Meath Forum

Meath 2023

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Replying To brian:  "Tells someone they've no idea, when you've no idea yourself. Unless you're a member of the panel (which I doubt) or the back room team (which I doubt) then you've no more idea than the poster you're bad mouthing. You're replying on second and third hand information yourself to represent as facts. Don't be that guy, there's one of them already we don't need more.

Definition of a fact - a thing that's known or proven to be true.

No one outside of the Meath panel knows for a "fact" what the truth is.

Honestly some people just can't be happy or accepting of anything positive. A manager makes mistakes, takes steps to correct them and he's still getting a going over. As michael Caine said some people just want to see the world burn"
I'm stating the information as fact because I've spoken to the players on the panel that I know who told me as such. Obviously I won't name any players on a forum like this. Spouting that a player returned back completely unfit and out of shape when it most definitely wasn't the case just isn't on. If someone doesn't rate a particular player or thinks this lad is better than that lad then thats fine. I'll have the debate if the opinion differs from mine and we can move on as everyone can see something different and thats fine. Talking about a player not bothering to put the effort in (after him doing it for almost 8 years) and saying they didn't care just isn't on. I don't mention anything about the camp mood or anything like that as I don't know each and every player so can only assume based on talking to a small handful which won't ever paint a full picture. On James McEntee coming back into the panel, and Conor McGill also being asked back in I can state as fact because I know both lads as well as a few lads on the panel who have all said the same thing. So my point that James was always fit and good enough stands and I'm actually giving O Rourke credit for bringing him back in. I did say he was wrong for how he handled it in the beginning but my posts since the TC have all been positive and acknowledged that he has improved as the year went on.

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 582 - 20/07/2023 12:42:54    2495792

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Replying To juicy:  "Again someone with a general comment about lack of players from a club/area of the county. Let put names behind it. Who are the players from Ratoath who should be starting/brought in?

for me Ratoath are just a solid, very few top class player but an entire team of good committed players. And I dont want to sound disrespectful to them. But, and i hate to use a dublin comparison, but when st vincents where the top team in dublin, they only had 2/3 players on the dublin panel."
Liam Kelly, Conor McGill and Eamon Wallace in his new position should all probably be considered. Gavin McGowan probably their best player for the last few years but didn't seem to fit Andy McEntees teams. Think he is away so may not be an option anyway. Not saying they should all be in top 24 but I think if you are looking at a panel of 30-40 they are within that bracket. I have no affiliation just my opinion on what I see at club level.
I do take your point on Vincent's but Dublin are operating from a significantly greater playing pool from a numbers basis.

off_the_wall (Roscommon) - Posts: 72 - 20/07/2023 12:59:04    2495794

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Replying To off_the_wall:  "Liam Kelly, Conor McGill and Eamon Wallace in his new position should all probably be considered. Gavin McGowan probably their best player for the last few years but didn't seem to fit Andy McEntees teams. Think he is away so may not be an option anyway. Not saying they should all be in top 24 but I think if you are looking at a panel of 30-40 they are within that bracket. I have no affiliation just my opinion on what I see at club level.
I do take your point on Vincent's but Dublin are operating from a significantly greater playing pool from a numbers basis."
I was at champ final and only two players that should be called into meath from ratoath is mcgill and Wallace. None of the others are up to it

rubia (Meath) - Posts: 26 - 20/07/2023 13:16:00    2495801

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Just reading that over the course of the six outings in the TC, O'Rourke used 25 players representing 15 clubs.

That is an impressive spread in fairness.

What clubs were unlucky to miss out, if any.?

Fionn (Dublin) - Posts: 4051 - 20/07/2023 16:45:26    2495852

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Replying To Awaywin:  "Your right juicy
Ratoath are a bang average team full of dubs
Too many on Panal at the moment
Don't need them"
Dubs and a few Nordies to boot! A lethal combination

GenderNeutral (Meath) - Posts: 115 - 20/07/2023 17:48:16    2495870

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Replying To ratlag:  "Nice to see a bit of balanced sense being spoken instead f just out and out 'Anti Colm/Royal Dunne' or the continued Anti McEntee.

Overall we are a bit behind last year, but the benefits of actually winning something can be seen by everyone and hopefully used as a platform to build on for next year, where the target has to be a top 3 finish in the league and a meaningful run in Leinster. While it was brilliant to see us finally lift a trophy in HQ and the jo on the lads faces, we have to remember that we beat Div4 and Div 3 teams which we would expect to be doing.

