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Meath Senior Football Team 2021

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Delighted to get the win, showed a lot of fight and effort in the last 10 to get over the line and the bench had a huge impact, performance was not great at all but to win playing like that can only be seen as a positive, a sort of game that I think will do the squad good, next weeks starting 15 will be interesting for sure and it's a huge game as a win could assure us of a top two finish, problems up front continue, a number of wides again today and we danced around the periphery of the game at times instead of asking real questions of the Westmeath defence, Harkin looks a good prospect, Lavin played very well I thought and Harnan put in a decent shift at midfield with Menton to name a few, it certainly wasn't pretty but digging out a win like that is a positive in itself, plenty to do but at least we can do it on the back of a win

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3744 - 16/05/2021 20:20:43    2342521

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Looks like this team is going backwards. Our goalkeeping taking pot shots from frees when he's not even an accurate kickout taker. Build up still way too slow. People will say at least we won but Westmeath are poor and nowhere near a Div. 1 standard team. Might beat Down but Mayo will hammer us if they need to and we'll lose the next knockout game. Felt we should have made a change of management during the Winter but it's too late now. The team is playing without personality and confidence seems shattered. Looked at a few matches this weekend and must admit football has become a hard watch. Poor skill levels, zero intensity in most of the play and implementation of new rules very questionable. Its not just our team but I think the game needs a radical rethink and it's in big trouble. When they open the gates, not many will return at this rate. Teams are overtrained and show little or no personality in their robotic play. Even when behind teams don't know how to break from their defensive mindset. Very little vision or imagination from any players these days, just head down and put on the turbo. Fittest and strongest usually win and at the end of the day that will be Dublin who have more time and resources than every other team in the country. However most of their competitors fail to learn or develop or try anything new to combat them including our own Meath team. Looks like we'll stumble through the league, might win one or two championship games and that will be our lot again.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 16/05/2021 20:54:12    2342540

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Replying To bert09:  "Good to get a win but very poor performance from Meath. Think the division 1 experience helped get us over the line. Not at all optimistic about the future."
It's far from the ideal start. I think you're right; the experience of the higher standard paid dividends. The last 8-10 minutes we outscored them by 4 points to 1 point and their last score was a chip into the square as the last kick of the game. Our tackling and ability to create kickable frees along with a superior bench, coming up to the last few minutes, that was the winning ticket. Could potentially have had a goal in the dying minutes too off a breakaway turnover.

We kicked too many wides. We were turned over in possession too often. We were pressurised and forced into our lethargic form where we lack power and direction and as a result we were often quite rudderless. Westmeath honestly won a lot of the small battles in the game, but somehow lost the war. They're a good side when they click, as we know, and they deserve credit for coming to Navan and coming very close to a win, albeit in a scrappy game.

Not to worry, its May. Its the league. First game of relevance in months. Rustiness, mistakes, sloppiness etc are to be expected, particularly when level 5 restrictions are taken into account. Westmeath would have put a lot into winning this match, perhaps they deserved it on the day, but we won. Its not the first time Meath have found ways to win against this level of opposition in this type of game, remember Offaly 2019.
Plus we also had something of a makey-uppy team, a lot of lads out of position and a lot of chopping and changing as the game progressed. Theres a lot to work on before the next game: free taking being the biggest issue imo, but a one point win will do us lovely.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 16/05/2021 21:16:48    2342555

