Meath GAA discussion thread

Hammer Archer

Meath minor hurlers are through to the All Ireland B final after Westmeath gave a walkover in the game due to be played in Trim on Saturday.
Supposedly some Westmeath players nicked gear from the Fermanagh ladies football team's dressing room while they were playing in Armagh after the hurling.
Strange decision to pull the whole team out of the competition, but we now have an All Ireland Minor B hurling final against Kerry or Roscommon to look forward to.

CrabRevolution

Very noble stance of Westmeath, not particularly fair but noble nonetheless. Good stroke of luck for Meath too, I'd have had Westmeath as favorites for this competition.

chrysagon

Its unfair to penalise the whole Westmeath team because of the actions of a few idiots.. certainly kick the guilty of the team and down to the garda station, but dont nail everyone on the panel.

jimd2

It does seem a little unfair if there was only a few involved. Unless the others were guilty by saying nothing.

Btw, let's hope that Mick O'Dowd was at the Tones Dunboyne game. Cian Ward still a lot to offer. 1-9 with 1-6 from play.

Hammer Archer

The thing about Cian is (and I'm a great admirer of his since he beat Ratoath on his own as a 17 year old) he's always been that way for Tones. He will tear teams to shreds from play and stick every free from inside and around the 45 over. Yet when it came to Meath, he was just infuriatingly inconsistent. Case in point was the Louth game where he scored 4-3 (and could have had more) yet in the next game against Galway, he was atrocious and missed countless easy frees.

Maybe it would be useful to have him in the squad next season, but I wouldn't be pinning my hopes on him.

rpurfield

Hammer Archer wrote: »

The thing about Cian is (and I'm a great admirer of his since he beat Ratoath on his own as a 17 year old) he's always been that way for Tones. He will tear teams to shreds from play and stick every free from inside and around the 45 over. Yet when it came to Meath, he was just infuriatingly inconsistent. Case in point was the Louth game where he scored 4-3 (and could have had more) yet in the next game against Galway, he was atrocious and missed countless easy frees.

Maybe it would be useful to have him in the squad next season, but I wouldn't be pinning my hopes on him.

He replied to a Fergal Lynch tweet with something smart about Dunboyne having a lad on the line thats very fast but cant solo a ball so hes a better chance of getting in, but i see its deleted now. I'd still maintain himself and Jamie Queeney would be worth a place in the squad to have alternatives when the running game isnt working.

westernfrenzy

O'Mahonys drew with Gaeil Colmcille and Simonstown beat Seneschalstown in the SFC today.

chrysagon

o mah finished second in their div... simonstown won the division

westernfrenzy

Still one round of games left in the groups.

Hammer Archer

rpurfield wrote: »

He replied to a Fergal Lynch tweet with something smart about Dunboyne having a lad on the line thats very fast but cant solo a ball so hes a better chance of getting in, but i see its deleted now. I'd still maintain himself and Jamie Queeney would be worth a place in the squad to have alternatives when the running game isnt working.

What was the meaning behind the tweet? It went straight over my head I think. Agreed, I think both would be worth bringing back to see what happens, but with (hopefully) Eamonn Wallace and Cillian O'Sullivan coming back I couldn't see either of them starting.

From what I can see in the SFC, Tones, Simonstown and Donaghmore/Ash are through to the knockouts. I'd say Duleek and O'Mahony's will follow them anyway (Duleek's last game is against Oldcastle). Winner of Skryne/Dunboyne will most likely go through. Too close to call for the other spots.
Can't see anyone other than Oldcastle getting relegated.

Any idea when the next round of games is?

CrabRevolution

Last round of the football group stages in 2 weeks. Probably have the Preliminary knockout rounds for the Junior and Junior B that weekend too.

westernfrenzy

The group stages are actually close this year.

Hammer Archer

Minor hurlers will play Kerry in the All Ireland final on Saturday fortnight.

Hibbeler

Hammer Archer wrote: »

From what I can see in the SFC, Tones, Simonstown and Donaghmore/Ash are through to the knockouts. I'd say Duleek and O'Mahony's will follow them anyway (Duleek's last game is against Oldcastle). Winner of Skryne/Dunboyne will most likely go through. Too close to call for the other spots.
Can't see anyone other than Oldcastle getting relegated.