O Rourke still has a lot to prove next year, he swallowed his pride t be fair and asked James McEntee and McGill back after realizing he had acted to hasty in dropping them. McGill had opted to go travelling for a small bit which is fair enough but McEntee cam in, stayed injury free and had a positive impact. He also showed a changed in tactics to a degree as well after the league and focused a bit more on defensive play which only really shone in the final but it shows progression.

Overall I can't really get behind saying it was a great year for Meath football but it definitely has the potential to be a catalyst for moving forward."
I'm still getting mentioned. :).
On the year. It can't be seen as a positive in terms of where we rank. When Colm took over we were between 12 & 15 in country. We are now 17th. That is a fact. We had the fiasco of the dropping of McGill and mcentee neither should have been dropped and the lies told about both men was and remains disgusting. (I see some are still dribbling out the bs) and fair play to James Mac in accepting Colm saying he was wrong and coming back to really help us out. Class act from a top player.
The going man to man v Derry & dubs was NAIVE what made it worse was Colm's blatant untruths about not doing exactly that. I do get a feeling that Colm's overreaction on sat was because he probably knew himself he would have to step aside if we didn't win. He has now got a get out of jail free card , he has to bring in a top coach who can train us to be a modern hard to beat side. There is some great talent there. And finally fair play to Colm to realize he was way out of his depth in training and putting a defensive approach first and build from the back with the running game. He absolutely deserves credit for that. And asking players to come back. By admitting he was wrong he goes up in my estimation. Next year ? For me it's all about the league. We need to aim for promotion end of story. I would celebrate a div 2 trophy a lot more than tc. (As it is more meaningful) imo. Leinster could be a minefield as we lost our seeding by the loss to Offaly so we could draw dubs in quarters. It won't make much difference as we guaranteed 4th seeds in all ire draw. But league could push us to 3rd seeds if we reach final we'd be 2nd etc. I said it before and I will say it again we will only improve playing teams at our level (div2) and above week in week out. We have played and beat div 3 and 4 teams some with considerable ease others not so easy (Antrim, Down, first half v Waterford and tipp). That been said we got the ticket to all
Ire. However if we have another league like this year the shine will soon come off that.
Looking forward to next year already and happy to
Go see a few club games to see if any players can add to the team (apart from McGill who hopefully after Colm going and asking him to come back will next year.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 20/07/2023 20:53:58    2495903

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1.Brennan
2.Lavin
3.McGill
4.ONeill
5.Keoghan
6.Jones
7.Coffee
8.Flynn
9.Gray
10.Hickey
11.McEnteep
12.OConner
13.OSullivan
14.Costello
15.Morris

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1176 - 20/07/2023 22:24:52    2495907

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Replying To Fionn:  "Just reading that over the course of the six outings in the TC, O'Rourke used 25 players representing 15 clubs.

That is an impressive spread in fairness.

What clubs were unlucky to miss out, if any.?"
Quite a few seeing as there's about 45-50 clubs in Meath

Selwyn (Meath) - Posts: 387 - 20/07/2023 23:00:36    2495909

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Replying To rubia:  "I was at champ final and only two players that should be called into meath from ratoath is mcgill and Wallace. None of the others are up to it"
Which Wallace?

Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 515 - 21/07/2023 09:31:45    2495922

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Replying To rubia:  "In reality Andy mcentee had meath competing at a higher level but nobody wol admit that. The celebrations for this competition is embarrassing."
Dont know if you play/played football but you say its embarrassing to celebrate this is totally wrong in my opinion.Ive been lucky enough to win championships at a high level and at a lower level and I've celebrated them all with gusto and rightly so.For me why not celebrate it and join in with the team.We haven't won anything in 13 years and this can only be good for Meath football, getting kids and parents interested again and a bit of feel good factor around the county.I get it it's no leinster/all ireland(lucky enough I have witnessed them)but it's a start,a foundation to build on.Of course there are much bigger obstacles to climb and we have to now think bigger and climb back up towards the top.Why dimish the team for winning?I just dont get it.We win a trophy and some Meath people slate the team.i honestly cant get my head around that.Im not saying it's been a good year, the league/championship were disappointing to say the least and we have so much to improve on and next year will be a massive test no doubt but give the team some credit and give them your support instead of saying its embarrassing to celebrate it.Again this is just my opinion but it can only be a good thing for this young team to win a trophy in croke park whatever the grade.