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Replying To winatallcost:  "Looks like this team is going backwards. Our goalkeeping taking pot shots from frees when he's not even an accurate kickout taker. Build up still way too slow. People will say at least we won but Westmeath are poor and nowhere near a Div. 1 standard team. Might beat Down but Mayo will hammer us if they need to and we'll lose the next knockout game. Felt we should have made a change of management during the Winter but it's too late now. The team is playing without personality and confidence seems shattered. Looked at a few matches this weekend and must admit football has become a hard watch. Poor skill levels, zero intensity in most of the play and implementation of new rules very questionable. Its not just our team but I think the game needs a radical rethink and it's in big trouble. When they open the gates, not many will return at this rate. Teams are overtrained and show little or no personality in their robotic play. Even when behind teams don't know how to break from their defensive mindset. Very little vision or imagination from any players these days, just head down and put on the turbo. Fittest and strongest usually win and at the end of the day that will be Dublin who have more time and resources than every other team in the country. However most of their competitors fail to learn or develop or try anything new to combat them including our own Meath team. Looks like we'll stumble through the league, might win one or two championship games and that will be our lot again."
To say skill levels are lower than they used to be is lazy. Over lockdown I got the chance to watch plenty of older games and the skill level is absolutely cat. It was entertaining because of how mad it was but skill levels were not good. In the mid naughties there were great games between the top teams but Dublin Mayo and Kerry from 2012-19 played games that were better. Westmeath parked the bus behind the ball today and Meath were very poor at breaking it down and we played badly. But the overall level of the tip teams has never been better and you just have nostalgia tinted glasses. The only difference is that a Dub team that would beat any team from any generation is around and clouds the whole thing

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 16/05/2021 21:53:55    2342569

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I can't understand the team picked to start, it's clearly not the strongest if the bench is always playing better. Whole full forward line is the same players that only managed 4 points after 50 mins vs Dublin last year. Surely a change up needed.

rubia (Meath) - Posts: 26 - 16/05/2021 22:06:45    2342574

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Is there not a decent free taker in the county

cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 16/05/2021 23:25:05    2342611

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Replying To grahamc9897:  "We won by 1 point not 2 ! So not bang on"
Pretty damn close to it. So it's 5 plus the bonus ball ?

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 17/05/2021 06:17:49    2342628

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "To say skill levels are lower than they used to be is lazy. Over lockdown I got the chance to watch plenty of older games and the skill level is absolutely cat. It was entertaining because of how mad it was but skill levels were not good. In the mid naughties there were great games between the top teams but Dublin Mayo and Kerry from 2012-19 played games that were better. Westmeath parked the bus behind the ball today and Meath were very poor at breaking it down and we played badly. But the overall level of the tip teams has never been better and you just have nostalgia tinted glasses. The only difference is that a Dub team that would beat any team from any generation is around and clouds the whole thing"
I disagree. There is very little vision or imagination nowadays. Players taking far too much time on the ball tipping it on the toe. Forwards with the exception of Dublin or Kerry have limited ball winning ability. Most of the play is sideways or backwards and defenders unable to defend man to man. Overall the game is a poor watch at the moment.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 17/05/2021 08:15:22    2342637

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Replying To winatallcost:  "Looks like this team is going backwards. Our goalkeeping taking pot shots from frees when he's not even an accurate kickout taker. Build up still way too slow. People will say at least we won but Westmeath are poor and nowhere near a Div. 1 standard team. Might beat Down but Mayo will hammer us if they need to and we'll lose the next knockout game. Felt we should have made a change of management during the Winter but it's too late now. The team is playing without personality and confidence seems shattered. Looked at a few matches this weekend and must admit football has become a hard watch. Poor skill levels, zero intensity in most of the play and implementation of new rules very questionable. Its not just our team but I think the game needs a radical rethink and it's in big trouble. When they open the gates, not many will return at this rate. Teams are overtrained and show little or no personality in their robotic play. Even when behind teams don't know how to break from their defensive mindset. Very little vision or imagination from any players these days, just head down and put on the turbo. Fittest and strongest usually win and at the end of the day that will be Dublin who have more time and resources than every other team in the country. However most of their competitors fail to learn or develop or try anything new to combat them including our own Meath team. Looks like we'll stumble through the league, might win one or two championship games and that will be our lot again."
Have to agree with a lot of what you say.

