Meath GAA discussion thread

PaddyCar

Don’t agree with your regional focus idea. I enjoyed playing teams who we wouldn’t normally get in the championship and getting round to see some other grounds. What good would it be playing Leinster teams all year round? We always struggle against the Ulster teams but i feel that we finally cracked it against Donegal and extra defensive Down last week. If Meath Dublin are both good enough then they are guaranteed to play each other once a year while playing each other too often would dilute the rivalry.
Couldn’t agree more on the dreadful standard of refereeing. It really has gone beyond a joke and is starting to put me off going to games. I wonder if 2 referees (as in Compromise rules) would be any good?
Some of the fixtures times where pretty poor but I suppose a lot of grounds don’t have adequate floodlights which doesn’t help. All in all i think the standard of football in the league has been pretty good for this time of year

Hammer Archer

Completely agree about the crazy fixture scheduling. I can never understand the reasoning behind 2 games in the first 2 weeks followed by a three week break. That will just break any momentum that a team has.
Wouldn't be in favour of just playing regional teams though (even if it looks like division 2 next season will be just like that). I do enjoy the travel mostly, even if I didn't make it to Donegal this year. I find the hospitality from fans up north especially is second to none.
Refereeing standards are as poor as they've ever been.

Lemlin wrote: »

Would ye have wanted to go up to Division 1 for next year though lads? There's a Monaghan man here in work and he'd be happier if they weren't going up. He thinks another year in Division 2 would have been better for their younger players.

I thought the majority of ye lads would be looking forward more to Kildare and Westmeath than Cavan!

Right now, I would have wanted to go up. We may have gone straight back down, but it would certainly have given the younger players a taste of the quality that's needed to compete with the bigger teams. I don't think Monaghan will disgrace themselves and I am delighted we won't be meeting them next season.
I think we'll have a better chance next season. The teams coming down are definitely worse than the teams going up. And while yourselves and Roscommon would definitely be a big improvement on Louth, I'd say there wouldn't be a massive amount between ye and the second from bottom team.

Lemlin

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Noticeed that as well. To be honest, if he was up for it I'd give him a shot. Even if it was just as a backup free taker to Newman. Though I suppose giving up so much of your time to train for a county that isn't your home one may not appeal to him and you can't blame him for that.

keane, tell him I've got him in my Meath Chronicle fantasy football team so he's got to give it his all

He was brought up on this thread back about four or five months ago. I've alot of friends in the Dunboyne/Clonee area and I asked them at the time and was told he had no plans to play for Meath.

At least one of his brothers is playing for Kerry. Think there could even be two.

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Right now, I would have wanted to go up. We may have gone straight back down, but it would certainly have given the younger players a taste of the quality that's needed to compete with the bigger teams. I don't think Monaghan will disgrace themselves and I am delighted we won't be meeting them next season.
I think we'll have a better chance next season. The teams coming down are definitely worse than the teams going up. And while yourselves and Roscommon would definitely be a big improvement on Louth, I'd say there wouldn't be a massive amount between ye and the second from bottom team.

So, am I right from the above, in thinking you'd rate Meath above Cavan?

I normally talk our lads down but, to be honest, having watched both teams extensively in the last year, and having knowledge of how much our panel has grown and developed in that time, I can't imagine that being correct.

Of course, I haven't seen much of Meath in this League campaign but have they improved that much?

I always saw the problem last year with Meath as strength in depth. How many players have been used throughout the league this year?

Cavan, for example, have now used 36 players over 6 league games. I'm sure that will increase again next weekend too. To give you an example of the strength in depth, the Cavan team that played Meath last year:

CAVAN: A O’Mara; O Minagh, K Brady, J McEnroe; D O’Reilly, A Clarke, J Hayes; T Corr, G McKiernan; C Mackey, M Reilly, M McKeever; J Brady, N McDermott, D Givney.