Proudroyal (Meath) - Posts: 296 - 21/07/2023 10:36:34    2495936

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Replying To royaldunne:  "I'm still getting mentioned. :).
On the year. It can't be seen as a positive in terms of where we rank. When Colm took over we were between 12 & 15 in country. We are now 17th. That is a fact. We had the fiasco of the dropping of McGill and mcentee neither should have been dropped and the lies told about both men was and remains disgusting. (I see some are still dribbling out the bs) and fair play to James Mac in accepting Colm saying he was wrong and coming back to really help us out. Class act from a top player.
The going man to man v Derry & dubs was NAIVE what made it worse was Colm's blatant untruths about not doing exactly that. I do get a feeling that Colm's overreaction on sat was because he probably knew himself he would have to step aside if we didn't win. He has now got a get out of jail free card , he has to bring in a top coach who can train us to be a modern hard to beat side. There is some great talent there. And finally fair play to Colm to realize he was way out of his depth in training and putting a defensive approach first and build from the back with the running game. He absolutely deserves credit for that. And asking players to come back. By admitting he was wrong he goes up in my estimation. Next year ? For me it's all about the league. We need to aim for promotion end of story. I would celebrate a div 2 trophy a lot more than tc. (As it is more meaningful) imo. Leinster could be a minefield as we lost our seeding by the loss to Offaly so we could draw dubs in quarters. It won't make much difference as we guaranteed 4th seeds in all ire draw. But league could push us to 3rd seeds if we reach final we'd be 2nd etc. I said it before and I will say it again we will only improve playing teams at our level (div2) and above week in week out. We have played and beat div 3 and 4 teams some with considerable ease others not so easy (Antrim, Down, first half v Waterford and tipp). That been said we got the ticket to all
Ire. However if we have another league like this year the shine will soon come off that.
Looking forward to next year already and happy to
Go see a few club games to see if any players can add to the team (apart from McGill who hopefully after Colm going and asking him to come back will next year."
How do you measure between 12th and 15th? We were very poor last year and if this is based off league position, we are higher than 17th now. Its all about form and momentum and I would say we are at least as good as Louth and Westmeath. We need to see continous improvement next year and compete for promotion but I don't think anyone cares about who is 12th or 15th or 17th best or whatever. We were in Tailteann cup, we won it which is good but now we want more and expect more. Aim should also be to try and qualify for knockout stages of championship next year which would be a real achievement. We got to super 8s a few years ago but didn't improve and struggled at that level. Let's see next year! I expect and was more impressed with 2nd half last week than anything that had gone before in last 5 years with a totally new team. You can slate them or say this or that but they won what was in front of them and expect a much improved and more confident team next year.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 21/07/2023 11:30:14    2495958

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Replying To Proudroyal:  "Dont know if you play/played football but you say its embarrassing to celebrate this is totally wrong in my opinion.Ive been lucky enough to win championships at a high level and at a lower level and I've celebrated them all with gusto and rightly so.For me why not celebrate it and join in with the team.We haven't won anything in 13 years and this can only be good for Meath football, getting kids and parents interested again and a bit of feel good factor around the county.I get it it's no leinster/all ireland(lucky enough I have witnessed them)but it's a start,a foundation to build on.Of course there are much bigger obstacles to climb and we have to now think bigger and climb back up towards the top.Why dimish the team for winning?I just dont get it.We win a trophy and some Meath people slate the team.i honestly cant get my head around that.Im not saying it's been a good year, the league/championship were disappointing to say the least and we have so much to improve on and next year will be a massive test no doubt but give the team some credit and give them your support instead of saying its embarrassing to celebrate it.Again this is just my opinion but it can only be a good thing for this young team to win a trophy in croke park whatever the grade."
Fully agree, nobody wanted to be in the TC at the start of the year (management and players included) but once in it, why would you not want to try and win it and then celebrate the hell out f it afterwards. We were at the level we deserved to be after the beginning of the year and we went out and made sure we finished on a high. All the lads deserve the week of celebrating the efforts all year to come away with a trophy and as I and many others have said previously, hopefully they can build on it. Anyone slating people for celebrating a championship win honestly doesn't understand football at all.