Regarding the performance yesterday, if they genuinely didnt train etc over lockdown then hard to be too critical of the players. Management however without a free taker still? Unforgiveable. Whats the definition instanity again? Doing the same thing over and over again with same result. Just waiting now til the summer in croke park against Dublin or whoever when we'll have a "who wants to take the frees" competition live on TV for the rest of the country to laugh at. I get that given the lockdown etc they've stuck with basically the same panel of players but lockdown was a long time to get a few freetakers in and get them drilled. I used to kick frees off the ground and had decent success rate at it and would be about 60% on 45s...I wasnt especially talented at it and didnt have one of those languid striking styles like Cluxton or O Cinneide were they just sweep it with little effort...it was friggin hard work and hard on my knees and hamstrings. But it was just practice, thats all. Its not that hard. The posts are wide enough like. Find a player who enjoys it. No point in forcing a lad to take frees.

As you say football has become hard to watch and one of the main reasons for that is that its a game full of absolute bluffers. Looking at the Dublin Roscommon match yesterday, Roscommon were pathetic. A load of lads who spend all their time in the gym trying to fill out their jerseys. To a man they were about 2 stone over weight. The Dubs were sleek and fit like greyhounds - functionally fit not bluffer poser fit like so many GAA players these days.

And the greatest bluffers have to be the managers - zero tactical innovation or intelligence. No outside the box thinking. I'd say GAA is decades behind other sports in terms of tactics. Jim Gavin (and Jason Sherlock) and Jim McGuinness are huge losses to the game.

Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1352 - 17/05/2021 09:28:13    2342658

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Having slept on that game I'm a bit happier with how it went. Two years ago its unlikely we'd have won that game and last year we were in positions to win and snatch a lose from the jaws of victory.

Westmeath came to play to a game plan of stopping Meath from winning rather than trying to win themselves. 14/15 men inside their own half, low risk football. Meath had lots of ball and eventually solved the puzzle, something they haven't been doing in recent years. The bench once more had a huge impact, 0-5 from them and those were the players that provided the injection of pace and a bit of power to get us over the line.

Don't forget this match was also won without probably 4 starters in James McEntee, Ronan Jones, Michael Newman and Shane Walsh, that shows there's plenty more to come.

Now that's not to say the game, team and management weren't without fault. Things seemed a bit lethargic and the team seemed very leggy but that's more likely down to work being done off the pitch to improve fitness. Niall Ronan seems to be building up their fitness year on year. The team lacks any instinct to break quickly and kick pass into the full forward line. Jordan Morris and Thomas O' Reilly really got no service during the game. Yes Westmeath deployed a sweeper but surely we push up on the sweeper or we should have extra men available on the break which we never seemed to have. The team also lacks any instinct to make an on field decision and when they do it's invaribly wasted so i can see why its that way. Matthew Costello had two examples i can think off and i'm not being critical of him i just remember these. First half he had the ball and balloned it wide as there was no one free or giving him an option, so he took a pot shot. Second half he'd a great chance on the break and could've headed for goal but came back inside and into traffic and the chance was gone. the better teams exploit those chances with quick direct ball inside and trust that the inside players can win ball and get goals. We need to work on that aspect of the game.

Andy Colgan deserves a bit of credit, he had a solid performance but Westmeath conceded a lot of kick outs and we'll face teams who won't allow that and will press up on us. His keeping and shot stopping when needed was good.

Freetaking will cost us games again this year and Andy has to accept this is no one's fault bar his own. I think i counted 6/7 different players having a go. This is patently not good enough and holds us back severely and leaves 4-6 scores a game on the pitch. I said earlier in this thread surely we could've had Morris and whoever else working with a designated kicking coach but it's been left up to the lads to decide amongst themselves as to what to do. In this day and age it's criminal act by management not having this detailed to the nth degree. Morris, O'Reilly, O'Sullivan, Devine, McMahon and Colgan all took free's at different times. There might have been others. How can management not have one player on free's, even if it's one from the right and one from the left. It's a disgrace which was encapsulated in the free Ethan Devine took, he looked like a lad kicking the ball for the very first time. That's not on him, that's on management for putting him in the situation.

