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Replying To gwanyagudthing: "It might sound like aftertiming but I genuinely felt it at the time that they were regressive negative substitutions. Smyth was having a decent game and was taken off 8 minutes into the second half and replaced by a guy who hadn't played since the Westmeath game. Jones on a few minutes later - a guy who hasn't played a minute all year. And as part of a complete of midfield?? They were panicky substitutions and they were poor decisions - guarantee Robbie regrets it now. Can't understand what happened with O'Neill this year - never let us down when we played but he seemed to be frozen out completely. Same with Aaron Lynch. It just seems off to me and will go down as a management misstep in my book.
A poor championship and a great league - the future is still bright but only if we take the lessons from it. We have to be more ruthless and press home our advantage when on top. And we have to have a plan B to disrupt opposition momentum." Once again i have to question your thinking.considering that you have mentioned that you havent even attended some of the matches how can you question whether a player should be put on or not.you have no idea how well a player is training or not .thats what training is for and players are selected on what management see.to be quite honest maybe you should be asking questions of some of our high profile players performances over the last few games and see have their performances been good enough.
Meathnut (Meath) - Posts: 11 - 22/06/2026 10:00:55
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Replying To Meathnut: "Once again i have to question your thinking.considering that you have mentioned that you havent even attended some of the matches how can you question whether a player should be put on or not.you have no idea how well a player is training or not .thats what training is for and players are selected on what management see.to be quite honest maybe you should be asking questions of some of our high profile players performances over the last few games and see have their performances been good enough." You seem to be taking it quite personally - do you have a connection with some of the players mentioned? As supporters we are perfectly entitled to question the team selection and substitutions. The changes that were made just didn't seem like the right changes or the right timing and I certainly don't think I'm alone in thinking that. I'd be fairly annoyed if I was O'Neill - named to start several times and didn't feature at all.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 203 - 22/06/2026 12:19:19
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Could and Should be a very constructive review at end of season...............We hnow the problems because there is consistently in seeing our short comings this year. Inconsistency in delivery cant be argued. Yes we simply dont have enough players at the required standard when the chips are down. Donal and Bryan possibly may say thats it .Full thanks to both men for outstanding service if that happens
As someone who believes its all about continuous improvement to reach full potential , to me the key word is attitude .
For some players the desire to improve and be the best you can seems to be in their DNA .THEIR willingness to self assess is invaluable. WE do not have enough of those....I do think the notion of Captain and vice captain for example to develop fully in leadership skills on the field. Too often being captain is seen as an honour alone which it is . But i would invest much more in leadership skills to give the role more responsibility to rouse the troops when the going gets tough. Without doubt we lack mental toughness as a team.....It appears physically we are there or therabouts mostly but far too fragile mentally. I know some current players may have not have the capacity to toughen up.....the silk purse.....but we can only hope new players with the dna emerge . So for this poster this year has been worthwhile because we have establish ed that Mental preparation has to be top of the agenda Leadership at review time should give this full airtime as a priority .Maybe we have a Roy Keane type waiting to be set lose. Maybe not him but i welcome his attitude in competing i would buy that. I would also try to instill in players that this attitude stocktaking is a transferable skill beneficial in all areas of life. If there should be any doubt about that point several players have articulated this value having worked under Sean Boylan. Div 1 will be tough going for us but with training sessions that get the head ready then we have every chance The structure of end of season propatation review starting now would be a good indicator of how empowered we feel about improvement being in our own hands Some wil say ah attitude you cant do much about that..With the right coaching i say it can make all the difference
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1316 - 22/06/2026 13:29:20
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Replying To gwanyagudthing: "You seem to be taking it quite personally - do you have a connection with some of the players mentioned? As supporters we are perfectly entitled to question the team selection and substitutions. The changes that were made just didn't seem like the right changes or the right timing and I certainly don't think I'm alone in thinking that. I'd be fairly annoyed if I was O'Neill - named to start several times and didn't feature at all." No in fairness i dont know either but have seen a fair bit of them at sigerson and club level and would rate both highly.yes of course you are entitled to your opinion and views of which i was only questioning the rationale in your thinking.by the way your views are excellent .anyway i leave it at that.up meath and looking forward to 2027
Meathnut (Meath) - Posts: 11 - 22/06/2026 13:40:46
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Replying To gwanyagudthing: "You seem to be taking it quite personally - do you have a connection with some of the players mentioned? As supporters we are perfectly entitled to question the team selection and substitutions. The changes that were made just didn't seem like the right changes or the right timing and I certainly don't think I'm alone in thinking that. I'd be fairly annoyed if I was O'Neill - named to start several times and didn't feature at all." I agree with you here. Changes were wrong and the timing was even worse.
