royal1967 (Meath) - Posts: 145 - 30/03/2019 22:16:11    2176519

I was sure that Dardis was going to bury that knockdown from Newman, unfortunately it wasn't to be. I thought some of the football we played in the first half was excellent. Maybe the players were a little bit mentally and physically fatigued, but in any case promotion was the overall aim and it was achieved. A return to Croke Park would have been a great experience for players and fans alike too!

GlasgowRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 275 - 30/03/2019 22:18:43    2176520

meath1977 (Meath) - Posts: 459 - 30/03/2019 22:28:10    2176523

TobinsBeard (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 30/03/2019 22:30:33    2176525

TobinsBeard (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 30/03/2019 22:36:13    2176530

cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 143 - 30/03/2019 22:49:23    2176535

Marara (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 30/03/2019 23:19:34    2176540

Marara (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 30/03/2019 23:20:34    2176542

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 306 - 30/03/2019 23:23:35    2176543

Marara (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 30/03/2019 23:33:37    2176545

Marara (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 30/03/2019 23:43:37    2176546

We were brilliant in the first half - Brian McMahon is very underrated- his movement off the ball and the work he does in closing players down goes unnoticed and he is a good option in attack. Unfortunate that he had to go off . Biggie doesn't play the same game and I thought he was poor yesterday! I don't think our substitutions worked - campion is a good player but he never got into the game.
Plenty of positives - Newman was excellent and O'Sullivan did well too and Gallagher and lavin were good! Gallaghers sending off was no different than murphys second foul!
That said Murphy was incredible - one of the best players of his generation!
Donegal seems to change their game plan better than us - they totally dominated the second half!
That said - promotion was the real aim and now all sights on Championship- another day out in Croker soon???

ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 292 - 31/03/2019 07:07:16    2176557

Must say was very impressed with Newman and I hold my hand up as I thought he wouldn't have the pace for croke park. He did very well.
Our kick outs were poor and midfield were cleaned out.
The most annoying thing however is how naive we are with or game management. We were 5 or 6 points up and we played into Donegals hands. We should have put the breaks on reserve energy and drawn Donegal onto us. Instead we kept going at them and losing possesion and in turn scores.

Lessons should be learned.

Foley91 (Meath) - Posts: 339 - 31/03/2019 08:23:33    2176564

Disappointed with the result. Especially after the brilliant opening 20 minutes.

Micheal Murphy was the difference between the 2 teams yesterday. I thought Conor McGill will learn huge amounts from last evening's encounter. He was very effective initially on man marking Murphy but when Murphy decided to roam and drift into space McGill got lost a couple of times. But Murphy brought his A game and had to play it, which was testimont to McGill. Murphy was superb, strong, composed in taking marks & frees when necessary.

Considering I felt our full back broke even with their direct opponents, they conceded 1-13. Granted all Murphy's 0-7 were placed balls. Definitely a learning curve.

Michael Newman was excellent bar the tired free which resulted in the goal. I didnt understand why Barry Dardis didn't kick that but its over now. Donegal got one goal chance and converted, while we took only 1 from our 3 or 4 chances. Disallowed 1-1 were very harsh I felt. And would have put us in a half time about 9 or 10 up instead of 5 only, which would have been a true reflection of our efforts. (Will be interesting seeing back on tv.) Neil McGee man handled Newman for full entire second half, hence why direct diagonal ball couldn't be let in as like the opening half. Dardis was being similarly treated by Stephen McMenamen. No protection from umpires or officals but Newman and Dardis will have to learn. Losing Bryan McMahon and Ben Brenann to knocks was unfortunate as both were orchestrating many lovely attacks. Showed go attacking prowess.

I felt we didn't allow Donegal break at pace either, bar the goal. And it was a lovely team attacking goal but disappointing to concede in such a fashion. IMO we conceded about 1-10 from direct mistakes of unforced errors etc something to wirk on.

Overall Donegal's game management in final quarter was excellent and Michael Murphy sublime ability was difference.

Going in right direction for Meath though.

David (Meath) - Posts: 566 - 31/03/2019 08:57:03    2176566

This is a young team they will learn from today McMahon going off was a big blow also meant Reilly was on a lot earlier than expected he ran out off legs .
If we don't sort out the kick out Dublin will destroy us if we make the Leinster final .
Colgan is slow getting the ball on the tee and the lack of movement from our backs for a quick kick out is poor .
We need to be cuter 8 points up they needed a breather look what Donegal done when they got in front yesterday the kept ball , Dublin do it all the time !! the young bull and the old bull comes to mind !!
Meath ran themselves into the ground but they will learn this wasn't a collapse like before this was a lesson from a good well organized team and a defeat Meath can learn from .

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 214 - 31/03/2019 08:58:04    2176567

Barney123 (Meath) - Posts: 676 - 31/03/2019 09:42:35    2176570

Anybody know when replay is on TV?

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1668 - 31/03/2019 11:14:48    2176586

Anyone that isn't possitive after yesterday is an eejit, simple as that.

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 709 - 31/03/2019 11:43:18    2176589

Look lads, think about where we were 3 months ago... think about the loss to Longford last year or the loss to Westmeath in 2015 or a slew of losses in the National League since the obset on the O'Dowd era around 2013/4 up until Jan/Feb this year. We were in chaos. The underage teams werent performing. The club game had stagnated snd still largely is in stagnation. The people of Meath had largely lost interest. The senior team was mentally and physically weak in every sense. Our standards had dropped to levels never witnessed before. We were vulnerable against ANYBODY. Since 2016 our vast youth population involved in minor/u17s/u20 structures have been worked upon and are bearing fruit in the shape of Leinster success and challenging on the All-Ireland stage. We produced a Junior team which won Leinster and was close to winning an All-Ireland. All of this within 2/3 years. This year I believed Meath would do well to stay in Division 2. I thought 3/4 games were winnable. Instead Ive seen the best Meath team in years, and theyre still learning. Yesterday was possibly their maximum output, they looked tired with 10 minutes to go, but its a damn sight better than the calamities of the last 5/6 years and in a more general sense the last 20 years. Im very happy to be supporting that team and also the management team and fair play to them for turning around a sinking ship. Much more to do but the signs are 100% better than they were 12 months ago. I firmly believe that if the apathy and malaise of Meath football and Meath supporters post O'Dowd wasnt addressed, we could have drifted into obscurity like many formerly powerful counties have done for decades. That was a distinct possibility. Im not knocking O'Dowd or his teams as people, but when McEntee took on this job, he took on a humongous possibility of disaster or more likely stagnation. Instead of that we're back knocking on doors and theres fire back in the belly and we're playing League football in the top 8 on the island next year. Its far from perfect but its a great start. Well done to all.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 391 - 31/03/2019 11:46:08    2176590

Another point id like to make. Meath has always been very much a closed shop. Its an insular county. There are others like that too but Meath is unique. Other counties dont get it and we're hated because of it. Meath does best as a county when they are being slated in national news or local news and when they are considered nearlymen to Dublin or Kerry or whomever. We love the siege mentality. We thrive off it. Those conditions are set perfectly at the present, although the afforementioned teams along with three/four others at least are markedly superior to us at the present. The rest of the country will never do us any favours, they havent forgotten the old Meath of the 80s and 90s. Hence why secretly or even blatantly the majority of the country wants us to fail. We're hated. That fact should fuel this team even more and they can feed off of the resentment of the supposed top teams who are looking down their noses.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 391 - 31/03/2019 12:06:21    2176591