Meath GAA discussion thread

Hammer Archer

Another loss to Dublin. 1-12 to 9 points. Wasn't at it but we seemed to be doing OK coming up to half time but conceded an injury time goal. Joey Wallace went off injured.

Hibbeler

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Another loss to Dublin. 1-12 to 9 points. Wasn't at it but we seemed to be doing OK coming up to half time but conceded an injury time goal. Joey Wallace went off injured.

Is that it for the U21s or is there a back door?

Hammer Archer

That's it. No back door in the U21 championship.

Obrieski

Ok MOD Has a lot to answer for, but are we really surprised at losing to Cavan?

I mean, let's be real here. All this "oh we should beat Cavan as we are from Meath" thinking is exactly what has us into this mess...thinking because we are Meath we have a divine right to be challenging. Unfortunately, reality bites and that is exactly what happened.

Take Cavan, they've won what, 3 or 4 Ulster u-21 titles in a row, reached an all Ireland where were unlucky to be beaten by Dublin. They beat us on merit in Sunday and should have beaten us last year too.

Where have we been at u21...nowhere. Haven't won a title since Geraghty's time I think. And now, more than ever, your underage ranks lead to senior success due to better dietary advice, improved skills, weights sessions etc etc. People mention the minor teams that won Leinster recently, none of did anything at u21. 08 crop beat Dublin but lost to a good Longford side.

Our boys, at all levels, look physically weaker and smaller than their opposition. Look at any action photo from games over the past while. Too many guys who try to be the hero rather than play for te team.

It's the players who take to the pitch, they were 8 points up last Sunday, were massively ahead against Westmeath last year. Someone mentioned, correctly, as well the game against Kildare a couple of years ago where we hung on by the skin of our teeth. This team has a massive mental issue, or mental block. I doubt management say to them to not kick on when ahead. The old Meath spirit is dead- it would be a foolish person to suggest otherwise.

I don't enjoy typing this as a passionate Meath fan, who has club mates, team mates, friends and former team mates who all currently play for this Meath team. I know the effort they put in but there is no progression.

Teams enjoy playing us, I could manage a mediocre team to compete against us. All they need to do is run at us and they will create, it's not rocket science. We have no defensive structure and no attacking flow.

Now, onto MOD. Very slow to react on the line, when things go bad there appears no back up. No leadership on or off the field. Relying on individual brilliance to get us over the line. Players not good enough as well. Everyone to blame.

The solution, I feel, needs to be a root and branch overhaul of the underage system. Proper diet plans, weights sessions and skill work at all levels. If we want to be the best again, we need to strive to be the best and stop HOPING our star at u14 is still the best at minor, at u21 as is currently the case. We need to nurture that 14 year old so that he IS the best at minor etc.

In the short term, Andy McEntee is a no brainer, for me, as next Meath manager. If ever a man knows the game, knows how to manage, and most importantly get the best out of his players - then I would look no further. He has the grit and determination that this job needs. MOD is just too nice for his own good

Rant over!
Up Meath!

Hammer Archer

Teams named for tomorrow:

Meath (FL v Galway) – Conor McHugh; Donal Keogan, Conor McGill, Mickey Burke; Donnacha Tobin, Padraic Harnan, Cathal Finn; Harry Rooney, Brian Power; Sean Tobin, Cillian O'Sullivan, Graham Reilly; Eamon Wallace, Michael Newman, Donal Lenihan.

.

Meath (NHL v Donegal): Shane McGann; Cormac Reilly, David Donoghue, Shane Whitty; Damian Healy, Ronan Sherlock, Keith Keoghan; Sean Heavey, Sean Geraghty; Stephen Clynch, Tom Clarke, Joey Keena; Steven Morris, James Toher, Adam Gannon.

Subs: David Harmon, Neil Heffernan, Sean Quigley, Shane Brennan, Luke Martyn, Eanna Harrington, Naoise McGuire, Michael O'Grady, Ciaran Fitzsimons, Jack Walsh, Ciaran O'Rourke.

Not bothering heading over to Galway tomorrow. They'll probably put in a magnificent performance now.

dixiefly

Well MOD has gone for the minimal number of changes both of which are enforced. I find it hard to fathom the logic of not seeing any change is necessary after the last two games. You can only conclude that he doesnt rate his subs at all or maybe he has seen some major shift in attitude / approach that makes them worth going with again.

it is really hard to generate any confidence in the guy when you see the passive sideline approach, the non changes and the interviews where he is sighing and basically saying that he hasn't a clue what went wrong last weekend. Let's hope I am wrong and he has identified what was wrong and is confident of the team today. However please don't move Graham Reilly to midfield if things are going wrong there.

Obrieski

Halfway through second half and in the midst of another collapse.

Even if we pull through there is a serious issue here. Consistently now we are seeing these collapses. What is going on

whatnext

Nine point half time lead down to one by the 53rd minute. Words escape me....... I'm off to the pub.

Hammer Archer

And Galway hit the front.
Baffling.

