Meath GAA discussion thread

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Meath's division 1 experience has done them the world of good it seems! Utter rubbish on display

Would love to know what county you support and what has contributed to your hatred of Meath.

dobman88 wrote: »

Would love to know what county you support and what has contributed to your hatred of Meath.

You need to concentrate on the times of the posts not the county of origin

CrabRevolution wrote: »

I wouldn't say we've regressed, moreso plateaued.

Getting to division one and QF group stages is a nice achievement, but they're effectively an audition to see if your capable of playing at that level and we fell hopelessly short. We can't honestly say we were playing a top 8 level of football.

Luck can also play a part. In 2019 we were all delighted to get Clare in the 4th round qualifier to reach the QFs, because the alternative was Tyrone or Mayo and a far more difficult path to the QFs. It fell the other way this year; a few more or fewer points in the other league group this year would have seen Clare finish top and the semi final would have been Meath vs. Clare in Navan. I'd have been very confident in Meath winning that, and we would be called a top 8 team, mixing it with the best etc. but in reality we'd be no better or worse than we are today after losing to Kildare.

I think all of that is a fair assessment. Going into the game I thought it was a 50-50 match anyway. Looking at the championship game last winter and the relative form of Meath I was hopeful. It's just gut wrenching that a lot of times when there's a big game where this side is on an equal footing or better than the opposition they don't perform. Off the top of my head I'm thinking the last two Leinster finals (not the result the performance) yesterday, Longford in 2018.

I don't know if its a case that having not been regularly winning big games at minor and 20s the know how isn't there at the higher level. As usual after the game people are pointing the finger at management and looking for a change, but will that instill the consistent performance in the team all of a sudden.

This isn't soccer where a big name manager a hundred million solves your problem. Changing the manager isn't necessarily the answer. They aren't going to suddenly make the lads world beaters. We've done the square root of sod all for 20 years and we are where we are. I don't know what the answer is but it certainly isn't as simple as a lack of belief, lads being soft or bringing a new backroom team.

Dickie10 wrote: »

i wouldnt agree we have done nothing for 20 years. If other 20 counties won a provincial title , got to two all ireland semi finals and gave dublin an 11 point beating in a leinster semi final it would go down on their history as well as being in 2 minor all ireland finals and winnin 3 leinster minor titles. is this not nearly enough? we have been consistent decent div 2 outfit the last 20 years i would have thought. theres a good 14 counties wont ever achieve the above.

Maybe I am being harsh but I mean it in terms of being back at the very top table. The gaps between them minor Leinster's are significant and a lot of other years we were fairly poor at the grade. Yes we have done a good bit in the last 20 years but before that we were winning All Irelands and Leinsters to beat the band for a good 15 years!

Trouble in Meath lads….

https://www.meathchronicle.ie/2021/06/18/flynn-resigns-as-meath-u-20-football-manager/

Hammer Archer wrote: »

SFC draw
Group A
Navan O'Mahonys v Donaghmore/Ashbourne
Ratoath v Dunshaughlin

Group B
Curraha v Na Fianna
St. Colmcilles v Ballinabrackey

Group C
Gaeil Colmcille v Wolfe Tones
Simonstown Gaels v Moynalvey

Group D
Seneschalstown v Summerhill
Skryne v St. Peter's Dunboyne

Jaysus, group A is a doozy.

Just hook Group A straight to my veins!!!!

That's the tonic you need for the return of championship football

As a blow in to Meath, I was delighted to win Premier 8 with DonAsh today. Some years of good work put into that side of the club came to fruition today. Beating a very good Navan side 3-9 to 1-8. Only disappointing aspect was the Navan fans booing us after while we went to collect the cup at Junior D level :pac:

GET IN THERE.

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Drumconrath, St. Mary's and Clonard, it seems, are now in the Premier championship (all in division 3). Presumably after being uncompetitive in the JFC for the last few years. It's worrying the number of clubs that seem to be going a similar direction to St. Paul's. Clonard especially were relatively competitive in Junior A up until recently (with Flanagan a regular with Meath).

Ratoath and Trim are playing in the first round of the 2021 hurling championship, probably only a week or two after playing in the 2020 hurling final.

Clonard and Mary's are doing savage work at underage and I think if they can hang in there there will be better days ahead. I don't know where Drumconrath are at in that regard. I was listening to We Are Meath earlier and they mentioned the regrading. They were also saying when three go down to Junior from the IFC this year the junior then splits into Junior 1 and 2. It seems the 1 will be the three relegated plus the 7 that got out of this years JFC groups and the 2 is the other 10 to include Pauls Clonard and Marys. Of them all I'd be most concerned for Pauls. They're squeezed in between some massive clubs so I assume young lads coming through are non existent.

It's a bit of a disaster alright. But I'm surprised it took this long.

McEntee has been a good appointment in team performance terms, but it's clear he has a hard headed approach to things. Now you could say this is a good thing for a manager to have but it has often boiled over to unacceptable behaviour. There's a handful of his actions ranging from simply not allowing players to play with their clubs to more serious incidents where he has abused referees, journalists etc. and the supporters have simply rowed in behind him. The county board have either done the same or stayed silent.

It was only a matter of time before he'd clash with someone who wouldn't take it and would end up embarrassing the county board.

