Meath Forum

Meath V Dublin

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "This is 100% a windup, but it should be obvious that nobody hates the Dubs more than those on the border who've had to listen to them gloat for the last 13 years"
They have it easy hidden up there beside cavan lol

Utdroyal (Meath) - Posts: 65 - 09/04/2024 13:42:47    2536898

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "I disagree on some of Flynn's punditry but thanks to his GPA experience he's been really insightful on how important it is to have the Board, management and players all on the same page. I know review can sometimes be a lot of hot air, or useless unless implemented, but I'd love to see one properly examining the factors behind our consistent underperformance. When you've had 8 management teams across 20 years fail to get to the top level then it's time to stop thinking a change of manager will change everything. The best thing to happen to gaelic football in this country would be if Meath, Cork and Kildare all got their houses in order."
Agreed...... a real Review and follow up has to happen .Attitude to change and modernisation in thinking and development needs is where we have to go...20 years of stagnation of attitude is a long time. We are great at finding excuses for standing still. Money or lack of it is another excuse. Money will help of course. Attitude change can be free by just reviewing what value we get for money we are spending .Spend money on NEEDS to bring improvement Leaving out Dublin for comparison .How come we are so far behind a dozen others for so long? Excuses are too often used to cover for inaction in dealing with the issue

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 09/04/2024 14:34:04    2536912

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in the last 4-5 years has any meath gaa top brass contacted the likes jim gavin and john costelloe and find out more about dublin blueprint ? im sure there are lots in dublin gaa that would be wiling to help put in place some of the things that were put in place in dublin around 2007 when the money started flowing ? isnt john costelloe matt costelloes uncle? i think we need advice from likes of dublin, tyrone,kerry and mayo, how are they developing players? have they a blueprint for set ups? can we get in some of the good coaches out there? would malachy orurke be a good choice as coach tactican? leave com as the head manager but not involved in coaching?

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 790 - 09/04/2024 22:13:27    2537013

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Replying To dickie10:  "in the last 4-5 years has any meath gaa top brass contacted the likes jim gavin and john costelloe and find out more about dublin blueprint ? im sure there are lots in dublin gaa that would be wiling to help put in place some of the things that were put in place in dublin around 2007 when the money started flowing ? isnt john costelloe matt costelloes uncle? i think we need advice from likes of dublin, tyrone,kerry and mayo, how are they developing players? have they a blueprint for set ups? can we get in some of the good coaches out there? would malachy orurke be a good choice as coach tactican? leave com as the head manager but not involved in coaching?"
I'd love to see all that. Think we're stuck in a catch 22 unless a touch of inspiration comes from somewhere. We need success to drive the funding needed for in-depth review, bringing in outside voices. But we can't achieve success without an in-depth review and outside voices. GAA HQ should be throwing money at this, like they did with Dublin.

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 101 - 10/04/2024 10:00:59    2537060

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "I'd love to see all that. Think we're stuck in a catch 22 unless a touch of inspiration comes from somewhere. We need success to drive the funding needed for in-depth review, bringing in outside voices. But we can't achieve success without an in-depth review and outside voices. GAA HQ should be throwing money at this, like they did with Dublin."
I am tired of the hearing about copycat models and asking big names from other counties for advice. I do however think we need to bulk up with quality people and methods within our own county board setup. Most of the works are done voluntarily by club delegates giving their own time for little or no reward. In reality these delegates are nominated and elected by their clubs dependent on availability and interest and this can be limited in both aspects and the right people may not put up their hands given the time and commitment involved for no reward. Now would you think a John Costello or Jim Gavin type candidate get involved in the equivalent Dublin setup if we're the same as existing Meath County board setup. I would strongly doubt it. Most of it does boil down to money, resources organisation and having the right people and methods. I wouldn't criticise the management teams for any of our county teams as generally these are the best people within the organisation. It's more that the whole county board structures methods and people supporting that which needs improvement.

winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 594 - 10/04/2024 11:19:23    2537082

