Meath Forum

Meath 2022

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "I'll take that as a no. Fact is you wouldn't be on here getting carried away if we won well last night or this weekend in nothing pre season games so why get carried away when we lose in a nothing pre season game ."
I was about to make the same point. It's O Byrne Cup lads, relax.

Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1319 - 13/01/2022 18:35:51    2394810

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Some really embarrassing posts on here since the match last night, really clueless stuff

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 890 - 13/01/2022 19:01:10    2394813

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Replying To redser123:  ""an obvious failure to try new players"

new players who played yesterday: Gavin McGowan, Niall Kane, Saran O'Fionnagain, Conor Harnan, Keith Curtis, Danny Dixon, David Mcentee, Jordan Muldoon, Adam Kealy.

Apologies if i forgot anyone. And this is not to mention a couple of more lads he will be trying like James O'Hare, Billy Hogan and Aaron Lynch.

Some of this criticism of andy is totally unfair."
A lot of the criticism seems to be just shouting for the sake of it. since he has come in he has brought in a host of new players, all of the above mentioned, add to that over the last few years Morris, Devine, Walsh, Scully, Jones, James Conlon, Billy Hogan, Hickey, Jack Flynn, plus a number of lads given chances and didn't take them or left for various reasons such as Brian Conlon, McKeever, Lavin, Gallagher, Brennan (Marcus and Ben). I've definitely forgotten a load more and there may also be one or two of who I've named possibly on the panel when he arrived but were definitely given chances under Andy.

And in regards to our goalkeeper situation, I would say that Hogan is our first choice this year as he finished the season last year so Andy will give his back ups game time in the O Byrne cup.

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 14/01/2022 08:45:11    2394831

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Replying To redser123:  ""an obvious failure to try new players"

new players who played yesterday: Gavin McGowan, Niall Kane, Saran O'Fionnagain, Conor Harnan, Keith Curtis, Danny Dixon, David Mcentee, Jordan Muldoon, Adam Kealy.

Apologies if i forgot anyone. And this is not to mention a couple of more lads he will be trying like James O'Hare, Billy Hogan and Aaron Lynch.

Some of this criticism of andy is totally unfair."
Redser just to pick you up here as you're incorrect.

McGowan - new to the panel
O'Fionnagain - new to the panel
Harnan - New to the panel
Kealy - New to the panel

Kane - previously involved and broke his arm during 2019 which saw him drop off the panel but he played v Kerrry in the super 8's

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2019/0803/1066791-kerry-beat-meath-to-top-group-1-of-the-super-8s/


Curtis - was on the panel last year
Dixon - was on the panel last year and played in the league v Mayo
McEntee - was on the panel last year, played O'Byrne cup and dropped himself of the panel
Muldoon - was on the panel last year and was in the squad for the match v Longford

Meath squad for 2021 campaign : https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/arid-40284017.html


Andy said on LMFM the new members were O'Fionnagain, O'Hare, Billy Hogan and McGowan. Conor Harnan and Adam Kealy were new additions on Wednesday too....

Aaron Lynch - wasn't mentioned by Andy as being brought into the squad. Maybe Lynch might be called up once Trim's Intermediate all ireland campaign is done.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 14/01/2022 11:15:45    2394855

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Replying To ratlag:  "A lot of the criticism seems to be just shouting for the sake of it. since he has come in he has brought in a host of new players, all of the above mentioned, add to that over the last few years Morris, Devine, Walsh, Scully, Jones, James Conlon, Billy Hogan, Hickey, Jack Flynn, plus a number of lads given chances and didn't take them or left for various reasons such as Brian Conlon, McKeever, Lavin, Gallagher, Brennan (Marcus and Ben). I've definitely forgotten a load more and there may also be one or two of who I've named possibly on the panel when he arrived but were definitely given chances under Andy.

And in regards to our goalkeeper situation, I would say that Hogan is our first choice this year as he finished the season last year so Andy will give his back ups game time in the O Byrne cup."
ratlag, not having a go at you here but Andy has been the manager for 6 years, if he hadn't brought players in during that time it would be a very sad state of affairs. I wouldn't give a manager credit for bring in a player that's their role. Get the best players onto the pitch. We've had a big improvement in our underage structure in the last 5 or so years so those players all earned the right to be brought through. And there's more coming from the minors of 2020 and 2021. Giving Andy or any other manager credit for that is misplaced in my opinion. Its not as if any of those players weren't on the radar already. Has he gone out and found a Brian Stafford, John McDermott or Paeder Byrne, lads that no one had previously looked at like Boylan did. If he had then definitely i would give him credit for that but he hasn't done that.

