Replying To sourmilk93:  "Anyone able tell me when the last time Meath played a game where McEntee wasnt crying about the officals? Has it ever happened?"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "I think being longwinded and repetitive and being wrong a few times are not the worst things in the world to be accused off. I will take that. We had good debate last week. You gave your opinion and I gave mine. And we agreed to disagree. There was no insults , it wasnt an arguement , it was good robust debate. Just the final point I did acknwlegde I was wrong with a few of league stats. I dont know everything , for the older U get the less I know and the less I really understand . As I said I do get allot of comments which always surprise me. I am very grateful when people compliment me. You think its a wind up , but I really appreciate it and take allot from the encourangement. And I do also get criticism. This is happened before on 3 other forums I have I pretty much got the same identical reaction anf reception. Some were critical some were full of praise; which is lovely. The others would be music forums and I would be a massive music fan . GAA and music are my two great passions. playing and listening to music and engaging on this forum are great reliefs from having Cancer. I was diagnosed last year with Cancer. So when I write every word here its a relief from reality. Thats why the posts get longer. I am really not writing to respond to people or argue people I am writing fof myself, I really just get a buzz from writijng and writing on and on about GAA and playing my guitar. And along with GAA music is my great relief and great passion. For all the issues on the forum its still a great place for great gaels to engage in grear debate. . For me ite daily interactuon I look forward to where I sometimes participate both most days watch from the sidelines. I look forward to whatse been said on the Meath forum and also whats been said by people on the main forum. Theres allot leople here that I respect and always look forward to listening to. Thats it. I dont if i should have shared that but I feel better for saying that and I dont know why. Thats all I can say."

