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Replying To Furlong1949: "Very strange decision with semi final draws in Leinster. In a pub indoor soccer competition which had two groups , the winners of both groups wud be kept away from each other in the semi final. I heard it said a few times that whoever won each group they wud be kept apart in the semis. Even the kildare gaa twitter after the last round of matchs announced kildare wud be playing Dublin in the semis. So its bizzare but not the only time we have got a raw deal at this level . Remeber the last time Meath reached an under 21 final v the Dubs and the game was due to be played in Navan, but we know what happened.
Meath need all the breaks we can get. We r improving massively at underage , but we so badly need a couple of provincial titles. Even this year with the increase in full time coachs in the county at underage it feels we are really stepping up a level at underage level.
But this draw changes the whole dynamic of this whole leinster under 20 championship from advantage to Meath to advantage to kildare. lets leave the Dubs to one side.
With the victory over kildare and beating a very highly fancied under 20 Galway team in a challenge match recently and all our players coming from three different minor teams which beat or performed so well v Dublin recently, it meant we have looked more competitive at this age group in years. We r contenders for the title.
If the draw was the way it should be kildare would have to beat Dublin and probaly Meath twice to win the title. A much tougher draw. Now Meath have to beat Dublin and probaly kildare twice to win the title. Thats a tougher run for us altogether.
Dublin are the top dogs at this level. Kildare have pushed them recently but the fact is Dublin have won 5 All Ireland under 21 titles since 2000. They are superstrong at this level. And yes we have players from Meath minor team which hammered Dublin in 2016, players that beat Dublin in leinster minor ( under 17) final last year and the rest of the players are from last years minor team that were 10 points up at half time v the Dubs , and lost after a great comeback and victory in extra time for the Dubs. So in many ways we have nothing to fear here with all these under 20 Meath players have eitheir beaten or played really well v this Dublin team of players. Theres not many counties at any level that cud say the same thing recently .
And yes the game is in Navan and Meath at any level r tough to beat in Navan. But playing Dublin at any level and particularly at this level , they are a very tough nut to crack. And lets say we do pull of a massive victory it would be our biggest win at this level since we defeated Jim Galvins under 21 Dubs in 2011 which was full of future Dublin stars.
Thats my fear the same thing cud happen. We beat the Dubs and then lost to longford in the next round. Anytime at any level we beat the Dubs in an earlier round before a leinster final we usually lose and dont win the provicial title. We become favourites for the title and dont seem to realise that once the Dubs r beaten everyone left in the competition now feels they have a chance to win..
I will give u examples in last 20 years we defeated Dublin in earlier rounds of leinster. In 97 we defeated Dublin at senior in q final , we lost the final to Offaly after. In 2010 we defeated Dublin at senior in semi final, after we all know how badly we played v louth in the final.
In 2011 at under 21 we defeated Dublin in q final , we lost the semi final to longford after. In 2016 we defeated Dublin in minor q final , after we lost to kildare in semi final.
Im a traditionalist I like to beat Dublin in a final more then any other county..But I always feel we r better meeting Dublin in a final then earlier rounds. Lets say we did beat Dublin which would be a massive result. More then likely it could be a Kildare v Meath final. These Kildare and Meath players have played each other at minor and under 20 level in recent times and there was a point between each other in both games. There is very little between both teams basically. If kildare get over Offaly and we get over Dublin, kildare wud be a great position, as we wud be strong favourites .
So for me this totally changes the dynamic of this championship. Dublin are still the team to beat. Offaly have the best player in the competition with Johnston and have a good team also..But the two big challengers were Meath and kildare. After the kildare v Meath game and victory to Meath , Meath were in a very good position. Now because of the strange open draw decision kildare r in a very good position. And remeber kildare have players which won a minor title, something we havent.
You need to beat top teams to win titles. But we are badly in need of underage titles. So we need every break going. So for this to happen for me it makes it twice as hard now to win the leinster title. And if Brian Farrell was to manage us to this leinster title after beating kildare twice and Dublin once it would be our best leinster title win at any age level since we won 2001 leinster senior title when we defeated reigning leinster champions kildare and Dublin in the leinster final.