We had 4 Ulster All Stars last year - Keating, Dunne, Killian Clarke and Mackey. Only one played against Meath that evening.

iDave

Nervous about tonight. Hope the lads can bring home the silverware. It would be a timely boost for Meath football.

mattser

Dubs 1/6 Meath 9/2 Draw 12/1. Betting doesn't give us much hope. Anyway I'm off to LMFM on the Bush Valve Radio. :)

Hammer Archer

Sigh. Same old story.
Anyone at it? Sounds like we threw it away in the first half with so many wides and a missed penalty. Hope to see some players get a shot with the seniors on Sunday.

iDave

Sounds like we were out own worst enemy. Some things never change. Well at least we go to a final this year

RoyalCelt

iDave wrote: »

Sounds like we were out own worst enemy. Some things never change. Well at least we go to a final this year

And that says something considering we were playing Dublin!

I was at it and have to say Dublin are prob a better team but the way they played we missed a golden opportunity.

On a seriously negative note Leinster is becoming a borefest at all levels with the Dubs dominating Hurling and Football. I wish the GAA would invest in counties that could compete with Dublin in Football the way they did with Dublin in the Hurling.

rpurfield

RoyalCelt wrote: »

And that says something considering we were playing Dublin!

I was at it and have to say Dublin are prob a better team but the way they played we missed a golden opportunity.

On a seriously negative note Leinster is becoming a borefest at all levels with the Dubs dominating Hurling and Football. I wish the GAA would invest in counties that could compete with Dublin in Football the way they did with Dublin in the Hurling.

its sickening the aul memory isnt the best but i dont think id be too far off in saying beating dublin in the leinster semi in 2010 must be the only win at all levels in the championship since 2001(i take 2002 as the start of the wilderness years in my head). im honestly sick of it, i dont blame the gaa for what was pumped into dublin, it needed doing if you ask me, but im more annoyed that we didnt move with it, put our own structures in place to ensure we were there or thereabouts. its just downright disheartening that we arent getting over the line against the dubs anymore, who have to be the benchmark

iDave

Didn't we beat Dublin in u21 about 3 years ago when they were defending champions. Only to get knocked out by Longford in the next round.

Lemlin

rpurfield wrote: »

its sickening the aul memory isnt the best but i dont think id be too far off in saying beating dublin in the leinster semi in 2010 must be the only win at all levels in the championship since 2001(i take 2002 as the start of the wilderness years in my head). im honestly sick of it, i dont blame the gaa for what was pumped into dublin, it needed doing if you ask me, but im more annoyed that we didnt move with it, put our own structures in place to ensure we were there or thereabouts. its just downright disheartening that we arent getting over the line against the dubs anymore, who have to be the benchmark

Dublin only won two All-Ireland's since 2001 though. The likes of Tyrone and Kerry were the real benchmark. Like Meath, Dublin spent from 2002 to 2010 pretty much in the wilderness.

I always remember 2004 I think it was when Westmeath won Leinster. They lost in the quarter final to Derry, who were the 3rd or 4th best Ulster team at the time.

Alot of work needs to be put in at underage level in Leinster.

dixiefly

Lemlin wrote: »

He was brought up on this thread back about four or five months ago. I've alot of friends in the Dunboyne/Clonee area and I asked them at the time and was told he had no plans to play for Meath.

At least one of his brothers is playing for Kerry. Think there could even be two.




So, am I right from the above, in thinking you'd rate Meath above Cavan?

I normally talk our lads down but, to be honest, having watched both teams extensively in the last year, and having knowledge of how much our panel has grown and developed in that time, I can't imagine that being correct.

Of course, I haven't seen much of Meath in this League campaign but have they improved that much?

I always saw the problem last year with Meath as strength in depth. How many players have been used throughout the league this year?

Cavan, for example, have now used 36 players over 6 league games. I'm sure that will increase again next weekend too. To give you an example of the strength in depth, the Cavan team that played Meath last year:

CAVAN: A O’Mara; O Minagh, K Brady, J McEnroe; D O’Reilly, A Clarke, J Hayes; T Corr, G McKiernan; C Mackey, M Reilly, M McKeever; J Brady, N McDermott, D Givney.