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Replying To winatallcost:  "I am tired of the hearing about copycat models and asking big names from other counties for advice. I do however think we need to bulk up with quality people and methods within our own county board setup. Most of the works are done voluntarily by club delegates giving their own time for little or no reward. In reality these delegates are nominated and elected by their clubs dependent on availability and interest and this can be limited in both aspects and the right people may not put up their hands given the time and commitment involved for no reward. Now would you think a John Costello or Jim Gavin type candidate get involved in the equivalent Dublin setup if we're the same as existing Meath County board setup. I would strongly doubt it. Most of it does boil down to money, resources organisation and having the right people and methods. I wouldn't criticise the management teams for any of our county teams as generally these are the best people within the organisation. It's more that the whole county board structures methods and people supporting that which needs improvement."
I think the people executing plans would be from within the county, that's as it should be. And any model would need to be unique to Meath. A copycat model is, by definition, immediately outdated. I'm just saying at the outset we should be looking for advice and input from other counties. I'm sure a Costello (or equivalent from, say, a Derry) could point out some blind spots we might have ("I was surprised you're not doing X or Y" that kind of thing). That's the easy part I suppose. It's getting committed volunteers with fresh ideas that's tricky.

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 101 - 10/04/2024 11:47:17    2537089

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "I disagree on some of Flynn's punditry but thanks to his GPA experience he's been really insightful on how important it is to have the Board, management and players all on the same page. I know review can sometimes be a lot of hot air, or useless unless implemented, but I'd love to see one properly examining the factors behind our consistent underperformance. When you've had 8 management teams across 20 years fail to get to the top level then it's time to stop thinking a change of manager will change everything. The best thing to happen to gaelic football in this country would be if Meath, Cork and Kildare all got their houses in order."
A bit of a tangent, but it always baffles me when kildare are lumped in with down cork meath and the like in these discussions about sleeping giants and teams getting their own house in order. When have kidare had their house in order? Grant it with involvement in 3 of the last 6 u20 all ireland finals, they should be getting there now alright, but are still managing to mess it up, mirroring what has happened in a century of failure. Winning all irelands and provincial is hard, meath and cork have had periods where they were the best team in the country, winning both consistently, they deserve credit (and also, it has to be said, castigation for falling off so badly ) but why are a county like kildare thrown into that mix, cause they have a large population and are football mad ??? They have 1 all ireland in 100 years and 2 leinsters in 70.... pathetic and certainly not sleeping giants.

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 938 - 11/04/2024 07:03:37    2537274

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Replying To southmeathgael:  "A bit of a tangent, but it always baffles me when kildare are lumped in with down cork meath and the like in these discussions about sleeping giants and teams getting their own house in order. When have kidare had their house in order? Grant it with involvement in 3 of the last 6 u20 all ireland finals, they should be getting there now alright, but are still managing to mess it up, mirroring what has happened in a century of failure. Winning all irelands and provincial is hard, meath and cork have had periods where they were the best team in the country, winning both consistently, they deserve credit (and also, it has to be said, castigation for falling off so badly ) but why are a county like kildare thrown into that mix, cause they have a large population and are football mad ??? They have 1 all ireland in 100 years and 2 leinsters in 70.... pathetic and certainly not sleeping giants."
I would never refer to them as sleeping giants, but I'd put them on a par with Cork and Meath and Down as counties that should be top-tier if they got their house in order. Top-tier counties - or counties that _could_ be top tier - aren't set in stone. As recently as 2000 Kildare arguably had a greater claim to football heritage than, say, Tyrone (13 provincial titles V 8). If Meath and Kildare both came good at the same time I'd expect us to outperform them, because expectations among our supporters and players would be higher. But it's not outlandish to think with their population and interest in football that they could emulate a Tyone or a Donegal and become a mainstay of the top tier.

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 101 - 11/04/2024 12:17:02    2537314

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Replying To dickie10:  "in the last 4-5 years has any meath gaa top brass contacted the likes jim gavin and john costelloe and find out more about dublin blueprint ? im sure there are lots in dublin gaa that would be wiling to help put in place some of the things that were put in place in dublin around 2007 when the money started flowing ? isnt john costelloe matt costelloes uncle? i think we need advice from likes of dublin, tyrone,kerry and mayo, how are they developing players? have they a blueprint for set ups? can we get in some of the good coaches out there? would malachy orurke be a good choice as coach tactican? leave com as the head manager but not involved in coaching?"
are you assuming John Costello is Matt Costello's uncle or do you know for fact he is?