We move onto Down and this is another huge game. Down will play a similar brand of containing football and we need to be better able to break them down. Wouldn't make too many changes, the bench impact will be needed again. But sort the god damn free taking out. If that mean's we start Donal Lenihan and all he's in for is free's then so be it, at least he's a reliable kicker of the ball.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 17/05/2021 10:46:36    2342689

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Positives. We gritted out a very important win in a game that we only really started playing in the last 10 mins. Colgan's kickouts were solid, can't remember any that were mishit or costly and we retained most of them. Lavin was excellent in corner back and came out with some balls he'd no right to win. Harnan looked good at midfield. Again not ideal that's he's there but a good stand in. Thought Cillian looked dangerous early on, but then his influence fell as they parked the sweepers back and the bench made a good impact.
Negatives. We were painful slow to adapt to them playing sweepers back. The first ball into Morris worked and we won a free. After that for about 20 mins we kicked ball after ball into Westmeath 2 v 1's. Campion and Costello in particular. Then when we eventually worked it through the hands more we were so lethargic, and lacked any urgency. The angles of running were really bad, constantly getting the ball running away from Westmeath's goals rather than at pace attacking them. What was once our strength of a fast running game seemed non existent. We missed James Mc and Jones' power. And Keoghan and Menton didn't really influence the game in an attacking sense until the late stages. And then the glaring weakness is obviously the free taking. Morris kicked 3 and scored them all so from closer in with the left foot that's fine. He seemed to want the one Colgan put over too, does anybody know if he can longer kick frees off the ground? From the other side it's a basket case. I agree with a previous poster. Thomas O'Reilly works very hard and puts in very good tackles as a forward. But he doesn't offer enough in attack from open play and his frees aren't up to it. Lenihan was on the bench, and while he isn't a perfect free taker he's an awful lot better than what we have. So start him over Thomas. We kicked 16/30 on our chances. 53%. Just won't cut it against good teams. The Dubs were something like 23/27 against Roscommon so it's our clear Achilles heel.

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 17/05/2021 12:15:46    2342731

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Replying To cabbage:  "Is there not a decent free taker in the county"
Maybe Newman or Walsh if playing ! Watching Devine nearly hit the corner flag with 1 free was depressing ! Its a big negative a the min

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1176 - 17/05/2021 12:23:45    2342733

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The free taking was a problem. No one can say otherwise. And will continue to be unless something changes. I'm pinning my hopes that Morris is the free taker on the left and Newman or walsh on the right and 45s , and if that's the case it explains yesterday to a extent. Only time will tell.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 17/05/2021 12:47:02    2342750

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On the free - taking , Is Jack O Connor worth a go , from what I remember he was pretty decent at the frees or am I wrong . As others said , I though we lacked target man to change things around yesterday when needed. Is Newman fit to play next week ? and does anyone know how long Walsh out for ?

Bear10 (Meath) - Posts: 463 - 17/05/2021 13:36:20    2342777

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Replying To Bear10:  "On the free - taking , Is Jack O Connor worth a go , from what I remember he was pretty decent at the frees or am I wrong . As others said , I though we lacked target man to change things around yesterday when needed. Is Newman fit to play next week ? and does anyone know how long Walsh out for ?"
He has to make the starting 15 first. The days of carrying a lad because of his free taking abilities are gone. Maybe the likes of Dublin or Kerry could do it but its still debatable.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 17/05/2021 13:56:16    2342782

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "He has to make the starting 15 first. The days of carrying a lad because of his free taking abilities are gone. Maybe the likes of Dublin or Kerry could do it but its still debatable."
Yeah I understand what you are saying and if he is a decent player and has an 80 percent free taking rate . I would start him , could be the difference in a tight game