In regards to the keeper position whilst i would agree Hogan should be the no 1 for this year I wouldn't be convinced Andy will start him come league time. Andy has repeatedly gone back to Colgan. Surely Wednesday or this weekends game should be a chance to look at Billy Hogan and see what we have there or give Harry more game time as he's only played about 3/4 matches for Meath and we'll need to give him more chances. We all know what Colgan is and isn't so surely should've allowed someone else game time.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 14/01/2022 11:26:57    2394859

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Replying To southmeathgael:  "Some really embarrassing posts on here since the match last night, really clueless stuff"
Who would of taught the o byrne Cup was such a big deal, I always taught it was a pre season warm up tournament, I'm not taking the "****" here but when did it become a must win competition.

Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 666 - 14/01/2022 11:56:58    2394867

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Replying To Royal.Legend:  "Who would of taught the o byrne Cup was such a big deal, I always taught it was a pre season warm up tournament, I'm not taking the "****" here but when did it become a must win competition."
Royal.Legend, i don;t think any is saying it's a must win by any stretch but when you see the same mistakes being repeated ad nauseum and the manner of the defeat on Wednesday then i think you can understand peoples frustrations. And when you consider we were beaten by Laois, with a new management team then it only adds to things. The same Laois who lost by 15 points to Wexford the weekend before, the same Wexford who lost to Wicklow on Wednesday night.

The lines trotted out are its a pre season competition, Andy doesn't have a full team, we're missing players, lads are playing Sigerson, we've lads injured and it'll be different v Galway can all be applied to our opposition. Same things apply for them.

We scored 2 points in the first half, gave Laois an 11 point head start, team had issues with kickouts again, saw nothing new from the sideline then people are entitled to voice an opinion. These are all well known issues and nothing has been done about them.

Some people are content to bury their heads in the sand and call this a pre season tournament, but when lads like LR and RD who were at the match tell you they're concerned then i tend to put some stock in it.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 14/01/2022 12:56:05    2394874

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Replying To brian:  "Redser just to pick you up here as you're incorrect.

McGowan - new to the panel
O'Fionnagain - new to the panel
Harnan - New to the panel
Kealy - New to the panel

Kane - previously involved and broke his arm during 2019 which saw him drop off the panel but he played v Kerrry in the super 8's

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2019/0803/1066791-kerry-beat-meath-to-top-group-1-of-the-super-8s/


Curtis - was on the panel last year
Dixon - was on the panel last year and played in the league v Mayo
McEntee - was on the panel last year, played O'Byrne cup and dropped himself of the panel
Muldoon - was on the panel last year and was in the squad for the match v Longford

Meath squad for 2021 campaign : https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/arid-40284017.html


Andy said on LMFM the new members were O'Fionnagain, O'Hare, Billy Hogan and McGowan. Conor Harnan and Adam Kealy were new additions on Wednesday too....

Aaron Lynch - wasn't mentioned by Andy as being brought into the squad. Maybe Lynch might be called up once Trim's Intermediate all ireland campaign is done."
Brian see below

Curtis - This was his debut for meath
Dixon - This was his first start for meath
McEntee - This was his Debut for meath and correction he never played Obyrne cup before
Muldoon - Debut for meath

I would class 3 debutants and a first start as new additions but sorry for the confusion.

Even still you have just named 6 new additions and from what i hear Andy Mc cant wait to give Aaron Lynch a chance, How is that not acceptable? why is he getting criticised for not trying new players when he clearly is.

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 403 - 14/01/2022 13:02:27    2394876

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Replying To brian:  "That's fair and respect your opinion on things. I would ask the question of you though would you not be slightly fearful that the same trends as have been happening for the past couple of seasons are still happening in this game.

Now i grant as a few have said maybe they're going through some heavy training and aren't overly interested in this competition which is fair but we need to hit the ground sprinting in the league as Division 2 is a shark tank this year. There will need to be a dramatic improvement in two weeks time v Galway and hopefully that's forth coming and unfortunately based on what information is available to us i don't hold a lot of hope,"
To answer you question if I would be fearful of the same trends as have been happening for the past couple of seasons happening in this game?? My answer would be no i would not be fearful. Not in the first game of the O'Byrne cup. I have been around long enough to see many O'Byrne campaigns. In some Meath have been really good and won the competition and then gone on to have a terrible league campaign and a woeful Championship campaign and in others their O'Byrne Cup campaign has been woeful only to go on and have a successful league and championship campaigns

2006 for example . We won the O'Byrne cup beating DCU Westmeath Dublin and then hammering Offaly in the Final. We then went on to be relegated from Division 1B in the league and lost in the leinster championship to Wexford in the 1/4 Final and then after a couple of handy wins v Carlow and Roscommon we limped out of the All Ireland losing in Navan to a bang average Laois team.

