The cilles lads are fully justified in their inclusion.
I agree with other posters Conlon is one hell of a prospect.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 28/11/2018 20:38:18    2152771

We need all the new players we can get. Especially in forward line where have struggled there lately, and our older players are just not reliable. Some have had huge potential but it has just not worked so we need to look to looker to newer players sooner rather than later. I am sick of people saying how good he so I am looking forward to seeing him in action. I did see him before a few years ago I am sure he has come on since then. But he had a off day. I must have jinked him :)

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1192 - 29/11/2018 12:51:22    2152825

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 29/11/2018 15:25:01    2152832

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 29/11/2018 16:29:30    2152841

Does anybody know if Brian Conlon is back in the set up?

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1668 - 29/11/2018 18:12:39    2152848

Barney123 (Meath) - Posts: 676 - 29/11/2018 21:35:28    2152864

TakeYourPoints6 (Meath) - Posts: 223 - 30/11/2018 06:53:18    2152876

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 30/11/2018 09:13:22    2152883

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 565 - 30/11/2018 10:26:55    2152887

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 30/11/2018 11:22:26    2152893

TakeYourPoints6 (Meath) - Posts: 223 - 30/11/2018 11:27:10    2152895

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 30/11/2018 11:52:00    2152897

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 30/11/2018 11:54:28    2152900

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1668 - 30/11/2018 12:42:01    2152903

As far as I can see, McKeever was Meath's second top scorer behind Donal Lenehan in last year's league. If that's not "cutting the mustard", then we may as well give up. Seriously, some of the revisionism here is laughable!

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1198 - 30/11/2018 12:52:08    2152905

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 30/11/2018 13:22:44    2152909

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 565 - 30/11/2018 14:03:04    2152915

I think both are loses not from what they have done but future potential.
I am a fan of Conlon. He was excellent in his first game v Donegal in championship last year. He started the league well v Rossies driving the team forward along with keoghan. However after that game his form dipped. And he didnt play well for the rest of the league. That would be normal second season syndrome.

I think Conlon has potential but for me which is his best position. I dont see him as a midfielder. And while he plays centre back for his club I think his best position cud be wing back. However with Padraig Harnan and Niall kane hopefully on the panel this year and J McEntee really stepping up to the plate at the end of last season. We have options in wing backs.

Conlons greatest asset is his atleticism. Something we lack. Teams like Dublin and kildare are Atletic teams and I feel this is an area we struggle with as we have a more smaller pacey sort of team. So Conlon does give us an atleticism we need , we lack. But he is still young. Still developing and he is a player we need to find his best position. He would be a good addition. But not a massive loss yet. He is a player with lots of potential for the future.

Mckeever wud be a bigger loss. An area we struggle at is inside forwards. We have alot of good quality forwards that are pacey skilful but light. They lack at times the ability to win the 50 50 balls from play. And also it is a horrible time to be an inside forward in the modern game with double sweepers blanket defences and 14 players defending from deep. Even the greats like O Rourke and Geraghty wud find it difficult to find space in the modern game. We need to find two to three forwards in the inside line that can score from play . We have always had great duos in the inside line eg Shanley Curran in the 60s , O Rourkes and Flynn in 80s and Geraghty and Murphy in 90s. You need two or three players in forward line t, doing hard work winning ball winning breaking ball eg Gillic Cassells Beggy in 87 88 and Nestor Curtis Kelly in 99 . While the inside line of O Rourke Stafford And Flynn and Geraghty and Murphy causing havoc. You need a balance in the forward line. Our half forward line looks good eg Sullivan Reilly Brennan Forde and possibly Campion or Devine as options. But with lenihan gone we are in trouble in the full forward line.

Lenihan has been our main free taker and score getter from play in last two years. Sometimes he has been a one man forward line. Newman wud be a natural replacement. A brillant freetaker from deadballs and eye for goal. In 2013 2014 outside Dubs Newman along with Kingston and Heaslin was one of best forwards in leinster. He has had injury problems for a few seasons. Taking off last season was a good idea. He already looks invigorated. But he need to score more from open play and he needs to improve his freetaking acuuracy where he can sometimes score 45 or 50 metres out brilllantly but miss easier ones.