ParcT (Meath) - Posts: 21 - 11/04/2024 14:15:34    2537340

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Replying To dickie10:  "in the last 4-5 years has any meath gaa top brass contacted the likes jim gavin and john costelloe and find out more about dublin blueprint ? im sure there are lots in dublin gaa that would be wiling to help put in place some of the things that were put in place in dublin around 2007 when the money started flowing ? isnt john costelloe matt costelloes uncle? i think we need advice from likes of dublin, tyrone,kerry and mayo, how are they developing players? have they a blueprint for set ups? can we get in some of the good coaches out there? would malachy orurke be a good choice as coach tactican? leave com as the head manager but not involved in coaching?"
Not sure there is any great secret these counties are thought to possess. Meath have carried out reviews in the past and identifed areas that need attention. There is no magic formula for producing great players. Yes coaching is necessary to get the best out of majority of players, however, the likes of David Clifford, Michael Murphy, COC and Shane Mac are not the product of coaching at underage, they, from a young age were gifted players who would have thrived in any county setup. In Meath, we have not seen a top class forward since Stephen Bray and DK is the only back that hold's his own in any company. If we are to improve then it must start at club level and players coming through should be equiped with the basic skill's before pulling on the county jersey at any level. Finance dictates how many club's can be helped so resources are thinly spread. I have not heard COR bemoan our current structures and doubt he would have taken job if he saw many black holes that would hold black progression. Derry are a good example, a team built on slow but steady progress who blocked out the outside noise and got on with job in hand. Yes an annual review has its place but forget about the coach with the magic wand, I think we are heading in right direction to be competitive at the very least.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 11/04/2024 15:32:35    2537359

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I here shane walsh is out with a broken foot sad for the lad if true has worked very hard to get back from injury

royal1967 (Meath) - Posts: 293 - 11/04/2024 19:16:17    2537400

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Replying To seadog54:  "Not sure there is any great secret these counties are thought to possess. Meath have carried out reviews in the past and identifed areas that need attention. There is no magic formula for producing great players. Yes coaching is necessary to get the best out of majority of players, however, the likes of David Clifford, Michael Murphy, COC and Shane Mac are not the product of coaching at underage, they, from a young age were gifted players who would have thrived in any county setup. In Meath, we have not seen a top class forward since Stephen Bray and DK is the only back that hold's his own in any company. If we are to improve then it must start at club level and players coming through should be equiped with the basic skill's before pulling on the county jersey at any level. Finance dictates how many club's can be helped so resources are thinly spread. I have not heard COR bemoan our current structures and doubt he would have taken job if he saw many black holes that would hold black progression. Derry are a good example, a team built on slow but steady progress who blocked out the outside noise and got on with job in hand. Yes an annual review has its place but forget about the coach with the magic wand, I think we are heading in right direction to be competitive at the very least."
But Derry's success is built on 10 years of doing things right at underage, as evidenced by their recent underage record. I'm not certain we're doing that, or are we? Genuine question! I agree you can't legislate for a generational player coming through, but even without one I'd like to think we've the raw resources to be a regular top 8 team if doing things right. But I also just can't imagine that 20+ years away from the top tier hasn't resulted in us missing out on some institutional knowledge. No harm in seeing what outsiders can tell us across the board. Worst case, we learn we're doing everything right!

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 101 - 11/04/2024 20:50:47    2537421

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "But Derry's success is built on 10 years of doing things right at underage, as evidenced by their recent underage record. I'm not certain we're doing that, or are we? Genuine question! I agree you can't legislate for a generational player coming through, but even without one I'd like to think we've the raw resources to be a regular top 8 team if doing things right. But I also just can't imagine that 20+ years away from the top tier hasn't resulted in us missing out on some institutional knowledge. No harm in seeing what outsiders can tell us across the board. Worst case, we learn we're doing everything right!"
No doubt Derry have some star quality that helped them rebuild from division four upwards to where they are now all driven by the single mindness of Rory G, who took little notice of what his detractors said and backed fully by the panel he selected. He was given time and Derry now reap the rewards. I think COR is attempting something similar, however we have no signs of a Shane Mc or a Connor Glass breaking through. I would find it hard to belive Meath have not looked at how others do business. Bringing in a top class outside coach at senior level is a bit of a pipe dream, these lads (if they exist) want top class players to work with and are just there to add finishing touches, like Hart going to Derry. Kildare brought in O Connor and they had more bad results than good. Most outsiders are there for one reason and will move on when things don't work out. We have a decent group of players who seem to realise management have their best intrests at heart and are willing to work hard to repay the faith shown in them.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 11/04/2024 23:37:45    2537442