We can all accept its a team effort and squad effort and certain lads are required for certain moments.
Jones first appearance all season is into the heat of battle when getting cleaned out in midfield. Wrong option to expect results from that. The red was harsh, but did Jones expect to be rewarded for petulence? It was a huge turning point.
Withdrawing McBride and Flynn at same time was a terrible decision. Again, we were starting to get overrun in the middle but both players, same time? Not only did it remove any continuity it must have gave Mayo a huge psychological lift.
I thought McEntee did OK to be fair to him - but was he really going to get us out of a hole when he hadn't featured all campaign? To be honest it felt to me like management were giving a lad a run out in what was the last game of the season and who wouldn't be around anymore.
O Neill, Curtis and Lynch have to be bulling. All of them game changers in their own right. I dont have a foot in the camp to know who's going well or not in training. But I do know a lad who can catch a ball and make noth attacking and defence runs; and, two lads who can kick a score under pressure - thats what was needed when Meath were taking water.
The line has to take responsibility and must change it next year.
Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 853 - 22/06/2026 14:33:05
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Replying To Meathnut: "Once again i have to question your thinking.considering that you have mentioned that you havent even attended some of the matches how can you question whether a player should be put on or not.you have no idea how well a player is training or not .thats what training is for and players are selected on what management see.to be quite honest maybe you should be asking questions of some of our high profile players performances over the last few games and see have their performances been good enough." There's nothing wrong with gwanyagudthing's points, just because they haven't been to every game doesn't mean they can't see what's in front of them, I've been to every game and agree with most of what they've said. The likes of O'Neill has made plenty of appearances this year and done really well and is then left on the bench over inexperienced or players with nearly no game time, doesn't make much sense.
Management got the substitutions completely & utterly wrong, period.
Smyth shouldn't have come off he was doing well, O'Halloran came on and was very poor, completely stood off players when the ball was coming in, got turned easily and body language was poor (watch it back if you don't believe me).
Taking off our two midfielders at 54mins was madness, McBride mightn't have been fielding much but that's because he wasn't been targeted and that's a goalkeeping issue, he could have had some big moments if he'd stayed on.
Flynn may have been on a yellow but he doesn't get many of them and his physicality and shooting ability would have been valuable for the last 15mins. Not to mention that Menton usually fatigues around the 50-55th minute yet played the full 70??
I was happy to see Jones come in for his aggression and leadership qualities but then gets a ridiculous red card that was at worst a yellow and suddenly we've nearly no midfield as three of them are now on the side-line. We can talk about how the red card was a huge moment but lets not forget the same thing happened to Cork against us at pretty much the same time and they rallied and pushed on.
The collapse could have been avoided if management got the subs right, with 15mins to go we were still 6pts ahead, with Killian Smyth still on the pitch and instead of taking off our midfielders you'd take off Menton, Costello, JOC & Frayne and replace them with O'Neill, Jones, Hickey & Curtis and what we have then is aggressive style players to choke up the middle third with still 3-4 good fielders of the ball on the pitch and see the game out. Instead we left the door wide open for Mayo and they eased past us in the end.
Every game we've lost this year is because we've bet ourselves, our game management & side-line management has been at the core of the issue and will need a huge amount of work over the next 7 months if we want to compete in Div1.
