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Meath have had a bad run of it. The getting rid of O'Brien was not only disgraceful but it put county into turmoil, the unwanted appointment of banty (he had no chance of succeeding) only added to that. The total bizarre appointment of mod (majority of people in Meath thought it was actually someone else) he loved Meath football without a doubt, but let's be honest a old woman who never seen a football match in her life would have done better. The constant collapses etc was the lowest point EVER in county, we were lucky to get a manager the caliber of mcentee, but he is not a miracle worker. Our fitness is now of county standard, and there is light at end of tunnel. Patience is what is needed, year 3 I expect to see results that reflect the effort put in at moment Hon the royal. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 13/11/2018 17:05:46 2150982 Link 0 |
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Im sorry but thats totally unfair on mick o dowd. I have watched a goood bit of meath over the last few years and the best bit of football that yee have produced was under o dowd during that first half performance v westmeath in 2015. Granted yee totally fell apart in the 2nd half but that first half was excellent attacking football
11jm11 (Kildare) - Posts: 365 - 13/11/2018 17:37:14 2150985 Link 4 |
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I defiantly agree that historically Meath have not done well in the club championship due to having the players spread over a lot of clubs. Famously in 67 there was 15 clubs represented in the starting 15. The way Meath junior teams have won so many Leinster club junior titles shows this. In last 15 years or so some years Ratoath or other clubs have at times bucked this trend and had quiet a few players and this has not done much for the county team. I actually like the way in Meath there are so many clubs, its better that most club player's to get a chance to play for a first team. I would love to see Meath adopting a Kerry model and let junior/ intermediate clubs join up in divisional teams for the senior championship.
bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1343 - 15/11/2018 23:13:56 2151273 Link 0 |
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Sure one or two here had Andy McEntee down as the second coming of Jesus Christ when appointed and would beat Dublin in Leinster within 3 years, I can't see that happening next year or for the foreseeable to be honest. The same can be said about Cork when it comes to beating Kerry too. Dubsfan28 (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 16/11/2018 13:59:53 2151319 Link 1 |
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Its not just Meath that cannot beat Dublin. Most people cannot see any county beating Dublin this year or in the foreseeable future. Its not just Meath that have a problem beating Dublin. 31 counties have that problem. No one in Meath sees Meath beating Dublin in the foreseeable future. We know we are years behind Dublin. No one in Meaths sees us winning Sam or leinster in the foreseeable future. The aim of the manager and what all true Meath gaels want to see is promotion to div 1 and reaching super 8 at senior, start winning under 20 leinster titles and keep beating Dublin at minor and been strong at minor. Promotion to div 1 and reaching super 8 is what everyone in Meath wud like to see. And the next step would be try and stay in div 1 for a few years and be competitive at super 8 level. No one is expecting or saying we are going to win Sam or reach an All Ireland final or semi final or win leinster senior title for the foreseeable future. But promotion to div 1 and super 8 participantion is the goal . And both goals are not impossible achievements to obtain. We have been contenders for div 1 promotion for 5 or 6 years and we have been incredibly close. 4 of the last 5 years we have lost out to promotion to div 1 by scoring difference point difference and head and head. Just 1 extra win in 2014 league campaign or 2015 league campaign or 2017 league campaign or 2018 league campaign , 1 more win in each of these 4 years and we would have been promoted to div 1. It doesnt get any closer then that. Again we have to be with such consistency of in being contention regularly for last 5 years , we have to be seen as contenders again this year. Any other county in Ireland who was so close to promotion to div 1 in 5 years would be considered as contenders for promotion. But for Meath there is always a bias, a downgrading of achievements and worth and downplaying of worth by ABM brigade. Secondly we have a young team which are now collectively peaking as players and we do have some good footballers like Donal Keoghan Conor McGill James McEntee Niall Kane Padraig Harnan Brian Menton Harry Rooney Graham Reilly Cillian Sullivan Alan Forde and Padraig McKeever. ( Donal lenihan is gone travelling but there is a chance he might be back for part of the summer next year). They are good footballers and there is a few more additions that cud also bring us on. And finally I keep saying this but it keeps been ignored. But its the truth. Its a fact. I will put it as simple as I can. Yes we were diabolical v Longford Cavan and kildare. But we played some of the best teams in the country in last 2 years. And if u look at some of our bad defeats. Tyrone and Galway should have beaten us by double digits. But here is the