Meath GAA discussion thread

Dickie10

Littlehorny wrote: »

I saw on Facebook that Dublin GAA put up a post sending Graham Geraghty all their best wishes for a full recovery.
Thought it was a very nice touch.

196k is the current population, kildare has 210k, both meath and kildare now get second highest grants after dublin. was shocked to see Down have a population of 520000. if half are ntionlaist thats still 250k

Cavan_King

Dickie10 wrote: »

196k is the current population, kildare has 210k, both meath and kildare now get second highest grants after dublin. was shocked to see Down have a population of 520000. if half are ntionlaist thats still 250k

Belfast and it’s suburbs would run into Down. Newry & Bangor also huge towns.

Hammer Archer

Wicklow it is in Aughrim next Sunday. Hopefully we'll have our eye on the ball unlike Offaly last year.

snowgal

Yea it’s so strange that our first championship game is next weekend and I can’t go! still hopefully we will win and get a good run in 2020!

Cavan_King

Is that game just on GAA Go? What time?

PaddyCar

Cavan_King wrote: »

Is that game just on GAA Go? What time?

Yeah gaago only at 1.30

NufcNavan

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Wicklow it is in Aughrim next Sunday. Hopefully we'll have our eye on the ball unlike Offaly last year.

I completely forgot about that Offaly game. I was fully sure we were going to lose midway through the 2nd half of that game. Feels like an eternity ago.

I also remember our last game v Wicklow was a closer game than it should have been too.

Hammer Archer

NufcNavan wrote: »

I completely forgot about that Offaly game. I was fully sure we were going to lose midway through the 2nd half of that game. Feels like an eternity ago.

I also remember our last game v Wicklow was a closer game than it should have been too.

Yeah I remember that one in Navan. That was the game where someone lured the steward guarding the hospital end grass bank away by giving his car reg to the stadium announcer and the bank filled with people.
Was the last time we played Wicklow in Aughrim the game with Kevin Reilly's 90 yard goal?

Sonny678

We have lost to Wicklow once in the 50s. We have played Wicklow 14 times in the championship. 12 Meath victories, 1 loss in 1957 and 1 draw amazingly in 1991 of all years.

Wicklow have been dogged oposition in the last decade for Meath. These are our last victories v Wicklow in the last 30 years in the championship

2015 Meath defeat Wicklow by 4 points
2013 Meath defeat Wicklow by 5 points
2012 Meath defeat Wicklow by 5 points
2004 Meath defeat Wicklow by 8 points
1999 Meath defeat Wicklow by 10 points
1995 Meath defeat Wicklow by 14 points
1991 Meath defeat Wicklow by 3 points
1991 Meath draw v Wicklow

We havent had a big victory over Wicklow since the 90s. And in last ten years there has only been 4 or 5 points between the teams. The last game we play in Navan Wicklow played very well and could have won. They are on winning run. We havent won since July last year and allot of loses since last July. And they have won promotion and Aughrim has a long history of been tough place to go. And it could be a wet windy November day. They also have young manager Davy Burke, whose is building an impressive CV, he will be a future kildare senior manager. He is the only kildare manager to ever win an All Ireland title at any grade at any level. And kildare men in charge of leinster opposition have caused problems for us in the past.
If you look at some our biggest defeats in leinster to opposition outside kildare and Dublin you will find a kildare manager involved when Meath are defeated.

1 Luke Dempsey a kildare man from Johnstownbridge who was in charge of Westhmeath when we drew with them in 2001 q final
2 Padraig Nolan a kildare man from kilcock who was in charge of Offaly when they beat us in 2000 leinster champ
3 And when Westmeath beat us in 2015 leinster champ they were also managed by a kildare man Tom Cribben from Clane.

I have never met kildare gaa fan who didnt have deep dislike against Meath football ( and thats an understatement) , so I am always wary when kildare manager is in charge of leinster opposition.
We be must be ready for a possible tricky and difficult opposition in a weeks time. Anf if we play like we did v Offaly 19 or longford 18 we will lose, if we play like we did from 20 min to full time v Monaghan and Dublin we will.win with a substantial lead.