We had 4 Ulster All Stars last year - Keating, Dunne, Killian Clarke and Mackey. Only one played against Meath that evening.

According to hogan stand football rankings Cavan are 9 and Meath are 11th though Down are at 10 and Meath beat Down last weekend.

So overall, I would rate Cavan slightly ahead of Meath at the moment.

Hammer Archer

Lemlin wrote: »

So, am I right from the above, in thinking you'd rate Meath above Cavan?

I normally talk our lads down but, to be honest, having watched both teams extensively in the last year, and having knowledge of how much our panel has grown and developed in that time, I can't imagine that being correct.

Of course, I haven't seen much of Meath in this League campaign but have they improved that much?

I always saw the problem last year with Meath as strength in depth. How many players have been used throughout the league this year?

Cavan, for example, have now used 36 players over 6 league games. I'm sure that will increase again next weekend too. To give you an example of the strength in depth, the Cavan team that played Meath last year:

CAVAN: A O’Mara; O Minagh, K Brady, J McEnroe; D O’Reilly, A Clarke, J Hayes; T Corr, G McKiernan; C Mackey, M Reilly, M McKeever; J Brady, N McDermott, D Givney.

We had 4 Ulster All Stars last year - Keating, Dunne, Killian Clarke and Mackey. Only one played against Meath that evening.

I'd have us on a par to be honest. We certainly have improved on last year. Yes, we're liable to the odd horrible performance still, but with new players coming in and establishing themselves, players returning from injury or emigration and older players gotten rid of we do seem to be beginning to show some form of consistency. Beating Down last week was a big step as it was the first time we've managed to beat a team set up to swarm the defence.
According to the Chronicle, we've used a total of 33 players this season between O'Byrne Cup and league. In the league, I would say it was 29 or 30 (with one of those who hasn't played being the injured Conor Gillespie). I would hope that that number will increase today with some U21s coming into the fray.

Lemlin wrote: »

Dublin only won two All-Ireland's since 2001 though. The likes of Tyrone and Kerry were the real benchmark. Like Meath, Dublin spent from 2002 to 2010 pretty much in the wilderness.

I always remember 2004 I think it was when Westmeath won Leinster. They lost in the quarter final to Derry, who were the 3rd or 4th best Ulster team at the time.

Alot of work needs to be put in at underage level in Leinster.

Leinster was awful from around 2003 - 2005. But Meath, Wexford and Dublin all reched the semi finals between 2006 - 2010 so I'd hardly call that being "in the wilderness".
And I think you're being a tad harsh on the underage scene in Leinster. Sure just two years ago, it was an all Leinster All Ireland minor final. And we managed to beat Tyrone (Ulster champions) in the quarters and Mayo in the semis. We got closer to Dublin than anyone had in the final, and all this was without our best minor footballer that year in Eamonn Wallace.
The previous year, we were beaten by soon to be crowned All Ireland champions Tipperary in the quarter final. And that was with a perfectly good goal being disallowed that would have put us ahead towards halfway through the second half.

I'm of the opinion that had these two minor teams come along a year earlier or a year later (when Dublin especially weren't at their peak), we would have got at least a Leinster championship, if not an All Ireland from. Unfortunately, Dublin had the likes of Kilkenny, Mannion, McCaffrey, Costello so very few teams would have managed to beat them in those couple of years.

iDave wrote: »

Didn't we beat Dublin in u21 about 3 years ago when they were defending champions. Only to get knocked out by Longford in the next round.

We did. I'm pretty sure that this season's U21 team were the first to win more than one game in the championship since we won the championship in 2001.
The defeats in the 2005 and 2007 senior championships still annoy me. Had we had a decent referee in 2005 and in the first 2007 game, we would have beaten them as well.

iDave

No promotion. Not an amazing performance today.....but we beat fecking Louth

martyoo

Who are ye playing next?

iDave

Carlow. Leinster QF

martyoo

Thanks Dave. Will that be in Croker?

iDave

I think its been fixed for Dr Cullen

Hammer Archer

OK we've had bad referees recently, but this was the first time we've had a genuinely dangerous referee. Graham Reilly kicked from behind meaning he went off injured, Brian McMahon also injured, a Louth player diving in knees first on Keoghan, Louth defender leading with the elbow on McHugh an age after the ball was gone. Louth knew from early on that they were able to get away with these tackles and they just got worse and worse. Yet the referee, despite clearly seeing each one, failed to give any sort of meaningful punishment. Biggy's marker especially had zero interest in playing football. His job was to pull, drag and hack him out of the game. I hope Biggy isn't out for too long as he had a magnificent game, but it didn't look good. Nor did it look good for McMahon.

