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Meath GAA discussion thread

Hammer Archer

Well Galway has a thread, Mayo has one, even Cavan has one so why not us?

Two one point defeats in a row means we're back into relegation trouble especially if we lose to Derry next week. Having said that, beat Derry next week and promotion is still a (remote) possibility. Joe Sheridan leaving for the States certainly isn't going to help.
Thought the performance yesterday was easily the worst of the league. Our away form is killing us still.

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Sonny678

Very strange decision Hammer. In a pub indoor soccer competition which had two groups , the winners of both groups wud be kept away from each other in the semi final. I heard it said a few times that whoever won each group they wud be kept apart in the semis. Even the kildare gaa twitter after the last round of matchs announced kildare wud be playing Dublin in the semis. So its bizzare but not the only time we have got a raw deal at this level . Remeber the last time we reached an under 21 final v the Dubs and the game was due to be played in Navan, but we know what happened.

We need all the breaks we can get. We r improving massively at underage , but we so badly need a couple of provincial titles. Even this year with the increase in full time coachs in the county at underage it feels we are really stepping up a level at underage level.

But this draw changes the whole dynamic of this whole leinster under 20 championship from advantage to Meath to advantage to kildare. lets leave the Dubs to one side.

With the victory over kildare and beating a very highly fancied under 20 Galway team in a challenge match recently and all our players coming from three different minor teams which beat or performed so well v Dublin recently, it meant we have looked more competitive at this age group in years. We r contenders for the title.
If the draw was the way it should be kildare would have to beat Dublin and probaly Meath twice to win the title. A much tougher draw. Now Meath have to beat Dublin and probaly kildare twice to win the title. Thats a tougher run for us altogether.

Dublin are the top dogs at this level. Kildare have pushed them recently but the fact is Dublin have won 5 All Ireland under 21 titles since 2000. They are superstrong at this level. And yes we have players from Meath minor team which hammered Dublin in 2016, players that beat Dublin in leinster minor ( under 17) final last year and the rest of the players are from last years minor team that were 10 points up at half time v the Dubs , and lost after a great comeback and victory in extra time for the Dubs. So in many ways we have nothing to fear here with all these under 20 Meath players have eitheir beaten or played really well v this Dublin team of players. Theres not many counties at any level that cud say the same thing recently .

And yes the game is in Navan and Meath at any level r tough to beat in Navan. But playing Dublin at any level and particularly at this level , they are a very tough nut to crack. And lets say we do pull of a massive victory it would be our biggest win at this level since we defeated Jim Galvins under 21 Dubs in 2011 which was full of future Dublin stars.

Thats my fear the same thing cud happen. We beat the Dubs and then lost to longford in the next round. Anytime at any level we beat the Dubs in an earlier round before a leinster final we usually lose and dont win the provicial title. We become favourites for the title and dont seem to realise that once the Dubs r beaten everyone left in the competition now feels they have a chance to win..

I will give u examples in last 20 years we defeated Dublin in earlier rounds of leinster. In 97 we defeated Dublin at senior in q final , we lost the final to Offaly after. In 2010 we defeated Dublin at senior in semi final, after we all know how badly we played v louth in the final.
In 2011 at under 21 we defeated Dublin in q final , we lost the semi final to longford after. In 2016 we defeated Dublin in minor q final , after we lost to kildare in semi final.

Im a traditionalist I like to beat Dublin in a final more then any other county..But I always feel we r better meeting Dublin in a final then earlier rounds. Lets say we did beat Dublin which would be a massive result. More then likely it could be a Kildare v Meath final. These Kildare and Meath players have played each other at minor and under 20 level in recent times and there was a point between each other in both games. There is very little between both teams basically. If kildare get over Offaly and we get over Dublin, kildare wud be a great position, as we wud be strong favourites .

