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RD you're being overly optimistic even at that. We're not in the same class as any of those teams. Tell me the last time we beat one of them? 2009. Trying to make out we'd give Tyrone a game is silly talk too. There's a clear demarcation of where things stand Dublin Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, Tyrone Galway Monaghan, Meath, Roscommon, Armagh Cork, Tipp, Cavan Down, Kildare, Laois, Clare, Westmeath Everyone else We've a big jump to make on the ladder before we're even close to taking bites out of the Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, Tyrone of this world. brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 27/04/2021 20:12:00 2339004 Link 14 |
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Very well said, but I even think youre being slightly nice to us. My take would be very similar but I wouldnt focus on categorising anyone below the top 5/6. There are similarities between essentially every county outside the big guns over last 10 or so years. Where we have the advantage as regards breaking out of the chasing pack is in playing numbers, interest, decent body of coaches, a good basis of history, and money. This however takes an interminable amount of time and effort and passion, with little to no guarantee of success in any facet, and a lot of selfless, thankless work. We've only just seen a few years of that and much, much more will be required. It's a constant uphill battle. Thats the brutal reality of the game now. I always said even though this generation of lads are unlikely to win any silverware and get slated every year by the average Meath person and constantly compared to players now in their dotage, they're very admirable. The work over the last 3 years has been excellent. They're a good squad of players and their improvement and the rising standards in our gameplay has been plain to see. Promotion, Super 8's, 2 Leinster finals. Backed up by a few minor Leinsters as well to boot. In this day and age those are good acheivements. Consider that only 3 years ago we left Pearse Park after being soundly beaten by Longford. Im all for the chat and I love a cry, as do we all but we also have to say that these boys deserve their share of credit. There's much more to do but there has been a lot done. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 28/04/2021 05:56:27 2339043 Link 17 |
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Again perhaps I'm been misconstrued. And not making myself clear enough. What I mean. Is the Donegal Kerry mayo Galway etc is what we should be aiming to compete with. Not dubs, they are in my opinion the next level up , when we can compete with them then we on same level (we are not at the moment) then and only then can we look at competing with Dublin. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 28/04/2021 11:14:28 2339068 Link 0 |
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Rd its hard to take at times with you lad.last year before we played dubs we were set up to cause an upset.now after that game our focus changes to league and other teams.of course i know what the dubs are about.but now more then ever we need to play them again and by whatever means possible give a credible account of ourselves.those players need this.i def think andy mac needs and wants it.its goin to be knockout so so be it put the whole lot on the line if we meet them.they just do the very basics better than everyone else.these lads are at the moment settingvthe standards for the next bunch coming.so as your saying if we focus on the donegals tyrones thats what yheyll think is the limit.set the dubs as the limit which in fair to mcentee i think hes doing.maybe he wonf get the just resards for it now.but some management down the line will reap what he is sowing.
Borderroyal (Meath) - Posts: 496 - 28/04/2021 15:11:41 2339127 Link 11 |
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Hey RD I wasn't misconstruing you. I think in the previous point you said we're at a similar level to Tyrone. We're not even close to them. That's why i put in the table. Dublin are furlongs ahead, next come the Donegals, Kerrys, Tyrone's and Mayo... then Galway who have proved nothing and achieved even less... We're in the next bunch. A realistic aim is to get back into Division 1 for 2022, get onto the same tier as Galway and go from there in 2022. There's nothing more we can do for 2021, as we'll not beat Dublin if we avoid them and get to a Leinster final. Better performances than 2019 and 2020 would be an improvement.Lets not forget the amount of lads that were in their first full season and playing Dublin in Croke Park for the first time last year. As you said one bite at a time. You can't swallow the Elephant whole ;) brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 28/04/2021 18:43:16 2339172 Link 14 |
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Would love to witness Mick Lyons or Colm O Rourkes reaction to being told their in their dotage, two meter distance might not suffice in that case.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 28/04/2021 20:00:39 2339197 Link 12 |
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Fully agree, cannot see how we somehow ignore Dublin, focusing on them should in turn help bring us up to the level of Mayo, Donegal and the rest. Cannot set a limit, what young lad wants to be told this is your lot, they join up in the hope of winning something. As you say the first step is get the basics right, this in turn will instill a bit of self confidence and build a culture of self-belief within the squad.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 28/04/2021 20:16:42 2339202 Link 14 |
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Will the league games be streamed live? trim1 (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 28/04/2021 23:00:34 2339228 Link 0 |
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Gaa go will show any games that aren't shown on rte eir or tg4.
Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 685 - 29/04/2021 09:49:02 2339262 Link 1 |
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I agree that RD's tone switch from pre to post Leinster final is quite staggering. But I don't think he's suggesting that the players or management forget about Dublin, just that the supporters don't view the success or failure of this squad and management through our performances against Dublin and instead judge it off are we beating D4/D3 team that we should be hearing handily, are we performing against and mostly beating Division 2 opponents, and are we performing and progressing towards beating division 1 teams not named Dublin. The players off course want to go out and beat everybody, and I don't think Andy settles for anything, so I think RD's point was one for supporters and not the squad
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 29/04/2021 10:55:04 2339267 Link 8 |
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Unless lessons have been learned from the many basic recurring mistakes in last 2 seasons (God knows the dogs in the street know them) we can forget about playing any team of substance.....Talking about others teams is a distraction from this issue. Cant understand how the CB have not demanded accountability on this . Is accountability not applicabe in Meath ?
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 29/04/2021 13:59:37 2339322 Link 17 |
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Despite those mistakes our league campaign had losses by less than 4 against Galway, Mayo, Kerry, and even Dublin albeit in Parnell Park. And a draw against Monaghan. That was without 3 of our starting back 6 (Gallagher, Lavin, Harnan) from 2019 for most of our league and that was our strength in 2019, without Colgan who got injured in the warmup before game 1 (albeit Andy criminally then criminally stuck with Marcus Brennan). And without our free-taker and scorer from 2019 in Newman. Jordy Morris was only unearthed post-pandemic. So I would say that despite our issues which are fundamental and without different players coming through are very difficult to fix we still played and played pretty well against 'teams of substance' as you call them
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 29/04/2021 15:48:24 2339355 Link 8 |
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Despite the padding and spin which i see as just excuses.. I have one issue only .. The basic mistakes clearly have NOT been worked on. We dont need to talk about them again. Talk has to be followed by action ,if not more of the same will follow . Seems to me some supporters believe if you are critical you are somehow less of a supporter,which i totally reject.. Its single issue now to start with SHOW the improvement. Lets stop using the low norm ...we only LOST by ? We played without so and so Where will it stop?. We played without Gies, Gerathy,and o Rourke... EVERY team has these problems to cope with.
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 29/04/2021 16:49:25 2339373 Link 17 |
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Yes every team has injury issues to deal with. But those 6 teams are better than us. Point blank. We had one good minor team over a period of about 7 years, those players would be between 24-30 now and we only had one good minor team at that age, and only 1 even half decent under 21 team. So the player we haven't just aren't as good as the players from those 6 counties. I would argue however that with Walsh, Morris, Costello, Hickey, Jones back from America coming in that we are getting closer to this division 1 teams. Now if they go out and lose to Westmeath or Down I'll be fuming and my tone may change but what are you expecting. Free takers aren't grown on trees and our best one of the last few years had to retire with injury although he's back on the panel now (probably not ready to play though), and fetching midfielders aren't grown on trees and Harry Rooney won't play and Nash and McBride are in Aus. So you can complain all you want about senior management and say that aren't fixing the two main problems, but what's your solution to that. Are their free takers out there in Meath who are good enough to play. Are there excellent fetchers for midfield who want to play for Meath. I'll be honest I haven't seen either but I'm open to suggestions people have for players like this.
