily by 1-10 to 1-2. Repeat of last year's All Ireland final to determine who finishes top of the group.

snowgal

Yeah it was unbelievable in second half, it’s not that they didn’t have chances though. It had all the feeling of us being able to close at the game with all the possession we had and our home crowd behind them but still they could not finish it out. There is no movement or vision in the forward line at all…

Cavan_King

Have Meath now gone consecutive halves without scoring from play? Didn’t score second half from play against Down and now didn’t score from play first half vs Offaly.

tanko

Offaly are 6-5 up at HT

Hammer Archer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118697676#Comment_118697676

Yup. In all four games we've gone one half without scoring from play (Galway game we obviously didn't score at all in the first).

Absolutely blessed to get out of that with a draw. Offaly must be sick. I honestly don't think we were ever that bad under Mick O'Dowd. I think we're at a similar level we were when we went down to division 3 under Banty.

rpurfield

I dont get it at all. We've all seen the forwards we have in action and they are much better than going so long without scoring from play. Due to family stuff most weekends I haven't got to games to see them properly, but performances seem to have seriously gone back. There was always a chance we could lose the first two games but easily could've lost the other two. Progress seems to have stalled and fundamentals and a game plan are lacking. It certainly feels like a wasted year already, maybe if the Board moved to change manager in August or September we wouldn't be in this situation.

Just on another note some of the comments online are bad too. There's people who seem to think because we are Meath we should always be knocking around the top table, something we really haven't done much in 20 years. We are where we are for a reason. I'd love to know though just how closely the keyboard warriors follow the team or even the club games.

Hammer Archer

Hurlers look like they're going to have to win at least one of their last two games against Kerry and Carlow. Battered by Westmeath this afternoon coupled with Kildare beating Down means we're bottom of division 2A on points difference. We were probably lucky we faced Kildare in the first weekend given they were missing their Naas contingent at the time.

Being honest, we seem to have regressed back to division 2B standard and have just missed out on relegation for a few years by having the likes of Mayo and Wicklow below us. With Down and Kildare improving, I'd be surprised if we managed to escape the trapdoor this season.

CrabRevolution

The malaise seems to continue for the footballers. There's just been a total lack of performance the whole year. It was easy to dismiss stuttering performances in the O'Byrne Cup, but we're over the half way point in the league and are needing last minute goals to draw with the weakest team in the division. That said Cork are woeful and we've had Clare's number the last few years so I'm confident we'll have enough points in the bag to avoid relegation before Derry visit on the last day.

Hurlers are blessed that they played Kildare the first day when they were missing their Naas players. Kerry up next, always a funny game for us. Some years they hammer us, yet we still sneak the odd win (in fact they're the only Tier 2 team we ever get a win against). Kildare are improving but I don't see them beating Carlow and Westmeath, so I'd say we'll avoid relegation on head to head.

Truth be told we've never been at the races in Division 2A. In 5 years in the division we've never even finished with a positive score difference.

Hammer Archer

Looking like it'll be between ourselves, Offaly, Down and Cork for the two relegation places. The other three teams each have two games against fellow strugglers. So it's looking likely that we'll need a minimum of 2 wins from our final 3 games to secure our status. And I certainly wouldn't like to need a win going into our last game against Derry.

Meath: Cork (H), Clare (A), Derry (H)

Offaly: Galway (A), Down (A), Roscommon (H), Cork (H)

Down: Offaly (H), Cork (A), Clare (H)

Cork: Meath (A), Down (H), Offaly (A)

It's very much p!ssing me off that in a year where Dublin look more vulnerable in Leinster than they have done in over a decade, we're in no position to take advantage of it.

Cavan_King

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118703121#Comment_118703121

I saw Jason Scully's mother engaging with some of the supporters online on one of the Facebook pages. That's not a good thing to see either. Unfortunately, it's a problem in alot of counties - Cavan players like Dara McVeety have directly referenced it in the past because in 2018 Cavan were favourites for relegation from Division 2 and actually ended up being promoted. They drew the first game against Clare in Ennis that year and he talked about reading the online comments immediately following that first result - despite the fact they'd 8 debutants in that game, a number of players injured, so there was a bigger picture for anyone had a bit of sense.

Hogan Stand is a particular problem. Some lads go online and see it as harmless fun but there is a troll element to it too. I'm not sure why it tends to attract so many trolls as you've other forums like here where it doesn't happen - probably just due to moderation I suppose.

rpurfield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118709071#Comment_118709071

It creeps in everywhere, I was looking at comments under posts and Tweets about Dublin and they are getting the same. I think after the last 10 years they've had if I followed them I'd cut them some slack for one bad year. Its unacceptable that people think its ok, you can be sure a lot of them would be spouting on about this be kind nonsense. I won't put a tooth in it I'm really disappointed with Meath at the minute but I don't think for a second any of the lads are going out there to not show up on purpose.