OK performance. Can't blame the players for not having the urgency of previous games given there was nothing to play for but it was good to get the win.

Overall, it was a very good league for us in my view. The Monaghan and Armagh games were low points obviously, but had we held on against Donegal we would be in Division 1 now. I think the new players that can be proudest of their performances are Tormey and McMahon. Cillian O'Sullivan also looked very good before getting injured.

Long break to the championship now with a couple of rounds of club games between now and then.

Lemlin

Hammer Archer wrote: »

I'd have us on a par to be honest. We certainly have improved on last year. Yes, we're liable to the odd horrible performance still, but with new players coming in and establishing themselves, players returning from injury or emigration and older players gotten rid of we do seem to be beginning to show some form of consistency. Beating Down last week was a big step as it was the first time we've managed to beat a team set up to swarm the defence.
According to the Chronicle, we've used a total of 33 players this season between O'Byrne Cup and league. In the league, I would say it was 29 or 30 (with one of those who hasn't played being the injured Conor Gillespie). I would hope that that number will increase today with some U21s coming into the fray.

I look forward to seeing these new lads this Summer so. I said last year that Meath had 12 players who could match any team in Ireland but after that they were lacking and carrying some deadweight. These new lads could really push ye on if they can step up to the mark.

To be honest, I'd be more interested in the figure for how many were used in the League alone? All sorts of lads are tried in cups like the O'Byrne Cup and McKenna. The lads used in the League are more realistic panel members when it comes to trimming it down.

By all means though, ye have had a good League campaign and really consolidated your position. Next year I think Division 2 will be a tougher league.

dixiefly

Hammer Archer wrote: »

OK we've had bad referees recently, but this was the first time we've had a genuinely dangerous referee. Graham Reilly kicked from behind meaning he went off injured, Brian McMahon also injured, a Louth player diving in knees first on Keoghan, Louth defender leading with the elbow on McHugh an age after the ball was gone. Louth knew from early on that they were able to get away with these tackles and they just got worse and worse. Yet the referee, despite clearly seeing each one, failed to give any sort of meaningful punishment. Biggy's marker especially had zero interest in playing football. His job was to pull, drag and hack him out of the game. I hope Biggy isn't out for too long as he had a magnificent game, but it didn't look good. Nor did it look good for McMahon.

OK performance. Can't blame the players for not having the urgency of previous games given there was nothing to play for but it was good to get the win.

Overall, it was a very good league for us in my view. The Monaghan and Armagh games were low points obviously, but had we held on against Donegal we would be in Division 1 now. I think the new players that can be proudest of their performances are Tormey and McMahon. Cillian O'Sullivan also looked very good before getting injured.

Long break to the championship now with a couple of rounds of club games between now and then.

I agree with most of this. Not sure if I would agree with it being a "very good" league. The Monaghan and Armagh games were pretty awful. Myself, I am actually happy that we didnt get promotion as we would be out of our depth in division 1. With Kildare, Westmeath and Cavan now in division 2 that is our rightful place next season.

I agree about the Referee who was very inconsistent. He was way behind the play at times and resorted to the throw in when it had been a blatant free. One of the Meath forwards was subject to a block on the legs that would more resemble a hurling clash of the ash and he did nothing and then gave yellow card against a Meath defender for a relatively soft tackle two minutes later.

The main point I would make is that Meath should keep a video of this game as a motivator to stay away from division 3 and football low life like Louth. First of all, the pitch was not lined, the flags were almost horizontal and the tactics employed by the manager in targeting Graham Reilly was nothing short of disgraceful. His matrker literaly turned his back when his teammates had the ball in order to run back and square up to Reilly and was only replaced after getting booked.

