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I think Meath will be substantially stronger this year then last year. Simply because the return of 7 or 8 proven inter county players to the panel. For the first time since 2012 the best footballers in Meath are playing for Meath. That was the year Meath or any team in leinster got close to Dublin. Meath lost by 3 points and could have nicked a draw.
In 2013 and the next few years under Mick O Dowd , Meath dropped players , proven county players like Joe Sheridan , Brian Farrell , Cian Ward and Peadar Byrne who still had lots of years left in them and were still.some of the best footballers in Meath. This meant Meath were not playing some of the best players in the county. Then under McEntee Meath were losing 10 11 or 12 players every year. This is a problem for all county teams outside div 1. The only teams that keep their players are top div 1 teams. Derry were losing 15 players every season. Cork lost 16 players a year ago. Even this year Cavan and Roscommon have lost players this year. Teams outside div 1 lose 10 plus players every year. How many players have Meath lost this year, players not returned to the panel ? Zero. Every year under McEntee in div 2 Meath were losing 11 , 12 , 13 players every year like every team in div two three or four. Meath get promoted to div 1 , Meath lose zero players.
If anything Meath have gained players. Incredibly 7 or 8 players, proven , experienced inter county players have returned to Meath panel and all of them were unvailable last year with travelling , studying and working abroad , some of the reasons. For the first in 8 years , the best footballers in Meath are playing for Meath. This means
1 Meath will have a new goalkeeper this year eg Dominic Yorke
2 Meath will have new midfield partner for Menton eg Brian Conlon and later on Ronan Jones
3 Meath will have a new freetaker this year eg Shane Walsh
4 Meath will have a new full forward this year eg Shane Walsh
5 Meath will have new inside forward eg Donal lenihan
( Shane Walsh is a new player this year, he only came onto panel in July last year and started one game last year that was v Kerry in Aug)
6 Meath will have 4 or 5 proven inter county players subs on the bench, they didnt have last year eg Joey Wallace , Eamon Wallace , Paddy Kennelly , Alan Forde ,and Oisin O Brien. (Oisin O Brien played underage with Galway. And has played for Galway in FBD in recent years. At 27 he is playing for O Mahoney and living in Navan. )
7 Meath have 8 proven inter county players returning to the panel this year eg Donal lenihan , Eamon Wallace , Joey Wallace , Ronan Jones, Brian Conlon, Paddy Kennelly, Alan Forde.
Meaths main problem last year were midfield and full forward line. Both areas have new options this year.
1 Meath last year had a wing back at midfield eg S McEntee and when he was taken off in a game he was replaced by 20 year old corner back. Meath lacked big men and midfield options last year. Meath have 4 new big strong midfielders this year including Ronan Jones who is best midfielder in the county, who will return in March.
Meaths 4 new midfielders this year to partner Menton this year are Ronan Jones , Brian Conlon , Paddy Kennelly and Thomas Murtagh. All unvailible last year all big strong midfielders.
2 Meath had problems in the full forward line last year. Meath have 7 new inside forwards this year on the panel including the best inside full forward in Meath eg Donal lenihan and the best full forward in the county eg Shane Walsh.
7 new inside forwards r available to Meath this year that were not on the panel last year are
Donal Lenihan, Eamon Wallace , Joey Wallace , Oisin O Brien, Shane Walsh, Jack O Connor and Jordan Morris.
So Meath have 4 new midfield option including best midfielder in the county they didnt have last year and 7 new inside forwards options including best forward in the county Donal lenihan. They didnr have those last year. That has to help the team.
Another area that is a boost for Meath is young talent coming through especially forward talent. These player at 18 or 19 or 20 are making an immdiate impact. That hasnt happenned since the 1990s in Meath. While Meath havent won an All Ireland underage title recentlu but there has been signs of progress. Meath have won last two under 16 leinster titles and have won 2 leinster minor titles. And when Meath defeated Dublin in under 20s, two weeks ago that was the 5th time in 5 years Meath have beaten Dublin at underage. Many of these players have never lost to Dublin at underage. The players coming through seem to have more confidence and taleng then. players Meath produced in the last decade and. at higher level.
One of the main reasons Meath got promoted last year and reached super 8 was the new young players.
1 Meath had 7 under 20 players who played last year.
2 Meath had youngest forwards in the super 8s. 5 of the Meath forwards who played in super 8s were 18 or 19 or 20.
3 When Meath played v louth in Bryne cup a few weeks ago four of the forwards were 19 years old.
There is some quality forwards coming thru.
1 Shane Walsh at 18 is the best full forward in the county. In his first game ever to start for Meath v khe kerry full back line in super 8, he caused massive problems scoring 6 points , three from play.
2 Jack O Connor 19. Was the top scorer in Meath senior club football last year and is still a teenager.
3 Mathew Costello 18 voted the best young footballer in Meath was man of match two weeks ago v laois in Byrne cup in his first start. Walsh , O Connor and Costello will probaly start v Tyrone.
4 Jordan Morris 19. A Very exciting forward. Reminds me everytime I see him of Ollie Murphy.
Others
James Conlon 20, Dara Campion 20, Ethan Devine 20 .
Thats 7 players aged 20 or under ; all forwards will all get game time this year for Meath seniors. The last time seven under 21 players played for Meath was in the late 90s.
Another reason I am.optimiatic this year is McEntees 4th year in charge. It always takes years for a manager to build up a team from.doildrum especially a traditional county. And with Nally as coach means Meath have a div 1 management team.
Another reason is so many of the players who debuted in 2012 , 2013 and 2014 leinster final years are now peaking as footballers. Most sportspeople peak at 26 27. The average age of Tippearey team which won the hurling All Ireland last year was 27. The average age of Galway team that won the hurling All Ireland in 2017 was 27. And the average age of Brian Codys last 5 All Ireland hurling winning teams were 27.