LowerHogan (Meath) - Posts: 106 - 22/06/2026 15:41:08
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Replying To Meathnut: "No in fairness i dont know either but have seen a fair bit of them at sigerson and club level and would rate both highly.yes of course you are entitled to your opinion and views of which i was only questioning the rationale in your thinking.by the way your views are excellent .anyway i leave it at that.up meath and looking forward to 2027" No bother at all chief, we're all in the same camp. Onwards and upwards for 2027. Brennan said he's very keen to continue on and I think management have shown the capacity to fix issues so would be optimistic that we'll have a better championship next year and hopefully consolidate our position in Div 1. There will be turnover in the squad, probably 3/4 spots in the matchday 26 up for grabs. The raw materials are there to become a top 5 team but only if we learn the lessons from this season. One last observation is that we did get unlucky with the draw - away to Cork, Derry & Mayo and no "home" game. The players looked tired on Saturday so maybe the back to back away trips caught up with them. Also unlucky to lose Kinsella, he would have been worth 4/5 scores.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 203 - 22/06/2026 15:48:12
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Having sat with my thoughts for the last 48 hours, I've made peace with what needs to happen.
People won't like it, but this is an open forum and we're all entitled to our opinions.
The situation with RB reminds me a bit of Liverpool and Arne Slot. Yes, we had a great run. Yes, we won Division 2. Yes, there were some memorable days along the way. But elite sport is a results business, and difficult decisions have to be made.
A few key calls from the sideline at crucial moments ultimately cost us a game that was there to be won. That can't simply be brushed aside.
As Meath supporters, we've become far too accustomed to hearing "same old story". This county means everything to some of us. It's the reason we get out of bed on a Sunday morning. We've endured the miles on the road, the sleepless nights, the flasks of tae and the ham sandwiches in motorway service stations.
And for what?
Another year of "maybe next year".
Thanks Robbie, but the time has come.
Let's find our Iraola.
RegionalsGuru (Meath) - Posts: 59 - 22/06/2026 15:49:27
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Replying To nobull456: "Could and Should be a very constructive review at end of season...............We hnow the problems because there is consistently in seeing our short comings this year. Inconsistency in delivery cant be argued. Yes we simply dont have enough players at the required standard when the chips are down. Donal and Bryan possibly may say thats it .Full thanks to both men for outstanding service if that happens
As someone who believes its all about continuous improvement to reach full potential , to me the key word is attitude .
For some players the desire to improve and be the best you can seems to be in their DNA .THEIR willingness to self assess is invaluable. WE do not have enough of those....I do think the notion of Captain and vice captain for example to develop fully in leadership skills on the field. Too often being captain is seen as an honour alone which it is . But i would invest much more in leadership skills to give the role more responsibility to rouse the troops when the going gets tough. Without doubt we lack mental toughness as a team.....It appears physically we are there or therabouts mostly but far too fragile mentally. I know some current players may have not have the capacity to toughen up.....the silk purse.....but we can only hope new players with the dna emerge . So for this poster this year has been worthwhile because we have establish ed that Mental preparation has to be top of the agenda Leadership at review time should give this full airtime as a priority .Maybe we have a Roy Keane type waiting to be set lose. Maybe not him but i welcome his attitude in competing i would buy that. I would also try to instill in players that this attitude stocktaking is a transferable skill beneficial in all areas of life. If there should be any doubt about that point several players have articulated this value having worked under Sean Boylan. Div 1 will be tough going for us but with training sessions that get the head ready then we have every chance The structure of end of season propatation review starting now would be a good indicator of how empowered we feel about improvement being in our own hands Some wil say ah attitude you cant do much about that..With the right coaching i say it can make all the difference" I'm not buying this lack of leadership talk, we didn't lack leadership in the league this year or in the championship last year when we beat Dublin, Kerry and Galway. We have some terrific young leaders and obviously experienced leaders with Keoghan and Menton. I wouldn't change our captain or vice captain.
When the two coaches walked out on the team last year, do you not understand how much leadership would have been required from the players to kick on and reach an all ireland semi final?
The red card on Saturday was a killer, we were a shambles once that happened but I'm not questioning the players leadership or character whatsoever. They'll bounce back in 2027 no doubt, it's the best meath team we've had in years.
Sheridan2010louth (Meath) - Posts: 348 - 22/06/2026 16:17:29
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Replying To RegionalsGuru: "Having sat with my thoughts for the last 48 hours, I've made peace with what needs to happen.
People won't like it, but this is an open forum and we're all entitled to our opinions.
The situation with RB reminds me a bit of Liverpool and Arne Slot. Yes, we had a great run. Yes, we won Division 2. Yes, there were some memorable days along the way. But elite sport is a results business, and difficult decisions have to be made.
A few key calls from the sideline at crucial moments ultimately cost us a game that was there to be won. That can't simply be brushed aside.