We need to have a good start. If they are in the game going into second half they will grow more and more confident. We have to cut out these poor starts. I think Monaghan and Dublin were up for it and came flying out the start they had something to play for. We were slow starting. And I think kerry tryed to blow us away in the first half. But on those 3 occassions we showed spirit great character and good quality football to drag us back into game. We need to start good next week, similar to Galway game were we went 9 up after 25 mins.

We need to really take the game to Wicklow get a lead there heads will drop a little bit, and they will have to come on to us and that should leave huge holes for us to punch in their defence with our counterattacking possesion game. We have to use all our physicality and all that div 1 experience v Wicklow, we are a better team we just gotta show it, start very strongly is important and a good win would lead us into titanic battle with the noisey neighbours, the media darlings, the hype machine named kildare in the semis. But we are not good enough to take Wicklow lightly. If we do Wicklow wil win.

The older players need to be driving the team on from the start. Keoghan will do that he always does, but we needs the two McEntees, Lavin, McGill, Menton, McMahon and Sullivan the experienced players to really push the team show example to the young lads. The young lads have been brillant but they are inexperienced. Thats why Cillian Sullivan hopefully will play he is becoming one our leaders. Getting on ball driving forward like the others from 2012 minor team they should be peaking as they hit 25 26 27 mark this year. Harnan is backing training he wouldnt start. Hopefully will see some game time. He is a natural defender still only 25. Injuries have hampered his career but always felt he can become a quality half back and leader for us.

Two players who r starting to become leaders for us are Ronan Jones and Thomas Reilly. Jones would be 24 or 25. Allot of midfielders peak in their mid to late 20s like John McDermont. You get the odd great who are great at 21 like Jack O Shea Brian Mullins Sean Cavanagh Dara O Se and Brian Fenton. But they are the exception to the rule. Jones is going up a level, he is best midfielder in the county, but against Monaghan he looked like quality midfielder at inter county level. We havent had effective midfield partnership since Meade and Gillespie in 12 13. I think we have done ok at midfield in last few years. But there are issues like lack of natural high fielding midfielders which are contributing to our kickout problem. But with Jones added to Menton and B Conlon and Devine possible options means we do look stronger in this department. Jones and Menton will cause problems for traditional midfield who lack atleticism. We saw that v Monaghan , our midfield is an athletic ball carrying midfield and it will cause problems for certain teams. Hopefully we get over Wicklow then Jones and Menton v Feehily who was man of the match v Meath in 2017. Feehily was a huge role in kildares two big defeats v Meath in 2017. Feehily is one best highfielders in the country while Jones is not big at 6ft and its not the strongest part of his game his high fielding and physicality has improved greatly. And Feehily faced at 21 year old in 2017 hopefully he will face a different stronger footballer at 24 or 25 this year. If Jones kepts Fehily from dominating and our backs got better of kildares forwards we will win. But thats for another day. First things first we need to go to Aughrim and get result.

( Also just seen McKennas impact from Auzzie rules back in Tyrone. Cian McBride is injured so he could be out for championship. We wish him and Conor Nash the best in Auzzie Rules, but if they were to comback Meath football. Imagine in a year or two if Meath had Ronan Jones Brian Menton Conor Nash and Cian McBride around centre field and you also could have Brian Conlon and Ethan Devine and someone like Daithi McGowan another athletic wing forward. We would have some athleticism and big men around midfield. Particularly Nash he did look like a generational talent. And is a huge loss. We might never see him a Meath jersey. But just in 2021 or 2022 imagine if you had Meath team with Conor Nash , Cian McBride, Brian Menton, Ronan Jones and Ethan Devine as options around centrefield

We have some ball carriers on the team. And every sucesful Meath team has had big men around centre field. Now you need big men with pace basically atheletic players. Look at Donegal today big and strong around midfield. One of the reasons they beat Tyrone was Tyrone are quite small in that area. Donegal have big athletic half forward line and Murphy as well as well as a strong midfield. Our half forward line is pacey skilful and suits counter attacking game. But it can lack height and ball carriers breaking through tackle, thats why Ronan Jones is so important and why I would play Ethan Devine on the 40 he offers that.