So for me this totally changes the dynamic of this championship. Dublin are still the team to beat. Offaly have the best player in the competition with Johnston and have a good team also..But the two big challengers were Meath and kildare. After the kildare v Meath game and victory to Meath , Meath were in a very good position. Now because of the strange open draw decision kildare r in a very good position. And remeber kildare have players which won a minor title, something we havent.

You need to beat top teams to win titles. But we are badly in need of underage titles. So we need every break going. So for this to happen for me it makes it twice as hard now to win the leinster title. And if Brian Farrell was to manage us to this leinster title after beating kildare twice and Dublin once it would be our best leinster title win at any age level since we won 2001 leinster senior title when we defeated reigning leinster champions kildare and Dublin in the leinster final.

Things have just got a lot harder in the whole under 20 championship for us. We have impressed so far, now we really need to bring it on. If not another chance of underage title is gone it would be another blow. If we lose to Dublin it would mean we have had 3 strong underage teams in last 3 years ( minor 2016 and 2017 , under 20 2018) and not one of them wud have reached a leinster final even though some excellent victories. We at least so badly need to get to this leinster under 20 final. Even a leinster under 20 final appearance wud be a boost. As we have only incredibly played in 1 under 21 leinster final ( in the year 2014) since 2001 ( our last leinster title victory at this grade was in 2001). But Dublin are still favourites for the title and the top team in the provience . But before the open draw decision was made Meath looked like being the main challenger. Now kildare look in a much better place. At least the under 20 leinster championship is much a more competition, more competitive, more interesting then the senior counterpart.

rpurfield

Has anyone seen this on the Twitter last night or this morning: https://twitter.com/Woolberto/status/1011375455730110465

Not a fan of Parkinson by any stretch but the Meath CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC are washing their hands of player welfare with clubs, when they are the ones that make the fixtures. Bonkers stuff.

vapor trails

Meath scraped past Offaly in the Leinster MFC. Bit of a bizarre game with Meath going into a couple of 4 pts leads at various stages but allowing Offaly to pull it back level. They seemed to be keeping Offaly them at arm's length for most of the second half until an absolute howler by the keeper brought Offaly right back into it. They then conceded a Red card for a second bookable offense and went behind on the scoreboard. They did well to wrestle the match back in the end. They got a late goal from a miss judgment by on Offaly defender on a long ball that left a 2 on 1 which they converted.

I think the regular number 1 was injured so they'll defo want him back if they want any hope of progression. Also, the captain missed the game due to injury too and he seemed to be doing the bulk of the scoring prior to tonight's game. I can only hope his return will improve the team going forward. They will have to step up massively on tonight's performance if they harbor any ambitions of winning Leinster and going beyond.

Hammer Archer

Wasn't at it but I'd hope that it was a combination of the long break between games and a bit of complacency (along with missing some key players) which made it much closer than it should have been.

Final game will be very interesting. Away to Wicklow. We're already through as group winners and Wicklow have to win to go through to the semis. Dublin are banking on us not to play a weakened side as they need a Meath result (along with them winning) to go through to the semis.
Looking like a semi final against Laois on the cards (unless the GAA decide that both group winners play each other again).

mushykeogh

Good to see the underage footballers doing well but what is going on with Meath Hurling at senior level. Living and working outside the county so only looking in from the outside. We seem to have gone backwards massively since winning the Christy Ring, what has gone wrong?

iDave

Big hammering for U20s.
Thought many Meath fans were clutching at straws talking up our underage set up.
Maybe Minors might do something though.
U20s havent helped the feeling of bleakness.

Meanwhile Kildare having a great night!

Hammer Archer

That’s such a disappointing result for the U20s given that this was the team that beat Dublin by 10 at minor level.
Still baffled that our reward for winning our group was to play another group winner.

CrabRevolution

I think the whole "our underage are coming good, so the future is rosy" is a bit overblown and as said above does smack of desperation. 10 years ago we were actually winning Leinster Minor Championships and it didn't exactly usher in much senior success.