As Meath supporters, we've become far too accustomed to hearing "same old story". This county means everything to some of us. It's the reason we get out of bed on a Sunday morning. We've endured the miles on the road, the sleepless nights, the flasks of tae and the ham sandwiches in motorway service stations.
And for what?
Another year of "maybe next year".
Thanks Robbie, but the time has come.
Let's find our Iraola." Big call
Do you think it's all management and tactical and therefore all on his head? I'm not so sure, I think the line got it wrong in the leinster final and yesterday for sure.
I think the defensive structure is his philosophy and therefore his responsibility but it's married with limited individual ability.
Personally I think he's got an absolute fine tune tune out of the likes of Rafferty, lavin, Ryan. 3 lads that could well have been on the scrap heap with another manager.
Morris lost an ocean of ball against offally in the league ( warning sign)and then tried to beat Westmeath on his own which gave them fuel. I use this as an example as something that otherwise was working and suddenly stopped and was a massive factor in the Westmeath loss. Not sure if that's Brennans fault.
Cork and Mayo would be worrying alright because they followed trends that otherwise weren't an issue because we hung on in games in the league.
I think we have a group of 10-11 lads that are in serious shape and skill levels which looked to be enhanced by him.
If he was to go, someone would inherit a pretty decent core with his finger prints all over.
I wouldn't like us to go into a manager merry-go-round county. In my eyes no matter what he would get the third year anyway.
royalcounty1 (Meath) - Posts: 108 - 22/06/2026 19:27:56
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Replying To Sheridan2010louth: "I'm not buying this lack of leadership talk, we didn't lack leadership in the league this year or in the championship last year when we beat Dublin, Kerry and Galway. We have some terrific young leaders and obviously experienced leaders with Keoghan and Menton. I wouldn't change our captain or vice captain.
When the two coaches walked out on the team last year, do you not understand how much leadership would have been required from the players to kick on and reach an all ireland semi final?
The red card on Saturday was a killer, we were a shambles once that happened but I'm not questioning the players leadership or character whatsoever. They'll bounce back in 2027 no doubt, it's the best meath team we've had in years." IF you are happy to continue without seeing any need to improve our preparation as the standard of opposition increases thats ok. Im not. I believe on field leadership needs to improve and that we should enhance the role of capain and vic captain where FURTHER DEVELOPMENT of their leadership skills iS the objective as an example .Nothing said about changing th captain and vice captain rather assist with development of the occupant...Yes its about dfurther developing a culture where we respond to the need as it arises. No excuses .... injuries and coping with them is part of the game .Its about our own empowerment to respond The need for this approach is clear in the last few games. Its no surprise that we will need to improve as we go further up the ladder to div1 After 3 collapses are you happy to leave bad enough alone? What is your suggested alternative? ''' They'll bounce back in 2027 no doubt'' yeh ...very constructive ?? We continue to live in hope
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1316 - 22/06/2026 19:55:38
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I posted a message earlier, that didn't get posted. Which is frustrating but anyway. Attempt 2.
Now that it's settled , I would be interested to read your thoughts on meath in general not on the tactics but on the squad and players. I don't really care so much about the management team but us suddenly having individuals that can perform on the top level is something we haven't really had in 25 years. Stephen bray, Seamus kenny, Shane O'Rourke,Graham Reilly for a year or two might be the only ones.
I find it bizarre the marked improvement that has come from some men who were around for plenty of dark years. Keoghan, costello, morris, menton, lavin(at times). Those lads were the better players on very poor meath teams but now individually they are holding their own with the top players in the country.
2 years ago there was massive apathy nobody gave a hoot when louth and Monaghan gave us absolute dustings in the championship.
If there is any more individual improvement in kinsella, caufield, Coffey, McBride, costello, Rafferty, Flynn, morris, frayne joined with some more street smarts and pragmatism I think we will have a very strong team.
royalcounty1 (Meath) - Posts: 108 - 22/06/2026 23:58:56
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Replying To LowerHogan: "There's nothing wrong with gwanyagudthing's points, just because they haven't been to every game doesn't mean they can't see what's in front of them, I've been to every game and agree with most of what they've said. The likes of O'Neill has made plenty of appearances this year and done really well and is then left on the bench over inexperienced or players with nearly no game time, doesn't make much sense.
