Replying To bobkarlgees:  "I think the difference between MOD bad loses and the recent run of bad form this team is going though is. With MOD you always taught a new manager could fix it. This time however we have a good manager but still results are awful. (albeit some baffling decisions to say the least .. that's already been said ) So where do go from here ? The is no short fix this time. Invest in underage and get the right people involved. Don't keep changing mangers, it probably hasn't helped. So I love to change that team up big time at the moment especially in the froward line. I probably wouldn't change to much for this game, to try and stay in Div 2. but for championship I would be changing it up for the future,"

Replying To bert09:  "Has Andy lost the dressing room?"

Replying To ziggy32001:  "no better than last year? god almighty... the team are fitter for a start than they have been for years."

Replying To MillerX:  "This is depressing. A manager's job is to manage and in this case it is getting the best possible out of our county senior team. Logically this means using the best players in the best possible way. I believe that he is to address the next Co Board meeting and I assume delegates will be allowed within reason to make it clear to him that egos must be put aside in the best interests of the Meath Senior team. This situation of several players walking out cannot be allowed to continue. There is always a likelihood that one or two players will opt off a panel for genuine reasons from time to time but any more than four represents a major problem in a season."

Replying To ziggy320001:  "A lot of players had it easy under O'Dowd perhaps they are not willing to put in what it takes"

Replying To MillerX:  "Getting rid of the management team is futile. Complete lack of continuity if we start dumping managers after a few bad results. Comparisons with the Boylan era or any other era is futile, even with any other county is probably even a greater waste of time. The hallmark of any management team is making the most of the "hand you have been dealt" and putting your own stamp on the team. Presently we don't have buckets full of talent within the county but to give the current management team credit they appear to have addressed the matter of fitness as the team is now capable of performing over the required 75 minutes +. Next to be worked on is concentration from even before the throw-in to the very last second of any game. As I said in a previous post we must use our 'Maors or runners' to make early changes or to deliver a required 'gee up' to any player who isn't staying with the game plan. It is not a question of whither you like the manager or not, HE IS THERE and he has to get on with it, if for no other reason other than previous changes have not brought us any nearer to a Leinster Championship or to Division 1 either."

Replying To Richieq:  "Jesus here we go again making stupid statements about our players not being good enough for other teams, lads will ye give up on that load of b*****ks, we are trying to develop players for a Meath team not any other county. And we need promotion, we need to play teams like Donegal, Mayo, Dublin etc on a more regular basis or we will never we fully develop our players to their full potential, sure why don't we all sit at home and twiddle or thumbs for god knows how long until we discover these special players, I might remind you that players of the calibre of Lyons, O'Rourke, Cassels, McEntee etc suffered the indignity of defeats to the likes of Longford and Wexford before success came their way, they were lambasted in the same way some of the current players were and in 1985 when Laois cut them to pieces in Tullamore anyone who said we would win Leinster a year later would have been locked up, those players were thought to be not good enough just as many think today's players aren't good enough. Well I am not part of that school of thought and whilst I am not a blind optimist either I believe these players and management can have success, and I won't be sitting at home waiting for it to happen either."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "I think the game on sunday is a 6 pointer. An important game. But we shouldn't hype it up to something its not eitheir. As some sort of referendum on McEntee as a manager. If Meath lose, there will be criticisms of everthing from managers tactics/ strategies and everything in between. We can only judge McEntees tenure in 2 or 3 years time. For me the most important factor in the next few years is not the players or manager but the supporters. The key is patience. Rome was not built in a day. Any sucessful gaelic football team was built not in a year or two but in 4 or 5 or a 6 year period. If the supporters show patience and give this management time. I believe we will be more sucessful then people think or even could imagine. I know it beens 7 years since we last made an impact on the champuonship. And this naturally leads to disappointment agmost fans. But I believe all the indications are we are entering a stronger period for the county. But and I cannot emphasis this enough , Andy has to be given time. It will take years to close the gap with the Dublins kerrys and Mayos. It will also take years to get our players mentality stronger. We have a young team, but they have collectively had very bad experiences at underage and senior level in the Meath jersey. That will take time to rectify. Of course people can criticize. And Andy will make mistakes. But overall our only chance of sucess is under this management. The key to sucess will be patience from our supporters . It also very important we dont listen to any voices outside of the county. Already I hear national papers /media outlets / gaa websites saying McEntee will be under pressure and question marks about McEntee as a manager if Meath are not sucessful this year. The GAA media always love a Meath crisis. And the truth is they dont care what is good for Meath football. If Andy doesnt make an impact this year they will make negative conments on him as manger. Yet when it took Kevin Walsh three years to get Galway to divsion , negative criticisms were few in the national media. While under McGeeney Armagh have spent 3 of the last 4 seasons in division 3. For the players Armagh have and a county their stature. They are a county that is underachieving. But yet there is very little criticsm in gaa media land of McGeeney. Yet if Andy fails to get us out of div 2? there will be allot of criticism outside the county. We need not listen to outside voices. Standby this management team and I expect in the next few years we will make progess and win a leinster title and maybe even more. We all have a role to play."