So many of the Meath players are starting to peak eg Seamus Lavin 25 , Shane Gallagher 25 , Padraig Harnan 24 , Cillian Sullivan 25 , Barry Dardis 25 , James McEntee 25 , Shane McEntee 25 , Conor McGill 26 , Eamon Wallace 25 , Joey Wallace 24 , Bryan McMahon 27.
Its a good age for these young players to go up to div 1.
(Also Meath have great div 1 pedigree. From 1930 to 2000 only Dublin and kerry were longer in div 1. Meath won 7 div 1 league titles which means only kerry , Dublin , Cork and Mayo have been more sucessful counties in the history of league football )
Three years ago on this forum I predicted Meath would do little in McEntees first two years , Meath would improve in 3rd year , which they did and Meath would make an impact in year 4 or 5 under McEntee. I am confident this will still happen. With 7 proven players retirning to the panel including some of the best footballars in the county , 7 talented under 20 footballers, McEntee in his fourth year , so many of the panel peaking as footballers and for tbe first since 2012 the best footballers are playing for Meath and I believe Meath are stronger then they were last year and I believe Meath will stay in div 1 and make a bigger impact championship last year.
Simply put the ten new players to the panel and no players leaving means Meath are stronger this year and will make a bigger impact this year then last. In that with ten new players its means the competition for match day panel when everyone is fit will be seriously competitive .
The one problem and area of concern is the injuries. A national paper wrote last week a whole page on Meath injury crisis. Meath have had 6 players recently who had surgery and when Meath beat loais in a very good performance recently Meath had 10 players injured. Now some are long terms other not eg Newman Lavin and Harnan are out for most of the league and Newman for all the league. They are loses as Newman was 4th top scorer in the All Ireland championshop last year , while Harnan still only 24 is Meaths best defender after Keoghan and McGill. And Lavin has turned into quality corner back who was excellent in super 8s. However I think we have cover for all 3. Its if we have more injuries atop of this like lenihan, Sullivan and McMahon who were injured v Loais. But it seems they should be in contention v laois. As long as this those not become a full scale injury crisis and Lenihan , Sullivan McMahon and Gallagher are available v Tyrone and Donegal; we sud be able to cope with the injuries. And there is also chance S McEntee and Devine might be available in the coming weeks. Campion who was brillant v kerry in super 8s is on crutchs, so I dont know about him.
At the moment I think we can cope however if it becomes a full scale injury crisis it will scupper our hopes off staying in div 1. However if that is the case not all hope is lost. As most of the players like Newman will be back for the championship. Then come thw championship time Meath will be stronger then last year as the Meath panel looks substantially stronger with 10 new players fighting for match day panel places.
I believe Meath will stay in div 1 and make a bigger impact in the championship then last year. Meath are not going to reach an All Ireland final but be more competitive at super 8 level that can happen. People keep talking about performance v Dublin. But comparing Meath to Dublin is not a good fair
comparsion. Dublin are the greatest team ever and who have hammered every team in the country , even the top teams in the country in the last few years. Look at Meaths performances v second best team in the country kerry , 3rd best team in the country Donegal and 4th or 5th best team in the country in the last 12 months and they are beter comparsions.
In 2018 only for point in 7th min of injury time and a free not given to Meath in extra time of extra time Meath were unlucky not to beat Tyrone. In 3 games v Donegal last year Donegal struggled for long times v Meath. Meath were the better team in Ballybofey in the league for most of the game and sud have won and up to 60 min in the championship Meath were ahead and looked like they could win v Donegal. And in the league final Meath blew away Donegal in first half leading by 9 points at one stage. V Kerry again Meath were ahead at 60 min. Yes Meath fell away in last ten minutes , but in the 3 games v Donegal and V Tyrone , Kerry and Mayo in last 12 months Meath were ahead in every single one of those games up to 60th min. Yes Meath fell badly behind in the last ten mins. But if Meath can improve , there is a chance. Yes Meath are at moral victories stage where they are doing well v top teams. But can Meath turn moral victories and being very competitive into actual victories after 70 plus mins.
I believe Meath can why? 7 or 8 proven inter county players , some of the best footballers in Meath returning to the panel ( lenihan , Jones , B Conlon) and young talented footballers like Shane Walsh , Dara Campion and Matthew Costello on the panel this year. Meath have a new goalie , new midfiedlder , new full forward , new free taker , new corner forward this year and 4 new options at midfield and 7 new options for the full forward line. Thats sud help Meath improve from last August to now. Simply put havin ten new players they did have last year who are some of the best footballers in Meath can only improve the depth of the Meath panel.
Everyone is predicting Meath will be relegated. Its the same as last year , no one predicted Meath would get promoted or reach super 8. No one could see Meath improving last year. Its the same this year. People canot seem Meath improving. The reason I believe Meath will make a bigger impact and will improve this year is because of these new players who in are contention for the team who were not last year eg Donal Lenihan, Ronan Jones, Eamon Wallace , Joey Wallace , Brian Conlon , Paddy kennelly , Shane Walsh , Jack O Conor , Oisin O Brien , Matthew Costello and Jordan Morris.
Some of these players r the best footballer in Meath. Thats my main point for the first time in years , since 2012 actually the best players in Meath are playing for Meath after McEntee losing 11 plus players every year. So with new talent coming through proven , inter county players returning and players peaking this all makes me believe Meath overall will have a better season this year then last year, as Meath panel is substantially stronger this year , especially when everyone is fit.
Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1046 - 20/01/2020 01:30:48
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