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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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Hammer Archer

Can't believe I thought at the start of the year that we had put our injury crisis behind us.
MOD had a habit of making big changes to the named starting lineup so maybe some of the lads that are out will make an appearance after all. It's quite and experimental back line but our forwards don't look too bad. I hope he keeps Joey in the corner because he is wasted when brought out the field.

With or without the injuries, we should have too much for Wicklow. They seem to really have regressed this year with their only points in the league coming from a win against Leitrim and a Carlow draw. They were also beaten by Waterford and London meaning they were the joint worst team in the country going by league placings.

PaddyCar

Thats some joke playing the junior final in wexford on a thursday evening. 400km round trip

iDave

Hadnt realised Dalton hasn't played championship for us yet

Mauser 308

Trying to take the positives out of the injury's (if that's possible).
If the new guys can perform there will be great competition for places as the injury's clear up and more established guys return. That should drive guys on and do the panel the world of good.

iDave

Is Eamon W on the bench or gone altogether?

dixiefly

Team just seem to have been named, no mention of subs.

Rock Lesnar

dixiefly wrote: »

Team just seem to have been named, no mention of subs.

Injuries mean there is no subs

rpurfield

On the bright side folks, there are worse places for a team to go with 6 debuts than into a home game against Wicklow. No disrespect to the lads at all in saying that, but it should be a good way to get over the nerves of the championship debut as opposed to say playing the Dubs in Croker or the likes.

Huntergonzo

That is a weak Meath team there's no doubt about it, the entire defense and the full forward line in particular could be under pressure. Also it's a pity Keogan (our best player imo) has to play 6 instead of 2 but we don't really have anyone else to plug that gap and it's a pity that McGill has picked up an injury as well because I thought he was very good during the year.

On the plus side, both Rooney and Flanagan impressed me early in the year, Power has improved, Harnan has improved since moving to 11 and Tormey is back. Also now there's a chance for some inexperienced and fringe players to stake their claim for a starting position.

Hibbeler

I agree with the above that this does seem a weak team on paper. But hopefully the new guys will surprise us all and step up with a big performance.

The summer starts this weekend as far as I'm concerned. Time to get behind the lads and touch wood we could have a long summer ahead! Hon the Royals!

rpurfield

Mods if I'm out of school posting this apologies in advance, don't wield the big stick!!

Due to a combination of factors I'm left with a spare stand ticket for tomorrow, given I won two in an Eircom competition, I'm happy to pass one on free of charge to someone if they haven't bought one yet. If anyone wants it can you PM me before about 1.30pm Sunday or I probably won't see it then.

RoyalCelt

I think it's no coincidence we have constantly so many injured. I think we lack a professional set up and it means the lads are not training smart and recovering correctly. It's hard to compete but you can guarantee Dublin get looked after a lot more and there's more thought put into preventing injuries.

Anyway the positive is this should be a tricky test for us now which I'd take over a walk over anyday and lots of debutants is great.

Not ideal but I'll take it providing we win!

CrabRevolution

A good few of the injuries are the likes of broken hands though, I know at least Menton, Newman and Shane O'Rourkes injuries are anyway. No amount of training smart will make a broken bone heal quicker.

Hammer Archer

McGill's is a hand injury sustained at work.

iDave

Hammer Archer wrote: »

McGill's is a hand injury sustained at work.

Given that its probably best we dont indulge in conspiracy theories regarding training methods causing injuries.

Hibbeler

Anyone at the match today be able to post the subs list please?

I'm after hearing on LMFM that Kevin Reilly is togged out on the bench?

A-Train

Meath just got over the line there. Only listening on LMFM, were they that bad?

Rock Lesnar

Well i'm lost for words after that.......at least we won i suppose, from what i saw from the terrace, wicklow can feel very hard done with them red cards, could have been a different story

rpurfield

Wicklow lost their heads and I reckon it cost them the match, still at least it was a win Kev Reilly and Bryan Menton coming in was a positive. Time to get the herbal fluid of Sean Boylan into the rest of the lads!!

How did the management look at the big lad inside for Wicklow clean Tobin out for about 20 minutes before the change was made?

