southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 709 - 28/01/2018 17:30:31    2071430

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 28/01/2018 17:30:49    2071431

What do we think of Ben Brennan today?

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 28/01/2018 17:35:35    2071435

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6158 - 28/01/2018 17:50:38    2071441

Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 750 - 28/01/2018 17:55:58    2071448

OK I'll call a spade a spade that was some rubbish , I know conditions were bad but the first 50 minutes was as poor a Meath a performance as you will ever see.
Meath played with a strong wind in the first half but played most of it with one forward the amount of aimless kick passes into no one was shocking .
The continuous passing of the ball over and back on the 45 was awful I thought we looked like a team that only go together .
We received a 45 in the first half and I was shocked to see that been kicked back .
This is a game in the end we should have won but why did it take us to fall 6 points down to push up and attack a poor defence , a poor team I might say .
Meath only started playing when G.Reilly was taken off apart from his pass for the fist goal he was nonexistent again .
1 point gained or one lost either way it was a dreadful game again showcasing all that's wrong with GAA football and the over thinking by managers .
I would compare GAA football now like running the grand national without any fences .

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 214 - 28/01/2018 18:35:46    2071476

Can't help but feel that was a bad result. I tbh don't think Roscommon are the world beaters some Meath people thought they were. We threw it away. Two games in a row. Now what is missing is cuteness, as I said it's a 20 man game , mckeever looks the real deal and has to stained day out I'd say. biggy oreilly keoghan burke even Brennan despite knocking over couple of dress all had bad day at the office.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 28/01/2018 18:55:52    2071487

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 28/01/2018 18:59:40    2071489

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 214 - 28/01/2018 19:25:13    2071524

"I would compare GAA football now like running the grand national without any fences"

Like flat racing then? I'm sorry, I just dont understand the comparison.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 28/01/2018 19:27:11    2071526

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1668 - 28/01/2018 19:32:14    2071530

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 214 - 28/01/2018 19:32:24    2071531

I think the thing is Meath are not as bad as people think or want them to be. The above result today kind of proves that. Roscommon are one of the best young teams in the county. Outside the big three, Roscommon would be 7th or 8th best team in the country and are reigning connacht champions, two years in division 1 and went toe to toe with the second best team in the country last year in the drawn quarter final.

For Meath today is sign of progress. We wont havent got a result like today in the last few years or would say anytime since Boylan left. What would have happened is Roscommon would have gone ahead and won by 9 or 10 points as there talented young forwarda cut loose. However a couple of things have improved under McEntee.

1 Fitness has definitely improved
2 The old Meath never day die spirit is slowly coming back. Under Boylan for 20 years Meath were the best team in Ireland in the final quater of games. Meaths mental resolve in the final 15 -20 mins was unreal. Meath won so many games and titles in the final 15 to 20 mins with a never say die spirit. This never say die atitude was part of Meath teams before Boylan. But it has been absent since he left. For the last 12 years Meath have faded badly in second halfs and in the final years of O Dowd reign they became consistent problem. Under McEntee this has stopped as Meath are finishing game strongly something I have not seen since Boylan.

Leaving the two kildare games to one side. Meath have finished every game in the league championship and byrne cup strongly under McEntee. Last year we finished like a train v Derry Cork Fermanagh Clare and Galway in the league. And we finished strongly v Louth Sligo and Donegal in the champuonship. This has cont'd this year with strong last 15 to 20 mins against longford and Roscommon today. We gad our first proper Meath comeback v Cork last year since Boylan in league or championship when we brought back a 9 point lead to draw down in Cork. This area has improved under McEntee. And this mentality of never giving up has been the cornerstone of all strong Meath teams.

However we are far from the finished product. We are miles behind Dublin and the top teams. We are years behind them. But we are going in the right direction and todays result is more proof of that. Its long time since we got a result v provicial champions. We did let a lead slip in injury time . This is simply down to Rossies have class young forwards. But also inexperience on Meaths part. The top teams like Mayo or Dublin would make sure to close out the game. We didnt, thats an experience issue. And in time as these young players get more experience they will learn how to close out a game.

Overall I still think its more then likely this year we will be uo and down. We wont see progress til next year and real progress in early 2020s. We are on a learning curve. But today was promising. We were rank outsiders with the bookies and all the pundits and all the tipsters on all the forums where predicting a Rossies 5 or 6 points win. So today was progress of sorts.

Its a pity we didnt hold out. A win v the top team in the division on their home patch would have been a great start. But we need now to beat Clare in Navan. Its a long time since we were undefeated in our first two league matchs. We are usually slow starters. But if we can win v Clare we are in a good position. Clare will be tricky. They have a shrewd manager and their team which in the next few years are going in the right direction and will be a team to look out for. But home wins are so important. Next weeks game will tell a bit more about what kind of progress we have made this year.

This weekends results have shook up the pack. Cork look like continuing the form of recent years. And many peoples tip for promotion Cork could be a wrong one. They have huge talent. The best panel in the division. A top 5 team which could push for an All Ireland in coming years. But they are underachieving . Why John Cleary was not made manager was a big mistake. Cork might not be contenders if the results v Clare and Tipp contiunue. They will still cause a problems. You could see them losing to Clare one week and then beating Roscommon Meath or Down the following week.