Things have just got a lot harder in the whole under 20 championship for us. We have impressed so far, now we really need to bring it on. If not another chance of underage title is gone it would be another blow. If we lose to Dublin it would mean we have had 3 strong underage teams in last 3 years ( minor 2016 and 2017 , under 20 2018) and not one of them wud have reached a leinster final even though some excellent victories. We at least so badly need to get to this leinster under 20 final. Even a leinster under 20 final appearance wud be a boost. As we have only incredibly played in 1 under 21 leinster final ( in the year 2014) since 2001 ( our last leinster title victory at this grade was in 2001). But Dublin are still favourites for the title and the top team in the provience . But before the open draw decision was made Meath looked like being the main challenger. Now kildare look in a much better place. At least the under 20 leinster championship is much a more competition, more competitive, more interesting then the senior counterpart." Meath beat this Dublin team at minor 2 years ago, they are not nearly as strong as previous years and we are improving. while we have been completely shafted by the draw I am hopeful the boys can do the job. Kildare reached All Ireland final at minor level 2 years ago having beaten us by 1 point after extra time, we now have the structures in place to make sure that our players continue to develop at this crucial age, a Leinster title would be massive for us!!!
longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 300 - 27/06/2018 09:44:31
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Replying To longroadback: "Meath beat this Dublin team at minor 2 years ago, they are not nearly as strong as previous years and we are improving. while we have been completely shafted by the draw I am hopeful the boys can do the job. Kildare reached All Ireland final at minor level 2 years ago having beaten us by 1 point after extra time, we now have the structures in place to make sure that our players continue to develop at this crucial age, a Leinster title would be massive for us!!!" kildare didnt reach All Ireland minor final 2 years ago. They reached All Ireland minor semi final 2 years ago where kerry defeated them by 22 points. Kildare have only reached 1 All Ireland minor ever and that was in 1973 when Tyrone defeated them. Kildare up to the last few years had a dreadful record at minor. In the last few years they have become the team to beat at that grade level, where they have won 3 of the last 5 leinster minor titles. This is the most sucessful period ever for kildare at minor.
Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1046 - 27/06/2018 19:28:01
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Any idea when the team will be announced?
LoyalRoyal (None) - Posts: 414 - 28/06/2018 13:48:30
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Saw a team announced on the Meath App. Is Conor Moriarty off the panel? Hard to tell as they only posted a picture of the programme.
LoyalRoyal (None) - Posts: 414 - 29/06/2018 13:09:37
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Replying To LoyalRoyal: "Saw a team announced on the Meath App. Is Conor Moriarty off the panel? Hard to tell as they only posted a picture of the programme." Injured I believe
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 833 - 29/06/2018 16:12:02
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See Kildare gave Offaly a fair whopping in the first semi final tonight, they appear strong although I'm not sure if Offaly were up to much at this level.
Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3590 - 29/06/2018 23:40:36
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Disappointing. In the end I'm afraid. Hard luck to all involved.
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 30/06/2018 22:03:08
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yes the best team won but we had no luck . four or five good goal chances a prefect goal ruled out only the ref knows why. and a lot of handy frees giving to Dublin. three or four points loss would have been a more fair reflection
meath1977 (Meath) - Posts: 459 - 30/06/2018 22:11:03
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Leinster football is all about Kildare and Dublin. Our Minors and 20's can beat whoever else they like but when push comes to shove we seem to be still well short of the top row Leinster sides. I know our Minors beat DUBLIN but they have I turned got beaten by Wicklow and struggled to beat Louth . So the Dublin Minor team are not great shakes. Can Meath minors beat Kildare is the question . Tonight was Men against boys at U20.