Also, the 2 main pieces of evidence used to support this Meath underage rising were:

The U17s winning Leinster last year

Beating Dublin out the gate in minor in 2016

That Dublin beating seems a bit hollow now considering that in the space of 2 years this bunch of Dublin players have totally overtaken us. A harsh lesson in placing too much stock on underage performances, especially a single year's results at underage.

CrabRevolution

I see the county board have fixed Trim to play A league football vs. Ballinabrackey and A league hurling vs. Kiltale at the same time on Friday.

I know they released that weaselly statement absolving themselves of all blame for fixture congestion and saying it's the clubs' problem, but surely they can't be that bad at their job.

Hammer Archer

CrabRevolution wrote: »

I see the county board have fixed Trim to play A league football vs. Ballinabrackey and A league hurling vs. Kiltale at the same time on Friday.

I know they released that weaselly statement absolving themselves of all blame for fixture congestion and saying it's the clubs' problem, but surely they can't be that bad at their job.

Meath County Board: "Challenge Accepted!"

roadmaster

If the meath county board do manage to redevelop Páirc Tailteann in to a 20000 all seater stadium i could see it being used more as neutral venue for the qualifiers as its in a good location geographical and easy enough to get to. They should use that as an angle to get extra funds of central council

Hammer Archer

Minors lost 1-10 to 1-8 to Wicklow in their last Leinster group game. They were already guaranteed top spot in the group. They'll play Laois in the semi final while Wicklow play Kildare in the other semi.

Felexicon

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Minors lost 1-10 to 1-8 to Wicklow in their last Leinster group game. They were already guaranteed top spot in the group. They'll play Laois in the semi final while Wicklow play Kildare in the other semi.

So you could say we knocked the Dubs out!

iDave

Minors have to go away despite topping group

#navanornowhere

Felexicon

That's some start by the Minors.

3-9 - 0-1 after 25 mins

Obrieski

Great win for them, fair play lads!

Hammer Archer

Very good win. Should be a close final. With all due respect to Wicklow, I can't see us not playing Kildare. At least one team has a Leinster final to look forward to.

Kildare (who we beat in the group stage) beat Dublin in the Leinster U20 final last night.

Hammer Archer

I stand corrected. Wicklow took Kildare to a replay which will be played on Saturday. The final presumably will be pushed back to the following weekend.

Hammer Archer

So the A football leagues are done and dusted (apart from finals and playoffs). Have they ever been completed so early before? Usually there are still games being played well into the autumn and sometimes the winter.

Division 1: Skryne play Summerhill in the semi final with the winner playing Kells in the final.
St. Pat's and St. Colmcilles drop down with Moynalvey playing Rathkenny (3rd in division 2) in the promotion/relegation playoff.

Division 2: Syddan and Oldcastle are promoted while Castletown and Walterstown drop to division 3. Blackhall Gaels play Carnaross in the playoff.

Division 3: Meath Hill go straight back to division 2 along with Bective. Clann na nGael and Cortown are relegated to division 4 with St. Vincent's and St. Brigid's playing off against each other.

Division 4: Ballivor and Moynalty go up to division 3.

rpurfield

Don't ever recall them being played off this early Hammer. Still managed to play a heap of the rounds in the bad weather early in the year though, utter madness. It's a set back for us to drop down now, hopefully we can hold on in the SFC too.

Hammer Archer

rpurfield wrote: »

Don't ever recall them being played off this early Hammer. Still managed to play a heap of the rounds in the bad weather early in the year though, utter madness. It's a set back for us to drop down now, hopefully we can hold on in the SFC too.

