Meath GAA discussion thread

Ladies have lost another big player with Mary-Kate Lynch signing for the AFLW side Sydney Swans.

Costello out for Sunday. Remains to be seen whether Keoghan and Conlon will be back. Cork are slight favourites but regardless of what happens, we'll still be in the top two. But a loss would potentially knock a lot of our momentum. And we generally do not do very well in Newbridge for the following week. Weird feeling amongst the supporters. Usually we'd be ecstatic with three wins from three but there's a strange pessimism surrounding the side given the nature of the victories. Hopefully a more positive feel by 4pm Sunday.

That was a really disappointing result, particularly when you take the other results from yesterday into account.

Did pretty well against the win for around 30 minutes of the first half and just one point down against the strong breeze. Then completely capitulated and conceded 1-3 before half time. Our midfield just disappeared in that time. Not sure if McBride was carrying a knock but he looked a shadow of himself from the previous few games. Second half, we played in fits and starts. Got the early goal and looked like we would push on, but then played with zero urgency for around 25 minutes. Even initially, after the red card, it made little difference. Then got within a point with 6 remaining and I thought we'd take over, but didn't score again. To be fair to Cork, they were well up for it and looked a completely different team to last year.

Overall, it would have probably been an undeserved win had we snatched it. Cork seemed hungrier throughout while we seemed lethargic and ponderous and we probably lost two-thirds of kickouts at least. Summed up in the second half when Kinsella had the ball outside the Cork 45 and allowed their player sprint from the halfway line and dispossess him. Cork also did really well to shut down any open play 2-point efforts in the second half. Frayne got our only one in the second half.

Again, converting goal chances just seems to be a huge issue for us. We seem to get at least 3-4 a game but can only convert 1. Conlon did well after coming on. Morris was good in the first half but disappeared in the second. Really missed Rafferty in defence. I'm confused at Conor Duke's role this year. Last year, he kicked some massive two pointers and was a real scoring threat. This year, he's scoreless after four games and I can't remember him really taking on any chances.

Would like to see a replay of the last passage of play as it looked like the Meath player had the shirt nearly reefed off him when collecting the ball. Though given we were gifted our two point free in the first half, it was swings and roundabouts.

While the loss isn't a disaster, it's definitely made things more complicated. We're ahead of Derry on head-to-head, but if we beat Kildare next week and Cork lose to Derry, we likely go third on score difference (unless Derry win big). Hoping that Cork can go unbeaten between now and the end of the league which would probably mean that two more wins will do it.

What are we thinking about Saturday? Kildare will need a response after their loss to Cavan to avoid being dragged into the relegation zone (though they are, at least guaranteed All-Ireland football this year). St. Conleth's, like Breffni Park, is a place that I don't really remember us having a huge amount of success in over the years.

Injuries seem to be mounting again as McBride may not make it. Conflicting reports between Rafferty being available for Saturday and being out for the remainder of the league. Could do with Hickey and Curtis at least returning. Hopefully Conlon is able

A win for us will put a huge amount of pressure on Derry to get a win against Cork. Though if we lose, chances are promotion is off the table for another year.

Decent performance and Brennan's three placed balls at the end certainly put a gloss on the scoreline which could end up being very important after the end of the league. But Kildare were utterly dreadful and you'd worry for their chances of avoiding relegation. First win in Newbridge in over 25 years.

Good pressure in defence which was a good improvement from last week (though, again, the quality of the opposition was much poorer). Morris mixed the good with the bad, some good scores and linkup play, but gave the ball away cheaply at times. Jack O'Connor was excellent in the first half but is obviously still not up to full fitness. Great to see both Curtis and Hickey back on the bench and they'll be excellent options in the last two games.

A Cork win for us tomorrow would be huge. But, either way, the big win means we'll stay in the top two regardless.

Side note, probably the most bizarre instance of a referee bringing the ball up 50m. Adam O'Neill kicked the ball out over the line and the referee somehow deems that to be deserving of giving Kildare a two point attempt. I could understand if the ball was out, but it was still in play when he kicked it.

Derry absolutely hammered Cork. Probably the best result for us after a Cork win as now we have +25 score difference over them. Derry have a tough game away to Louth in two weeks but should have enough to win both that and the Cavan game. You'd expect Cork to beat Kildare but then they've a tough away trip against Tyrone.

But if we win both our remaining games, we should be promoted regardless.

Excellent attacking performance, defence leaves a bit to be desired. Couldn't believe the space that Tyrone awarded O'Connor in the first half. His two pointers just brought us back into a game that looked like getting away from us.

Louth's result means that we just need a draw against Offaly to guarantee promotion. I still remember the horror of Wexford Park in 2007 where we nearly threw away promotion, so really hope we finish the job.

Wexford back then were very good (and were a bogey team of ours), but Offaly seem to be getting some me players back from injury and, with no pressure on them anymore, I'm still wary of them. I hope we take them seriously, put our best team out and make sure we get the result we need. It would be an embarrassing end if we went into the game thinking we only had to show up and got turned over.

I'd say there'll be an absolutely huge crowd from Meath there on Sunday. Supposedly there were only around 200 Offaly fans at the Cavan game so it'll probably be over 90% Meath fans.

Yeah, I think it was Redmond Barry that missed the chances. If I remember correctly, Mattie Forde went off injured so we were incredibly lucky that day. We would have started the new division 1-4 setup from division 3 had we (probably deservedly) been beaten by more that day.

The forwards headache is a great one to have. When certain forwards are kept quiet, it means others are offered more space to shine. Only Down in division 3 have scored more than us so far. Watched Lynch's first goal back. Initially I'd thought it was just poor tracking by Tyrone, but it was actually genius movement by Lynch who gave the ball off to Morris and moved in such a way that his marker collided with Morris' marker which gave him the space.

Unchanged team from last week. Not sure if last week's game was the first where we've actually lined out as per the team released. When looking at the bench, you can really see the disparity in depth between forwards and backs.

Won't be counting my chickens. Offaly and Mickey Harte teams always worry me. But Offaly have the worst defence throughout all four divisions (conceding an average of over 26 points per game) while we've the best attack in the division (and second highest scorers in the league). That should be enough to tip it in our favour, regardless of how our defence performs.

Hurlers still have an extremely slim shot at promotion, though they'd need to beat Kerry tomorrow and hope that, somehow, Mayo beat Westmeath. Though it's been a better league campaign than was expected, I feel. But there's still a big gap between ourselves and the next level.