A county with Leinster and All Ireland aspirations like we do will learn nothing from playing a team that was only interested in spoiling tactics and, unfortunately, had a willing accomplice in incompetant ref. Kildare, Cavan and Westmeath are rivals but at least they try to play football.

And, one last thing, I didnt pay in today as I had a season ticket but to charge anyone 15eur into a ground from the dark ages and a pitch that wasnt marked was a disgrace.

Hibbeler

Am I right in thinking that if Donegal had not gotten that late draw against us in Ballybofey that we would have been promoted ahead of them? We would have ended up on equal points but gone through on head-to-head? I know that doesn't really matter at this stage but it might have been nice to be promoted.

I disagree with what dixiefly said about Meath better off not getting promoted. I feel if you are to have any aspirations of Leinster titles/AIs etc, you need to kick on and try yourself against those that are competing for those honors. Meath need to be playing at the top level. If it turned out that promotion happened a year or two too soon and Meath were out of their depth in Div 1, then so be it I say. It would help show the younger players (and some of the older ones too) what it is like to actually compete as opposed to giving the likes of Dublin/Tyrone a good run for most of the match but coming up short.

Though like I said that does not matter now, the team now need to work on keeping some of the winning momentum built up over the league to the Leinster Championship. Only thing is Meath seem to have built up quite an injury list at this stage and this is quite worrying.

Hammer Archer

Lemlin wrote: »

I look forward to seeing these new lads this Summer so. I said last year that Meath had 12 players who could match any team in Ireland but after that they were lacking and carrying some deadweight. These new lads could really push ye on if they can step up to the mark.

To be honest, I'd be more interested in the figure for how many were used in the League alone? All sorts of lads are tried in cups like the O'Byrne Cup and McKenna. The lads used in the League are more realistic panel members when it comes to trimming it down.

By all means though, ye have had a good League campaign and really consolidated your position. Next year I think Division 2 will be a tougher league.

Players used in the league alone (off the top of my head) would be 28 or 29 I'd say. From memory, the only players that played O'Byrne Cup and not league were Brian Power, Donal Lenihan, David McQuillan (I think), Padraig McKeever and Conor Gillespie (because of injury).
Unfortunately, the injuries are once again mounting up for us. In the last 2 games, we've had 5 players go off with serious looking injuries, adding to the likes of Wallace, O'Sullivan, Gillespie and Dalton on the sidelines.
Don't necessarily agree that it will be tougher. I think Monaghan and Donegal are streets ahead of Kildare and Westmeath coming down. That gulf in quality (while still large enough) isn't the same between yourselves and especially Roscommon and Louth/Armagh.

dixiefly wrote: »

I agree with most of this. Not sure if I would agree with it being a "very good" league. The Monaghan and Armagh games were pretty awful. Myself, I am actually happy that we didnt get promotion as we would be out of our depth in division 1. With Kildare, Westmeath and Cavan now in division 2 that is our rightful place next season.

I agree about the Referee who was very inconsistent. He was way behind the play at times and resorted to the throw in when it had been a blatant free. One of the Meath forwards was subject to a block on the legs that would more resemble a hurling clash of the ash and he did nothing and then gave yellow card against a Meath defender for a relatively soft tackle two minutes later.

The main point I would make is that Meath should keep a video of this game as a motivator to stay away from division 3 and football low life like Louth. First of all, the pitch was not lined, the flags were almost horizontal and the tactics employed by the manager in targeting Graham Reilly was nothing short of disgraceful. His matrker literaly turned his back when his teammates had the ball in order to run back and square up to Reilly and was only replaced after getting booked.

A county with Leinster and All Ireland aspirations like we do will learn nothing from playing a team that was only interested in spoiling tactics and, unfortunately, had a willing accomplice in incompetant ref. Kildare, Cavan and Westmeath are rivals but at least they try to play football.