Add to that Dunderry, Syddan, St Colmcilles and Ballivor all straight through to quarter finals in the IFC probably followed by Castletown and Ratoath. The preliminary QF places are harder to tell.

Also I don't suppose you've seen that Duleek beat Walterstown by 44 points in the Junior B :eek:

Hammer Archer

Duleek had a pretty massive win in the first round of the Junior B as well, beating St. Pauls by 34 points. Good to see Slane returning to some sort of competitiveness again.
Ballivor look the team to beat in the Intermediate assuming they don't lose players to the Kildalkey hurlers. Ratoath still have a few players missing after spending the summer in America.
Cortown are the only team unbeaten in the Junior after beating Curraha this weekend.

Hibbeler

According to the Chronicle, this is how the knockout stages of the JFC look

JFC KNOCK-OUT

Preliminary quarter-final - Simonstown Gaels v Summerhill

QUARTER-FINALS
Drumconrath v Simonstown or Summerhill
Cortown v St Brigid's
Meath Hill v Clonard
Curraha v Dunboyne

rpurfield

Hammer Archer wrote: »

What was the meaning behind the tweet? It went straight over my head I think. Agreed, I think both would be worth bringing back to see what happens, but with (hopefully) Eamonn Wallace and Cillian O'Sullivan coming back I couldn't see either of them starting.

From what I can see in the SFC, Tones, Simonstown and Donaghmore/Ash are through to the knockouts. I'd say Duleek and O'Mahony's will follow them anyway (Duleek's last game is against Oldcastle). Winner of Skryne/Dunboyne will most likely go through. Too close to call for the other spots.
Can't see anyone other than Oldcastle getting relegated.

Any idea when the next round of games is?

Apologies I wasn't clear in my post actually. Fergal tweeted about him scoring 1-9 and that hes putting his hand up for selection for the county. Cian's reply I took to mean that the emphasis on the panel is on speed and not skill or scoring rates!

Hammer Archer

rpurfield wrote: »

Apologies I wasn't clear in my post actually. Fergal tweeted about him scoring 1-9 and that hes putting his hand up for selection for the county. Cian's reply I took to mean that the emphasis on the panel is on speed and not skill or scoring rates!

Bit of a harsh comment from him. If he does get on the panel, I can't see some of the current panel taking to kindly to that kind of comment.

Fixtures for the last rounds of the SFC and IFC as well as the JFC knockout stages are up.
http://hoganstand.com/meath/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=222803
Still don't understand what Ratoath has to do to get SFC games consistently. You would think the Skryne - Dunboyne game would be perfect for Ratoath but instead they're sending them to Trim.

Obrieski

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Still don't understand what Ratoath has to do to get SFC games consistently. You would think the Skryne - Dunboyne game would be perfect for Ratoath but instead they're sending them to Trim.

Ratoath has been consistently overlooked for big SFC games for at least the last 3 years. Sure earlier in the summer, Dunboyne played Blackhall Gaels I think, and it was brought to Ashbourne...despite both teams having to drive through Ratoath to get there! Summerhill recently complained about this kind of situation too, validly I believe, and were basically told to shut up! County board seems to have its favourites, the Summerhill ground is a lovely surface and set up too.

Hammer Archer

Obrieski wrote: »

Ratoath has been consistently overlooked for big SFC games for at least the last 3 years. Sure earlier in the summer, Dunboyne played Blackhall Gaels I think, and it was brought to Ashbourne...despite both teams having to drive through Ratoath to get there! Summerhill recently complained about this kind of situation too, validly I believe, and were basically told to shut up! County board seems to have its favourites, the Summerhill ground is a lovely surface and set up too.

All depends on who sets the fixtures I think and the club they're involved in. Not sure if it's the same guy now, but there was a Rathkenny man in charge of the fixtures not too long ago and, lo and behold, Rathkenny started getting a fair few big championship games in each round.

Hibbeler

Trim and Ashbourne are probably the two best club grounds in the county imo and are probably 2nd and 3rd in the pecking order of county grounds after Pairc Tailteann. So on that basis alone I'm not sure ye can really complain about them getting to host county championship matches.

Yes Ratoath do have fine grounds themselves but at least they are not being passed over for somewhere inferior.

