Meath Forum

Meath V Offaly

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Replying To ALLGAA32:  "Responding - we got a lucky goal. A big high ball sent in and one of the smallest men in the field connected after the Offaly goalie mad a error. For God sake a simple game played sample. It was desperate and the lads looked tired. In the League final we collectively ran from the half back line but none of that yesterday.


You look yesterday at the kick outs and during the league they were a issue -why is this not been worked on.
Fullback line had a wall of Meath players on top of them that they could not see what was coming at them
Halfback - was strong at the end of the league - that line was busting out making the runs. What has the young Ryan fella done and what is the story with Padraic Harnan
Middle - Not working at all - Flanagan could not hold a ball and the ball to them was rare. Menton wasn't at the races at all
Half forward - no one up to anything. C O'Sullivan got rolled over in the first 10mins and it seemed to have deflated him for a fella we all know again that can run and deliver off but no not yesterday. Brian McMahon made some runs but not enough and Ben Brennan was way off the mark
Full forward - Not one of them made a contribution that is sufficient for Senior Football County Championship

Very disappointed in the team picked and the performance they looked tired and unfit and ball work very bad. Meath football is in a bad way"
Its easy in hindsight to say the team picked wasnt the right one. What was the difference between the team yesterday and the team all through the league? McCoy in for Ryan was the only change, and I thought McCoy had a good game. He's winning the man of the match vote on the Meath Gaa App.

TakeYourPoints6 (Meath) - Posts: 223 - 13/05/2019 15:04:35    2183690

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Replying To TakeYourPoints6:  "Its easy in hindsight to say the team picked wasnt the right one. What was the difference between the team yesterday and the team all through the league? McCoy in for Ryan was the only change, and I thought McCoy had a good game. He's winning the man of the match vote on the Meath Gaa App."
Byran Mc Mahon was my man of the match he got 1.2 from play lucky enough goal he did dispossess the goalkeeper and finish it, I was happy with Mc Coy also I taught he did well also.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1192 - 13/05/2019 16:21:40    2183713

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Replying To bobkarlgees:  "Byran Mc Mahon was my man of the match he got 1.2 from play lucky enough goal he did dispossess the goalkeeper and finish it, I was happy with Mc Coy also I taught he did well also."
I agree with you on McMahon my motm. Although McCoy did very well too.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 13/05/2019 16:44:37    2183722

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Replying To lagoreX:  "Was a disater of a game but Pros from yesterday what I can see were
-Bench made a big impact
-Coming from 4 points down with 10 mins to go to win shows character
-Winning when playing badly
-Got a bit of a tan"
Got a good laugh out of that. In hindsight its very difficult to put a finger on what really went on in that game. McEntee said in an interview last night that it was likely the first stroke of luck his Meath team have had in his three years. He's right. A double header in Portlaoise with the Dubs game could add more nerves into the fray for this Meath side, or it might galvanise them. If anything, yesterday was a big wake up call. A big kick in the rear end. The players are better than that and they owe it to themselves to do better. I mean for the love of god, Carlow and Laois/Westmeath stand in their way of a Leinster Final vs. the best team of all time, and a potential play off for a super 8 spot. Its there for the taking. Get the act together and go after it.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 391 - 13/05/2019 18:05:47    2183758

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McEntee summed it up well in todays Indo. If you're slightly off, you're going to get punished. And I'm not sure we're good enough to be slightly off," A bit more than slightly off, but at least he is not fooling himself as to where we are.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 1432 - 13/05/2019 18:40:14    2183779

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Harnan still not fit for 70 minutes. Ryan failed a concussion exam and was barred from playing."
No I dont think Harnan is up to 70 minutes,
But on seen him in the challenge against Roscommon he definitely looks up for winning a place on team, He wasn't lacking in effort. Where did you hear about the Ryan concussion ?
I was wondering what the craic was with him. He might not have been eye catching like James Entee but he is no less important he dose a great job as tight marker and cutting out the inside ball. He was badly missed yesterday.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1192 - 13/05/2019 19:48:51    2183793

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Replying To Foley91:  "I'm with mmc. Keeper is very poor in relation to kick outs and speed. Must have caused at least 3-4 points today. Overall it was very poor and we were extremely lucky to survive. Some of our basic passing was atrocious and numerous balls were kicked away. Thought Flanagan did well as did lynch. Full back was good. The offaly corner backs and half backs ran riot."
Agreed with all. Simply not a good performance yesterday