Dardis is a player also that deserves a shot in that he has been one of best club forwards in the county in last two years. Young James Conlon is a real prospect and there is a real.touch of class about him. But he is similar to lot of our players in that he is light. It cud take him time to get used to inter county level. How he wud do against Ulster defenders and sweepers when we play Rory Gallaghers Fermanangh or Donegal in Ballybofey or if we met a Monaghan type Ulster team in backdoor, thats the question. I think he is a player with serious potential. But it coukd take time. Remeber it took Ollie Murphy 5 years before he became a first team regular.

Another young player I would like to see involved wud be Daire Rowe. Any news on him ? Is he involved this year. I think he was concentrating on college and juniors the last few years.

Someone like Shane Walsh of Na Fianna I also think is a serious prospect and is a player that can win ball and score from play. He was called up to the panel for training a while back but is concentrating on his studies this year. But we shud see him the county jerseys in the coming years. A serious prospect. Along witb minot duo of Mitchell and Costello both are also forward talents of the future.

But I think Mckeever and lenihan have been best forward in Meath club football in recent years. Both r a loss. McKeever didnt have a good league last year. He was injured at the start and played in half forward line for allot of the games. The only time he played full forward line along with Lenihan was v Down and we scored 4 goals and Mckeever and lenihan ran riot. He is a loss. A full forward line of Nemam McKeever and lenihan wud be best inside line we have and potentially a strong one. All should be playing the best football of their lifes with Newman around 28 and so is McKeever and lenihan around 26..They have experience now to deal with inter county sweeper system. However next seasons with Lenihan and now McKeever are gone. That is a double loss. We need a partnership to form on the inside line.

Maybe Nemam and Conlon cud link up like Newman and Wallace did in 2013. But we do need a settled full forward line. That can win and score from play more then we have in recent years. We have never really replaced Stephen Bray. He has been a masive loss. McMahon from Ratoath is player I have always been a fan of to. He has suffered from injuries. He cud be an option also.
But overall its area I believe we are behind Dublin and kildare. We have good skilful forwards of a similar type. But lack a real marqee forward like Giles or Joyce or Conor McManus. We always had better forwards then Dublin in 40s 50s 60s even 70s 80s 90s and even 00s. and in the same period we had better forwards then.kildare. Both Dublin and kildare are stronger in this department then us currently. We need to find a partnership that can really make impact v sweepers and blanket defences .

Of course we still have Graham Reilly a great servant to Meath football, still a brillant talented footballer . Maybe playing Graham in the inside line cud be an option

Any news on Harry Rooney is he on the panel. I always felts when he didnt play in the championship in last two years it was a masive blow for us. He is r best out and out midfielder we have. And I believe his return is very important to give us options at centre field.

It goods to see Padraig Harnan back as he is a proven inter county defender and Niall Kane cud also be a big addition. For me kane is one best footballers in Meath club football in the last few seasons. A type of wing back we need. He is also good at breaking ball an area we struggle at. We always had breaking ball specialist eg Kevin Foley Pat Reynolds jnr and Seamus Kenny. Kane is good in this department. A J McEntee Keoghan Kane half back line has potential. With McGill excellent at full back and lavin stepping up to the plate this year for county and club and with Shane Gallagher S McEntee and P Harnan our whole back line are starting to look stronger.

Another player returning that is a masive boost is Alan Forde. Forde for me is the only player in Meath football who can link the defence to the attack play that modern type wing forward role to a high level. Its the role Paul Galvin and Brian Dooher both played. Im not saying he is as good as them. Im.just saying he is a similar type of player in that he can defend attack win dirty ball link defence and attack and get stuck in. Basically the modern wing forward. Fordes return is a big boost.

This is McEntees third year and while I think rebuilding a county takes 4 to 5 years. Seen McEntee was talking about leaving at end of this year and next year is the end of his contract. If he doesn't have some real progress next yeat it cud be his last. Which I dont see as a good thing. I cud see us going the way of Down and Armagh down to div 3 or even following the path of Derry Offaly and laois to divsion 4. So I think next year is a pivotal year. This Meath rebuilding job is five or six or seven year job.