crux of the matter. We played 4 of the best teams in country in last 2 years , 4 provicial champions and in those 4 games we played really well and could have beaten 4 of the best teams in the country . We should have beaten Tyrone this year ( All Ireland finalist), we drew with Roscommon in Roscommon this year ( Connacht and div 2 champions) , we could have beaten Donegal ( Ulster Champions) last year , (we were level in injury time v Donegal ), and we did beat Galway last year ( Connacht champions and league 1 finalist). Thats the truth. Its not just Tyrone game its 4 strong performances v some of best teams in country. Everytime we play top teams the provicial champions we play well. Of course these results and performances are ignored. For many so badly want and need Meath to keep down. But these strong performances by Meath v Tyrone Galway Donegal and Roscommon. We know there have been dreadful performances. Everyone points to them. But playing well against the best teams in any competition is a positive sign for any team in any sport. Anyway promotion to div 1 , next year is the aim and it is not impossible. We are on better side of the draw this year in leinster and yes we cud lose to Westmeath or laois. But we could also win and find ourselves in our fifth leinster final this decade which while we have lost most of them. A fifth leinster final appearance would mean with the title in 2010 and defeat of Dublin in 2010 means we have been second most successful county in leinster championship in this decade by metric mile. While kildare who many wud see as the second most successful in the provience in this era , and yes while having a decent record in qualifiers, kildare have an appalling record in leinster championship with 1 leinster final appearance this decade to Meaths 4 or 5 leinater final appearance. Kildare are extraordinary the fourth or maybe fifth most sucessful county in leinster championship in this decade. Westmeath will end up third most sucessful county in leinster championship this decade. If we reach leinster final, we are one game away from super 8 in qualifiers. Again very tough but not impossible. So while we have struggled in this decade which is our worst since 1920s we have still remained in the top 2 most sucessful counties in leinster championship uin this decade, something we have done in every decade ( 30s 40s 50s 60s 80s 90s 00s ) since Independence in 20s , the only decade we finished outside top 2 in leinster was in 70s when Dublin and Offaly were the top 2 in leinster in that decade. We have lost finals but we still have been reaching them. And finally I dont care what anyone from ABM brigade says but if Meath were to go up to div 1 they would do better then people think. Promotion cud be achieved and it cud be a game changer for Meath. Monaghan and Donegals sucess was built on div 1 residency for years. Meath have spent 16 or 17 of the last 20 years in div 2. That stat alone tells the reasons why we have struggled since early 00s. If we get promoted it wud be a masive morale booster for Meath football and a bitter pill to swallow for ABM brigade . We arent as bad as so many want us or need us to be. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 16/11/2018 20:54:31 2151361 Link 1 |
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Furlong jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 16/11/2018 21:26:58 2151363 Link 5 |
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Furlong: It is one thing getting up there quite another to stay there - again and again. Unless Meath have some strenght in depth it would be a straight up and straight down year which would just make things worse. Meath have so much potential finding the right guy is critical and some serious backing from all in county would go a long way. arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4896 - 16/11/2018 22:30:11 2151367 Link 0 |
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We can't keep thinking like that we haven't been in Division 1 since 2005 and have knocked around various incarnations of Division 2 and a year in Division 3 since, we "won" Division 2 in 2007 and yet due to more needless bloody tinkering with the league we didn't get promoted and were put in a "new" Division 2, something that I think stifled that's teams potential at the time. This squad of players need to play the top teams on a more regular basis, I don't care if we only lasted a year in Division 1 as we would learn more in that year than we have learnt in the last number of years in Division 2. Promotion has to be the number one aim, we need it from both a football and financial point of view
Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 16/11/2018 22:47:38 2151369 Link 2 |