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 582 - 21/07/2023 11:52:57    2495964

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Replying To royaldunne:  "I'm still getting mentioned. :).
On the year. It can't be seen as a positive in terms of where we rank. When Colm took over we were between 12 & 15 in country. We are now 17th. That is a fact. We had the fiasco of the dropping of McGill and mcentee neither should have been dropped and the lies told about both men was and remains disgusting. (I see some are still dribbling out the bs) and fair play to James Mac in accepting Colm saying he was wrong and coming back to really help us out. Class act from a top player.
The going man to man v Derry & dubs was NAIVE what made it worse was Colm's blatant untruths about not doing exactly that. I do get a feeling that Colm's overreaction on sat was because he probably knew himself he would have to step aside if we didn't win. He has now got a get out of jail free card , he has to bring in a top coach who can train us to be a modern hard to beat side. There is some great talent there. And finally fair play to Colm to realize he was way out of his depth in training and putting a defensive approach first and build from the back with the running game. He absolutely deserves credit for that. And asking players to come back. By admitting he was wrong he goes up in my estimation. Next year ? For me it's all about the league. We need to aim for promotion end of story. I would celebrate a div 2 trophy a lot more than tc. (As it is more meaningful) imo. Leinster could be a minefield as we lost our seeding by the loss to Offaly so we could draw dubs in quarters. It won't make much difference as we guaranteed 4th seeds in all ire draw. But league could push us to 3rd seeds if we reach final we'd be 2nd etc. I said it before and I will say it again we will only improve playing teams at our level (div2) and above week in week out. We have played and beat div 3 and 4 teams some with considerable ease others not so easy (Antrim, Down, first half v Waterford and tipp). That been said we got the ticket to all
Ire. However if we have another league like this year the shine will soon come off that.
Looking forward to next year already and happy to
Go see a few club games to see if any players can add to the team (apart from McGill who hopefully after Colm going and asking him to come back will next year."
I was more talking about the people who just just on slating you or Colm or Andy for that matter just because they don't like the person, rather than basing opinions and comments on either facts or the football being played

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 582 - 21/07/2023 11:55:15    2495966

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Replying To ratlag:  "I was more talking about the people who just just on slating you or Colm or Andy for that matter just because they don't like the person, rather than basing opinions and comments on either facts or the football being played"
Ahh I know that. I'm only having the gas.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/07/2023 13:27:35    2495986

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Replying To winatallcost:  "How do you measure between 12th and 15th? We were very poor last year and if this is based off league position, we are higher than 17th now. Its all about form and momentum and I would say we are at least as good as Louth and Westmeath. We need to see continous improvement next year and compete for promotion but I don't think anyone cares about who is 12th or 15th or 17th best or whatever. We were in Tailteann cup, we won it which is good but now we want more and expect more. Aim should also be to try and qualify for knockout stages of championship next year which would be a real achievement. We got to super 8s a few years ago but didn't improve and struggled at that level. Let's see next year! I expect and was more impressed with 2nd half last week than anything that had gone before in last 5 years with a totally new team. You can slate them or say this or that but they won what was in front of them and expect a much improved and more confident team next year."
You putting words in my mouth. Where did I slate them. ?? Please point one instance of where I slated any player ??
On the management yes they made a balls up of the year. And we ended up in TC because of them. They tried 80s 90s football which even Limerick could counter. Now credit where credit is due. They realised they had made a mess of the league and championship, and the sit down and meeting with the players (which I was called a liar when I stated on here had happened) brought about a total new emphasis on style of play the realism that Colm came to about McGill and Mcentee was also a good sign and showed me something I didn't think he could do and admit he was wrong. That bodes well for next year. As for comparison to Westmeath or louth ? I can't recall over last 5 years where we would say we can compete with them rather than saying if we don't beat either it would be extremely disappointing.
I do believe we have to aim for promotion in what appears to be a hell lot softer div 2 than last year. (2 in it ended up in all ire semis). Donegal are a shambles and Armagh won't attack. We beat cork this year we have louth cavan who couldn't reach tc final ditto Fermanagh. Kildare who were terrible all league this year. Etc. So yes promotion is definitely what's needed. But please don't attribute anything to me that I did not post. Thank you

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/07/2023 14:11:06    2495995

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The way the season ended I would see i it as a positive season based on the fact that this is pretty much a new team that's won it so it feels like we've something to build on.
The league season started very well and then tailed off badly. Offaly loss was very bad.
But winning the second tier competition with a new team really feels like a new beginning. Being in TC allowed COR to speed up the overhaul of the team.
People are right to say the standard of the teams in TC was bad and it will be a big step up in next years division 2 (we were as much ahead of many of the teams we played as we would be behind the likes of Dublin/Kerry) but on balance I think for the future of this group of players being in TC was probably better for us this year.
I could be wrong but I get the feeling, based on watching Meath in the 2 games against Down that COR, in his first season as an inter county manager will have learned a lot by what went wrong defensively in the league/ Offaly game. I hope the positive way he has his teams kicking the ball in a bit plays out well In next years league.
(BTW I don't see it as a fact, as some have said, that we are rated 17'th for the season seeing as we finished 6'th in division 2).

