Meath Forum

Clare

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "Bernard Flynn WAS an unbelievable servant and player for Meath, no questions asked, but has never coached/managed a team before and the one big job he got (meath U20's) he threw in the towel before the first round of the championship over a petty issue that had gone on in a lot of other counties since the creation of the U20 grade. The only difference is that those counties didn't air their dirty laundry in public. You should ask the U20 players effected what they felt about being put in that situation at the time."
Not having best players available was hardly a petty issue. One of McEntees great failures was motivation and instilling confidence in young players. If anything a number of these lads confidence have regressed and they are now way off what they should be. The last 2 years of McEntees management for Meath has been a complete waste of time!

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 11/06/2022 12:31:36    2423901

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "Bernard Flynn WAS an unbelievable servant and player for Meath, no questions asked, but has never coached/managed a team before and the one big job he got (meath U20's) he threw in the towel before the first round of the championship over a petty issue that had gone on in a lot of other counties since the creation of the U20 grade. The only difference is that those counties didn't air their dirty laundry in public. You should ask the U20 players effected what they felt about being put in that situation at the time."
Flynn managed Mullingar Shamrocks. When you loose the backing of the county board and the man in charge of the senior team back tracks on a written promise because he was fearful of loosing to Longford !!
Flynn and not only Flynn Geraghty walked away and dead right too and also right to highlight what was happening
I think if anyone threw the toys out of the pram it was our senior manager and as I said it came from a very reliable source

Royalmc (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 11/06/2022 12:49:25    2423904

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Replying To Royalmc:  "That line alone say a lot about the man " suspicious about their motives " is that what he really thought.
Yes it was the wrong time but certainly after the couple of years results and the carry on with his back tracking on an agreement with the u20s I can understand their motive .
I heard from a very reliable source some of the things that was said to Flynn and country chairman Sat back and allowed it im not suprised there was a split in the CB Bernard Flynn and Graham Geraghty two of our all tine greats deserved better and thankfully some of our CB backed them ."
Fully agree, comment about the motives of people willing to put the good of Meath first said it all, not willing to take any blame for the shortcomings of management, his way was the right way and everyone else was wrong or out to destroy Meath football. Even now still stirring the pot, he rightly talked about the abuse his family got, however, there was no need to question the integrity of people with different views. The BF saga, just another bad mark to add to the long list over last few years.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 11/06/2022 15:03:32    2423922

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Replying To Royalmc:  "Flynn managed Mullingar Shamrocks. When you loose the backing of the county board and the man in charge of the senior team back tracks on a written promise because he was fearful of loosing to Longford !!
Flynn and not only Flynn Geraghty walked away and dead right too and also right to highlight what was happening
I think if anyone threw the toys out of the pram it was our senior manager and as I said it came from a very reliable source"
You do what their motives were don't you ?? Cause if you don't you the only one who doesn't

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 11/06/2022 15:36:04    2423928

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Replying To royaldunne:  "You do what their motives were don't you ?? Cause if you don't you the only one who doesn't"
Yes i do ,to get rid of him , have to agree wrong time but right call and the way the year went it couldn't have went any worse if the delegates didn't back him .

Royalmc (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 11/06/2022 16:42:33    2423949

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Replying To royaldunne:  "You do what their motives were don't you ?? Cause if you don't you the only one who doesn't"
Motive was to replace a manager who had failed once again, not their fault Chairman failed to act in a timely manner, after another shambles of a season and passing up the easiest chance of promotio we will ever have, failure to beat an understrength Kildare in a one off game, the same Kildare you "dont rate". So please tell us the motives of these good people, same ones you wanted named and shamed, like Andy these people have families.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 11/06/2022 16:46:14    2423953

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Replying To Royalmc:  "Yes i do ,to get rid of him , have to agree wrong time but right call and the way the year went it couldn't have went any worse if the delegates didn't back him ."
Nope. It was to back up a mate who was very sore about a situation. How do I know ? The person who it WAS about has stated it plenty of times to people, including myself

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 11/06/2022 18:19:43    2423991

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Clare are still in. Showed great courage to win that game at the very end against Roscommon today. Does Anthony Cunningham retire now as well? Don't think so.

Our biggest problem is that we are living in the past and tend to judge counties by the list of All Ireland successes. It's now 21 years since we reached an All Ireland final, the longest gap since 1939 and 23 since we won one again the longest gap since the initial success in '49.

I have stated many times on this forum that we have been loosing some excellent minor footballers who haven't been making the transition to u 20/21 for years now and until we address this issue we will continue to struggle no matter who is in charge of the senior team.

So folks it doesn't all rest with the incumbent senior manager who ever he or she may be.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 11/06/2022 18:33:04    2423994

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Replying To MillerX:  "Clare are still in. Showed great courage to win that game at the very end against Roscommon today. Does Anthony Cunningham retire now as well? Don't think so.