I'm not sure if it was ever an official policy but it certainly puts paid to the McEntee-Flynn succession plan I've seen mentioned a lot.

Does anyone know the exact reason for Flynn pulling the plug?

Were Hickey and Costello being pulled for under 20 Championship games or was Andy refusing to release them for training sessions / challenge games?

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Well done to the ladies, winning the division 2 title. They hammered Kerry 2-16 to 1-9 and are back in division 1 for the first time in 7 years next year.

I was seriously impressed with them yesterday now, it was a great display. They have a tough group in the championship but I think they are good enough to at least consolidate their position this year.

Is anyone privy to the rules governing player eligibility for the "Premier" championships?

The only fact I'm sure of is that a club can name 10 players who are ineligible to play for their 2nd team. I find this stupid enough to begin with but would like to know how the rest of the system works.

When the first team championships start in August* do the "normal" rules on eligibility kick in, i.e. if you play a higher grade you can't play a lower grade?

If so would this not mean that 2nd teams will play the first 3 rounds of Premier before losing maybe 10 players to the first team in one week and having a very different team for the 4th round? And this would then knock on to any potential third team.

Also, if a club has a third team, do the "normal" rules apply regarding eligibility, or is it another chosen 10 for your second team? e.g. If a second team plays on Friday and uses 5 subs, does that mean those 20 players are ineligible to play for the third team on the Saturday? Or is there just a list of 20 players (10 first team and 10 second team) who can't play for the 3rd team?

*Barring some miracle where Meath beat Dublin in Leinster.

Obrieski wrote: »

Was only thinking the same myself earlier, not sure of any answer to this.

There will be players playing Feis Cup on Wednesday and will they then be allowed play for the 2nd team on the weekend?
It will definitely result in some mismatches at some point in the year you would imagine.

That's exactly what it looks like will happen. No club won't want to play their strongest team in the Premier championship, so their second team will include at least 5 first team players plus any subs used. Usually the championships start at the same time so there's no overlap.

I'd say it's rough on teams with several county players such as Ratoath. Since their county players are unavailable, their Wednesday night Cup team will already be mostly made up of 2nd team players, who then will be playing again at the weekend.

The Feis Cup, or whatever cup, doesn't tie a player to the first team. Its championship only.

We played Premier 8 2020 final last weekend and had a player available to us who had played 2 Feis Cup games for the seniors. He was only 18 last year and didnt play for 1st, 2nd or 3rd team in championship thankfully. Hes a big, naturally athletic chap and has been in with the seniors since they went back. Will likely play championship for the 2nd team and sub for the 1st team with little to no game time.

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Is anyone privy to the rules governing player eligibility for the "Premier" championships?

The only fact I'm sure of is that a club can name 10 players who are ineligible to play for their 2nd team. I find this stupid enough to begin with but would like to know how the rest of the system works.

When the first team championships start in August* do the "normal" rules on eligibility kick in, i.e. if you play a higher grade you can't play a lower grade?

If so would this not mean that 2nd teams will play the first 3 rounds of Premier before losing maybe 10 players to the first team in one week and having a very different team for the 4th round? And this would then knock on to any potential third team.

Also, if a club has a third team, do the "normal" rules apply regarding eligibility, or is it another chosen 10 for your second team? e.g. If a second team plays on Friday and uses 5 subs, does that mean those 20 players are ineligible to play for the third team on the Saturday? Or is there just a list of 20 players (10 first team and 10 second team) who can't play for the 3rd team?

*Barring some miracle where Meath beat Dublin in Leinster.

On your last point I would imagine this is the case that if you play for a second team you are barred from dropping down. If you look at the fixtures the premier 1 and 2 etc are generally out first, especially where teams have a third (or fourth) team.

Cavan_King wrote: »

Longford are atrocious. Mickey Graham threw his arse at the League in Cavan and got us relegated but the one game we won was vs Longford. They are atrocious. You wouldn’t see as many unforced errors at an U13 game.

They seem to have picked up as the league went on though. The only thing I will say is I think we are all a bit shook still over the Kildare game. its hard to know where we are at after it given it was so flat.

On the positive side though listening to We Are Meath's build up podcast and they were saying Menton, Keogan and Jones were all back in non contact training last week. I'd be suprised to see Jones but you would be a lot more confident if Menton and Keogan are available.

Great win. They were not as good as in previous games but that was to be expected and Offaly worked very hard and had some very good players. Hopefully they can improve in the All-Ireland semi and win that one.

The competition regulations (Cups and Championships) are up on the Meath GAA website for anyone interested in the earlier discussion.

Whoever wins the Premier 7 or 8 will have some slog; 9 rounds of group games followed by a semi final and a final!

I know some people say it's great to have so many games but at that level in my experience it just leads to dead rubbers and walkovers. If you're a 2nd/3rd team down in Premier 7 and you lose your first 2/3 games before starting to lose players to your first team, interest will just evaporate and you'll struggle to get teams out for the remaining games. In fact a lot of teams would see relegation as a positive since it'll be an easier chance of a trophy the following year.

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Any link for those regulations? Can't for the life of me find them.

https://meath.gaa.ie/club-admin/

They're there under the Downloads section.