Think ye will be fine in the SFC. Someone's said it here before I think, but I fear for Blackhall Gaels. Are they still without Donnacha Tobin? They still have the likes of Brady and Nestor but they can only do so much. Their underage teams are regularly struggling the bottom divisions, even as an amalgamation. If it's not this year, I can definitely see them make the drop over the next few years. And they could keep dropping by the looks of it.

rpurfield

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Think ye will be fine in the SFC. Someone's said it here before I think, but I fear for Blackhall Gaels. Are they still without Donnacha Tobin? They still have the likes of Brady and Nestor but they can only do so much. Their underage teams are regularly struggling the bottom divisions, even as an amalgamation. If it's not this year, I can definitely see them make the drop over the next few years. And they could keep dropping by the looks of it.

Aye them being in a relegation playoff for division 2 doesn't look good, they've been struggling for a while now. What concerns me with us is our league points came in the first couple of games then we've basically been on an awful run since with the exception of drawing with Ratoath in the SFC. Hopefully things pick up though.

Hammer Archer

Minors 11 points to 3 up in the Leinster final at half time.

Hammer Archer

Leinster champions. Never really in doubt. It finished 1-15 to 1-7. Though Meath were 14 up with 10 minutes left and sounded like they really stepped off the gas and conceded a sloppy goal at the death

Sonny678

CrabRevolution wrote: »

I think the whole "our underage are coming good, so the future is rosy" is a bit overblown and as said above does smack of desperation. 10 years ago we were actually winning Leinster Minor Championships and it didn't exactly usher in much senior success.

Also, the 2 main pieces of evidence used to support this Meath underage rising were:
The U17s winning Leinster last year

Beating Dublin out the gate in minor in 2016

That Dublin beating seems a bit hollow now considering that in the space of 2 years this bunch of Dublin players have totally overtaken us. A harsh lesson in placing too much stock on underage performances, especially a single year's results at underage.

I think today shows ur arguement is not reality. We r slowly improving at underage that is a fact.

Definatly we r improving at underage. There was a serious gap for 4 or 5 year between us and Dublin and kildare teams. We couldn't beat both at underage. Dublin and kildare were ahead of us at underage. Particularly kildare. But at this age group in last 2 years minor ( under 17) ,we have defeated Dublin by 7 points in 2017 leinster final and kildare by 8 points in todays leinster final..We are strongest at this age group in leinster by a distance. Now we need to translate this into leinster under 20 title in next 2 to 3 years.

We should have done better at under 20 year. Full of players who defeated Dublin at minor and other players which won the first new minor leinster grade last year. We defeated kildare in early stages of leinster at under 20 this year. And then we were hammered by Dublin. That makes no football sense. Our under 20s hammered Dublin at minor age, we defeat kildare . ans yet kildare hammer Dublin. But Dublin hammer us. It makes little football sense whatsoever .

I think there is little between Meath under 20 and kildare under 20. We beat them this year. And lost by 1 point ay minor level in extra time in a cracking game of football two years. If kildare are hammering Dublin. Meath shouldn't have been hammered by Dublin.

It must be said kildare have got a bounce from NewbridgeorNowhere for all their county teams in recent weeks. And this is a very impressive kildare team. Players like Hyland are exceptional talents and are as good as I have ever seen come out of kildare. But we were very tactically unaware v Dublin . Dublin teams at under 21 and under 20 play a system similar to the seniors. They are well.organised and well drilled. Our tactics were awful v the Dubs.

Anyway it is good to see we are slowly improving at minor age. We need to keep being strong at minor and we need to win a title at under 20 level. But if people say we are not showing signs of improvement at underage level they are wrong.

- In last three years we have beaten Dublin 4 times at minor level ( 2016 minor, twice in 2017 at new minor level (U 17) and this year minor (U17)).

- We defeated kildare at minor and under 20 level this year. ( Its years since we did that. Kildare have been a real nemesis for us at underage level recently)

- And have put 2 minor (U17) leinster titles back to back.

- This is our firsr minor leinster title in 10 years and the first time since the 90s we have put underage title back to back (Under 17 leinster ( minor 2017) and Under 17 leinster ( minor 2018).