Management got the substitutions completely & utterly wrong, period.
Smyth shouldn't have come off he was doing well, O'Halloran came on and was very poor, completely stood off players when the ball was coming in, got turned easily and body language was poor (watch it back if you don't believe me).
Taking off our two midfielders at 54mins was madness, McBride mightn't have been fielding much but that's because he wasn't been targeted and that's a goalkeeping issue, he could have had some big moments if he'd stayed on.
Flynn may have been on a yellow but he doesn't get many of them and his physicality and shooting ability would have been valuable for the last 15mins. Not to mention that Menton usually fatigues around the 50-55th minute yet played the full 70??
I was happy to see Jones come in for his aggression and leadership qualities but then gets a ridiculous red card that was at worst a yellow and suddenly we've nearly no midfield as three of them are now on the side-line. We can talk about how the red card was a huge moment but lets not forget the same thing happened to Cork against us at pretty much the same time and they rallied and pushed on.
The collapse could have been avoided if management got the subs right, with 15mins to go we were still 6pts ahead, with Killian Smyth still on the pitch and instead of taking off our midfielders you'd take off Menton, Costello, JOC & Frayne and replace them with O'Neill, Jones, Hickey & Curtis and what we have then is aggressive style players to choke up the middle third with still 3-4 good fielders of the ball on the pitch and see the game out. Instead we left the door wide open for Mayo and they eased past us in the end.
Every game we've lost this year is because we've bet ourselves, our game management & side-line management has been at the core of the issue and will need a huge amount of work over the next 7 months if we want to compete in Div1." 100% agree with those suggested substitutions. I think we can all see who our more aggressive style players are and I just don't understand why Robbie didn't utilise all of those guys when we needed to shift the momentum. It's almost like the changes he did make were emotional - as someone said it was like he felt he had to give the likes of O'Halloran and McEntee a run because it might be the last chance.
I do think the players have responded well to Robbie, he has improved many of them and we play some great football at times. We just don't seem to be able to sustain it across 70 minutes and we are not clinical enough when we do get chances. We seem to give teams oxygen to mount comebacks - let's not forget the league that we fell over the line in a few of those games. So, the work pre-season this year has to be about mental fortitude and ruthlessness. And I would be integrating a couple of players who show those traits even if it means benching more naturally talented players.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 203 - 23/06/2026 09:42:38
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Who takes off both midfielders and puts on 2 lads that haven't kicked football in nearly 14 months between them.i find it hard to believe selectors agreed to this.
Our first half pure football,second half lost our way both from line and on field.changes must be made regarding decision makers.not say get rid of brennan,but who he has with him next year has to be a defence minded top coach.a tactically astute way of slowing game up when we are under pressure.and players feeling they will get a game if on game day panel.it just seems same players over again and again regardless of form.
Borderroyal (Meath) - Posts: 503 - 23/06/2026 11:12:33
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Walked out of Croke Park against Louth in the league thinking how did we almost lose that, walked out Breffni Park thinking how did we nearly leave that behind, I walked out of Pairc Ui Rinn a few weeks ago thinking how the hell did we lose that game, and I walked out of Castlebar with a similar feeling on Saturday - too often this team has completely capitulated when it matters, through bad decision making from players, bizarre changes by management, it's no coincidence it keeps happening.
Robbie Brennan and management got it so wrong on Saturday. They ripped up our entire midfield, took Killian Smyth off who was playing well, and through on a player who has barely played a minute since last year - so then got a bit excited and got himself sent off. Regardless how soft it was, he shouldn't have done it. Game Management has been so poor. The game changed after those subs, we were wiped out in the middle and let Mayo come back into it
We were so superior to Mayo, it's frightening. Game should have been over at half time, multiple goal chances created but again poor shooting which is a trait of this team has come back to bite us. And when the Mayo wave came, we couldn't fight it, the red card obviously was the final nail.
Now those calling for Robbie Brennan's head need to get a grip, it's not going to happen and we are right there if we can tweak a few things. But the last 8 are significantly weaker than last year, who knows what might have happened if we snuck into the quarters:
Kerry: Clearly the best team, we beat them last year. Not saying we'd do it this year, but we have the know how.