Replying To SheridansTry:  "This will be another tough game, cant see us getting anything again. we have been appalling the last two games and are simply not good for Promotion. This is the first game this year that i am not going too. After the Tipp game it is hard to find any positives. Taking 2 players off in 30 mins of football is simply a Manager power trip . Tobin has been treated very poorly in my eyes , i simply cant understand these tactics of having no full forwards and hitting a wall at the 30 metre line every game where Tipp and Cavan simply played football getting the ball into the forwards with one kick of the ball. Playing this kind of football will get us nowhere. I am hoping we completely change for the championship but highly unlikely at this stage"

Replying To Ratoath Royal:  "Can see at least some of the Ratoath players stepping away too."

Replying To UsernameInvalid:  "Louth players didn't know the game was going to be off on Monday. They knew that they wouldn't be fielding due to a lot of lads having other commitments on the bank holiday Monday."

Replying To southmeathgael:  "The only thing I'll pull ya up on is saying that paddy Orourkes comment were admirable......disgraceful more like. If they are your opinions then keep them to yourself and show some loyalty to your mates that you played with and your county that has given you a fair bit too. For example not in a million years would you see a Kerry player coming out and slating his own county like that"

Replying To bert09:  "To all true Meath Gaels: stop red thumbing Royaldunne!"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "We are years behind Dublin and the top teams. Obviously it will then take years for us to close the gap. Not weeks not months not 1 year not 2 years but years. We have a group of young players who lack strenght and conditioning and have had bad experiences at underage and senior level in the Meath jersey. This will be a slow process to improve the confidence and physical strenght of these players. Also a problem that has bedevilled Meath since 2001. The new way of playing with less kicking more possession hand passing sweepers blanket defences etc. We have under every management since Boylan not got to grip with the new modern game. Not 1 manager not 1 year from 2002 to 2017 did we really get to grip with the modern game. In 2007 and 2009 and 2010 we made an impact but still there was an issue of our tradition style game, failing. If Meath have failed to adapt in 15 years under 7 different managers. Surely Andy needs to be given time to adapt to the changes in gaelic football. We havent clearly got the balance right. This will be a very slow process. And what will happen is the players themselves through experience and plenty of matchs will learn to adapt to the modern game on the field themselves. If Andy leaves. We are done. There is no outstanding manager in the county to take over. There is no outstanding manager outside the county who will take over. Its Andy or bust.If Andy cannot do it we are in trouble. The reason why people have in faith in him is because he has been a sucess wherever he went. He was sucessful with our minors and what he did in turning the 6th best team in Dublin into All Ireland champions was very impressive. Look at how Ballyboden have collapsed into medicorcy since he left. Look at how Dublin players like Conal keaney and Michael Dara McAuley rave about McEntee. Keaney said he was the best manager he ever worked with. And keaney worked under Anthony Daly Paul Caffrey Pat Gilroy and Jim Galvin. Its take a strong and impressive Meath man to get the Dubs to praise him. I think the premiership has a bad influence . Managers sacked after weeks. People are not willing to wait for sucess. They want sucess now they want it yesterday. It takes time. What people expecting Andy to do has never been done before in leinster football in 100 years. It rarely happens that a manager turns things around very quickly especially when you have traditional county in the doldrums. I know there are a few examples in Ulster with McGuiness and kiernan. But Ulster had the best