grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1083 - 21/02/2018 14:59:41    2078999

UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 126 - 21/02/2018 15:21:23    2079004

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1083 - 21/02/2018 15:52:46    2079013

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 21/02/2018 16:17:59    2079017

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1668 - 21/02/2018 18:15:24    2079045

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1083 - 21/02/2018 18:54:31    2079059

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 21/02/2018 20:48:16    2079080

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1083 - 21/02/2018 21:13:41    2079085

Hopefully we will get the win Saturday ...Tipperary are very good team so we need a good performance from all the lads.

When Meath play well they are a very good team...and hopefully we will bounce back and get the show back on the road !

Remember Cavan are a Ulster team and we have been struggling against good and bad Ulster team for the last couple of years...when i looked at the league fixtures at the start of the year i pinned Cavan and Down as our most difficult games before Rosscomon and Cork who would be far better teams from my opinion at the start of the year !

Our Last 4 games we will have to play two munster sides ,one leinster and one Ulster !

its doable and i am not as afraid of Cork or Tipperary as i would be Down...and yet Down could end up playing there trade in Division 3 next year before Cork or Tipperary ! ( if Cavan snipes are still hanging around and can't type quick enough answer "or it could be Meath playing there trade in Division 3 next year" Don't bother i get it ! "

Why haven't we got to terms with Ulster teams yet is the Question

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 829 - 21/02/2018 21:38:48    2079091

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 21/02/2018 22:15:25    2079096

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 21/02/2018 22:18:49    2079098

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 21/02/2018 22:22:55    2079101

runnerin (Meath) - Posts: 194 - 21/02/2018 22:45:05    2079105

I feel the biggest problem Andy faces well first getting us to play a system that blends our traditional game and the more moderm possession game. That is not working at the moment. But that will take time. Also building up the strenght and conditioning of these young players as we have one of the smallest teams in inter county football. That will take time. But making the players more confident in themselves that will take time. They have ability and potential but they have had bad experiences in the Meath jersey at underage and senior level. It will take time to build up their confidence.

Andy is a great man manager. But Paddys comments are not helpful. Remeber it took Sean Boylan 4 years to turn Mick lyons Martin O Connell Gerry McEntee Colm O Rourke and Bernard Flynn into winners. It took Mick Dwyer 5 years to turn Glen Ryan Davy Dalton Anthony Rainbow into winners. And Eugene McGee took 4 years to the turn the lowry and Connor brothers into winners. It took Pat Gilroy 3 years to turn Dublin around. And its only in his 4th year kevin Walsh seems to be getting Galway back to the top table, it takes time. Mostly mentally to change a losing atitude to a winning mentality.

Its not about Dublin really. Yes it about Meath r trying to beat Dublin. But Dublin have always been superstrong. Name 1 year in the last 40 where Dublin where out of the top 3 or 4 teams. I cannot.
What Meath face now is what every Meath team has faced for decades going back to the 30s. Dublin go up a level are seen as unbeatable. Meath are going nowhere and Meath rise to the challenge. Meath have a new set of young players who are trying to do the impossible. But we have done it before on 5 different occasions in 5 different eras. And every decade we have at least been competitive and beaten them.
For example
In the 40s. Dublin were seen as unbeatable in leinster. They had the best country players in the country playing for Dublin. Meath had never even won an All Ireland. Meath toppled Dublin and became the number 1 team in leinster with Meath and louth winning every leinster title from 1947 to 1954.

In the 60s Dublin again had gone up a level. With fitness and tactics and backboned by a great St Vincent's team led by Heffernan. Meath were in div 3. But toppled Dublin again. And Dublin would go a decade without leinster title.

In the 70s we didnt beat them regularly but we were the only team to beat them in a national final along with kerry. And we should have beaten them in 76 and especially 77. We threw it away.