Rock Lesnar

Deja vu, im not even angry or frustrated anymore, its just the norm now under this manager, at least i had a good night out down here last night

CrabRevolution

Mayo currently beating Down in the hurling. If it stays that way it might be to our advantage. If (and it's a big if) we manage to beat Down in Ballycran, I'd be much more confident in beating Mayo in a league final than playing Down again.

Armagh seem to be motoring well too, so I don't think we can count our match with them as a given.

Obrieski

Draw match. At least a bit of fight to score the final 3 points but as usual, huge time between scores in 2nd half

Hammer Archer

Well I suppose it was a point we didn't expect to get before the game but there is evidently something seriously wrong mentally with this team. To be 8 and 9 points ahead in two consecutive games and fail to win either is unforgivable.

32 point win for the hurlers over Donegal and Mayo beat Down.

Meath Centre Forward

I didn't travel so can't comment too much but I would say players have to share the blame for these second half collapses. There is only so much Micko can do and in fairness he has the team responding to these losses with impressive first half displays.

There is a positive here in that Meath are playing impressive football only for it to be overshadowed by a collapse. It's a big ask to get the psychological issues fixed but if they were to be addressed, it would make you wonder how good Meath could be.

A lot of this is rooted in a lack of underage success and a habit of losing in my opinion. Bar a few players around the middle either, I don't think there's a fitness issue. The issues are all in the players heads.

Rock Lesnar

Are we really producing impressive 1st half displays though, In my opinion, we are not, apart from today, which was a good 1st half, last weekend Cavan kicked some fairly bad wides from good scoring positions, and that was not the 1st time its happened, there's been a few games now, that if teams had taken their chances, the scoreline could have been a lot closer at half time.

I absolutely agree that the players must carry some blame for the collapses, they are on the field, but for me, as a manager, the buck stops with you, they are your players, and playing to your game plan, you have to react to whats happening and you have to try and stop it, if the subs are not working, then you change your tactics and find another way, you don't keep doing what your'e doing, because that's clearly not working to begin with, and this is where he fails for me

Arrow in the Knee

Is he actually picking the best players in the county?

Seems like when a player is over a certain age 'mid-twenties' they don't get a look in to the Senior squad.

CrabRevolution

What players do you reckon he's missing?

Arrow in the Knee

CrabRevolution wrote: »

What players do you reckon he's missing?

Sheppard from Wolfe Tones should be given a chance. Also Ward.

Chris O'Connor is one of our best half-forwards in the county.
Is Damian Carroll still playing with Meath.

I'm sure there is more but they're not off the top of me head atm.

Meath look a bit light/small looking as a team.

rpurfield

Didn't travel yesterday either as I had to bring the better half out with it being Mother's Day and all. As said above it was a point i didn't expect even at five to two yesterday but to turn over nine points like that again is unacceptable. It's a myriad of factors at this stage. I fully expect to see MOD gone by October and Andy McEntee to be in situ next year if I'm being honest.

Hibbeler

It's definitely a point gained yesterday when you consider our now recurring bad habit of throwing away big leads. I mean how does a team drop a 8 or 9 point lead two weeks in a row? Mind boggling!

As I read somewhere else before, this is like Anti-Meath in the sense that Meath used to have a reputation for believing they can win even when the chips are down. Now the opponents believe that Meath can crumble even when on a high.

Anyway I don't see Tyrone next time out letting us get that lead to start off with. I think they will be the ones to get the big lead and annihilate us!. I hate saying that as usually I believe Meath can beat anyone on their day but I just can't see it currently. I hope I'm wrong.

The last league outing in Portlaoise will be our biggest game this season as we will need to win to stay in Div 2. Forget the championship for now, we will be lucky to be still in it by July

Hammer Archer

Team for Sunday

Meath (NFL v Tyrone): Conor McHugh, Donal Keogan, Conor McGill, Mickey Burke, Donnacha Tobin, Brian Power, Alan Douglas, Harry Rooney, Padraic Harnan, James McEntee, Cillian O'Sullivan, Graham Reilly, Eamon Wallace, Michael Newman, Donal Lenihan

Alan Douglas gets his chance in the half back line with Seán Tobin making way. Harnan moves into midfield.
I don't think it'll be a hammering but I can't see anything other than a Tyrone win, especially given the way Seán Cavanagh usually plays against us. This'll mean we're likely going to have to win at least one of our last two away games to stay up.

Hammer Archer

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

Sheppard from Wolfe Tones should be given a chance. Also Ward.

Chris O'Connor is one of our best half-forwards in the county.
Is Damian Carroll still playing with Meath.

I'm sure there is more but they're not off the top of me head atm.

Meath look a bit light/small looking as a team.

Carroll has made himself unavailable this season. He didn't really impress me when he played though. Apart from the great game he had in his first season against Kildare, he was just too inconsistent.
I'm not sure if O'Connor has made himself available this season, but I would agree that he was great for the Bracks in previous seasons.
Haven't seen Sheppard play in quite a while so can't comment on him.