If McEntee leaves next year.I fear for the worst. There are no top class coachs or managers in Meath at senior inter county level. Well was the last time a Meath man managed a county outside Meath was it Coyle with Monaghan or Hayes with Carlow or some chap with Offaly. When was the last time a Meath manager had sucess at senior level at high standard, other then McEntee you wud have to go back to Barry with Dunshaughlin in early 00s. If McEntee leaves , the candidates to take over are inexperienced and unsucessful at senior level. This is area we need to improve in eg Developing sucessful modern coachs.

But I am optimistic for next year. Allot of our players are now hitting mid 20s mark the time a player usually peaks. And their strength and conditioning is improving all the time. While Additions hopefully of Kane Forde Nemam Harnan Conlon and a few more to this years panel will surely improve the quality and depth of the panel. McEntee is in his third year so he is also more experienced now. Bringing in a new coach is a good idea. And Rodgers addition as goalkeeping coach cud be a masterstroke . Rodgers has inter county coaching experience and is one best goalkeeper's in the country in any sport or code. If he can improve our knockout strategy that cud be a massive turning point for us.

Also the championship draw in leinster is favourable. Yes we cud lose to Carlow Westmesth or laois. But on paper I believe we are better team.and well.capable of beating them all. A leinster final appearance our fiffth this decade compared to kildares one, should be a genuine target we can achieve.

And while the league div 2 looks tough on paper. I also think it is a favourable draw for us. I know that makes no sense. But for me when it comes to divsion 2 team we face I always look for three things. 1 How many games in Navan , how games v Ulster opposition and how many local derbys. They are some of the reasons we have stayed in div 2 so long.

We have 4 games at home. That is good. Navan is a tough place to come to. Division 2 has looked like a mini Ulster championship at times with 4 or 5 Ulster teams in the division at times. We only have 2 Ulster teams next year and both are beatable. Ulster teams have been a real problem for us in last 10 or so years. And finally local derbys where our neighbours throw the kitchen sink at us has cost us badly in the past eg louth in 2012 , kildare 2017 , Cavan 2018. We always have a couple of local derbys. There is only one local derby v kildare in next years league.

Yes we are capable of losing to all the teams but we are also capable of beating all the teams in div 2. And yes it is a tough division but with lack of Ulster opposition and local derbys these are pluses for me.

Promotion to div 1 would be a masive. Nearly 15 or 16 of last 18 years in div 2 has sucked the life and soul out of Meath football. If we cud get promotion it cud be transformational. Our players are peaking Navan is a tough place to win most of the time. Playing Dublin or Mayo in Navan or kerry down south wud be great for supporters and great experience for our players and I think we wud do much better in divsion 1 then people think. We dont have an inferior complex. And the excellent performances v Tyrone Galway Donegal and Roscommon in last 2 years show we can still up our game v top counties. This is a very important trait for any team. Its what Meath football past sucess was built on eg upping our game v top counties. If we cud just be more consistent and especially not fall into our usual mid league slump things could change for better

( We seem to always finish the league well and we can start league wel, l but the third or fourth game we perform poorly eg 2018 v Cavan 2017 v Down and this thread has been continued back to 2010 in the league. If we cud start the league as good as we always finish it I think we cud get promoted).

Finally the new rules might help us. One of the areas we have struggled with since early 00s is the new tactics in modern football eg kickout strategy sweepers possesion football. Our traditional kick and catch is not fit for purpose in this new era. However the new rules three handpasses and kick..Sure that is how Meath won 4 Sams in 80s ans 90s. Boylan didnt do tactics. But one. That was after three hand passes he told his players they must kick the ball..So if this rule along with the mark is kept for league. I think it will suit us. We still as a county r players more comfortable with kicking then handpassing game. Counties like Donegal and Mayo always had a tradition of handpassing. Thats one reason to their sucess in modern era. Changing the game to a more traditional game wud suit us. As in last 15 years our players have not really looked comfortable in the new possession game. With the mark a big strong full forward could be an option for counties. A target man is an area we sud consider for the league also)

Overall I am optimistic for next year..The underage sucess recently and performances v Tyrone Donegal have shown there is life in Meath football still. Bring on Tipp in February. Im looking forward to the new season already. An Mhi Abu.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1046 - 30/11/2018 16:09:11    2152928

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 30/11/2018 16:12:34    2152930

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 30/11/2018 16:13:21    2152931