Talking_Sense (Meath) - Posts: 209 - 30/06/2018 23:37:05
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Replying To longroadback: "Meath beat this Dublin team at minor 2 years ago, they are not nearly as strong as previous years and we are improving. while we have been completely shafted by the draw I am hopeful the boys can do the job. Kildare reached All Ireland final at minor level 2 years ago having beaten us by 1 point after extra time, we now have the structures in place to make sure that our players continue to develop at this crucial age, a Leinster title would be massive for us!!!" I know you say we have impressed at U20 to date but who have we beaten. Kildare could have beaten Meath and we are beat by 12 points by Dublin tonight. Very disappointing. Still away behind the Kildares and Dublin at Minor and U20. Big County, big pick and it as men v boys against Dublin
Talking_Sense (Meath) - Posts: 209 - 30/06/2018 23:57:25
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Replying To Talking_Sense: "I know you say we have impressed at U20 to date but who have we beaten. Kildare could have beaten Meath and we are beat by 12 points by Dublin tonight. Very disappointing. Still away behind the Kildares and Dublin at Minor and U20. Big County, big pick and it as men v boys against Dublin" negative negative negative that's great help all right as a supporter for these young lads. there is no reason why we can't get 6 or 7 good footballers off this team to build with the other good teams we have comeing up. the game itself if you were at it we were not 12 points worst then Dublin who are heavily financed,we had no luck last night and the Kildare you are on about we beat them four weeks ago. and go to Wicklow and follow our minor team next Tuesday instead of running them down too
meath1977 (Meath) - Posts: 459 - 01/07/2018 10:39:52
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The Meath performance last night was very poor, conceded a goal in the first minute of the first half and got a played off the park for most of the first 30 minutes but got handed a lifeline before half time when Frank O' Reilly scored a penalty. But it was false hope as we also conceded a goal in the first minute of the second half… on both occasions the Meath defence opened up all too easily. In contrast anytime the Meath attack got a sniff of goal the Dublin defence would do literally anything, which included tactical fouling, to ensure Meath got no soft goals.
Inexplicably Meath decided to play with 2 men in the inside forward line in the first half with little or no support from their half forward line, the space on front of the two men was cut off by the extra Dublin defender/s who were unoccupied by the Meath forwards who retreated to defence. When Meath attacked they had 2 options, carry the ball straight down the middle with short hand-passing or kick it into the corner where Conlon and Morris got the ball isolated, neither options were successful. The way the Meath attack set-up meant that they had very little chance of success as we simply didn't have enough forwards up the field to do significant damage, we looked like Fermanagh playing Donegal in the Ulster final.
By dragging forwards deep back down the field Meath ended up out numbered on the Dublin kick-outs and conceded the majority of the Dublin kick-outs very easily, which offered the perfect platform to work the ball out of defence at pace and basically gave the Meath defence very little chance due to the quality of ball going into their forwards. As we all know from watching the Dublin senior team if there is one thing you need to avoid its giving them handy possession from the kickouts, incredibly this is what Meath did, inviting trouble on ourselves and making Dublin look good.
If the Meath management had went man to man, had believe in their players and pressed Dublin for every kick-out they couldn't have done any worse, after all this is the same group we beat by 10 points only 2 years ago, we effectively handed the initiative to Dublin. I expect if Kildare are brave and press Dublin high up the field and really go after them from the start they will pick a lot of holes in the Dublin defence who had it all too easy last night.
Despite the scoreline there is a huge amount of potential among these Meath players, highlighted by a spectacular goal by Morris and some brave defending by defenders who were left with a very difficult task. We were missing Conor Moriarty and Sean Reilly didn't look fully recovered from injury, both were massive losses, Moriarty would have offered another option as a ball winner in the full forward line.
On the wider scale at the moment it always seems to be one step forward followed by 2 steps back unfortunately. Tonight's result is basically a 20 point turnaround from minor level so you would have to wonder what Dublin have being doing different over the last 2 years with basically the same set of players, because they looked stronger, faster and more tactically adept. This Meath team (and management) has put in a massive effort but still looked inferior, likewise our senior team put in a massive effort this year and actually seemed to get worse. Are we just training hard rather than training smart?