As for Ward, I have always been a great admirer of his but he just didn't produce the form that he was capable of often enough. For every great game he'd have he would produce 3 or 4 indifferent or awful performances. I remember when he ran riot against Louth in 2011 and got 4 goals and then he couldn't hit a barn door in the next game against Galway. With frees as well, he could stick one from close to the 65 one day and miss one straight in front of the posts the next. It really does seem to be a problem in Meath in modern times. Back in the 80s and 90s (and into the 2000s) we had the likes of Stafford and Giles who were worth a good few points each game thanks to their consistent free taking. Since then I can remember Joe Sheridan, Daithi Regan, Brian Farrell, Cian Ward, Michael Newman and Seán Tobin. All decent, but all likely to have awful days from placed balls.

Felexicon

Another perfectly winnable game passes Meath by and it's looking more and more like we'll be in division 3 next year

Hammer Archer

Hard to believe that we barely missed out on promotion the last two years. Didn't make it today but by the looks of it we just didn't have the belief to win yet again.
Probably going to have to get a result in both of our last two games. Can't see anything but division 3 next season.

And to add insult to injury, the hurlers were well and truly hockeyed away to Armagh meaning we've to win in Ballycran to have any chance of getting to the final. Wicklow's win against Mayo means we've still got a slight chance of promotion.

Meath Centre Forward

That game was in no way winnable for Meath. Whatever about Cavan and Galway, where Meath actually dominated for periods, Tyrone absolutely destroyed Meath today. That was a 5 point hammering. Tyrone could have won by 10 if they wanted.

Of all the league games I've been at under Mick O'Dowd managed teams, today was the one where we were most outclassed. Hopefully that's not an exaggeration. Yes there were bad days where we didn't perform but today I felt many Meath players played well and still came up well short. Burke, Harnan, Finn, Rooney, O'Sullivan, McEntee, Wallace, all played as well as at any stage in this League campaign and were simply not good enough.

iDave

I expected us to be relegated this year but no less disappointing to see it happen.
I can handle losing to Tyrone. I don't even know what they're doing in this division. It's losing to mediocrity like Cavan and Fermanagh that's the most annoying. Not to mention the recurrence of second half collapses.
Will they're be a Banty-esque heave against MOD when the inevitable happens?

Felexicon

I think you're being slightly harsh to Meath there. The game was certainly winnable today but I think some of the tactics employed made it difficult for the team to string scores together in quick succession.
I thought Cillian O'Sullivan and James McEntee were excellent but when they ran at Tyrone the only option they had inside was Mickey Newman who was being marked by 3 men from about the 10th minute.
This meant Meath players were having to turn back on themselves and they were either playing the ball backwards or running into a swarm of Tyrone defenders.
Now don't get me wrong Tyrone were the better team today and deserved their win but Meath could have given themselves a god chance of winning the game.

Did anyone here what the lad in the stand was shouting at/about the County Board? Seemed to be losing the head altogether.

Also Graham Reilly needs to have a chat to himself. Stopped trying for about 10 minutes and then tripped a lad in a nothing position trying to get himself the black card.

TLDR?
Meath weren't to ****e. Some lad lost the plot in the stand

CrabRevolution

In fairness, if we were told before the league that we'd lose by 5 points to Tyrone. I think most people would say "fair enough, that's to be expected, disappointing but not the end of the world".

I reckon the fact it has transpired that we nearly needed a result from today's game makes us see it as a worse loss. Our league isn't turning on a result vs Tyrone, it's the Fermanagh and Cavan games that caused the most damage. I think a result vs. Derry is possible. I normally find predictions like these stupid, but I reckon we'll get a pair of the same results. If we lose to Derry we'll just deflate and go out with a whimper vs. Laois. Whereas if we beat Derry we'll get a bit of a wind in our sails and leave Laois with a lot of work to do.

dixiefly

I agree with the above - Tyrone were easily the best team Meath have played this year. I have been at all games except the Fermanagh one and Tyrone were in command of this game once theie goal went in. Meath worked hard but couldnt consistently get good ball into the forward line.

You have to hand it to Mickey Harte and Tyrone, they have a system and the implement it consistently. When Meath get possession after the kickout they visibly retreat en-masse to the halfway line and create a blanket defence that Meath struggled to get through. However, Meath did get through for the goal when they passed very cleverly with several players involved, most notably O'Sullivan.

Meath needed more than that and efforts to repeat it ended up being snuffed out by the mass defence. They needed more options, quick kick passes from defence and forwards with an ability to break quickly and the confidence to go for a longer range point. We dont have that and we dont have a consistent free taker. These are probably not Mick O'Dowd's fault or the fact that we are lacking in options at full back and midfield. But Micko still makes strange decisions on the line. He started Graham Reilly again in midfield, the guy just does not have the workrate for that position. I wasnt sure why he removed Alan Douglas early as he was one of the few who actually tried to get forward and was involved in the build up to the goal. Donnacha Tobin also removed early who was having a good game imo.

Overall, as said above, our poor position is resulting from the Cavan game in which we capitulated very easily after building the lead. We are badly in need of a proper full-back, a midfield partner for Rooney and a more consistent free taker up front. Without these it is very difficult for any manager to bring this team forward.

Delealli20

Full credit to Andy McEntee and Ballyboden on their All Ireland win. There's going to be a lot of talk linking him to the Meath senior job over the next few weeks. Think we need to make it happen fast, he'll be a wanted man.