Tipp were the real winners with Down this weekend. Tipp have a very good young team. They werent great last year. But I find young teams can be up and down. And I have feeling they will have a strong season this year with possible promotion and super 8 participants. In the last few league teams have had sucessive promotion. Monaghan kildare and Roscommon all went from Division 3 to div 2 to div 1. Tipp could do this also. Real contenders.

Other real contenders are Down. Very few tipping them. But they are a real strong league team. Very hard to beat in Newry. And have been in div 1 longer then any other team in div 2 in recent years. A great start. Real contenders also. My gut feeling is Roscommon Meath Tipp and Down will be the 4 way fight for promotion. Its again a wide open divsion.

One last thing it was good to see Eamon Wallace in good form. He came on in 2013 as 19 year old and had a great season finishing with 1-4 from play v Tyrone in the championship in Croker. He did his cruciate and has been trying to return to form since. Today and this years club championship are signs he is returning to 2013 form.

But the big thing for me was McKeever. We drew that game because him with and his 3 points and he set up the goal after coming from the bench. He has been the best club forward in Meath football by a mile in recnt years but injuries have kept him from the panel. If can continue what he did today and his club form . Himself and lenihan would form a tasty duo in the full forward line. Both are in their mid 20s and both should be hitting peaks now. We rely to.much on lenihan in the full foward line. He was missing today and it showed. If him and Mckeever click and two wallaces McMahon two reillys sullivan toibin can all adds scores this will be massive. We have had light forwards in recent years who couldnt make the ball stick. McKeever and lenihan could be two finishers in the inside line which could be a massive plus.

A final thought Our bench made a difference. Our bench this year looks stronger then it has since I can remember. Dublin have showed and the super 8 will show a strong bench is so important. The subs made the difference. Andy needs to get the right mix in first 15. But he needs impact subs. Impact subs like Rooney coming into midfield in future games or Toibin Mcabe McMahon also making impact as subs. Tiobin suits the impact sub role really well. But Conlon McKeever and Eamon Wallace showed they need to start.

The real good thing about today are our two best forwards Reilly and Sullivan did not play well. If we can get the best out of Sullivan and maybe look at biggy been an impact sub it would be more additions. Andy has a few selection dilemmas for the next game. Overall a good days work for Meath but this div again is wide open. Promotion and relegation is wide open.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1046 - 28/01/2018 19:33:39    2071532

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 28/01/2018 19:41:05    2071537

Would have taken a draw before throw in and overall it was a good result. Subs made a big impact- which has not been the case in recent years- and hopefully some if not all will be rewarded with starting place next week.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 1432 - 28/01/2018 19:47:32    2071543

would have taken a draw with ten minutes left but it was like a loss at the end not winning that. we need to be very careful next Sunday in navan because overall we have a lot of players not playing well and roscommon were indifferent.

meath1977 (Meath) - Posts: 459 - 28/01/2018 19:49:16    2071545

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 28/01/2018 19:59:43    2071554

Don't post on here too often but just some thoughts on today.....

Obviously we were lucky to get a draw but should have won it from the position we were in. However, that 15 minute spell where we turned it around was very encouraging, quite similar to what we did in Cork last year. Menton and McGill were our best players today, and others like Joey Wallace were quite good.

I could not understand what game plan we were trying to play in the first half... someone suggested Lenihan and McKeever could work as a two man FF line (which I would to like to see us try), but we were playing with a 0 man FF line for long periods in that half! In the 2nd half, Tobin and McKeever offered us some sort of target and were able to win their own ball, and the two Wallaces were great at carrying the ball against the wind. We played some great football in this spell, and we started winning more possession around the middle.

In defence I think Power is a liability, Conlon was decent when he came on and would like to see him in from the start next week. As I said, McGill was excellent and Keogan and Lavin played fairly well. Colgan was solid between the posts but because he kicked the ball over the sideline he should be dropped immediately!!

royalfan4life (Meath) - Posts: 76 - 28/01/2018 20:03:26    2071557

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1192 - 28/01/2018 20:05:17    2071559

Any news on Donal lenihan. I thought we missed him today. Him and Mckeever could form a very good inside forwrd line. Sullivan Lenihan Mckeever full forward line has potential. Sullivan has been up and down. But he has a touch of class about. If we can get the best from him that would be massive. His best position could be wing forward 10. Theres more room on the wing for his pace and vision. Centre forward is very congested part of the field with sweepers etc.

But maybe corner forward is where we will get the best from him also . He played in this position in minor all ireland final scoring 5 points from play, I remeber thinking at the time this guy is one to watch out for. He has played v Donegal last year and against Rossies today in the full forward line. And he scored 1- 1 v Donegal and 1 goal today and did not play well. Imagine what he would score if he played well. A sullivan Lenihan Mckeever forward line could be the way forward. Use Toibin as an impact sub. He really makes an impact from the bench. A strong bench is so important.
But any news on lenihan. Will he be back for Clare.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1046 - 28/01/2018 20:16:25    2071572