Replying To royaldunne:  "Now that the obc is over. It's time to get down to the real business. The push for promotion. Game one we have to win, there is no ifs or buts about it, I think we will win , as we seem a more determined, focused and coherent team than last year. Can't wait. Bring it on. Hon the royal"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Thanks for your responses Bobkarlgees and Young_Gael. They are always intelligent thought provoking comments that always give me food for thought. Bobkarlgees regards managers not staying long in jobs that is correct we do see allot of managers coming and going. But there is examples of long term managers . Firstly u have sucessful ones eg O Rourke at Monaghan. Then u have managers trying to build up a traditional county in the doldrums. Kevin Walsh and Cian O Neill are in their 4th years and McGeeney is in his 5th or 6th year in.charge of Armagh. When u build a traditional county from the doldrums it takes years and years of ups and downs bad defeats it is not a quick fix, it is slow long term process. No manager in the history of hurling or football has turned a traditional county around from the doldrums overnight eg Jimmy Barry Murphy, Nicholas English , Sean Boylan and Eugene McGee Mick Dwyer all.took years. The only manager to do it overnight was Kevin Heffernan in 1974 with Dublin but Heffernan had a touch of genius. For me when McEntee took the job it was a 5 or 6 or 7 year job to get Meath back and I have seen nothing yet to say any different. I am very historical driven but my general theory is life keeps repeating itself. Times changes technology advances but human needs and emotions are constant. History just keeps repeating itself. Trump is just another ruder cruder version of Reagan. Man Utd are just repeating the same things that happened after Matt Busby left in late 60s as they are now with Ferguson leaving. The faces change but history repeats itself. Its not exact and not a science but I do think u can get answers from the past. I am very repetitive very past driven and very consistent. What I wrote above in my earlier message u responded to, I said that 2 years ago on this forum and I have said it upteen times since. I said 2 years ago on this forum that McEntees first two years were going to be a write off and we would see improvement in year 3 and Meath would make impact in year 4 and 5 . I said at the start of this year we would get promoted get leinster final but fail to reach super 8 losing to Ulster team like Tyrone. I feel today we have great chance of staying in div 1 next year and if we get 4 home games anc I think we will and we will reach super 8 next year and make a good impact at super 8 next year. Again this all based on age profile of players , McEntee staying in the job. For me we r on target but it will take years. If McEntee leaves I think we r in trouble. There is no obvious quality candidate in the county. We would be looking at another Mick O Dowd inexperienced manager with less sucessful CV..McEntee is the best qualified manager available to us and his stock is rising outside the county. On Off the ball a few weeks ago they were talking about manager of the year leaving Jim Galvin to one side , they said if McEntee gets Meath to super 8 after promotion to div 2 he would be there manager of the year. Of course Anthony Cunningham would be better candidate now but it does show how people view what McEntee is doing in Meath. He is no Sean Boylan. But he our best option and truthfully our only option. He is building something at Meath and for me he will be only half way through the job at end of the season. The key is division 1 football. Nearly every year the last 8 are nearly all division 1 teams. Only 1 team in this decade has reached All Ireland final and were outside division 1 eg Donegal 2014. Mayo have reached 8 All Ireland finals in last 23 years , they have spent every one of those years in div 1. Monaghan have been top 6 team since 2014 they have spent every year in div 1. Donegal have won 1 All Ireland and 5 Ulster in this decade. They have spent nearly every year in div 1. If u stay in div 1 for a few seasons it is a certainty u will become a top 8 team. Division 1 is essential to sucess. Since Boylan left I have being very pessimistic the managers I felt their CVs were not great. Coyler was the only manager I felt had potential and in 2008 I was really hopeful but that year became a nightmare for Meath and Coyle. At the start of 2010 and 2014 I was optimistic but every other year and every other manager since Boylan left I had little faith in. But when McEntee came in I felt had the CV and I felt optimistic. I still am. I still feel we r on target. Regards the system is broken. I would say the system the championship has been broken for generations. But I am in the minority I believe Dublin dominance will soon end. Yes they have gone up a level. And will remain very strong but I believe like kilkenny in next few years there will be change. Every county that had their greatest team the following decade there was a steep decline in counties fortunes. Cavan had greatest team in 40s and 50s the following decade a decline. kildare had their greatest team in 1920s the following decade deline..Mayo had their greatest team in 1950s the following decade decline. Cork hurlers had their greatest hurling team in 1940s and 1950s following decade decline. Tippearey hurlers had their greatest team in 1960s the following decade decline. Offaly had their greatest football team from 1972 to 1982 the following decade decline. Dublin had their greatest team from 1974 to 1985 ( up to the current team )the following decade decline. Down had their greatest team in 1960s the following decade decline. Meath had greatest team in 1980s 1990s following decade decline. kerry had their greatest team in 1970s and 1980s the following decade decline. Kilkenny had their greatest team in 00s the following decade they declined. Dublin have their greatest team in this decade , the following decade ????. Time will tell. But when two teams dominated like Dublin their counties fortune declined and in the following era or decade an era of competitiveness was ushered in . Between 1974 to 1986 Dublin and kerry won 12 of 13 All Irelands, Kerry won 8 and there was 2 contenders for Sam every year. Ten years after kerry won Sam in 1986 there was now yearly 8 or 9 contenders for Sam..And 8 teams won Sam in 10 years in the following ten years between 1990 and 2000. In the 00s kilkenny dominated hurling at unprecedented levels. In 2009 there was 2 All Ireland contenders. Ten years later we have 8 or 9 All Ireland contenders. If u said in 2009 that ten years that kilkenny wouldnt be in top 3 or 4 All-Ireland contenders and Clare Galway and limerick would win liam in the following decade people would have laughed at u. An era of uncompetitveness is followed by an era of competitiveness. look at kerry with minor wins theyre is a All Ireland winning kerry team on horizon. Donegal have an All Ireland win in the current team. Galway Cork Tyrone Mayo are all counties u can see pushing for Sam in next ten years. kildare and Meath have got their act togther at underage and minor and under 20 leinster championship is very competitive. Ask anyone who is involved at underage in Dublin they will tell u Dublin are not producing the talent they were 5 years ago. If this continues it will effect Dublin at senior level in the long term. Yes there is 2 to 3 more All-Irelands in this Dublin team but as the next decade progresses and alot of these Dublin greats retire eg Cluxton, Mcarthy, Sullivan , McMahon etc it should impact. My feeling is in the years 2024 , 2025 , 2026 , 2027 , 2028 , 2029 we will see a very competitive championship with allot of contenders. I could be wrong but anytime a team has dominated the following era is always very different. Time will tell."

Replying To browncows:  "Have not seen any posts from Ziggy recently which is unusual, just hope that he is well along with all his family."