Our biggest problem is that we are living in the past and tend to judge counties by the list of All Ireland successes. It's now 21 years since we reached an All Ireland final, the longest gap since 1939 and 23 since we won one again the longest gap since the initial success in '49.

I have stated many times on this forum that we have been loosing some excellent minor footballers who haven't been making the transition to u 20/21 for years now and until we address this issue we will continue to struggle no matter who is in charge of the senior team.

So folks it doesn't all rest with the incumbent senior manager who ever he or she may be."
Fair point. I was hearing we lost to a hurling county. Too many delusional people. And I freely admit I am one myself prior to a game. That been said afterwards it's time to state facts. WE JUST DONT HAVE THE PLAYERS TO COMPETE , at the moment.
History could judge Andy quite well , maybe he overachieved with what he had, the next saviour could see us tumble down the divisions and end up as the next Cavan. Yo-yo in between div 4 , 3 , and maybe the odd year in 2, and getting hidings from other counties outside of Dublin in Leinster

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 11/06/2022 18:55:53    2424002

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Replying To MillerX:  "Clare are still in. Showed great courage to win that game at the very end against Roscommon today. Does Anthony Cunningham retire now as well? Don't think so.

Our biggest problem is that we are living in the past and tend to judge counties by the list of All Ireland successes. It's now 21 years since we reached an All Ireland final, the longest gap since 1939 and 23 since we won one again the longest gap since the initial success in '49.

I have stated many times on this forum that we have been loosing some excellent minor footballers who haven't been making the transition to u 20/21 for years now and until we address this issue we will continue to struggle no matter who is in charge of the senior team.

So folks it doesn't all rest with the incumbent senior manager who ever he or she may be."
Why would he retire he got Roscommon promoted to Div 1 next year winning the div 2 title on the way .
It was time for Andy McEntee to step aside time will tell if the players are there but Meath football needed a change Andys style of football hasn't worked .

Royalmc (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 11/06/2022 20:21:04    2424038

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Meath and Clare have played out tight battles over the last four or five years. Roscommon got a run on Meath in Navan before half time in the league this year. In the second half Meath almost caught them. My point is these teams are operating at our level currently which is bang average. I hope Clare don't get Dublin in the quarter final because they will do exactly to them what they did to Meath.

atta (Meath) - Posts: 704 - 12/06/2022 09:51:04    2424120

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Fair point. I was hearing we lost to a hurling county. Too many delusional people. And I freely admit I am one myself prior to a game. That been said afterwards it's time to state facts. WE JUST DONT HAVE THE PLAYERS TO COMPETE , at the moment.
History could judge Andy quite well , maybe he overachieved with what he had, the next saviour could see us tumble down the divisions and end up as the next Cavan. Yo-yo in between div 4 , 3 , and maybe the odd year in 2, and getting hidings from other counties outside of Dublin in Leinster"
Cop out stating we have no players.cut ur cloth to suit get rid of driftwood pick men mould ur team with an environment thats both inviting and learning.play the way that suits there strengths.i dont buy we have not good footballers.but i never had faith in that management to get best from our proud county.

Borderroyal (Meath) - Posts: 496 - 12/06/2022 13:50:18    2424195

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Replying To Borderroyal:  "Cop out stating we have no players.cut ur cloth to suit get rid of driftwood pick men mould ur team with an environment thats both inviting and learning.play the way that suits there strengths.i dont buy we have not good footballers.but i never had faith in that management to get best from our proud county."
I hope you're right but I don't get where your faith in the level of talent in Meath is coming from. Consistently poor at under 20. Not many guys making an impact on good Sigerson teams. Poor schools teams. Our clubs do very poorly in the Leinster senior club. We have some young guys who could turn into very good players but so far haven't shown indications that they will. Again I really hope I'm wrong and that under a new management the players flourish but all the indicators I see don't point that way

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 12/06/2022 19:23:05    2424347

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "I hope you're right but I don't get where your faith in the level of talent in Meath is coming from. Consistently poor at under 20. Not many guys making an impact on good Sigerson teams. Poor schools teams. Our clubs do very poorly in the Leinster senior club. We have some young guys who could turn into very good players but so far haven't shown indications that they will. Again I really hope I'm wrong and that under a new management the players flourish but all the indicators I see don't point that way"
I agree i dont think there is the talent in the county. As i said above in my previous post its eveident when you watch the club games. Bar maybe keogan, no other panelist stands out as a major threat in these games. You would find it hard to pick who are the county lads. Now that might be a result of being pummeled every night when in with the county and having no confidence and a new manager might bring that back but personally i dont think the talent is there.