Galway: We beat them last year
Louth: Beat them in the league, obviously a good team but we'd fancy ourselves
Cork: Played them a lot of the last few years, nothing really between us, but we have that victory over them in Croker
Tyrone: Beat them in Croke Park in the league
Mayo: I mean we saw on Saturday we should have beat them pulling up
Dublin: Beat them last year, and a shadow of themselves
Monaghan: The only ones we've probably had a bad record against
So disappointing to not be in that draw yesterday morning
Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 172 - 23/06/2026 11:18:07
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Replying To royalcounty1: "I posted a message earlier, that didn't get posted. Which is frustrating but anyway. Attempt 2.
Now that it's settled , I would be interested to read your thoughts on meath in general not on the tactics but on the squad and players. I don't really care so much about the management team but us suddenly having individuals that can perform on the top level is something we haven't really had in 25 years. Stephen bray, Seamus kenny, Shane O'Rourke,Graham Reilly for a year or two might be the only ones.
I find it bizarre the marked improvement that has come from some men who were around for plenty of dark years. Keoghan, costello, morris, menton, lavin(at times). Those lads were the better players on very poor meath teams but now individually they are holding their own with the top players in the country.
2 years ago there was massive apathy nobody gave a hoot when louth and Monaghan gave us absolute dustings in the championship.
If there is any more individual improvement in kinsella, caufield, Coffey, McBride, costello, Rafferty, Flynn, morris, frayne joined with some more street smarts and pragmatism I think we will have a very strong team." On the squad, we finished the season with Menton & Keogan being key members of our defence. They are obviously not going to be there in 2/3 years time so we need to find replacements - a tigerish defender and a dominant 6. We have plenty of midfield options. If we could get Kinsella & Kinlough back to full fitness and if Duke rediscovers his best form, we'll have a very strong attack. Robbie will have a challenge on his hands with the bench to identify 5/6 lads who can consistently come in and make an impact. I don't think we ever got to that point this season - substitutions never seemed to follow any real strategy or consistency. I know all teams struggle to get everyone firing at the same time but we do need to see at least 3/4 of our forwards hitting their levels in every game.
Div 1 of the league will focus the minds. We'll get to see who can consistently perform against the strongest teams. If all goes to plan and we finish in mid table it will be good prep for a run at Leinster.
As things stand with the players we have, I can see us becoming a top 5/6 team. I think we'll need to find another 2/3 high quality players to get into that top 2/3 bracket.
gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 203 - 23/06/2026 11:29:53
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Replying To gwanyagudthing: "100% agree with those suggested substitutions. I think we can all see who our more aggressive style players are and I just don't understand why Robbie didn't utilise all of those guys when we needed to shift the momentum. It's almost like the changes he did make were emotional - as someone said it was like he felt he had to give the likes of O'Halloran and McEntee a run because it might be the last chance.
I do think the players have responded well to Robbie, he has improved many of them and we play some great football at times. We just don't seem to be able to sustain it across 70 minutes and we are not clinical enough when we do get chances. We seem to give teams oxygen to mount comebacks - let's not forget the league that we fell over the line in a few of those games. So, the work pre-season this year has to be about mental fortitude and ruthlessness. And I would be integrating a couple of players who show those traits even if it means benching more naturally talented players." 2023 we had a woeful league
Exited Leinster early
Won a Tailteann cup (grand)
Rudderless
Shapeless
And going nowhere
Fast forward to 2026
We are now Div 1
All Ireland Semi Final 2025
Round 3 loss in 2026 with most ill advised sending off ever by Paddy Tallys club mate.
Good squad. Developing depth. Good under age structures. New stadium. New training facilities
Its a positive season with a very unfortunate and undeserved ending.
Kerry are the football standard. We need to emulate their lofty heights
Next season will be a huge milestone. Personally I can't wait to go to new PT and see our lads play in Div 1 against the best.
Team to be very proud of.
Meathooooo (Meath) - Posts: 102 - 23/06/2026 11:51:36
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Id drive young kearnan back to crossmaglen and leave him up there. If anything the defence got worse this year so he would be the only cut i would make to managment. Selectors need to improve decisions also.
But ultimately Jones dropped the ball big time by reacting and should have known better. Mayo were coming at that point so they just needed to regroup but that killed the game.