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "But Derry's success is built on 10 years of doing things right at underage, as evidenced by their recent underage record. I'm not certain we're doing that, or are we? Genuine question! I agree you can't legislate for a generational player coming through, but even without one I'd like to think we've the raw resources to be a regular top 8 team if doing things right. But I also just can't imagine that 20+ years away from the top tier hasn't resulted in us missing out on some institutional knowledge. No harm in seeing what outsiders can tell us across the board. Worst case, we learn we're doing everything right!"
Id agree that success takes time to build and when you get there the structures that got you there will continue to produce a few top class lads every year. I'm not sure we have those structures in place. Look whether we like it or not Dublin are the bench mark. We have been able to beat them regularly at under age including minor but yet we have failed to win an U20 title. We find it difficult to bring players through in those few years. Is it because there is no structure or is it because our club football isn't competitive enough.

threwwordspoken (Meath) - Posts: 5 - 12/04/2024 08:20:34    2537450

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Replying To royal1967:  "I here shane walsh is out with a broken foot sad for the lad if true has worked very hard to get back from injury"
That is an absolute disaster if true and you'd really feel for him

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 12/04/2024 08:25:59    2537452

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Replying To threwwordspoken:  "Id agree that success takes time to build and when you get there the structures that got you there will continue to produce a few top class lads every year. I'm not sure we have those structures in place. Look whether we like it or not Dublin are the bench mark. We have been able to beat them regularly at under age including minor but yet we have failed to win an U20 title. We find it difficult to bring players through in those few years. Is it because there is no structure or is it because our club football isn't competitive enough."
If there was a review (again, i'm not saying it's the solution to everything) I'd like a focus on the post-school development. I do wonder if the long commute is a negative for college-age lads. Majority go to third level now. Down the country lads more likely to move to college and that can be great for development. Living with other players, life revolving around training. The Dubs can live at home but not have as long a journey for club training. Maybe it's not a factor at all, but it could explain some aspect of underperformance in commuter belt counties. It's a big commitment if you're traveling 2+ hrs every day just to get in and out. But tbh I don't know enough about other counties' trends to commit to this theory at all!

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 101 - 12/04/2024 10:22:42    2537478

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "That is an absolute disaster if true and you'd really feel for him"
Team announced and Shane Walsh is in it, same team/squad as last week

threwwordspoken (Meath) - Posts: 5 - 12/04/2024 11:25:22    2537496

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Replying To 199710:  "So who are the smaller stature players. Have we another panel somewhere else? Who comes in then."
Ryan, Campion, McBride are all options. Shuffle lads around, we need power against the dubs. We need to fight and we need bigger men for that. whatever about the scoreline, we the team shouldn't be put in a position to be bullied.
I am not going to the name the smaller stature, but he was badly caught out the last tuime we played Dublin, man handled for the entire game.
We will see on Sunday afternoon how it develops, but COR could be "fool me once, shame on me......"

Tweety (Meath) - Posts: 31 - 12/04/2024 11:44:46    2537501

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "If there was a review (again, i'm not saying it's the solution to everything) I'd like a focus on the post-school development. I do wonder if the long commute is a negative for college-age lads. Majority go to third level now. Down the country lads more likely to move to college and that can be great for development. Living with other players, life revolving around training. The Dubs can live at home but not have as long a journey for club training. Maybe it's not a factor at all, but it could explain some aspect of underperformance in commuter belt counties. It's a big commitment if you're traveling 2+ hrs every day just to get in and out. But tbh I don't know enough about other counties' trends to commit to this theory at all!"
I think you have hit the nail on the head there regarding the commute in the evening from college in Dublin, even Maynooth for lads who are not on a direct bus route. Non commuters tend to live together or close to other groups and even when not on the training pitch develop their thoughts on match situations and drills etc while our lads are listening to Spotify on the bus. The same is probably true in Cork for many of their rural based players and they are underperforming of late also.
It may not be the reason but definitely there had to be something that causes a drop off in performance between the ages of 17 and 20, I am not particularly referring to this year but it has been a trend at least since 2002 when the Minors reached the All Ireland final and the corresponding u21 team were annihilated by Kildare in 2005. Several promising minor teams have given dismal performances at u21/20 level since then also.
This trend I suggest should be the first item on the agenda of any football or indeed hurling development committee set up to address the future of our games in this county.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 12/04/2024 12:14:04    2537508

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Replying To threwwordspoken:  "Team announced and Shane Walsh is in it, same team/squad as last week"
I'd imagine the same team was just sent in. Walsh def out and I'd imagine campion and possibly ronan Ryan will start. Dunno who comes in for walsh

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 938 - 12/04/2024 13:00:23    2537517

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