- We hammered Dublin by 10 points at minor in 2016, We defeat Dublin by 7 points in last years minor ( Under 17 leinter final) and defeated Dublin in early part of the same leinster championship. We defeated Dublin in this years minor leinster championship. And in last years leinster minor championship ( U18) we were 10 points up v Dublin at half time, but lost in extra by point after great Dublin comeback.

The gap between us and Dublin and kildare has completely closed and we have overtaken them at minor. 1 or 2 more minor leinster title in next 3 to 4 years. Is what we should be looking for. And we badly need 1 leinster title at under 20. That is a grade we need to improve on. But we did beat kildare at that age group this year. The first time we have beaten kildare at around this age group U20/U21 in years. Kildare are now All Ireland finalist. We havent won leinster title at around this grade since 2001 when we won leinster under 21 title. We need a title at Under 20 next.

Anyway well done to our minors. You have done ur county proud. And u r a wonderful young team. That have all the attributes we look for in Meath footballers. You r talented. But brave also. An All Ireland title cud be urs. But the main thing is we see in a few years time players like McBride and Costello and co playing for Meath seniors and performing v the Dubs and kildare like you have done so well this year.

Onwards and upwards. The Meath fightback v the Dubs has begun. Its a long road ahead. But hopefully we are climbing back up the ladder and the future Royals we saw today will see us come roaring back at senior level at the Dubs in the coming years.

Meath leinster football Minor Champions 2018. Well done.

Sonny678

For me this is the best underage Meath team I have seen since 90s. They are genuine All Ireland contenders. Since 2001 we havent had many Meath teams at any grades which were All Ireland contenders. Kerry are strong of course at minor. While Monaghan Ulster champions we lost by a point earlier in the year. If the game went on any longer we wud have won as we finished like a train. So we have a chance here.
But for me just as important is we keep these talented young players aboard all the way to senior. And hopefully win leinster Under 20 title next year or soon. We need to have sucess at that grade level soon too.

Sonny678

CrabRevolution wrote: »

I think the whole "our underage are coming good, so the future is rosy" is a bit overblown and as said above does smack of desperation. 10 years ago we were actually winning Leinster Minor Championships and it didn't exactly usher in much senior success.

Also, the 2 main pieces of evidence used to support this Meath underage rising were:
The U17s winning Leinster last year

Beating Dublin out the gate in minor in 2016

That Dublin beating seems a bit hollow now considering that in the space of 2 years this bunch of Dublin players have totally overtaken us. A harsh lesson in placing too much stock on underage performances, especially a single year's results at underage.

Heres is another stat that shows up this talk putting down our progress at underage.

Here are some great stats for Meath's future. Cian McBride and Matthew Costello have played 10 Leinster minor championship games in 2 seasons for Meath. They have had 10 victories (2 over Kildare, 3 over Dublin) and 2 leinster minor titles won. When was the last time any player at underage from any county defeated Dublin three times in two years in the leinster championship . Very rare. Both along with McCormack are serious prospects.

Hammer Archer

Big weekend in the SHC Group A. Two favourites beaten and Dunboyne in danger of not making the knockout stages.

Ratoath 3-15 Kildalkey 2-14
Kilmessan 1-16 Kiltale 0-16
Killyon 3-18 Dunboyne 4-11

In group B, Longwood and Trim look like they'll make the quarter finals with Dunderry almost certain to drop back to Intermediate.

Blackhall Gaels 2-14 Boardsmill 2-14
Trim 1-21 Dunderry 2-11
Longwood 0-23 Navan O'Mahonys 2-13

rpurfield

Are we all excited about the return of the championships then? I'm a bit suprised at that Carnaross Drumconrath result last night to be honest

Hammer Archer

Drumconrath seem to have dropped off a lot recently.
Minors 8 points up against Derry into the second half. Let’s hope they play to the final whistle today unlike last weekend.