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1402 - 21/07/2023 14:48:28    2496002

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Replying To bdbuddah:  "The way the season ended I would see i it as a positive season based on the fact that this is pretty much a new team that's won it so it feels like we've something to build on.
The league season started very well and then tailed off badly. Offaly loss was very bad.
But winning the second tier competition with a new team really feels like a new beginning. Being in TC allowed COR to speed up the overhaul of the team.
People are right to say the standard of the teams in TC was bad and it will be a big step up in next years division 2 (we were as much ahead of many of the teams we played as we would be behind the likes of Dublin/Kerry) but on balance I think for the future of this group of players being in TC was probably better for us this year.
I could be wrong but I get the feeling, based on watching Meath in the 2 games against Down that COR, in his first season as an inter county manager will have learned a lot by what went wrong defensively in the league/ Offaly game. I hope the positive way he has his teams kicking the ball in a bit plays out well In next years league.
(BTW I don't see it as a fact, as some have said, that we are rated 17'th for the season seeing as we finished 6'th in division 2)."
Pretty much a new team? 14 of the 20 players used have been on the panel for at least 2 years or more and have played plenty of games.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 1012 - 21/07/2023 16:02:19    2496018

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Replying To bdbuddah:  "The way the season ended I would see i it as a positive season based on the fact that this is pretty much a new team that's won it so it feels like we've something to build on.
The league season started very well and then tailed off badly. Offaly loss was very bad.
But winning the second tier competition with a new team really feels like a new beginning. Being in TC allowed COR to speed up the overhaul of the team.
People are right to say the standard of the teams in TC was bad and it will be a big step up in next years division 2 (we were as much ahead of many of the teams we played as we would be behind the likes of Dublin/Kerry) but on balance I think for the future of this group of players being in TC was probably better for us this year.
I could be wrong but I get the feeling, based on watching Meath in the 2 games against Down that COR, in his first season as an inter county manager will have learned a lot by what went wrong defensively in the league/ Offaly game. I hope the positive way he has his teams kicking the ball in a bit plays out well In next years league.
(BTW I don't see it as a fact, as some have said, that we are rated 17'th for the season seeing as we finished 6'th in division 2)."
Top 16 played in all ire. Next 16 played in TC. We won that so we are ranked 17th by virtue of the new system. That is a fact that can't be denied. It just happens to be how it panned out.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/07/2023 16:29:21    2496020

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "Pretty much a new team? 14 of the 20 players used have been on the panel for at least 2 years or more and have played plenty of games."
Yeah it ain't a new team. This talk of Colm bringing them in is not accurate, coffee , Flynn O'Connor hickey Costello etc we're all there.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 22/07/2023 12:33:48    2496117

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That "DISASTER " that was winning the Tailteann Cup ? Trying to make sense of that one statement. I still think the massive majority of supporters see this win as a step forward on the road to bigger things at some point . Was the win an achievementfor for this group.....YES of course it was !All concerned had to learn along the way in order to improve. So whats the overall vibe now....good enjoyable learning atmospere as described by playing panel.Good platform to build on ....but o Rourke had nothing to do with that ....well maybe ! and maybe not!
Disaster ? = not what i hoped would happen.i have commited myself in writing to saying this man is not up to it !
Well what can i do now to downgrade the win and save face . Well go silent for a few days..and then ? Invent some speculation about who said what and when and state these as facts..O Rourke is not up to it anyway cos i said so OBut would i get away with doing that? would i what? on reflection ..i do it all the time ,and very little challenge .Well yer man that talks in riddles ,i had hoped he would go away together with the other 1 or 2. ..Anyway it seems i cant get any traction on this anti COR ,and maybe i might have to take more time out to find more speculation .With a bit of luck i could be saved by the bell cause i think this forum might just go on holidays soon . Maybe i could really have an honest look and see can i still call myself a supporter of the team ,or am i seen as a supporting act just providing amusement but not really about football Ah....have you been constructive ? not yet !

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 22/07/2023 19:16:48    2496173

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