Hammer Archer

Bit of a no-win situation was that game. Win by a lot and it's only Wicklow. Win the way we did and we're one of the worst teams in the country. I know we made hard work of it, but I never really felt we were going to lose it for some reason.
Defence was all at sea when their big number 23 came on. No experienced head to guide them and far too small to deal with long balls. Really surprised Menton wasn't put into the back line as soon as he came on.
Forwards did well, especially Tormey, Biggy and Bray who is still one of our best players even when he's in his thirties. Tormey was very comfortable on frees I thought.
Midfield, Flanagan wasn't great but Rooney dominated the centre and caught some great ball. Looked absolutely knackered at the end.

Didn't really see either red card incident. But thought Wicklow's second penalty was for almost nothing and seemed like Cassidy simply gave it to make the game slightly more competitive.

Got our moneys worth anyway. Hopefully Gillespie, Newman, McGill and the likes are back this day two weeks as they'll improve the team no end.

I await with trepidation the death toll from all those risk takers taking their lives into their hands by sitting on the grass bank at the hospital end. Incredibly dangerous so it was :pac:

Obrieski

Very uninspiring but a win is a win is a win!

Big improvement needed for next day which will hopefully come, seemed players were quite ring rusty with lots of handling errors so getting over the first hurdle was always tough, especially Wicklow who were coming with nothing to lose and to be fair played brilliantly. They could have scored 4 goals by half time.

Brilliant to see Kevin 'Lazarus' Reilly come on. Hopefully it's not a false dawn and he can regain some kind of fitness, his leadership will be crucial going forward

iDave

With all the injuries we were never going to play 100% but today highlighted a serious lack of strength in depth. Our backs in particular got badly overrun quite a lot. How many goal chances did Wicklow actually get?
Thankfully Biggie Bray and Tormey had their shooting boots on.
Also Paddy O'Rourke really needs to stop taking 45s/Frees. His score rate must be less than 10%. Thankfully Tormey took most of them. On the subject of POR why is it guaranteed in every match he'll hoof the ball straight over the line twice. Repeating the same basic mistake over and over is maddening.
I fear our championship record against Westmeath could go. Hope thats not dramatic but we badly need to have some of those injured players back.

Also why was the hospital end opened? Did they admit too many to the terrace?

snowgal

I figured they were getting alot of grief from the crowd who wanted to be able to sit in the grass on such a good sunny say....Health and safety?? seriously!! yea thought Meath did ok, enough to get over the line and thought Wicklow ere decent enough at times. Our backs were very exposed though, need Reilly there full time to steady the ship, very nervous looking without him. Thought Rooney was excellent anf Graham did a decent job bar a few wrong decisions shooting at times. Overall, its ok! But genuinely fee the next game could go either way...

HighKing33

If the league thought us one thing it's that Davy Dalton is our best option at 6, given a free role he was excellent setting up attack after attack against Cavan. Power or Keogan could easily have slotted into that full-back role and provided better defence against the high ball. I'm not convinced by either of the above as half-backs.

Still you had to feel for O'Dowd describing the bizarre spate of hand injuries that have weakened his squad. Some display by Tormey at midfield. Westmeath have some really capable footballers, a strong attacking midfield with the likes of Heslin and Sherry. They'll be a different prospect in the championship you feel.

Hammer Archer

And Westmeath certainly won't be as naive as they were in the league game in Navan when they went man to man in defence in the second half.

As long as there were no ill effects from yesterday, it's essential for Menton and/or Kevin Reilly to be in defence to provide a cool head. And in my opinion, Keogan simply has to be in the corner. He had a poor game by his standards yesterday at 6 and as one of the best man markers in the country, he's wasted at half back.
Please let Gillespie be back!!!

dixiefly

I havent posted here before now because I havent a clue what to think about this team anymore. of course it was great to get the win and Wicklow put it up to us. I remember in 1991 after the four game saga with the Dubs Wicklow drew with us next time out and could have won the game. So, on the one hand to go out and win the game considering the players that were missing is a decent enough performance.

I suppose it is the manner of the way scores were conceded, the fact that it was a home game and the fact that Wicklow have been so poor in the league that makes me wonder where we are going. Also, is there something being done wrong that is resulting in all of these injuries? Why are so many players being played out of position continuouusly? (Keoghan at chb, Harnan at chf, Tobin at fb, S Bray at ff etc etc.)

