Meath GAA discussion thread

Hammer Archer

What's Dunganny like these days? Haven't seen it since it was a windy pitch and containers.

Hurlers have a home draw against Wicklow in next year's Christy Ring Cup.

clint_silver

Lot better. Astro, flood lighting, showers. Great spot in fairness.

Hibbeler

Apparently Brian Meade and Eoin Harrington have retired from inter-county football

iDave

Hibbeler wrote: »

Apparently Brian Meade and Eoin Harrington have retired from inter-county football

Thats a shame. MOD looked to be getting the best out of Meade in 2013.

Hibbeler

iDave wrote: »

Thats a shame. MOD looked to be getting the best out of Meade in 2013.

Yeah he was Meath player of the year I believe in '13. Injuries last season can't have helped.

Both Harrington and Meade would have been players I would have liked to have seen kept on if I'm honest. Particularly Meade as we don't seem to have any other obvious midfield partner for Gillespie at the moment

paul71

I am surprised at Meade going, he was someone I was critical of in the past but his 2013 performances as mentioned before were wonderful and as far as I am aware he is only 28/29. How old is Harrington?

Hammer Archer

Thought Brian was older than that but I'm probably wrong.
Was fantastic in 2013 after I thought he should have been dropped the previous year. Hopefully Gillespie comes back from injury in time for the league. Flanagan is also a good option to have but Meade will be missed.
I think we have enough to cover the loss of Harrington. Was never totally convinced about him, especially in the full back line.

Best of luck to both of them though and they deserve our appreciation for their efforts.

iDave

paul71 wrote: »

I am surprised at Meade going, he was someone I was critical of in the past but his 2013 performances as mentioned before were wonderful and as far as I am aware he is only 28/29. How old is Harrington?

Agreed I thought he was average at best but he really turned a corner in 2013. Cruciate injury couldn't of come at a worse time in his development. I know myself that's an awful injury to deal with.
Harro was badly roasted by James Kavanagh in 2010 QF and became bit of a scapegoat that day. A shame for him but showed good character to fight for his place back on the team.

clint_silver

iDave wrote: »

Agreed I thought he was average at best but he really turned a corner in 2013. Cruciate injury couldn't of come at a worse time in his development. I know myself that's an awful injury to deal with.
Harro was badly roasted by James Kavanagh in 2010 QF and became bit of a scapegoat that day. A shame for him but showed good character to fight for his place back on the team.

Cruciate destroys self confidence. You may Come back as fast after rehab but you "think" you're not as fast. I had 2 of them on same knee. Could be back and flying then a little turn in training and you feel that pain of the twinge that wasn't there before the rehab and it's a sickening feeling. Your head then questions whether you should be going 100%. Then you're gone.

Hammer Archer

clint_silver wrote: »

Cruciate destroys self confidence. You may Come back as fast after rehab but you "think" you're not as fast. I had 2 of them on same knee. Could be back and flying then a little turn in training and you feel that pain of the twinge that wasn't there before the rehab and it's a sickening feeling. Your head then questions whether you should be going 100%. Then you're gone.

If one is bad, 2 must be hell. The fear of a third must play on your mind while playing. I do wonder if that has something to do with David Bray never reaching the heights he reached before his injuries. Back in 2009 he was unmarkable at times. Hopefully Eamonn Wallace returns as good as new.

Hibbeler

Nobber beat Ballinlough to win the first ever Corn na Boinne last night!

Is that the first competitive defeat for Ballinlough in god know how long?

iDave

According to Leinster Council site we are playing Wicklow in Navan

http://leinster.gaa.ie/leinster-gaa-championship-fixtures-2012/leinster-gaa-senior-football-championship-2012.256.html

Hammer Archer

Hibbeler wrote: »

Nobber beat Ballinlough to win the first ever Corn na Boinne last night!

Is that the first competitive defeat for Ballinlough in god know how long?

According to the Meath GAA website, it's their first since the beginning of June and only their third this year. And to be honest, with all the games they've had recently, I can't see them losing too much sleep over last night. I'd expect it was a weakened side they put out.

iDave wrote: »

According to Leinster Council site we are playing Wicklow in Navan

http://leinster.gaa.ie/leinster-gaa-championship-fixtures-2012/leinster-gaa-senior-football-championship-2012.256.html

Delighted!

Hammer Archer

The feckin cheek of Wicklow asking for it to be in Aughrim again :pac:
http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=227207

In the O'Byrne Cup, we'll be away to Westmeath and then home to Longford and DCU. The games are on January 4th, 7th and 11th respectively.

In the Kehoe Cup, we're home to a college team (probably DCU), away to Louth and home to Longford on January 18, 25th and February 1st respectively.

iDave

Hammer Archer wrote: »

The feckin cheek of Wicklow asking for it to be in Aughrim again :pac:
http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=227207

In the O'Byrne Cup, we'll be away to Westmeath and then home to Longford and DCU. The games are on January 4th, 7th and 11th respectively.

In the Kehoe Cup, we're home to a college team (probably DCU), away to Louth and home to Longford on January 18, 25th and February 1st respectively.

Their argument was they came out of the pot first. Weren't we in separate pots anyway?

RoyalCelt

iDave wrote: »

Their argument was they came out of the pot first. Weren't we in separate pots anyway?