And if we win v. Wicklow . For the kildare game you could havr Ethan Devine, Padraig Harnan and Shane Walsh playing who all went to school in kildare. So they would know all about kildare v Meath how much they dislke us, they should be players who would be really up for that local derby. It must be said kildare have Offaly and while kildare ended the leagud better, Offaly is tricky. If Offaly played like they did v us last year and if kildare play like they did in the first 5 games in the league this March when they ended up in relegation zone in the bottom 2 of div 2 before the break. Play like they did early in the year, Offaly have a great chance v kildare)


The other player who has really impressed me is Thomas O Reilly. Still only 23. He is the most improved footballer on the panel in last 12 months. He played in 2017 2018 2019 leagues but was gone by championship. He didnt really impact. Taken off v Clare last year after being brought on. Could have sulked he didnt he rolled up sleeve and has become pretty much a guranteed first team starter. He is our main freetaker and with Morris from the left and Colgan taking 40 metre frees our freetaking option have improved and it looks we have gone from 60% to 90% on the frees. Thomas O Reilly started the league and he was brillant scoring 6 brillant points from play v Tyrone and Donegal. He wasnt as good in the next 3 games clearly teams are now marking him tighter. But he is starting to show leadership in last two games where he has been excellent on frees and has scored some important scores and can win his own ball. And you could see him forming a trio with Walsh and Morris in full forward line. Hes one of those players under McEntee who has improved year on year like lavin Gallagher J McEntee C Sullivan McMahon and also Jones. Hes only 23 and as as hits 24 25 26 I think his potential is serious. I have been very impressed with Thomas Reilly anx he can become hopefully an even better player in the next 24 months for us.

Anyway its knockout football. And Meath thrived on knockout football back in the day. Since the backdoor in 2001 we have never really adapted to it. Our record in the back door is average. But knockout from 1930 to 2000 after kerry the best gaelic football county in Ireland at knockout championship football was Meath. This is in our DNA, do or die football, its the essence of Meath football. If these young players can tap into that championship winning mentality we use to thrive on well lets say leinster championship wouldnt the easy win for Dublin people think.

First things first , we need to beat Wicklow, which is Aughrim will be tough. Then possible game v our biggest rival currently the crowd who hate us most , kildare. Its championship football old school, old style. Hopefully this young Meath team can show their great skills and display great spirit in the coming week. If we play like we did in first 20 mins v Galway and the Monaghan and Dublin and kerry performances after the first 15 mins we will be a match for everyone and anyone.

Team I would pick v Wicklow
1 Colgan
2 Lavin
3 MGill
4 Hickey
5 J McEntee
6 Ryan
7 Keoghan
8 Menton
9 Jones
10 Sullivan
11 McMahon
12 Devine
13 Morris
14 Walsh
15 O Reilly
Subs 16 Brennan 17 Gallagher 18 S McEntee 19 Harkin 20 B Conlon 21 Scully 22 Campion 23 lenihan 24 J Wallace 25 J Conlon 26 Toner

Obrieski

Did Cian McBride fracture his foot?
Completely missed that. Had been wondering why he hadn’t featured in the final 2 league games. Pity.
I doubt his Aussie club would allow him to play now!

rpurfield

Obrieski wrote: »

Did Cian McBride fracture his foot?
Completely missed that. Had been wondering why he hadn’t featured in the final 2 league games. Pity.
I doubt his Aussie club would allow him to play now!

He's deffo injured but I'm not sure with what. Its a pity, though to be honest if he is only in for a few weeks to cover the champo I think it would be better to be playing a lad we can develop over time. Unless the lads are hoping to get him in and stop him heading back to Australia

Hammer Archer

https://twitter.com/truefergallynch/status/1323259901288828929?s=20

Great news

Cavan_King

Sonny678 wrote: »

We have lost to Wicklow once in the 50s. We have played Wicklow 14 times in the championship. 12 Meath victories, 1 loss in 1957 and 1 draw amazingly in 1991 of all years.