1999 We lost the 2nd round of the O'Byrne cup to Wicklow by 5 points . We then went on to top Group B of Division 1 in the league beat Kerry in the 1/4 final and lost out narrowly to Cork in a dour game 6-3 . And we know how we did in the All Ireland that year.

Both these examples go towards my point that the O'Byrne cup is bears no relevance whatsoever to the league and championship campaigns.

I am not for one second saying that everything is all rosy in the garden but I would be certainly suggesting that people wait and see how the first few games in the league pan out before passing judgement on how this season is going.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 14/01/2022 13:28:15    2394883

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Replying To redser123:  "Brian see below

Curtis - This was his debut for meath
Dixon - This was his first start for meath
McEntee - This was his Debut for meath and correction he never played Obyrne cup before
Muldoon - Debut for meath

I would class 3 debutants and a first start as new additions but sorry for the confusion.

Even still you have just named 6 new additions and from what i hear Andy Mc cant wait to give Aaron Lynch a chance, How is that not acceptable? why is he getting criticised for not trying new players when he clearly is."
being criticized for not trying new players. Then it's pointed out he is trying new players and the response is well a manager shouldn't be getting praise for trying new players it's his job...... With some people he well never do right no matter what. Their mind is made up already.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 14/01/2022 13:31:09    2394887

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "being criticized for not trying new players. Then it's pointed out he is trying new players and the response is well a manager shouldn't be getting praise for trying new players it's his job...... With some people he well never do right no matter what. Their mind is made up already."
the reality is ...and lets call it out....there are very few of us that don't already have a strong opinion on Andy & Andys Management ability ...be that positive or negative

middle ground here is for us to try & leave the past, and deal with the information flow in 2022 without that baggage
so...i think a fair point of assessment with be , say, mid point of League schedule, end of League Schedule , and then eve of Round 1 Championship
I know we are all supporters, and with that passion, comes reaction..or over reaction to events.....but i do agree that , its not helpful to the overall of Meath Senior Football, an environment where 3 out of then of us cant stand the sight of the man, another 3 , thinks he can walk on water, 2 have have no view at all, and the remaining 2 are trying to trying to make sense of it ....and before anyone asks...i fall into the Pro Andy Camp...but i sure as heck dont think he walks on water
let 2022 be about debate about the players...and my vote is to get away from thinking that ALL ROADS lead back to Management

Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 385 - 14/01/2022 13:50:03    2394890

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "being criticized for not trying new players. Then it's pointed out he is trying new players and the response is well a manager shouldn't be getting praise for trying new players it's his job...... With some people he well never do right no matter what. Their mind is made up already."
And with some people you'll never do wrong no matter what you do. Their mind is already made up, there's nothing to see and no one should question a manager that has repeatedly made the same mistakes, errors and omissions year after year.

Some people claimed Andy hasn't given some people their chance or introduced new faces this year. I for one am not in that camp i think to be fair to him over his tenure he's given most people who are deserving of a chance a go and i would say fair play to him for it. But I'm not going to praise him from on high for doing it, it's his job as manager to get the best 15 footballers in the county onto the pitch. One poster said about the number of players he blooded and yes he has done that, i'd say he's given 70+ players (estimate) a start in a Meath jersey but surely he should be bringing through the young talent that is there and giving them a start in a Meath jersey. A point I've consistently made is has Andy gone out and found a Brian Stafford, John McDermott or Paeder Byrne, which i don't think he has. On this year I'm on record as not expecting too many new faces as he knows he's dead man walking so will work with what he has and leave it to a new manager to identify the future of Meath football.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 14/01/2022 14:22:01    2394894