Thunderstruck (Meath) - Posts: 449 - 01/07/2018 12:38:05
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Replying To Talking_Sense: "I know you say we have impressed at U20 to date but who have we beaten. Kildare could have beaten Meath and we are beat by 12 points by Dublin tonight. Very disappointing. Still away behind the Kildares and Dublin at Minor and U20. Big County, big pick and it as men v boys against Dublin" In fairness Meath were not as far behind as scoreline suggests, Dublin were the better side without question. Meath conceded a 1 02 in first 3 mins of first half and same again in opening 75 seconds of second half. The one issue i would have is that we had 2 forwards inside who are capable of opening up any defence in Morris and Conlon but we were so reluctant to let any early ball in. Conlon was making runs but the ball was held up. Dublins all round pace and stength was vety impressive
Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1338 - 01/07/2018 12:38:49
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Lads this was a bad Dublin minor team that Meath beat 2 years ago... As was Dublin u17 team this year.. This was well known very early in there development..
We keep judging Meath underage teams on how they perform against Dublin teams, but never take into account how good or bad the Dublin team is in a particular year.
I do agree that the Meath u17 team is a strong team and this particular year in Meath is very strong as I've watched alot of matches at this age group... I do have to say that I was amazed of some of the players on the panel.. As I do believe some of the players that aren't on it are better players but this is only in my opinion. I think this team should be judged on how they do against Kildare, Kerry, Galway. Against these teams management will not be let of the hook by making the wrong decisions on the line. Meath were lucky to beat Offaly the other night and a lucky bounce of a ball set up the goal in the last few minutes won the game.
I disagree that Dublin were not 12 points better... They ran in goals at there ease and kicked points for fun.. Why were Meath management not prepared for Dublin running in goals in first few seconds in first half as everybody knows that this is a tactic of Dublin teams over the last few years... Win the throw in and go for goal... If it works brilliant, they've opposition on the back foot and it doesn't so what !!
royaljackeen (Meath) - Posts: 32 - 01/07/2018 13:23:56
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Replying To royaljackeen: "Lads this was a bad Dublin minor team that Meath beat 2 years ago... As was Dublin u17 team this year.. This was well known very early in there development..
We keep judging Meath underage teams on how they perform against Dublin teams, but never take into account how good or bad the Dublin team is in a particular year.
I do agree that the Meath u17 team is a strong team and this particular year in Meath is very strong as I've watched alot of matches at this age group... I do have to say that I was amazed of some of the players on the panel.. As I do believe some of the players that aren't on it are better players but this is only in my opinion. I think this team should be judged on how they do against Kildare, Kerry, Galway. Against these teams management will not be let of the hook by making the wrong decisions on the line. Meath were lucky to beat Offaly the other night and a lucky bounce of a ball set up the goal in the last few minutes won the game.
I disagree that Dublin were not 12 points better... They ran in goals at there ease and kicked points for fun.. Why were Meath management not prepared for Dublin running in goals in first few seconds in first half as everybody knows that this is a tactic of Dublin teams over the last few years... Win the throw in and go for goal... If it works brilliant, they've opposition on the back foot and it doesn't so what !!" Agree - frustrating to have a Dublin team come to Navan and run in two goals form the throw in. Dublin teams always try and bury you in the first 10 minutes so disappointing we didn't seem to expect what Dublin would throw at us. I hope some of these players do develop but another depressing loss to add to the pair this season. Let's all get behind the U17 as would be nice to see them go on a run.
MeathWawa (Meath) - Posts: 61 - 02/07/2018 04:59:50
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Great win for Kildare tonight, amazing what a week can do for a county's fortunes.
Seems crazy that we can take a hammering from Dublin and then see Kildare beat them like that this evening.
There is something wrong somewhere with our football and all I know its not getting any better
ROYALOPTIMIST (Meath) - Posts: 178 - 06/07/2018 22:47:51
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Replying To ROYALOPTIMIST: "Great win for Kildare tonight, amazing what a week can do for a county's fortunes.
Seems crazy that we can take a hammering from Dublin and then see Kildare beat them like that this evening.