Caufield should have buried that last goal chance and that would have sickened mayo. As a half back or wing forward, if you cant take your scores at the cutting edge of the game, your in the wrong position. His ball carrying and passing is second to none and he really is the engine in this team but he has got to work on his finishing.
Irish_downunder (Meath) - Posts: 673 - 23/06/2026 12:11:11
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Replying To LowerHogan: "There's nothing wrong with gwanyagudthing's points, just because they haven't been to every game doesn't mean they can't see what's in front of them, I've been to every game and agree with most of what they've said. The likes of O'Neill has made plenty of appearances this year and done really well and is then left on the bench over inexperienced or players with nearly no game time, doesn't make much sense.
Management got the substitutions completely & utterly wrong, period.
Smyth shouldn't have come off he was doing well, O'Halloran came on and was very poor, completely stood off players when the ball was coming in, got turned easily and body language was poor (watch it back if you don't believe me).
Taking off our two midfielders at 54mins was madness, McBride mightn't have been fielding much but that's because he wasn't been targeted and that's a goalkeeping issue, he could have had some big moments if he'd stayed on.
Flynn may have been on a yellow but he doesn't get many of them and his physicality and shooting ability would have been valuable for the last 15mins. Not to mention that Menton usually fatigues around the 50-55th minute yet played the full 70??
I was happy to see Jones come in for his aggression and leadership qualities but then gets a ridiculous red card that was at worst a yellow and suddenly we've nearly no midfield as three of them are now on the side-line. We can talk about how the red card was a huge moment but lets not forget the same thing happened to Cork against us at pretty much the same time and they rallied and pushed on.
The collapse could have been avoided if management got the subs right, with 15mins to go we were still 6pts ahead, with Killian Smyth still on the pitch and instead of taking off our midfielders you'd take off Menton, Costello, JOC & Frayne and replace them with O'Neill, Jones, Hickey & Curtis and what we have then is aggressive style players to choke up the middle third with still 3-4 good fielders of the ball on the pitch and see the game out. Instead we left the door wide open for Mayo and they eased past us in the end.
Every game we've lost this year is because we've bet ourselves, our game management & side-line management has been at the core of the issue and will need a huge amount of work over the next 7 months if we want to compete in Div1." Hi all, I just passively read the forum especially the football section, I've been involved with a couple of the underage development teams that some of these boys smyth, Kinlough Kelly o halloran have played on the whole way up. One thing I must highlight is that all these players are giving their own personal time up to play with Meath and train numerous times a week sacrificing loads I'm sure . I think we're very quick to make comments on here, do we ever stand back and think maybe these players are seeing this, Iam sure times are tough enough being knocked out without people completely running them down. I'll show my bias here to defend the young lad here, some posters saying he was brought on cause it's his last run and he's 21. Wow. Conroy did turn him at one stage and fisted a point your totally correct which he didn't defend well, but your quick not to highlight the two turnovers he got and the kickout he won when we needed it. I know it's everyone's own opinions on this platform. The second thing I want to note is Killian smyth was very good for his first championship start ,delighted for the lad and he's definitely one for the future and should have a big 2027.
Meathfan1234 (Meath) - Posts: 1 - 23/06/2026 13:07:37
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I think people need to look back at two years ago, look how bad we were, we were absolutely blessed to stay in division 2, got embarrassed by a Dublin team without fenton and then went and lost 3 all Ireland games by a big margin.
We are disappointed that we haven't reached an all Ireland quarter final - something we have done once in 15 years (under Robbie Brennan). We beat Dublin for the first time in 15 years , we beat Kerry for the first time in about 25 years etc.
Should we have won at the weekend - probably, but the red card had a huge swing in that game. For the people that are blaming robbie for bringing on two midfielders, do you think he expected one of them to get sent off? Anyone that has been watching club football closely over the last 5-10 years knows Ronan Jones is one of the best midfielders in meath.
There are improvements to make - game management etc, but we have a young profile of player that are only going to get better. We have division 1 next year which is much more beneficial than a Leinster title or an all Ireland quarter final.
Stay in division 1 - get to a Leinster final and have our first all Ireland game in a brand new Pairc Tailteann.
contributingtoamelee (Meath) - Posts: 93 - 23/06/2026 14:12:06
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