As for Rathkenny though, the pitch is well known in North Meath for having a considerable slope. They may have fixed this by now but not during the time they were getting all those matches

Hibbeler

Just after watching the Mayo, Kerry game and what a game it was! The spirit, desire and tenacity both teams showed was second to none. If only we could bottle what some of those players are on and give it to the Meath team we'd be flying.

Much like ourselves neither Kerry, Donegal nor Mayo have the population (in fact Meath has a bigger population than all three AFAIK) or funding advantages Dublin seemingly has and yet both are truly competitive on the All Ireland stage.

Mick O'Dowd and the county board could do worse than to look at these three counties and see how they get their teams orgainsed fitness wise, tactically wise and attitude wise and we might be able to improve for the next season.

CrabRevolution

As I assumed they would, the county board have decided to part finance Dunganny with a mandatory club levy.

€15'000 for a senior team
€12'000 for an intermediate team
€9'000 for a junior team.

Seems it'll be paid over the course of 10 years, presumably 1500/1200/900 a year. I think it will be interesting to see how this is applied, a team who is senior in 2015 might be junior in 2019 and resent having to pay a senior team's levy.

Also what counts as senior? Just football? What if a team is senior hurling but junior football? The cynic in me thinks the county board will classify you as whatever earns them more money.

Seems a tough break for "paired" clubs, e.g Moynalvey with Kiltale, do they have to pay €15'000 each as senior clubs, and say a dual senior club like Dunboyne or Navan only pay it once?

RoyalCelt

CrabRevolution wrote: »

As I assumed they would, the county board have decided to part finance Dunganny with a mandatory club levy.

€15'000 for a senior team
€12'000 for an intermediate team
€9'000 for a junior team.

Seems it'll be paid over the course of 10 years, presumably 1500/1200/900 a year. I think it will be interesting to see how this is applied, a team who is senior in 2015 might be junior in 2019 and resent having to pay a senior team's levy.

Also what counts as senior? Just football? What if a team is senior hurling but junior football? The cynic in me thinks the county board will classify you as whatever earns them more money.

Seems a tough break for "paired" clubs, e.g Moynalvey with Kiltale, do they have to pay €15'000 each as senior clubs, and say a dual senior club like Dunboyne or Navan only pay it once?

I can see the cute hoor's in rathkenny making sure they lose their relegation battle this year!

DarByrne1980

Just wondering how hard it is to switch clubs?. I haven't played a competitive match in about 5 years and don't want to play for my old club as have issues with the management. Just wondering has anybody else transferred recently (to another club in Meath) and how long did the process take.

iiHyPeRize

Just my take on where the Meath team are at after this year's championship


This Meath team has potential, and has many of the components required, it just needs moulding together - I don't think Mick O'Down is the right man for the job. He's done well, brought through some young players, and if we don't make some sort of progress next year, I wonder how much longer can he stay on for.

The current setup exudes a sense of unbalance, and a lack of real structure. We fell to pieces against a very well structured Armagh side, who in truth aren't as good as Meath. There's a huge lack of balance in the team's defence.

We have a good goalkeeper. When Gillespie comes back, I think him and Adam Flannagan could be a formidable partnership. Eamon Wallace has mountains of potential, Michael Newman is a classic modern day forward, and has killer instinct. We have one of the best man-marker's and tacklers in the country in Donal Keoghan, on his day Kevin Reilly can be great. We have the components to do very well, but like I said we need someone who can come in, bring structure and balance to the team. Putting the Dublin game aside, we weren't awful this year. We easily could have been promoted to Division 1 but for a terrible defeat to Armagh in Navan, and Michael Murphy's last minute point in Donegal. We were great against Kildare for 55 minutes. I didn't think we were that far away from Armagh, we just lacked a plan.

Poor coaches and no underage structure. I've saw Colm O'Rourke write in one of the papers a while back, that he put forward a number or proposals to the county board if he were to take the job. One included an underage structural plan - he was told no, IT WOULD COST TOO MUCH!!. There's the ambitious country board there for you. What good is Colm Brady going to do as a trainer? We need proper coaching, and need to pay for it.