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Replying To Thelongwoodslasher:  "the reality is ...and lets call it out....there are very few of us that don't already have a strong opinion on Andy & Andys Management ability ...be that positive or negative

middle ground here is for us to try & leave the past, and deal with the information flow in 2022 without that baggage
so...i think a fair point of assessment with be , say, mid point of League schedule, end of League Schedule , and then eve of Round 1 Championship
I know we are all supporters, and with that passion, comes reaction..or over reaction to events.....but i do agree that , its not helpful to the overall of Meath Senior Football, an environment where 3 out of then of us cant stand the sight of the man, another 3 , thinks he can walk on water, 2 have have no view at all, and the remaining 2 are trying to trying to make sense of it ....and before anyone asks...i fall into the Pro Andy Camp...but i sure as heck dont think he walks on water
let 2022 be about debate about the players...and my vote is to get away from thinking that ALL ROADS lead back to Management"
Agree. Andy certainly doesn't walk on water and has made plenty of mistakes but until all the mob trying to get him out without an actually having any plan whatsoever as to who will replace him I will stick by him and the players . I also agree 100% that leaving it until a few games into the league is a fair point of assessment as opposed to the doom merchants writing off the entire year after 60 minutes of O'Byrne cup football.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 14/01/2022 14:34:00    2394896

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "Agree. Andy certainly doesn't walk on water and has made plenty of mistakes but until all the mob trying to get him out without an actually having any plan whatsoever as to who will replace him I will stick by him and the players . I also agree 100% that leaving it until a few games into the league is a fair point of assessment as opposed to the doom merchants writing off the entire year after 60 minutes of O'Byrne cup football."
Blackspot, who are "all the mob trying to get him out" and "doom merchants"? I think that's an unfair statement and is a lot of generalisations.

Yes i think Andy should've been gone after the season as he's brought the team as far as he can in my opinion. I think the county board motion of no confidence in November was way too late in the day to be making a decision like that, it was a monumental c**k up. Should've been done and dusted within a month of our championship exit with a new management team being put in place.

I think the structures which are being put in pace at underage level are to be commended as it shows great foresight but it only matters if there's also joined up thinking with the senior team manager too.

However i think people voicing their genuine concerns at the same things happening over and over again with the same manager isn't doom merchanting. I think its calling things as they are. No kick out strategy, giving a 10+ point lead to an opponent, a manager blaming the same issues he has for years is the reality we face. Andy's post match interview is a literal rinse and repeat of what he says after most defeats.

We're all passionate Meath gaels and want the best for the county and to see ourslevs where many of us hope to be, at the business end of competitions and wining things; but people are allowed voices there opinions with out being called a mob, doom merchants or having an agenda against the manager. I don't think I disrespect another persons opinion and resort to name calling, I genuinely try understand their points and balance my opinion as well. If it comes across wrong I do apologise but I'm not going to just say everything is grand and there's nothing to see here when quite clearly there are huge issues.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 14/01/2022 14:59:51    2394902

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Replying To brian:  "ratlag, not having a go at you here but Andy has been the manager for 6 years, if he hadn't brought players in during that time it would be a very sad state of affairs. I wouldn't give a manager credit for bring in a player that's their role. Get the best players onto the pitch. We've had a big improvement in our underage structure in the last 5 or so years so those players all earned the right to be brought through. And there's more coming from the minors of 2020 and 2021. Giving Andy or any other manager credit for that is misplaced in my opinion. Its not as if any of those players weren't on the radar already. Has he gone out and found a Brian Stafford, John McDermott or Paeder Byrne, lads that no one had previously looked at like Boylan did. If he had then definitely i would give him credit for that but he hasn't done that.

In regards to the keeper position whilst i would agree Hogan should be the no 1 for this year I wouldn't be convinced Andy will start him come league time. Andy has repeatedly gone back to Colgan. Surely Wednesday or this weekends game should be a chance to look at Billy Hogan and see what we have there or give Harry more game time as he's only played about 3/4 matches for Meath and we'll need to give him more chances. We all know what Colgan is and isn't so surely should've allowed someone else game time."
I completely agree, it is his job and I wouldn't praise any manager for bringing in new lads, my point was that there are a number of posters on this criticizing Andy for 'using the same panel' or 'not trying anyone new and sticking with the same lads' which is a complete lie and an unfair thing to be giving out about. I don't for one minute think he is a perfect manager or that Meath are an amazing team like those of the past, however the fact remains that during his tenure, albeit with some worrying trends such as keeper and kick outs a continuing worry, Meath have improved since he took over. We were a team struggling to avoid relegation to Div 3 and now we consistently challenge for promotion to Div1. In my opinion we are closer to Dublin than we were 6 years ago, be that us improving or them declining is up to everyone to have the opinion on but we are closer!!