players best tactics best teams best winning tradition in the last 25 years. McGuiness was a one off , a very rare situation where a manager a county and a team all kind unite together under a sort of crusade. Loughnane in Clare in 95 is another very rare example. The fact is if any other manager in history where in charge it wouldn't make a difference. If Boylan or Dwyer were in charge they wouldnt do any better. Its never been done before. Again im repeating myself but its a fact. It took Boylan 4 years on two different occasions to turn things around. And he had players like Colm O Rourke Martin O Connell Trevor Giles Graham Geraghty. It took Dwyer 5 years and in his second stint as manager to turn things around with best panel of kildare players have had in near a century. It took McGee 4 years with Offaly in the late 70s to turn around and he had possibly the most talented forward of all time in Matt Connor. It only being done 4 times in 50 years of leinster football. And on every occasion it took years to turn things around. Even Pat Gilroy needed 3 years. In his second year Meath hammerd Dublin by 10 points and kerry hammered them by even more. Dublin supporters wanted him gone. Theres a strong possibility Dublin might not have made the breakthrough if he was sacked. If the internet was around in 1985 and there was a forum like this in 1985 there would be thread after thread calling for Boylan to be Sacked or Boylan hasnt a Clue. The vast majority of Meath supporters wanted Boylan gone after the 9 point hammering to laois in the championship in 85. The criticism was so bad he pretty much decided to leave. Only for the players to plead for him to stay he said he would give it 1 more year. If he left in 1985 there is a very strong possibility Meath would be still at 3 All Irelands. Of course criticism is good. It is healthy to criticize and ask questions. But we need to be feasonable and have a bit of sporting foresight. This is going to take years before we see real.signs of progress. I expected this year to be pretty much the way it is turning out. Up and down and inconsistent. Remeber Andy has overhauled the squad this spring with 6 to 7 new players on the first 15. 11 of 15 of the team that played v kildare last year are no longer on the panel. It will take considerable time to bed those players in. We could still get promotion, as even in the last couple of years we have been in transitiin and nearly achieved this. But I believe in 12 months you will see progress and in 24 months even more. Kevin Walsh took 4 years to get Galway into div 1 . Look at them now. We are not a million miles away from Galway. Just a year or two at most. The nighmare scenario would be Andy left this year or next. I think he is in for the long haul. But if supporters were to do what they did to Boylan in 1985 it would be a massive mistake in my book. Yes if he loses the dressing room and we start losing every game then we need to re examine. But the supporters are not always right. In 1985 the Meath supporters calling for Sean Boylan to resign were effectively ending Meaths chances of any sucess. McEntee is the right man at the right time. And for me I just hope when these group of players reach their peak at 26 27 at the start of the next decade and the current group of talented younger minor and under 17 players are coming on the scene that Andy is in charge. I think thats when things will really click. I understand people frustrations. I am frustrated myself also. Its being the same story for 8 years finish 3rd in div 2 and out of the championship in July. Its the hope that kills you. It has knocked the confidence out of the county. But those 8 years we were in transition and thr break up of the 00s team. I think we have set of new young players. The only way is up. We just need to be a bit patient. Criticize definatly do that. But just be realistic that what Andy faces is a massive task that anytime in the history of gaelic football has been turned around, it has took years not a year or 2 but years to to achieve progess."

Replying To royaldunne:  "I was thinking the same as soon as I read it."