Bear10 (Meath) - Posts: 463 - 17/05/2021 14:55:10    2342801

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "He has to make the starting 15 first. The days of carrying a lad because of his free taking abilities are gone. Maybe the likes of Dublin or Kerry could do it but its still debatable."
I get your point. But if Lenihan or O'Connor plays I think k they'd be a fairly significant upgrade on free taking. And given how important that is I think it outweighs any step down in open play from O'Reilly. Btw I don't think it even is a step down in open play. But Andy seems to think so, but even if he does the improved free taking would outweigh it

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 17/05/2021 16:03:09    2342840

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "I get your point. But if Lenihan or O'Connor plays I think k they'd be a fairly significant upgrade on free taking. And given how important that is I think it outweighs any step down in open play from O'Reilly. Btw I don't think it even is a step down in open play. But Andy seems to think so, but even if he does the improved free taking would outweigh it"
I'd have to back up this point too. Thomas O'Reilly has been around the panel for 4-5 years and unfortunately he's never really stood up to the plate and delivered consistently to merit a continued starting role. He's good for a score every other game but he's not an inside forward you'd rely on in bigger moments. I don't think there's anything he does which Donal Lenihan couldn't do as inside forward.Ethan Devine in a similar mod has had many chances and I fail to see what he's doing that's significantly better than some members of the panel. Jack O'Connor i believe is more of a half forward and could start at 10/12 in place of Devine. That's 2 free takers immediately into your team and you still have Michael Newman and Shane Walsh who can be added and are free takers.

Lets be honest none of our starting forwards yesterday who were to a man replaced during the match lit the game up. There was no goal threat at all, now the sweepers from Westmeath negated that which i accept but we need to be honest in our assessment and our forwards just aren't good enough. We do not have a marquee forward, never mind a second and third one. Teams can easily shut us down as a collective as they don't have to double mark anyone, the threat doesn't exist, maybe Shane Walsh could be that guy if he's isolated 1 on 1 but he's yet to prove it.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 17/05/2021 16:25:30    2342851

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Replying To Crinigan:  "Have to agree with a lot of what you say.

Regarding the performance yesterday, if they genuinely didnt train etc over lockdown then hard to be too critical of the players. Management however without a free taker still? Unforgiveable. Whats the definition instanity again? Doing the same thing over and over again with same result. Just waiting now til the summer in croke park against Dublin or whoever when we'll have a "who wants to take the frees" competition live on TV for the rest of the country to laugh at. I get that given the lockdown etc they've stuck with basically the same panel of players but lockdown was a long time to get a few freetakers in and get them drilled. I used to kick frees off the ground and had decent success rate at it and would be about 60% on 45s...I wasnt especially talented at it and didnt have one of those languid striking styles like Cluxton or O Cinneide were they just sweep it with little effort...it was friggin hard work and hard on my knees and hamstrings. But it was just practice, thats all. Its not that hard. The posts are wide enough like. Find a player who enjoys it. No point in forcing a lad to take frees.

As you say football has become hard to watch and one of the main reasons for that is that its a game full of absolute bluffers. Looking at the Dublin Roscommon match yesterday, Roscommon were pathetic. A load of lads who spend all their time in the gym trying to fill out their jerseys. To a man they were about 2 stone over weight. The Dubs were sleek and fit like greyhounds - functionally fit not bluffer poser fit like so many GAA players these days.

And the greatest bluffers have to be the managers - zero tactical innovation or intelligence. No outside the box thinking. I'd say GAA is decades behind other sports in terms of tactics. Jim Gavin (and Jason Sherlock) and Jim McGuinness are huge losses to the game."
Agree on rossies thought the same looking at them.like rugby players and still couldnt break thru the dubs.

Borderroyal (Meath) - Posts: 496 - 17/05/2021 16:31:21    2342856

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Even Aaron Lynch from Trim is fairly accuerate with frees from off the deck and surely could be worth a run at corner forward alongside morris in the other corner.

Might be too light but in terms of free taking is up there with most in the county.

Irish_downunder (Meath) - Posts: 642 - 17/05/2021 16:34:00    2342858

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