David (Meath) - Posts: 566 - 13/05/2019 20:43:40    2183805

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Replying To bobkarlgees:  "No I dont think Harnan is up to 70 minutes,
But on seen him in the challenge against Roscommon he definitely looks up for winning a place on team, He wasn't lacking in effort. Where did you hear about the Ryan concussion ?
I was wondering what the craic was with him. He might not have been eye catching like James Entee but he is no less important he dose a great job as tight marker and cutting out the inside ball. He was badly missed yesterday."
Apparently got concussed during that challenge match v Kerry (which I got to say is not looking like a great idea in hindsight) but as they say hindsight is 20 20 vision. And was examined couple of days before game and failed it (so I'm told) however someone else said that no matter what he did in the exam he couldn't play as the game fell within the time frame that health and safety set. But will be eligible for Carlow.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 13/05/2019 20:52:03    2183810

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Thought it was 3 16 to 16. But you might be right. Seemingly 3 quick fire goals killed game in first half. Thought though it was last week ??"
Heard we got a right trimming from Cavan also recently is there any truth in that??

runnerin (Meath) - Posts: 194 - 13/05/2019 21:22:55    2183822

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Bryan McMahon motm. Please no no! Man of the match was 100% wearing white yesterday. I thought the Offaly wing backs & #4 were terrifuc coming forward. Roasted our forwards.

Meath's performance never got started. Looked like a different team from league.

Our kick outs and overall Goalkeeper play (bar Niall McNamee's saved goal effort) was once again poor. Simply Andy Colgan isn't good enough. He wasn't during the league and still not. (I have worked with teams and implemented kickout strategies for goalkeepers. They work brilliantly in training and practice matches but sometimes goalkeepers crumble and cannot impkement strategy when the heat of battle mounts. It happens, and Colgan is prime example of this. If you notice or watch in warm up, Colgan is kicking good and as fellow coach is calling to. I suspect a strategy is therefore in place but Colgan can not perform when needed. Disappointing and frustrating for all involved).

Our fullback line wasn't really tested but did okay in general I felt. Conor McGill git turned easy enough for McNamee's goal chance.

In the halfback line, Hames McEntee looked a pale shaduw if himself. No strong running or tackling like the end of the league. Young Gavin McCoy on his debut was probably oyr best player yesterday but it would not have been hard.

Midfield got destroyed. I know neither are natural midfielders but they never got going. Yes Adam Flanagan won a few balls in 2nd half but he could not hold some and then kicked ball away. Bryan Menton's brace of points masked over hus lack of performance.

In my opinion, our whole forward division was very poor but half forward line in particular was atrocious. Nobody played. I actually didnt know how any if them were not taken off earlier than (only) Ben Brenann was. Bryan McMahon saved us alright si justified not being taken off, but he probably was the best of the three. All 3 got over run by the Offaly half backs. But Offaly cirner backs attacked at oace from deep. And never Barry Dardis or Tomas O'Reilly (completely anonymous) tracked.

Our subs saved us. Eoin Lynch in particular won key ball and spread good possessions.

Lucky to survive but drive on and learn to improve for Carlow and beyond.

David (Meath) - Posts: 566 - 13/05/2019 21:30:54    2183825

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Replying To runnerin:  "Heard we got a right trimming from Cavan also recently is there any truth in that??"
No Cavan game was cancelled due to mumps.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 17035 - 13/05/2019 21:55:05    2183830

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Thank God that is over, better team lost.

Overall it was a disappointing performance but grinding out the win is all that matters.

On the game itself, we were second best in most areas. I'm not too sure if it's our keeper or midfield we need to fix first.
Yesterday was a double edge sword in regards to our keeper and his kickouts, when Andy kicked long Offaly won it most of the time, when he went short he was handing possession back to them.

Offaly had there homework done and identified our weaknesses, we didn't have a natural midfielder so they targeted that especially on their kick out and then a lot of their attacks were down James McEntees wing, while James is great at winning dirty ball and going forward his defensive capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

But the biggest thing that stood out to me was the lack of a half forward line. Offalys two wing backs had a field day bombing forward. Then when we had the ball our lads were stuck behind the play. Finally the quality of ball by our midfielders and half forwards into Dardis, Newman and O Reilly was shocking, hail Mary passes at times. If they lads did manage to won it there was no runners coming off them, O Sullivan made a couple of them but that was the highlight.

Tobin, Conlon and Lynch changed the game when they came on, McMahon came more into it while I thought Keoghan steadied the ship just enough at the back.

UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 126 - 13/05/2019 22:38:43    2183840

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There number 10 was a real threat all game he goin off helped us who was supposed b marking him anyway. They put 7 back as corner back second half he ran and left dardis for dead several times.physically they were superior football wise the same very flat performance from us. Where was that running game we had all year. Thought we did leave no one up front for lot of game yday.goalie is disaster waiting to happen,to much over and back passing midfield is a problem area that needs to b adressed quickly.carlow are goin to n better than Offaly so we could b in trouble.

Reco (Meath) - Posts: 419 - 13/05/2019 22:39:07    2183843

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Replying To Evernal:  "Absolutely awful stuff today. Shocking performance but credit to Offaly they played some great stuff. Number 10 for Offaly was very very impressive some great running today he popped up everywhere.
Only saving grace was the impressive performance of Flanagan when he came on. Thought he steadied the ship lot of good running and some great distribution just a pity most of the others were not on his wavelength and missed his passes etc.
Newman was little off the pace should have buried his chance after McNamee missed his chance. Anyways it can only get better going forward nice to get a win in the Championship it's been a while!"
Oh my God. U have to be winding us about Flanagan . Average when he came on at best and I'm probably being generous

Aloblack (Meath) - Posts: 265 - 13/05/2019 23:16:52    2183852

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Niall Darby was the man of the match, No 7 for Offaly, if you are giving a Meath man of the match, it has to be Bryan McMahon but pushed closely by Eoin Lynch. Bryan went in "where it hurts" and got the goal, luckily for him and Meath that the Offaly gk wasn't cut of of the same material as Martin Furlong.

So that's two goalkeepers who will have an uneasy few days.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 742 - 14/05/2019 00:59:49    2183865

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ryan did not fail a concussion test, ethan devine did.

Wiseman7 (Meath) - Posts: 16 - 14/05/2019 11:45:37    2183934

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Replying To MillerX:  "Niall Darby was the man of the match, No 7 for Offaly, if you are giving a Meath man of the match, it has to be Bryan McMahon but pushed closely by Eoin Lynch. Bryan went in "where it hurts" and got the goal, luckily for him and Meath that the Offaly gk wasn't cut of of the same material as Martin Furlong.

So that's two goalkeepers who will have an uneasy few days."
Yes, Darby was good and so was there number 4 killed us a few times with his pace. Having said that the amount of pace Offaly where giving was ridiculous. Also if the offaly keeper didn't make the mistake for the goal he could have got MOM for his kick outs where unreal.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1192 - 14/05/2019 11:50:56    2183937

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Replying To MillerX:  "Niall Darby was the man of the match, No 7 for Offaly, if you are giving a Meath man of the match, it has to be Bryan McMahon but pushed closely by Eoin Lynch. Bryan went in "where it hurts" and got the goal, luckily for him and Meath that the Offaly gk wasn't cut of of the same material as Martin Furlong.

So that's two goalkeepers who will have an uneasy few days."
I agree, Darby was brilliant for Offaly. #4 for them put into a hell of a shift as well. Their midfielders were handy too. They drove forward hard and direct and Meath had no answer for the entire game. We cant underestimate how well Offaly played given the circumstances, and their record over previous months, years and even decades. They were craving a big performance and although they lost, they got it. It was probably their best performance in 15/20 years. They went after the game. They smelt blood. They've a good manager. They knew that Meath are still technically a scalp but they also knew Meath are no great side anymore and are beatable as previous years have showed. Meath didn't go after the game and instead rested on their laurels as slightly better players on a technical level, and fitter more astute athletes. Thats the mindset the Meath lads seemed to have. They seemed to just play as if sooner or later it would all just work itself out. No one grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and no one showed the drive or passion to lift the team around them, it was so bizarre. McEntee (who I have massive respect for) stood at the sideline and often walked in little circles with his arms folded as if to show his bemusement at the theatre of the game. It seems the entire Meath set up is paralysed with pressure, fear, and possibly even a certain level of apathy. The fire just wasnt there. We have to be so thankful that the Offaly boys couldnt kick a point if the goals were 40 foot wide and they had no free takers. We have to be thankful we got the rub of the green, and we have to be thankful that in a way the players were right, it sort of did just come together when it mattered. As a matter of principle I dont like talking about individual players but I agree with McMahon and Lynch as best individual performers. A lot of Meath's players were frustrated in that game.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 391 - 14/05/2019 19:56:40    2184107

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