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 29/04/2021 17:18:49 2339381 Link 10 |
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The same problems have existed now for last few years and I think it is reasonable to expect management to find solutions. We dont have top drawer fielders like John Mac any more but few teams do. The overhead catch is the most basic of GAA skills and one we would expect all our players to excute to a good standard. Its not just our midfielders who are poor in this area it is right across the team, from full back to full forward. Little point playing a small mobile half forward line in front of a midfield who seldom gain primary possession. Free taking is an art and gets better with coaching and practice, good example is Dean Rock. Great to here MN is back on panel, his freetaking lets him down at times, however we really miss him leading the line, one of the few forwards who can be relied to win his own ball and brings badly needed leadership to forwards. Dont know how many we have in senior management but surely there is enough expertise to address the primary issues.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 29/04/2021 18:23:01 2339391 Link 12 |
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High catching is a basic skill. High-catching contested kickouts is not a basic skill and look at the best teams. Fenton and Howard for Dublin, O'Shea for Mayo, David Moran for Kerry, Donegal have Murphy who can come out, Langan and Hugh McFadden, even Cavan and Tipp were transformed by Thomas Galligan and Colin O'Riordan last year. There are fewer fetchers around than there used to be but the best teams have them and crucially all of those lads are pretty good ballplayers too. Jones is excellent at fetching but is giving up height to his opponent most of the time. Fionn Reilly might be an option but I haven't seen enough of him to know what his fetching is like. And I can agree with you that the style of our half-forward line isn't ideal maybe Fionn Reilly and Matt Costello could emerge as options there. But I don't accept that these skills are highly coachable, I don't remember many free takers emerging as that throughout their career lately. If there are examples lately of lads who aren't great free takers at 21 but become it in their 20's then maybe I'm wrong but I haven't seen it. The one thing I will say is that I want our free takers to be consistent. From day 1 have a free-taker from each side and from distance and stick with them. Regardless of if they miss a few during a game. I'd have Walsh from the left side, Morris from the right and then I think Morris can kick longer ones and 45's. If not then have Colgan kick them like he does at club. These lads mightn't be world beaters on frees but it's better than chopping and changing. All of that is under the assumption that Newman still isn't fit to play
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 29/04/2021 21:01:09 2339419 Link 9 |
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Agreed ! i would just add that it is apparent that confidence is severly lacking in the team The recurring faults freetaking fielding, goalkeeping, slow build up to attack,and forwards unwilling to take responibility for shooting for a score underline the confidence issue as lacking confidece is clearly the common denominator. Targeted coaching to help balls skills and mental skills seems poor. I dont know about atmosphere at training. Is encouragement a key tool. Is the culture of continuous improvement the TOP objective..
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 30/04/2021 13:48:30 2339503 Link 17 |
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I agree with you all most completely except for the part on Tyrone, I just don't rate them at all. But sure that's the beauty of opinions everyone's is different:)
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 01/05/2021 21:20:48 2339655 Link 0 |
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Let me be clear, the focus last year and year before was always league (and super 8s year before ) . When we meet Dublin of course I am going to think we will win, I actually will convince myself and anyone else that we can and will win, this year should we meet them will be NO DIFFERENT, that's what been a loyal supporter is all all about, I have NEVER gone to a Meath game (or watched one as in last year) thinking we going to be beat. The day I think that is the day I will stop watching or supporting them, every year without fail I stick 50 on us winning Leinster and 50 on all ire, I have never done it thinking I won't collect (I've already done this year) what I am saying is if and when we are beat we can't keep comparing ourselves to Dublin and using them as what we need to be at. Not one team has beat them in last 7 years. So Meath supporters need to be less critical of us. Some may get closer, but the best game Dublin played last year was against us. That's a fact.
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 01/05/2021 21:27:38 2339656 Link 0 |
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This is exactly it. One thing I will say is if it should come to pass that we play dubs this year I will naturally believe we will win. That's the eternal optimist in me and unwavering support. However in the cold light of day I really think it is extremely harsh to be judging the players (management less so) on how we perform against one team. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 01/05/2021 21:31:06 2339657 Link 0 |