Irish_downunder (Meath) - Posts: 642 - 13/06/2022 08:23:48    2424423

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "I hope you're right but I don't get where your faith in the level of talent in Meath is coming from. Consistently poor at under 20. Not many guys making an impact on good Sigerson teams. Poor schools teams. Our clubs do very poorly in the Leinster senior club. We have some young guys who could turn into very good players but so far haven't shown indications that they will. Again I really hope I'm wrong and that under a new management the players flourish but all the indicators I see don't point that way"
100%.....the recent bit of "success" at minor is masking a load of problems...not least of which is our competition structure., This has only recently been overhauled , and the jury is out still on that. I believe that the fall back ln the schools is a big big problem, and its a problem of 20-25 years or more. The lack of presence at Sigerson , is without doubt the single biggest indicator that we are not "converting" or transitioning ....By a country mile is Keoghan, and Menton are best Inter county Players ...and yet year in year out we celebrate the arrival of the next "star"......the heads are blown on these kids before they have even wet their beaks at adult club level , never mind county

Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 403 - 13/06/2022 10:24:44    2424487

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Fair point. I was hearing we lost to a hurling county. Too many delusional people. And I freely admit I am one myself prior to a game. That been said afterwards it's time to state facts. WE JUST DONT HAVE THE PLAYERS TO COMPETE , at the moment.
History could judge Andy quite well , maybe he overachieved with what he had, the next saviour could see us tumble down the divisions and end up as the next Cavan. Yo-yo in between div 4 , 3 , and maybe the odd year in 2, and getting hidings from other counties outside of Dublin in Leinster"
RD a couple of weeks ago you were telling us that this team was good enough to compete with Dublin and we could do it. That we have great young players coming through and all Andy needed was a bit of time. Now you're saying WE JUST DONT HAVE THE PLAYERS TO COMPETE that's some come down in a couple of weeks.

Looked I'm not trying to have a go at you, you laughed at me when i said before the Dublin game we were bang average and teams in the tailteann cup would fancy a crack off us, I feared a pasting from Dublin which we well and truly received and it could've been so much worse if Dublin had engaged 3rd gear.

I saw a stat last week comparing the last 38 championship games off every team (as if they were playing in the premier league with 3 points for a win) and Meath were 16th of the 32 teams. Right bang in the middle. Clare were actually above us in 15th.

In recent months you've been defending Andy saying he's brought through lots of young talent, I disagreed with this saying it's his job to do that and to develop that talent to be better. I said the young players who have come in just haven't developed and that's a black mark on Andy's reign. Now i accept that we'll see how good or bad these young players are under the next manager. We'll see if Andy's system of running football and packed defence was holding them back or if Andy had it right.

I agree with a lot of good posters and you've said this yourself, time might be kind to Andy. That will ultimately depend on a lot of factors, who's appointed, how that person is backed to do the job they get, how this panel of players react to a new voice, how those same players develop with that new voice and the style of game we play.

I think a lot of posters have identified that the problems start at schools and underage level. We really need to start investing in the schools again, get the St Pats Navan, Kells and Trim back to what they used to be in regularly competing and winning at leinster schools levels and beyond, and we get continued improvements from Dunboyne, Ashbourne, Ratoath, Dunshaughlin and east Meath. We're getting better at county level and improving the structures but a strong schools game always provides a pipeline of talent.

I think another poster also said and i think this is very true is that the structure to bring lads from minor through to senior isn't working. The development of skills, strength, conditioning and fitness which are essential in those late teenage and early 20's years doesn't seem to be there and they're in effect being thrown to the wolves at senior level and losing faith. I don't know if its the new manager or another person's responsibility to fix this but its something that needs to be looked at or those 3 successful minor teams will be lost and we'll be slipping further and further away.

One thing that is essential is we bring in coaches who are up to it with modern training, strength and conditioning and fitness. I turned to my travelling colleague to Ennis last week and said we';d lose during the warm up, We were stood roughly half way and watching the warm ups, Clare were crisp, precise, working systems and patterns, every player was involved and rotating in and out of patterns so they were all in tune. Our lads were split with the starting team on one side subs on the other, things were in straight lines, no variation, no lads off the shoulder. There seemed to be no system in place other than run about and hope. At half time some of our subs were out kicking a ball about, no specific drills or exercises. In the modern game this is never going to work. Underage teams now a days would have specific drills subs would do during half time and our lads were kicking balls about as if it was the 70's and 80's. That is a very quick and easy fix for whomever comes in next along with hopefully working on kick outs on both sides of the ball, free taking and effective defensive on offensive systems.