In the mid 80s Dublin were just as dominat as now. Only difference kerry could beat them in the 80s, kerry cannot beat them now. But in the that time Dublin won 9 leinster in 12 years. They have won 10 leinsters in the last 12 years. In that period late 70s 80s they reached they 8 All Ireland finals in 11 years . In this decade they have reached 5. Yes they have won more now, but in leinster terms Dublin were just as strong back then as now. Meath again toppled Dublin. And in 9 games in 5 years Dublin beat Meath once between 86 and 91.

In the 90s Dublin weren't as strong as now. But they were not weak eitheir reaching 3 All Ireland finals in 4 years in the 90s. Meath toppled the. again in 96 and Dublin wouldnt reach an All Ireland final for another 16 years .

In the 00s it was similar to 70s. One famous win. But we were competitive with a win in 01 a draw in 07 and the 5 goal hammering in 2010.

This decade has been similat to the late 40s late 50s late 70s where Dublin where seen as unbeatable. But Meath are the start of the decade 06 to 10 team was breaking up and between 2014 and 17 we were in transition. We now have a complety new team with massive overhaul of the team and panel.
But have Dublin gone onto a level that is impossible to topple them from now. Time will tell. This is a new young Meath team. 11 of the 15 that started v kildare in both games last year have the left the panel. While Meath could have 6 to 7 changes to the championship team in June in comparison to the team that played kildare last year.

This Meath team are a work in progress. They are years behind Dublin. But they have years of football left in them. They would reach their peak as player when they reach 27 28 in early 00s. They have potential . It looks impossible now. Mentally that is the area Andy needs to work on. I just think while I admire Paddys honesty. It doesnt help our cause.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1046 - 21/02/2018 22:50:53    2079108

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 841 - 21/02/2018 22:57:27    2079109

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 22/02/2018 08:50:27    2079141

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 22/02/2018 08:54:02    2079145

A lot of talk about Mr McEntee saying something about players not being in the right frame of mind for the Cavan game. Well I would like to remind all on here that there must have been something radically wrong with the players frame of mind during the first half of the Clare game. Now in the almost euphoria following from the second half performance a few matters have been overlooked.
1. Something seems to have been corrected during the interval. If that happened during the cut and thrust of a championship game then it would be imperitave that it be corrected during the first half as you might be overrun by the time the interval arrived. Something for management to work on, early intervention is what it is called and a basic but essential tool of management.
2. Waiting until halftime is therefore too late so the "Runners - Moar F...." must be actually trained to get important instructions to the players during 'breaks in play'. They play and important role in the modern game and are not simply "Little Brown Dogs" as a well known journalist in the past referred to them.
3. Is it possible that the Meath management actually did very little at halftime but that Clare actaually switched off. This has to be considered as a possibility because the halftime "pep talk" certainly did not work against Cavan who could only draw with Clare in Round 1.

Getting the great ship Meath back on the high seas is not going to be an easy task. The present ship would not survive very long on the high seas if it suffers from mental black spots that take half an hour to correct.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 742 - 22/02/2018 12:16:29    2079179

meath1987 (Meath) - Posts: 116 - 22/02/2018 12:48:40    2079188

I find it very interesting that the prevailing thought on here seems to be that Andy needs time and it'll take time to turn Meath around when the same posters, in many instances, were howling at the moon to give the last few managers gate! Eamonn O'Brien was fired for not making substitutions quick enough in an AI semi final!!

When coming out with statements like Down last year - maybe we weren't prepared and Cavan - the players were in the wrong mindframe. These are criminal statements from a manager. I'm very cognisant that perhaps we're reading too much into this and he has to say something to the media but both instances are entirely the managements team job.

I will say when I've spoken to a few in the camp they are very positive about this year, much more so than last, lesson seem to have been learned. However, you'll find it very hard to find a player with a bad word to say about Micko or even Banty and they were given short shrift. I fail to see what tangible improvements Andy has made thus far. I hope I'll be eating my words watching Meath in Super 8's and playing D1 football next year!

pauk123 (USA) - Posts: 189 - 22/02/2018 14:21:41    2079213