Wicklow have been dogged oposition in the last decade for Meath. These are our last victories v Wicklow in the last 30 years in the championship

2015 Meath defeat Wicklow by 4 points
2013 Meath defeat Wicklow by 5 points
2012 Meath defeat Wicklow by 5 points
2004 Meath defeat Wicklow by 8 points
1999 Meath defeat Wicklow by 10 points
1995 Meath defeat Wicklow by 14 points
1991 Meath defeat Wicklow by 3 points
1991 Meath draw v Wicklow

We havent had a big victory over Wicklow since the 90s. And in last ten years there has only been 4 or 5 points between the teams. The last game we play in Navan Wicklow played very well and could have won. They are on winning run. We havent won since July last year and allot of loses since last July. And they have won promotion and Aughrim has a long history of been tough place to go. And it could be a wet windy November day. They also have young manager Davy Burke, whose is building an impressive CV, he will be a future kildare senior manager. He is the only kildare manager to ever win an All Ireland title at any grade at any level. And kildare men in charge of leinster opposition have caused problems for us in the past.
If you look at some our biggest defeats in leinster to opposition outside kildare and Dublin you will find a kildare manager involved when Meath are defeated.

1 Luke Dempsey a kildare man from Johnstownbridge who was in charge of Westhmeath when we drew with them in 2001 q final
2 Padraig Nolan a kildare man from kilcock who was in charge of Offaly when they beat us in 2000 leinster champ
3 And when Westmeath beat us in 2015 leinster champ they were also managed by a kildare man Tom Cribben from Clane.

I have never met kildare gaa fan who didnt have deep dislike against Meath football ( and thats an understatement) , so I am always wary when kildare manager is in charge of leinster opposition.
We be must be ready for a possible tricky and difficult opposition in a weeks time. Anf if we play like we did v Offaly 19 or longford 18 we will lose, if we play like we did from 20 min to full time v Monaghan and Dublin we will.win with a substantial lead.

We need to have a good start. If they are in the game going into second half they will grow more and more confident. We have to cut out these poor starts. I think Monaghan and Dublin were up for it and came flying out the start they had something to play for. We were slow starting. And I think kerry tryed to blow us away in the first half. But on those 3 occassions we showed spirit great character and good quality football to drag us back into game. We need to start good next week, similar to Galway game were we went 9 up after 25 mins.

We need to really take the game to Wicklow get a lead there heads will drop a little bit, and they will have to come on to us and that should leave huge holes for us to punch in their defence with our counterattacking possesion game. We have to use all our physicality and all that div 1 experience v Wicklow, we are a better team we just gotta show it, start very strongly is important and a good win would lead us into titanic battle with the noisey neighbours, the media darlings, the hype machine named kildare in the semis. But we are not good enough to take Wicklow lightly. If we do Wicklow wil win.

The older players need to be driving the team on from the start. Keoghan will do that he always does, but we needs the two McEntees, Lavin, McGill, Menton, McMahon and Sullivan the experienced players to really push the team show example to the young lads. The young lads have been brillant but they are inexperienced. Thats why Cillian Sullivan hopefully will play he is becoming one our leaders. Getting on ball driving forward like the others from 2012 minor team they should be peaking as they hit 25 26 27 mark this year. Harnan is backing training he wouldnt start. Hopefully will see some game time. He is a natural defender still only 25. Injuries have hampered his career but always felt he can become a quality half back and leader for us.

Two players who r starting to become leaders for us are Ronan Jones and Thomas Reilly. Jones would be 24 or 25. Allot of midfielders peak in their mid to late 20s like John McDermont. You get the odd great who are great at 21 like Jack O Shea Brian Mullins Sean Cavanagh Dara O Se and Brian Fenton. But they are the exception to the rule. Jones is going up a level, he is best midfielder in the county, but against Monaghan he looked like quality midfielder at inter county level. We havent had effective midfield partnership since Meade and Gillespie in 12 13. I think we have done ok at midfield in last few years. But there are issues like lack of natural high fielding midfielders which are contributing to our kickout problem. But with Jones added to Menton and B Conlon and Devine possible options means we do look stronger in this department. Jones and Menton will cause problems for traditional midfield who lack atleticism. We saw that v Monaghan , our midfield is an athletic ball carrying midfield and it will cause problems for certain teams. Hopefully we get over Wicklow then Jones and Menton v Feehily who was man of the match v Meath in 2017. Feehily was a huge role in kildares two big defeats v Meath in 2017. Feehily is one best highfielders in the country while Jones is not big at 6ft and its not the strongest part of his game his high fielding and physicality has improved greatly. And Feehily faced at 21 year old in 2017 hopefully he will face a different stronger footballer at 24 or 25 this year. If Jones kepts Fehily from dominating and our backs got better of kildares forwards we will win. But thats for another day. First things first we need to go to Aughrim and get result.