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Maybe we wouldnt but ur still ignoring a couple facts. What about Meath performance v Tyrone this year ( ahead 6mins in injury time)? What about Meath performance v Donegal last year( level with Donegal in injury time)? What about Meaths performance v Roscommon in Roscommon this year ( ahead by a goal in fifth min of injury..A draw game)? What about Meaths performance v Galway last year ( A Meath victory ) ? Do you not think Meaths very strong performances v Tyrone Donegal Galway and Roscommon are a positive sign. Tyrone are in top 3 teams in the country . We should have beaten them this year. Donegal are in top 5 or 6 teams in country . We could have beaten them last year only for last minite injury time point from McBreaty. Galway are in top 4 or 5 teams in the country. We defeated them last year. Roscommon are in top 7 or 8 teams in country. We drew and should have beaten them this year. You are ignoring these performances. Do you have anything to say on Meaths strong performances v strong best teams in cointry. Meath did not struggle v Tyrone this year. Tyrone were very lucky to beat us. We went toe to toe with the All Ireland finalist for 76 mins in full time and 20 mins in injury time. Wud u call that struggling against second or third best team in country. Meath did not struggle v Donegal in championship last year. We went toe to toe with Donegal for 70 mins at the end of 70 mins we were level with current Ulster champions. And my friends Donegal said that was one of Donegals best performances last year and yet Meath went toe to toe with them. Meath did not struggle v Galway last year. We defeated Galway, the current Connacht and league div 1 finalist. Do you have any comment on Meaths strong performances v Tyrone Donegal Galway and Roscommon recently? Meath cud struggle in div 1. But all I know is we have spent 16 or 17 years in div 2 of last 20. We have a very good record in div 1. Only kerry or Dublin have a better record. It cud be a game changer for Meath. It might not be. But alway believed if we went up to div 1. It wud a massive boost. And I wud to see Dublin or kerry in Navan. Or go to Castlebar to play Mayo. Meaths sucess in the past was built on one thing ; the ability to up their game v the top counties. Meaths record against Dublins Cork the kerrys the Mayos is one of the best in the country. Meath have no inferior complex. Allot of counties are beaten before they play the kerrys and Mayos and Galways. And in this era we still seem to up our games v top teams. Take Tyrone. We have played them 3 times in championship in this decade. In each game we upped our game v Tyrone. In 2013 in championship we nearly defeated them in Croker. We were level with 10 mins to go. And Tyrone got 2 handy frees and won the game. But we went toe to toe with Tyrone in 2013. The year they reached All Ireland semi final. We upped our game v top county. And in 2015 in championship v Tyrone in Omagh we went toe to toe with Tyrone and only for a soft peno in last few minutes again we could have won. We upped our game v top county again. And in 2018 this year in championship we were ahead of Tyrone in 6th min of injury time. Again.we upped our game v top team. We lost all.those games. Tyrone have a better team And playing in div 1 and winning Ulster titles gave them big match experience to win all the games. But the fact is we play well against the top teams. Also Navan is a tough place to win. One of the tough places to win. We have had some bad days in this era in Navan v our neighbours kildare Louth and Cavan. But overall Id say we have a 80 to 90 % victory ratio in Navan. The last time Dublin played Meath in Navan was in Byrne cup. And surprise surprise what happenned. We upped our game again. Dublin had a strong team out. I think it was 2015 Byrne cup. Dublin had close to 70 or 80% of their first 15. Meath again went toe to toe for 70 mins with Dublin and the game was level at injury time before Dean Rock scored the winner. No one will enjoy coming to play Meath in Navan. Will u adress or anyone Meaths strong performances v best teams in country. Can u name 1 county in div 2 3 or 4 last year who have delivered such performances v top teams in last 2 years ; 4 strong performances. Can u name any county. I cannot. Meath dont have an inferior complex. Why did Galway survive and kildare didnt. Well Galway are a better team. But Galway have no inferior complex. They believe they should be in div 1 and have no fear of the top counties. Because they see themselves as a top county. Down footballers Cork hurlers and Meath footballers have that trait traditionally. If u say that was in the past. Again my answer is what about 4 performances v Tyrone Galway Donegal and Roscommon in two years. Take Kildare and Meath. Kildare beat Meath comprehensivly twice in last two years. Meath defeated Galway last year. Actually in last 5 or 6 years Meath have played Galway 5 times and Meath have lost once. Surely if kildare beat Meath twice , Galway lose to Meath ( and Meath are beaten once in last 5 games with Galway ). Surely Kildare wud beat Galway at least once or twice or three times in 4 meetings in 2 years. Galway have beaten kildare 4 times in 4 games in 2 years. Meath have lost once to Galway in 5 games in 6 years. Meath cannot beat kildare. Galway cannot beat Meath. . Yet kildare cannot beat Galway..Its unusual. Its not really. Its simple Meath up their game v top counties. U might not like this. But it is a fact. The fact is which people ignored exception of Alan Brogan . Brogan called Meath v Tyrone game one of the highlights of the year and said Meath cud take allot from that game. Its not the only game v top team Meath can take allot from The fact is Meath played very well v 4 of the best teams in the country very recently. That is a fact. Its a thread , its a pattern , Meath have always upped their game v top counties and even currently still have that trait. That is a fact. The other fact is , people ignore this , they concentrate on the bad performances because it goes with the narrative Meath are crap and they want and need Meath to crap. I know Meath have had bad performances. But