Replying To Crinigan:  "Yeah I noticed the Wearemeath podcast going in for its tea in recent week. But it's basically a podcast to put forward the view of county board officials or the official view ...it certainly wasn't independent or objective from what I could tell. Are there any quotes attributed to management yet after yesterday? The whole thing with the new management is baffling. You have two educated men from a great Meath family, both of whom have done great things with Dublin club teams, remarkable in case of Andy while Gerry is known to give inspirational talks to KK hurlers etc...it's really the dream team. And yet I literally cannot believe how naive and just plain stupid our tactics have been, from gk kick outs to defensive strategy to having no forward line. I'm sorry but MOD's team was at least exciting to look at, this is just awful. And this on top of players dropping like flies off the panel due to being peed off. McKeever left off til 5 mins from the end, why? He wasn't injured. Why wouldn't we play with Tobin, McKeever and Lenihan, two in ff and one just behind? Are we afraid of Cork in Navan now? Why would anyone even bother training to turn up at pairc tailteann and represent Meath playing that style of football. It's nothing short of a disgrace. This isn't me unreasonably slating management or being a negative supporter delighting in our demise. I was as excited as anyone about this management team but it's been one baffling decision after another and I honestly can't see them seeing them being in charge next year. What would I suggest? 1. Scrap pairc tailreann plans and launch massive fund raising campaign across the clubs to get as many full time coaches in as possible into primary and secondary schools and club teams. 2. Forget about having a county team at senior level for a 5 year period 3. Sort out the club scene and dedicate next 5 years to getting a highly competitive club scene with a second championship competition that includes junior and intermediate teams amalgamated and competing against senior clubs like in Kerry. Club players will be delighted with this. No point in holding up the club scene anymore for the shite we are seeing at county level. 4. Forget about these development squads at county level, they are a waste of time. It should be all about constant competition and intelligent coaching and most of all enjoyment and love of the game for youngsters all over the county. Maybe then, once this plan is firmly in action, should we return to the intercounty scene, starting from Div 4! If people insist on having a county team as they can't stomach not having one, fair enough but it should no longer hold up the club scene or have as much financial resources pumped in."

Replying To southmeathgael:  "5 points isnt a trouncing but we were 8 to 10 points worse then cavan yesterday. They were very good and tactically streets ahead of us"

Replying To ziggy320001:  "Beaten by Monaghan in a challenge by 2 points with McDermott and Colgan getting runs in goal"

Replying To brian:  "Guys i'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade and i think Andy is the right man for this job and should be given next year but at the end of the year a full and frank assessment must be made. Everyone is positive about next year based on the Tyrone game. That was our best game last year by a distance. That's not a proper measure of the team and shouldn't be. It was the outlier amongst a season of inconsistency. This year I'm hoping Andy brings that consistency. As someone said year 2 should show signs of improvement and positivity. For Andy season 2 was static and honestly a disimprovement given we went out so tamely in Leinster to Longford and were wose in the league than 2017. A repeat of that next year and there's no doubt he's gone and there should be no questions asked or required. If he can build on that Tyrone game, have us playing at a consistent level of performance, get us close to or promoted and a Leinster final I'm all for giving him a fourth year. His stated aims are promotions and super 8's and I'd grant him leeway if he wants to go back for a year 4 if he doesn't make them but gets close."

Replying To atta:  "5 changes to the starting line up and 3 changes to the subs. What a load of crap. Nam e a team or don't. I thought at half time we had a chance but Just not able to compete at the breaking ball. When Meath attempted to break Cork employed negative tactics. Just pukking the man down. I hope we dont go to Drogheda needing something because that iis the one thing louth would relish"

Replying To royaldunne:  "Read Kevin Reilly article. Where he totally took apart those who left. With special mention for por"

Replying To offtheditch:  "I just love this time of year. It's when the Meath supporters get to say all the things there going to do next season, with disregard of how poor they were last season and base it on some god given right because "we are Meath". If only they could back it up with performances. They have to be the most optimistic supporters in the country, although it's a fine line to delusional."

Replying To browncows:  "Royalio11 (Meath) - He is entitled to make his comments and he did give good service to the county team over the last number of years.- Now you and a couple of other keyboard warriors may not like what he says, and I may not agree with all he has said. However, his opinion is more important than anything that you or I (or any other poster), may put on this tread."

Replying To Footnote:  "Ok "the players are not there" but are we getting the best out of what we have, absolutely not!! Not sure yet what to say about the game tonight , much more disappointed than last week. But. One thing , what on Earth was the management at, taking off sean tobin in the first half, who was by far and away our best foward, yes he had got a knock but had told the line he was ok and was furious when he was taken off, absolute amateur hour!!!!"

Replying To nobull456:  "I was at the same match.....Eventhough we won i was disappointed . Two poor teams... Yes Meath were better in the last 15 mins after being clueless in the first half. The penalty was fully deserved,well taken , but put a shine on our fight back qualities .Kildare had enough possesion to win even after the penalty...Our midfield poor. Our full forwards never in situ when needed at the end of attack from defence. There is no blind optimism on the basis of this display from this supporter."

Replying To ratlag:  "For me Tobin is the Ollie Murphy like player of this team, the sub who comes on with 20-25 mins left and causes havoc, he doesn't seem to be as effective when starting for Meath in any of the games I've seen him play in"

Replying To royaldunne:  "Well that's over for another year. Tbh we kicked it away. Not too disheartened. Lot of positives and Andy now knows what needs to be done. Apart from maybe two spots the team picks itself. Roll on Tipperary."

Replying To OhtobeARossie:  "The problem in Meath and especially u RD your stuck in the past."