CrabRevolution

iiHyPeRize wrote: »

Just my take on where the Meath team are at after this year's championship


This Meath team has potential, and has many of the components required, it just needs moulding together - I don't think Mick O'Down is the right man for the job. He's done well, brought through some young players, and if we don't make some sort of progress next year, I wonder how much longer can he stay on for.

The current setup exudes a sense of unbalance, and a lack of real structure. We fell to pieces against a very well structured Armagh side, who in truth aren't as good as Meath. There's a huge lack of balance in the team's defence.

We have a good goalkeeper. When Gillespie comes back, I think him and Adam Flannagan could be a formidable partnership. Eamon Wallace has mountains of potential, Michael Newman is a classic modern day forward, and has killer instinct. We have one of the best man-marker's and tacklers in the country in Donal Keoghan, on his day Kevin Reilly can be great. We have the components to do very well, but like I said we need someone who can come in, bring structure and balance to the team. Putting the Dublin game aside, we weren't awful this year. We easily could have been promoted to Division 1 but for a terrible defeat to Armagh in Navan, and Michael Murphy's last minute point in Donegal. We were great against Kildare for 55 minutes. I didn't think we were that far away from Armagh, we just lacked a plan.

Poor coaches and no underage structure. I've saw Colm O'Rourke write in one of the papers a while back, that he put forward a number or proposals to the county board if he were to take the job. One included an underage structural plan - he was told no, IT WOULD COST TOO MUCH!!. There's the ambitious country board there for you. What good is Colm Brady going to do as a trainer? We need proper coaching, and need to pay for it.

To be honest, something costing too much is a pretty valid reason as far as I can see. If we dont have the money we just cant do it.

Are we supposed to borrow for it? Banks will lend money for centres of excellence/stadia etc. because you'll have something concrete and permanent to show for it. Plus refurbished stadiums are a way of earning money through attracting big matches. Nobody will lend you money to pay for coaches and sport scientists, who can only be a drain on money and no guarantee of success.

Pipjam

iiHyPeRize wrote: »

Just my take on where the Meath team are at after this year's championship

This Meath team has potential, and has many of the components required, it just needs moulding together - I don't think Mick O'Down is the right man for the job. He's done well, brought through some young players, and if we don't make some sort of progress next year, I wonder how much longer can he stay on for.

The current setup exudes a sense of unbalance, and a lack of real structure. We fell to pieces against a very well structured Armagh side, who in truth aren't as good as Meath. There's a huge lack of balance in the team's defence.

We have a good goalkeeper. When Gillespie comes back, I think him and Adam Flannagan could be a formidable partnership. Eamon Wallace has mountains of potential, Michael Newman is a classic modern day forward, and has killer instinct. We have one of the best man-marker's and tacklers in the country in Donal Keoghan, on his day Kevin Reilly can be great. We have the components to do very well, but like I said we need someone who can come in, bring structure and balance to the team. Putting the Dublin game aside, we weren't awful this year. We easily could have been promoted to Division 1 but for a terrible defeat to Armagh in Navan, and Michael Murphy's last minute point in Donegal. We were great against Kildare for 55 minutes. I didn't think we were that far away from Armagh, we just lacked a plan.

Poor coaches and no underage structure. I've saw Colm O'Rourke write in one of the papers a while back, that he put forward a number or proposals to the county board if he were to take the job. One included an underage structural plan - he was told no, IT WOULD COST TOO MUCH!!. There's the ambitious country board there for you. What good is Colm Brady going to do as a trainer? We need proper coaching, and need to pay for it.

Armagh not as good as Meath? Were you at the quarter final? They played Meath off the pitch for long periods and should have won by more.

iiHyPeRize

Pipjam wrote: »

Armagh not as good as Meath? Were you at the quarter final? They played Meath off the pitch for long periods and should have won by more.

Armagh were relegated to division 3... Individually Meath are better, simple as. They simply had a plan and structure, and executed it. We played like headless chickens, because we had no plan. Oh and btw, it was actually the round 4 qualifiers, not the quarter final.

Pipjam

iiHyPeRize wrote: »

Armagh were relegated to division 3... Individually Meath are better, simple as. They simply had a plan and structure, and executed it. We played like headless chickens, because we had no plan. Oh and btw, it was actually the round 4 qualifiers, not the quarter final.

Meath also lost to Armagh in the league. 2 games this year, two losses, but Meath are the better team? I'm confused.