performances v Tyrone Galway Donegal and Roscommon indicate a positive. Meath have potential. And if Meath went up to div 1 Meath could do better then people. Meath gaels wud love to see Kerry or Mayo or the Dubs come to Navan for div 1 game. It would transformational for the county. And if we went up this year. Our players wud be reaching their peak. Will anyone address the fact of Meaths 4 strong performances v Tyrone Galway Donegal and Roscommon in 2 years are a positive. Any other county in div 2 3 and 4 who had beaten Galway drew with Roscommon , and strong performances v Donegal the Ulster champions and Tyrone All Ireland finalist in last years would be seen a positive. But when it comes to Meath it is ignored. Its the same as it ever was. Meath have won All-Irelands and they got no praise or plaudits just downgrading their performances. I have seen counties lose leinster final by 8 or 9 points and they got more praise then when Meath won an All Ireland. Its the same as it ever was. Some just want and need Meath to stay down. There are positive signs there is potential. But if u hate Meath you wont see them. Or u will chose to ignore them. Again any comments on Meaths 4 strong performances v 4 of the best teams in the country. Surely that not a coincidence. Its a pattern. Meath play well up their game v top counties. So in summary Meath beat Galway in 2017 by two points Meath lose by 2 points in injury time Donegal in 2017 Meath draw with Roscommon in Roscommon in 2018 Meath lose to Tyrone by 1 point in extra time injury time in 2018. All facts. That indicate Meath up their game v top counties. This is a positive ability for any team in any sport. The ability to up your game v top teams. We might not survive in div 1 if we went up. But the performances mentioned above we can take allot from. They are positives that maybe just maybe we might do better then people hope. But the big thing is we have to get promoted from div 2 first. That is our main aim. And has proved an issue for us in last few years, promotion to div 1. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 16/11/2018 22:53:28 2151371 Link 1 |
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You talked about kildares performances in div 1 You mentioned Mayo performances You mentioned kerry performances You mentioned Dublin performances But no mention of Meath very credible strong performances v Tyrone Galway Donegal and Roscommon. 4 of the best teams in the country. 4 games Meath went toe to toe with 4 of the best teams in the country. Not one mention of Tyrone this year or Donegal last year. The All Ireland finalist and Ulster champions Meath nearly knocked out of the championship. No one mention of Meath beaten the best team in div 2 last year the current Connacht champions Galway and Meath drawn with the best team in div 2 this year , the then Connacht champions. Meath are unbeaten v the two best teams in div 2, 2 years in a row. No mention of Tyrone Donegal Galway and Roscommon games. If any other county in division 2 3 or 4 performed as well v 4 top counties it would be seen as a positive. Im not saying Meath are the finished article. Im not saying we are not inconsistent and can lose to any team in divsion 2 next year. I am not saying if we were promoted that we might get beaten in every game. I am saying outside division 1 the only county that has performed well v top counties in last 2 years consistently is Meath. This is a positive in any sport. But peoples unwillingness to adress it is due to the fact many cannot even contemplate the idea that Meath have potential or there is some positives for Meath. If I wrote how crap Meath are and Meaths bad performances I would get many thumbs up. But mention 4 games that actually happened. 4 positives. Its completely ignored. Meath upp their game v the top counties. They did in the past. They have done in present. I have 4 performances in last 2 years that prove that fact. Will.anyone address that. And show an unbias and show some sporting intelligence in that any sportsperson in any sports in soccer rugby hockey criket hurling, if a team outside the top division plays very well in 2 seasons v 4 of the best teams in the competition, and that team has a history of doing that , that team is marked out as a team with potential. The only exception is Meath . Is it yes or no? Will you adress or anyone adress Meath strong performances v 4 provicial champions in 2 years ? PS What are chances if anyone does adress Meath performance v Tyrone or defeat of Galway last year , they will attempt to downgrade or downplay it. Meath achieve anything in football. Its always firstly ignored then downplayed or criticised. We are inconsistent. We have had some awful performances. But against the 4 best teams we have played in last 2 years , 4 of the best teams in the country. We have played well. Explain that one. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 16/11/2018 23:42:45 2151376 Link 1 |
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Furlong, wake me up when a team that's not Dublin wins Leinster and until then I don't care who's ranked 4th or 5th or who did what I'm what decade.. far more thought and concern should be put into knocking Dublin off their current perch than being the second best team in the thirties. Sweetspot (Kildare) - Posts: 323 - 17/11/2018 01:50:04 2151379 Link 2 |
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Maybe the other teams were having 'off' days?