There is something wrong somewhere with our football and all I know its not getting any better" Could not believe that was the team who had it so handy against Meath.When Dublin got the first point after 20 seconds,I said here we go again.But Kildare are made of sterner stuff.They tackled and harried the Dublin players at every opportunity.When Kildare had 3 wides to 1 and then Dublin led by 5 points to 3 I taught Dublin would take over but Kildare upped the tempo and scored the next 7 points to lead by 10 to 5.Kildare pushed up on the Dublin kick-outs and forced Dublin to kick long which suited Kildare as they totally dominated the middle of the field.Going back to Meath,how did they beat Kildare but loose so handy to Dublin.They have no leaders,no-one to win the dirty ball,don't know how to tackle,have no-one to take a card for the team,not one breaking ball was won.So we have major problems in trying to bring on players for the seniors.
jake1 (Meath) - Posts: 268 - 07/07/2018 10:30:50
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Replying To jake1: "Could not believe that was the team who had it so handy against Meath.When Dublin got the first point after 20 seconds,I said here we go again.But Kildare are made of sterner stuff.They tackled and harried the Dublin players at every opportunity.When Kildare had 3 wides to 1 and then Dublin led by 5 points to 3 I taught Dublin would take over but Kildare upped the tempo and scored the next 7 points to lead by 10 to 5.Kildare pushed up on the Dublin kick-outs and forced Dublin to kick long which suited Kildare as they totally dominated the middle of the field.Going back to Meath,how did they beat Kildare but loose so handy to Dublin.They have no leaders,no-one to win the dirty ball,don't know how to tackle,have no-one to take a card for the team,not one breaking ball was won.So we have major problems in trying to bring on players for the seniors." Read an article a few days ago quoting Brian Farrell, indo.ie i think, where he states he asked Meath cb for several diff things on diff occasions for the team and the answer every time was no.
If your CB wont support you what chance have you got?
This was a talented bunch that had enough to get to at least contest a final but just needed that little extra that money CAN buy.
I always believed that this level u20/21 is vital for progress at senior, not necessarily winning but being competitive and supported. When young guys and their management get the little things they request to help them gain those inches needed they are better prepared now but also more committed and be still around in the future.
cuttothebone (Kildare) - Posts: 124 - 07/07/2018 12:47:05
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Replying To ROYALOPTIMIST: "Great win for Kildare tonight, amazing what a week can do for a county's fortunes.
Seems crazy that we can take a hammering from Dublin and then see Kildare beat them like that this evening.
There is something wrong somewhere with our football and all I know its not getting any better" too many false dawns, one step forward two back, hopefully minors can win today. Need to start winning if we are retain the limited pool of talent going forward.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 1432 - 07/07/2018 14:13:38
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Replying To cuttothebone: "Read an article a few days ago quoting Brian Farrell, indo.ie i think, where he states he asked Meath cb for several diff things on diff occasions for the team and the answer every time was no.
If your CB wont support you what chance have you got?
This was a talented bunch that had enough to get to at least contest a final but just needed that little extra that money CAN buy.
I always believed that this level u20/21 is vital for progress at senior, not necessarily winning but being competitive and supported. When young guys and their management get the little things they request to help them gain those inches needed they are better prepared now but also more committed and be still around in the future." Hmm....
Think a lot of that was Farrell covering his tracks.
The main issue with the Dublin display was naive tactics. He tried to play a traditional 15 man game. There was no defensive plan and we were wide open in the middle. For a lot if the game we had a 20 yard gap between the half back line and full back line.
This meant two things...
Dublin could pop simply passes into that space were their forwards were 1v1. Given them simple scores, or when they ran at us and hit by midfield and the half back line they had acres to run into too and therefore we were outnumbered.
We had the players, but we have a lot of talent coming through, it's vital that we get managers who understand the modern game for U20s in the next few years.
As a former county board chairman said, the display against Dublin was deplorable and Brian needs to look at himself.
ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 07/07/2018 14:45:35
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