I don't think any county fan in the country should be worrying or delighted at pre season cup game results as they show absolutely nothing in terms of where a team is. As a previous poster here stated, mid league or even end of league is when people should be drawing conclusions about how things are going. Personally, looking at the players last year and the one or two extra lads in there this year my prediction is we will gain promotion to Div 1 and depending on the draw, have a good rattle at Leinster, I still believe Dublin are better than us but last years final showed me that we can beat them on our day

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 14/01/2022 15:50:19    2394913

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Replying To brian:  "Blackspot, who are "all the mob trying to get him out" and "doom merchants"? I think that's an unfair statement and is a lot of generalisations.

Yes i think Andy should've been gone after the season as he's brought the team as far as he can in my opinion. I think the county board motion of no confidence in November was way too late in the day to be making a decision like that, it was a monumental c**k up. Should've been done and dusted within a month of our championship exit with a new management team being put in place.

I think the structures which are being put in pace at underage level are to be commended as it shows great foresight but it only matters if there's also joined up thinking with the senior team manager too.

However i think people voicing their genuine concerns at the same things happening over and over again with the same manager isn't doom merchanting. I think its calling things as they are. No kick out strategy, giving a 10+ point lead to an opponent, a manager blaming the same issues he has for years is the reality we face. Andy's post match interview is a literal rinse and repeat of what he says after most defeats.

We're all passionate Meath gaels and want the best for the county and to see ourslevs where many of us hope to be, at the business end of competitions and wining things; but people are allowed voices there opinions with out being called a mob, doom merchants or having an agenda against the manager. I don't think I disrespect another persons opinion and resort to name calling, I genuinely try understand their points and balance my opinion as well. If it comes across wrong I do apologise but I'm not going to just say everything is grand and there's nothing to see here when quite clearly there are huge issues."
I would call anyone who has pretty much thrown in the towel for this season after 60 minutes of O'Byrne Cup football a doom merchant . There is plenty of issues and everything is not grand but who on here said everything was grand over the last few days?

I don't recall anyone saying everything is grand or that improvement is not required. ​The main point that is being made by the people not freaking out over 1 poor O'Byrne performance is that we should wait and see how we are progressing in the Competitions that actually mean something and not some mickey mouse comp which are basically glorified challenge games.

Also nobody is saying you or anyone else are not entitled to their opinion , of course you are but it's a public form so people are entitled to challenge it and disagree with it. If you don't wish to have you opinion challenged or don't want anyone to disagree with you perhaps you should not post on a public forum.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 14/01/2022 16:08:57    2394918

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Replying To ratlag:  "I completely agree, it is his job and I wouldn't praise any manager for bringing in new lads, my point was that there are a number of posters on this criticizing Andy for 'using the same panel' or 'not trying anyone new and sticking with the same lads' which is a complete lie and an unfair thing to be giving out about. I don't for one minute think he is a perfect manager or that Meath are an amazing team like those of the past, however the fact remains that during his tenure, albeit with some worrying trends such as keeper and kick outs a continuing worry, Meath have improved since he took over. We were a team struggling to avoid relegation to Div 3 and now we consistently challenge for promotion to Div1. In my opinion we are closer to Dublin than we were 6 years ago, be that us improving or them declining is up to everyone to have the opinion on but we are closer!!

I don't think any county fan in the country should be worrying or delighted at pre season cup game results as they show absolutely nothing in terms of where a team is. As a previous poster here stated, mid league or even end of league is when people should be drawing conclusions about how things are going. Personally, looking at the players last year and the one or two extra lads in there this year my prediction is we will gain promotion to Div 1 and depending on the draw, have a good rattle at Leinster, I still believe Dublin are better than us but last years final showed me that we can beat them on our day"
Your last paragraph hit the nail on the head. We should not be worried or delighted at pre season results. Totally irrelevant to the rest of the year. Well said.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 14/01/2022 16:12:28    2394919

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Is there a succession plan for Andy IF he goes at end of season?

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1792 - 14/01/2022 19:08:03    2394934

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Wexford match streaming on BeoSport. €8

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2149 - 14/01/2022 19:58:37    2394946

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "Your last paragraph hit the nail on the head. We should not be worried or delighted at pre season results. Totally irrelevant to the rest of the year. Well said."
Agreed,after 1 o byrne cup game lol,embarrassing tripe on this forum,especially 1 particularly,who clearly has an agenda,keeps saying its Andys last year like the decision is his,whether it is or it isn't will depend on the season ahead

Utdroyal (Meath) - Posts: 61 - 14/01/2022 20:10:32    2394949

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