And, one last thing, I didnt pay in today as I had a season ticket but to charge anyone 15eur into a ground from the dark ages and a pitch that wasnt marked was a disgrace.

Perhaps "very" good was slightly pushing it. I think it was good. The Monaghan game was a complete sham. We threw it away against Armagh. But other than that, we had decent performances in all our games. The only worries I have are that we often go too long during games without scoring and the fact that we can't seem to put teams away. Our biggest win was by just four points in that crazy game against Galway.

Absolutely hate Louth's ground. Funny that the grass banks in Navan are deemed unsafe yet the ones in Drogheda are fully open with no barriers whatsoever. I can't complain though seeing as I won the half time draw for €100 :pac:

jimd2

Well done. Glad we won that as well
Though it was likely that someone from Meath would win as, judging from the stand, I think the we outnumbered them by 3 to 1.

Lemlin

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Players used in the league alone (off the top of my head) would be 28 or 29 I'd say. From memory, the only players that played O'Byrne Cup and not league were Brian Power, Donal Lenihan, David McQuillan (I think), Padraig McKeever and Conor Gillespie (because of injury).
Unfortunately, the injuries are once again mounting up for us. In the last 2 games, we've had 5 players go off with serious looking injuries, adding to the likes of Wallace, O'Sullivan, Gillespie and Dalton on the sidelines.
Don't necessarily agree that it will be tougher. I think Monaghan and Donegal are streets ahead of Kildare and Westmeath coming down. That gulf in quality (while still large enough) isn't the same between yourselves and especially Roscommon and Louth/Armagh

Every team will have injuries. Ye have been unfortunate with injuries alright but it's the strength in depth that is needed to combat that. Are ye working off a larger 45 man panel like some other counties yet?

Next year's Division 2:

Kildare
Westmeath
Down
Meath
Laois
Galway
Cavan
Roscommon

I would see Roscommon as a stronger team than Cavan tbh. Last year in the League they were missing key players. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go up again. I think you do them a disservice with your comment above.

From the teams listed, I would see Laois and Westmeath being the two weakest and there being little between the other six. That's why I think it will be a tougher division.

As for Monaghan, I wouldn't see them as a huge step up in class. We've played them three times in the last year and only lost once, and that was by a point. I'm sure ye will be glad to see the back of them though as they have given ye three good drubbings in the same 12 months.

RoyalCelt

It's crazy to think you can get away with the things Paddy Reilly did to Graham Reilly yesterday. He should have been sent off or black carded for a few things yesterday. Also how was it not a black card when our keeper was flattened long after he passed the ball?

Wouldn't take anything from this game. We had nothing to play for and haven't got lads pushing for places due to injuries that are well over 10 players at this stage. Good to win when you could see Louth really wanted this judging by their dirty tactics. It games like that, that make me feel no sympathy for Louth in our countless victories over them. Glad they won't be visiting Navan next year and hopefully we don't meet them in Leinster. Could only imagine the things O'Rourke will have them doing come championship.

iDave

Their tactic was to send out a man purely to foul Graham Reilly. What sort of nonsense is that. As someone said earlier, football low lives.

Hibbeler

In fairness from listening to the radio commentary on lmfm on yesterday's match, they seemed to agree with the above sentiments that Graham Reillys maker seemed to play the man more than the ball. If true there should be no place for that kind of carry on in any sport.

Just in relation to the squad. Can we expect a couple more of the u-21s perhaps being brought in before the championship? Or is the squad likely to stay as it is? Also will the likes of Newman and Wallace be back from injury?

Hammer Archer

Wallace is gone for the season with a cruciate injury. I've heard Newman and Harrington will be back for the championship. Kilmainham will find it very tough in their first championship games without him.
Haven't heard anything about Reilly's or McMahon's injuries from yesterday. The injuries to Curran, O'Sullivan, Burke, Gillespie and Dalton are still a bit of a mystery though.

whatnext

Anyone have there season ticket attendance recorded yet?
Not that its likely to be an issue for us this season, but given the fuss being made and change in terms and conditions from CP I want to maintain my 100% record.