( Also just seen McKennas impact from Auzzie rules back in Tyrone. Cian McBride is injured so he could be out for championship. We wish him and Conor Nash the best in Auzzie Rules, but if they were to comback Meath football. Imagine in a year or two if Meath had Ronan Jones Brian Menton Conor Nash and Cian McBride around centre field and you also could have Brian Conlon and Ethan Devine and someone like Daithi McGowan another athletic wing forward. We would have some athleticism and big men around midfield. Particularly Nash he did look like a generational talent. And is a huge loss. We might never see him a Meath jersey. But just in 2021 or 2022 imagine if you had Meath team with Conor Nash , Cian McBride, Brian Menton, Ronan Jones and Ethan Devine as options around centrefield

We have some ball carriers on the team. And every sucesful Meath team has had big men around centre field. Now you need big men with pace basically atheletic players. Look at Donegal today big and strong around midfield. One of the reasons they beat Tyrone was Tyrone are quite small in that area. Donegal have big athletic half forward line and Murphy as well as well as a strong midfield. Our half forward line is pacey skilful and suits counter attacking game. But it can lack height and ball carriers breaking through tackle, thats why Ronan Jones is so important and why I would play Ethan Devine on the 40 he offers that.

And if we win v. Wicklow . For the kildare game you could havr Ethan Devine, Padraig Harnan and Shane Walsh playing who all went to school in kildare. So they would know all about kildare v Meath how much they dislke us, they should be players who would be really up for that local derby. It must be said kildare have Offaly and while kildare ended the leagud better, Offaly is tricky. If Offaly played like they did v us last year and if kildare play like they did in the first 5 games in the league this March when they ended up in relegation zone in the bottom 2 of div 2 before the break. Play like they did early in the year, Offaly have a great chance v kildare)


The other player who has really impressed me is Thomas O Reilly. Still only 23. He is the most improved footballer on the panel in last 12 months. He played in 2017 2018 2019 leagues but was gone by championship. He didnt really impact. Taken off v Clare last year after being brought on. Could have sulked he didnt he rolled up sleeve and has become pretty much a guranteed first team starter. He is our main freetaker and with Morris from the left and Colgan taking 40 metre frees our freetaking option have improved and it looks we have gone from 60% to 90% on the frees. Thomas O Reilly started the league and he was brillant scoring 6 brillant points from play v Tyrone and Donegal. He wasnt as good in the next 3 games clearly teams are now marking him tighter. But he is starting to show leadership in last two games where he has been excellent on frees and has scored some important scores and can win his own ball. And you could see him forming a trio with Walsh and Morris in full forward line. Hes one of those players under McEntee who has improved year on year like lavin Gallagher J McEntee C Sullivan McMahon and also Jones. Hes only 23 and as as hits 24 25 26 I think his potential is serious. I have been very impressed with Thomas Reilly anx he can become hopefully an even better player in the next 24 months for us.

Anyway its knockout football. And Meath thrived on knockout football back in the day. Since the backdoor in 2001 we have never really adapted to it. Our record in the back door is average. But knockout from 1930 to 2000 after kerry the best gaelic football county in Ireland at knockout championship football was Meath. This is in our DNA, do or die football, its the essence of Meath football. If these young players can tap into that championship winning mentality we use to thrive on well lets say leinster championship wouldnt the easy win for Dublin people think.

First things first , we need to beat Wicklow, which is Aughrim will be tough. Then possible game v our biggest rival currently the crowd who hate us most , kildare. Its championship football old school, old style. Hopefully this young Meath team can show their great skills and display great spirit in the coming week. If we play like we did in first 20 mins v Galway and the Monaghan and Dublin and kerry performances after the first 15 mins we will be a match for everyone and anyone.