Mick O'Dowd's interview last night was strange considering the game we all saw. He had to keep up the positivity but I think he actually used the word outstanding when describing some of the players. You really have to wonder what he is seeing when he uses words like that.

Meath Centre Forward

Yesterday the defense was very poor. The attack was surprisingly good. This is the opposite of what I witnessed throughout the League.

Any chance Micko is playing his cards close to chest? Wishful thinking maybe. I'd say Wicklow were kicking themselves not having McGraynor on from the start. He was outstanding in the Sigerson Cup games recently so no idea how he couldn't get his place on that Wicklow team.

We'll need changes in the backs for the next day definitely. Throughout the League, Donnacha Tobin has looked a fraction of a second slower to react, slower to read the game, slower to move, call it whatever, he has not looked as sharp all year to me. Now saying that last year he was excellent and set a high standard for himself. This slight drop in performance is a worry though because he had become so dependable. I'm just worried he's not like K. Reilly or Keogan any more where you can depend on him.

Nicky Judge is a a very good tackler and that was evident at times yesterday but he was caught ball-watching far too often. He lost his man so many times. Whatever the reason - maybe the tempo of championship football is another step-up from the League? I can't see him starting against Westmeath.

One of Brian Power and Davy Dalton should lose out for the next day too. Dalton to me has loads of football in him, good passer, good reader, all those things but does he seem a little light? I could forgive a 19 or 20 year old this but Dalton is 26. This may sound a harsh criticism but you're comparing him with other top teams.

Midfield and forwards done well. Only criticism of midfield would be they need to get back and help out more. Forwards we're lucky to have a ball winner in Bray. You can't underestimate the importance of a full-forward who makes the ball stick. I know the last poster complained about players out of position and I agree on them all bar Bray. Tormey and Reilly are our version of Flynn and Connolly, right maybe not in their League but not many other teams with scoring wing-forwards like them. Again only criticism would be get back and help out the backs more.

I don't see how Micko keeps starting Joey Wallace. Well maybe I can accept he's lighting up the club championship and perhaps training sessions too but it has not happened for him in a senior intercounty match. It is plain to see. It's a harsh criticism of a young player but he has no business starting or even coming on. I like McMahon. He knows how to make a bit of a space for himself for a shot and he knows where the posts are. I thought he had a fine game yesterday. But I'd be hoping Newman is back soon and I'd get him straight in there.

Of the subs, Menton looked very rusty. He contributed very little when he came on and to be honest, did not look very confident in himself (no idea why he came on with a pair of gloves?). Reilly I thought minded himself too. Real worry for me was McGraynor came out the field, won a ball, headed for goal and Reilly was very slow to turn after him and looked a yard slower than him too. Real worry that because for a big man Reilly was always fast and agile. Bound to happen to a certain degree with all the football he's missed but people saying we need him back, beware, we need the old Kevin Reilly back, not the one who's struggled for fitness all season.

Team for the next day (assuming McGill & Menton are available)

O'Rourke
Tobin - McGill - Keogan
McEntee - Burke - Menton
Flanagan - Rooney
Reilly - Harnan - Tormey
E. Wallace - Bray - McMahon

Centre-back a real tough call for me. It's 50/50 whether you take Keogan out of his best position to fill in here.

my friend

Meath - the new Cavan

Living far too long on past glories, it used to be something to be 'on the Meath team'

Nowadays we have mere peacocks strutting about as members of a team that purportedly represents Meath

Meath - the new Cavan, it really has sunk to this

Rock Lesnar

I posted a while that i thought Keoghan's best position is corner back and nothing iv'e seen since has changed my mind, he looks uncomfortable not having anybody to mark, plus i think a lot of wicklows attacks came through the middle when he had gone forward, i'd put menton in there for westmeath, and donal back to the corner

Hammer Archer

Rock Lesnar wrote: »

I posted a while that i thought Keoghan's best position is corner back and nothing iv'e seen since has changed my mind, he looks uncomfortable not having anybody to mark, plus i think a lot of wicklows attacks came through the middle when he had gone forward, i'd put menton in there for westmeath, and donal back to the corner

Quite frankly, I think centre half back is our weakest position. Menton has been tried there before and wasn't great in my view. Agree about Keogan. Harnan and Burke had similar results. Teams just seem to break through the middle of our defence far too easily and this has been going on for way too long.