If some of the above are not done then yes RD i think you're very right in saying we'll just become a team bobbing about in the lower divisions which none of us want to see.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 13/06/2022 10:41:55    2424498

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Replying To Thelongwoodslasher:  "100%.....the recent bit of "success" at minor is masking a load of problems...not least of which is our competition structure., This has only recently been overhauled , and the jury is out still on that. I believe that the fall back ln the schools is a big big problem, and its a problem of 20-25 years or more. The lack of presence at Sigerson , is without doubt the single biggest indicator that we are not "converting" or transitioning ....By a country mile is Keoghan, and Menton are best Inter county Players ...and yet year in year out we celebrate the arrival of the next "star"......the heads are blown on these kids before they have even wet their beaks at adult club level , never mind county"
Really well said ;)

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 13/06/2022 10:43:48    2424502

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Replying To Irish_downunder:  "I agree i dont think there is the talent in the county. As i said above in my previous post its eveident when you watch the club games. Bar maybe keogan, no other panelist stands out as a major threat in these games. You would find it hard to pick who are the county lads. Now that might be a result of being pummeled every night when in with the county and having no confidence and a new manager might bring that back but personally i dont think the talent is there."
I think you have answered ur question in that post.to make an inter county footballer takes time.ive seen enuf players last few years to say the raw ingredingredients are there.next management need time to put this in place.

Borderroyal (Meath) - Posts: 496 - 13/06/2022 11:14:59    2424521

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What is the reasonable timeline for the process to appoint a new manager? Recent top counties that have changed manager like Dublin, Kerry, Mayo and Tyrone haven't hung around appointed a new manager within a month of the vacancy occurring. I think the Meath county board should have the new manager in place before the end of July, given that the club championships start in August and other counties might likely be on the look out for managers as well, so best to get your work done early. Meath's biggest problem now is that they don't have an outstanding candidate within the county and I don't trust them to identify and land the best candidate from outside the county. This could get messy. As Cian Ward stated yesterday, the bones of next years squad is already there and to enthuse the likes of Menton and Keogan to keep going they really need to appoint a manager/management team that will excite the players, not a young up and coming coach from within that is looking to learn his trade. You don't become a Senior Intercounty manager if you are just trying to gain experience.

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 998 - 13/06/2022 11:58:04    2424563

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "What is the reasonable timeline for the process to appoint a new manager? Recent top counties that have changed manager like Dublin, Kerry, Mayo and Tyrone haven't hung around appointed a new manager within a month of the vacancy occurring. I think the Meath county board should have the new manager in place before the end of July, given that the club championships start in August and other counties might likely be on the look out for managers as well, so best to get your work done early. Meath's biggest problem now is that they don't have an outstanding candidate within the county and I don't trust them to identify and land the best candidate from outside the county. This could get messy. As Cian Ward stated yesterday, the bones of next years squad is already there and to enthuse the likes of Menton and Keogan to keep going they really need to appoint a manager/management team that will excite the players, not a young up and coming coach from within that is looking to learn his trade. You don't become a Senior Intercounty manager if you are just trying to gain experience."
Some great points in there Joe, so I'll give my opinion

1) Dublin etc haven't hung around as they either had a succession plan, Gilroy, Gavin, Farrell in place, same for Tyrone Harte to Logan/Dooher, or brought back a formerly successful manager in Mayo and Kerry's case. We don't have either so it will take longer. I agree i hope its done by July, but given our county board I don't have faith in it being done before October. they couldn't get a report into the senior team done for 4-5 months last year and nothing has changed.

2) I agree there's no standout internal candidate and there's a few counties likely looking for a new manager that might be more attractive prospects to exterior managers. That narrows the field significantly and i think we'll end with an internal candidate again. Unfortunately i also think said candidate will be learning on the job ala Mick O'Dowd. That search as i say will likely miss out on all of the club championship and even if you give the job to Robbie Brennan has he a term with Kilmacud to serve this summer and how much of the club championships would he be able to see.

3) I'd agree that 75% of next years squad is already there and that the likes of Keoghan, Menton and Conor McGill too, will decide their futures based off who gets the job. And I think many of the 2012 lads might be thinking similar, what have they to hang around for if there's going to be a few years of hardship. Why would they slog through more winters.

4) I personally don't give a damn about exciting the players with the new appointment. TBF to Andy he had proven his credentials before he got the role with an all ireland minor final and all ireland club championship. If that didn't appeal to the current panelists then what will another manager be able to bring to the table and get out of them.

5) The county board should've started identifying and sounding out potential candidates as soon as they tried taking the legs from under Andy last autumn. They knew what the outcome was likely to be and should've done all hteir homework. But I fully expect them to say Andy not wanting to renew was a shock to them and they'll go about the process....

6) I think ultimately this appointment will be an utter mess, we'll hear lots of talk of external candidates based of name recognition that will have no interest in the job. Then we'll hear mention of former players names and they'll distance themselves 1 by 1 and maybe come October/ November we'll have a press briefing that x or y has gotten the job and it'll be buried within the pages of the national papers along with the utter irrelevance that Meath football is becoming,

The county board has had time to prepare for all of this and ultimately they'll still make an absolute bags of it.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 13/06/2022 12:24:20    2424584

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