St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 17/11/2018 09:24:51 2151385 Link 3 |
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You can be certain Andy McEntee will be focussing on the positives of those good performances and striving to get more improved and consistent performances and wins from his Meath players. Himself, his coaching staff and his players are what counts for Meath football. They won't be looking on Hoganstand forums for opinion.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7342 - 17/11/2018 11:13:50 2151393 Link 3 |
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That's who the underdogs should have played, Meath, a team on their level :D realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8589 - 17/11/2018 12:26:28 2151395 Link 6 |
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To answer your question Probably because ye were the underdogs and it's much easier to hype up a bunch of lads being written off a bit? Much easier to train harder, work harder and retain better focus when you've a big game coming up against a better team and Meath do have a somewhat recent enough history of performance to fall back on to drive them on I find that to be a very Irish mindset and we've benefited from such at an international level in various sports and boxed above our weight on occasion. Always works well for us being the underdog and having a bit of pedigree to use to our advantage Although unfortunately and most importantly you should only be judged across all performances Furlong and not cherry pick the ones that suit your argument to suggest how you'd perform in Div 1. You're reaching a wee bit.. fact is Meath aren't good enough to even be in Div 1. If you judge it across all performances there's a reason why your not in Div 1 and in fact dropped to Div 3 not so long ago. I'm far from an ABM and I'd enjoy the opportunity to witness Dublin playing Meath regularly but ye haven't up held your end of the bargain. jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 17/11/2018 13:54:51 2151407 Link 4 |
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Don't see Meath getting promoted next year either. Kildare, Donegal should be the standout teams. Armagh will have players back like Jamie Clarke and Campbell. Tipperary are capable, and Cork if they get their act together. FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 17/11/2018 16:27:50 2151412 Link 2 |
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I know the general point you are making, Fulong and Meath traditionally are a tough nut. A bit of context though, Galway and Donegal in 2017 were weaker teams in 2017 then 2018. They had excellent U 21 teams in 2017 and many of those players made their championship debuts and league debuts this year they have more quality now then in 2017 as a result. Roscommon have done well, in the championship of late, but have largely done well in the championship draw as well with Mayo and Galway tearing strips of each other in recent years. They are a bit of a yo yo team, who have been heavily beaten by almost every Div 1 team with the odd exception. I'm not so sure they are one of the countries really top tier teams, their performances in the heat of Div 1 and nitty gritty of non provincal footbsll between league and championship performances indicate that. Tyrone all credit due, that was an excellent performence, Meath were robbed and really should have won the game bar a horrendous decision, so good on them. That's my honest assessment. Hopefully though Meath can be more competitive soon, I miss those games and days out. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 17/11/2018 16:46:05 2151414 Link 2 |
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Holy krap furlong, an apt username if ever there was, if you broke your posts down to shorter bursts you'd be ahead of jimbo :D realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8589 - 17/11/2018 18:13:20 2151416 Link 3 |
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I think he's going to break hoganstand.com shortly never mind breaking down his own posts.
KildareKelly (Kildare) - Posts: 593 - 17/11/2018 19:45:05 2151420 Link 3 |
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Think we as good as any of them on their day and on ours. Can't wait for it to start
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 17/11/2018 22:32:47 2151425 Link 1 |