I dunno but that would be taking the piss. 2 games in 4 years v Wicklow. Imagine playing 2 in Wicklow and another right beside them in Carlow.

Justice is done and we can finally get a big Meath cowd to a Leinster championship match. Galway and Kildare in in 2011 we got about 18k into Navan each time so I reckon with a good league we could get a crowd of Maybe 14k into this. That would be excellent considering how stale Leinster has become.

Hibbeler

RoyalCelt wrote: »

I dunno but that would be taking the piss. 2 games in 4 years v Wicklow. Imagine playing 2 in Wicklow and another right beside them in Carlow.

Justice is done and we can finally get a big Meath cowd to a Leinster championship match. Galway and Kildare in in 2011 we got about 18k into Navan each time so I reckon with a good league we could get a crowd of Maybe 14k into this. That would be excellent considering how stale Leinster has become.

Pretty sure that the capacity at PT was restricted to 10k after the Galway and Kildare matches unfortunately

paul71

Hibbeler wrote: »

Pretty sure that the capacity at PT was restricted to 10k after the Galway and Kildare matches unfortunately

Yeap it was, daft decision as I recall at the Galway game I went down to the Grass bank at half-time and laid myself out in the sun, kids were chasing each other arround and playing football on the bank.

I have seen the phoenix park more crowded then the grass bank was that day and apparently some daft bugger thinks it was not safe.

chrysagon

safety brigade gone mad!

Hammer Archer

It's hilarious that the grass banks in the likes of Drogheda are deemed ok yet the ones in Navan are deemed a safety hazard. Also, if anything is unsafe in Navan it's the stand. The stairs down the stands are ridiculous, especially when they're wet.

You always knew it was a massive game in Navan when the hospital end was crowded. Usually it housed only a handful of kids who spent the game rolling down the hill.

iDave

I never understood the grass banks ruling. Having our capacity cut and Newbridges at the same time seemed like a ploy to compel us to ground share on the M50. The banks should be open for the NFL and Wicklow match. Remember having great craic on them for qualifiers against Fermanagh and Roscommon a few years ago.

Hibbeler

Let's face it though grassy backs are far from ideal for a sporting venue in this day and age. Just saying that it's health and safety gone mad to close them is ridiculous in my view. Why should the paying public going to watch a game accept that they might have to stand on a grassy bank that could very well be unsafe?

And the stand at PT is long since past it's sell by date. And it's been that way for a long time.

Once Dunganny is completed i hope attention is paid to PT. At the very least a new stand is needed

rpurfield

I'm open to correction but I think there is plans afoot for Pairc Tailteann, I'm pretty sure I read a report earlier in there year where the plan was to get stuck into Dungany then start on PT. A stand like the one in O'Connor park would be ideal, and sort out proper terracing behind the goals. It's not rocket science.

paul71

I think I read in this thread that there is an issue with the stand in Navan with regard to asbestos and that the safe removal and disposal of same is a cost barrier to any work. If that is the case I am wondering if a Greenfield site (Dunganny?) without the parking issues inherent with any improvement in Navan is something that could be considered.

Hibbeler

If you moved to a green field site would you not still have the same problem with asbestos removal when the current stand went for demolition? Though a green field would would have a number of advantages the primary one being the money that could be got selling PT. Building outside the town would have obvious advantage in terms of access or parking but the downside would be any loss of business to the town in match day trading.

I don't think we have the money to pay for a new stadium and I would hope that the county board are wise enough to not sell PT before sorting out a new home. So we can rule this out imo.

If I were responsible for the redevelopment I would start by knocking the terrace on the commons road and replacing it with a stand similar to parnell park or in Longford to begin with. This stand would have all the TV gantries and media facilities etc so we have that out of the way. While this is going on concrete the end terraces.

Then once that's done replace the current stand with something considerably bigger. Something like tullamore or newry in this case.

I think that this would result in something quite good and would stand out in having two covered stands. If I had a huge pot of money I would do something like Thomond park with the two stands looking similar architecturally.

royaler83

Hibbeler wrote: »

If you moved to a green field site would you not still have the same problem with asbestos removal when the current stand went for demolition? Though a green field would would have a number of advantages the primary one being the money that could be got selling PT. Building outside the town would have obvious advantage in terms of access or parking but the downside would be any loss of business to the town in match day trading.

I don't think we have the money to pay for a new stadium and I would hope that the county board are wise enough to not sell PT before sorting out a new home. So we can rule this out imo.

If I were responsible for the redevelopment I would start by knocking the terrace on the commons road and replacing it with a stand similar to parnell park or in Longford to begin with. This stand would have all the TV gantries and media facilities etc so we have that out of the way. While this is going on concrete the end terraces.

Then once that's done replace the current stand with something considerably bigger. Something like tullamore or newry in this case.

I think that this would result in something quite good and would stand out in having two covered stands. If I had a huge pot of money I would do something like Thomond park with the two stands looking similar architecturally.

No need for half of that. The main terrace is perfect, the two ends need to be done up to similar standard. It's the stand that needs knocking and a new stand erected that should be the full length of the pitch or near enough with all tv amenities etc that you mentioned.

homeofhurling

Rhode 4-10 Navan O'Mahonys 0-13

iDave

Another early exit for the Meath champions. Terrible record in Leinster

iDave

Trim win U21 championship. I'll take that!

chrysagon

what a let down by navan...club football in meath that bad?