Team I would pick v Wicklow
1 Colgan
2 Lavin
3 MGill
4 Hickey
5 J McEntee
6 Ryan
7 Keoghan
8 Menton
9 Jones
10 Sullivan
11 McMahon
12 Devine
13 Morris
14 Walsh
15 O Reilly
Subs 16 Brennan 17 Gallagher 18 S McEntee 19 Harkin 20 B Conlon 21 Scully 22 Campion 23 lenihan 24 J Wallace 25 J Conlon 26 Toner

Jones was a revelation in midfield against Monaghan. I always thought watching Meath last year yas were short in two areas from having a strong spine - Shane McEntee at midfield & Ben Brennan at CHF.

Jones has definitely solved the midfield issue. Since then, yas have lost Newman but Walsh looks more than capable of fitting into that slot.

I think a big factor this weekend is that Meath will be well rested after a good performance vs Monaghan, that will have given them confidence, whereas Wicklow have had two hard weeks in a row vs Wexford.

The Wicklow manager does seem to be a shrewd man and Id expect he will be Kildare senior manager at some stage alright. Plenty of time for him too as he’s still only in his mid 30s.

With championship the way it is, all you have to do is get over the line in each game and try to avoid injuries. With football week on week, avoiding knocks for players is going to be huge.

Obrieski

Team named. Would expect a couple of changes. Colgan to start I would guess. Ronan Ryan and Costello to switch in positions. I wonder if there will be other changes also

Hammer Archer

Hurlers came up just short against Carlow, losing by a point. They had 17 wides in total.

Dickie10

wicklow all over the papers today they fancy their chances of an upset

snowgal

Yea noticed that too, hopefully they’ve hyped themselves too much!!

Hammer Archer

If we perform like we did in our first championship game last year, they will beat us. They've had a great season so far and are in the habit of winning, even if it is against division 4 sides.
But I think we have an excellent front 6 and if they perform, we'll be hard to beat. The fact that we now appear to have a functioning midfield gives me more optimism. Delighted that we seem to have decent weather. Aughrim in a hurricane would not have been easy.

Cavan_King

How come Shane McEntee is at centre halfback? I’d see him as a weak link there. I’d seen him named there in some of the League games but didn’t think he’d start championship there.

Is James McEntee injured?

Hammer Archer

We should be completely out of sight already!

PaddyCar

Hammer Archer wrote: »

We should be completely out of sight already!

Agree. Should wrap this up early in second half and empty the bench. Looks like a heavy pitch

vapor trails

His 45 attempt aside I've been very impressed by Costello. He's filled out a bit too. Meath have had a couple of goal chances they really should have taken. Need to be wary of trying to hop the ball. The ground is very unresponsive.

Cavan_King

PaddyCar wrote: »

Agree. Should wrap this up early in second half and empty the bench. Looks like a heavy pitch

It’s apparently like a bog.

Hammer Archer

Lots of difficulties bouncing the ball alright. Not really giving Wicklow a sniff up front (their keeper has top scored). Jones is continuing his excellent form. Walsh hasn't been as good as he can be, seems quite ponderous at times. Should look to keep the pressure on for the next 15 or 20 minutes before giving the bench a run. Would like to see how Joey Wallace and James Conlon get on

Obrieski

Decent, but nowhere near good enough. Forwards seem to take too much out of the ball at times.
Is James McEntee injured?
Jones going well at midfield...and I was just commenting here that I haven't seen much of Menton and he pops up with 1-1.

Cillian O'S hasn't been great so far and needs to up it - although he made on amazing lung bursting run to track back and do a great tackle
Walsh could have doubled what he has scored also.

Can't be falling into bad habits.
Go out and drive on now lads!

pipelaser

Would like to see Thomas O'Reilly have a big second half. He needs it more than any other out there at the moment.

vapor trails

pipelaser wrote: »

Would like to see Thomas O'Reilly have a big second half. He needs it more than any other out there at the moment.

Gone off now but I would have agreed with you. Just never sets my world on fire.

Hammer Archer

Ethan Devine from Na Fianna in Dublin :rolleyes:

paul0103

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Ethan Devine from Na Fianna in Dublin :rolleyes:

It's shocking commentary. Names wrong on both sides all game.
GAAGo surely should be able to provide some instant replays too.

pipelaser

paul0103 wrote: »

It's shocking commentary. Names wrong on both sides all game.
GAAGo surely should be able to provide some instant replays too.

I dont know if I should go back to "Meath should have played that ball long" on LMFM. Your man doing commentry must be at least 100 at this stage