Replying To winatallcost:  "I think you can't exclude a goalkeeper in modern game as one of most important players to would put Brennan on that list. Probably would then consider a midfielder and in Meath's case that would be Jack Flynn for his all round game. For Meath Kinsella who is a playmaker, his winning of breaking ball and scoring would be the third."

Replying To gwanyagudthing:  "Brennan is a good shout, is vital in terms of kickouts and his 2 point scoring ability. Think we would survive without Flynn with Menton & McBride and Costello to come back plus the likes of Gray, Duke, O'Neill & O'Connor on the bench. It's inevitable that we're going to lose players to injury over the summer but Robbie & co have done a great job on strengthening the panel."

Replying To Faithfulmeath:  "I agree, Westmeath are good around the middle 8, Wallace and Whittaker are excellent. Meath currently isn't over-reliant on any single player, which I think is one of their greatest strengths. That's not to say we don't have any marquee players; Morris and Costello can create moments out of nothing, quickly followed by Joc and Kinsella.

Who would you view as the three most important players for a successful championship?"

Replying To Faithfulmeath:  "It's a good take, I think Coffey is still underrated. He is absolutely excellent, covering a mountain of ground. I think we have far greater depth in midfield now than maybe early June last year, thanks to players playing better and injuries.

Defensively, I think it might be an issue if we pick up one or two injuries in the backs, especially the fullback line; we might be forced to take players from other positions. Besides Ronan Ryan and Keoghan, who's next in on full back line? Adam o neill? muldoon?"

Replying To brian:  "Great second paragraph.. we're good between the sticks and from 8-15 and depth

We've issues galore at the back and our full back line got exposed v Donegal last year and v cork in the league final. I think we're missing a controller at 6, I don't think Rafferty is a FB and lack depth if there are two or three injuries. Look through the league and it's the same six plus Ryan and Smith played almost all of it. Rafferty imho is a great corner back, tracker to go with a guy but he's been welll of the performance he had at the end of last season. Lavin and O'Halloran got exposed by Cork, and teams like Donegal and Kerry with 3-4 serious forwards were not well matched up. Keoghy is still a great player who owes us nothing but even he's showing some legs. Coffey and Caulfield are some specimens and can run for days and they're the types you need in this game of end to end but neither have that ability to sit at 6 and cut things out before they even happen .

Hope that doesn't sound like shots at anyone , not intended at all.. but if the team wants to push on we could do with adding a tight corner back (hopefully O'Halloran can improve) and controller for 3 or 6 and quality depth. In 87-88 and 96-99 we'd guys at 3&6 who could read the game, knew when to attack a ball and when to hold the position and cut things out before they even developed. I accept the game is slightly different now, but the principle still applies.

Depth chart for me would be
2 Lavin Smith Ennis
3 Rafferty Ryan Dwane
4 O'Halloran Muldoon Garrigan
5 Keoghan Hickey McDonnell
6 Coffey O'Neill O'Regan
7 Caulfield Harkin McConnell


Lot of guys there who are question marks in that Smith is a rookie, Muldoon has no game time, Harkin hasn't been involved and Hickey and O'Neill are seen as wing forwards who can come back and defend. The third choices bar have barley had a minute of competitive football for Meath.

apologies if I'm missing someone very obvious. Ross Ryan probably is in the mix there too."

Replying To brian:  "Great second paragraph.. we're good between the sticks and from 8-15 and depth

We've issues galore at the back and our full back line got exposed v Donegal last year and v cork in the league final. I think we're missing a controller at 6, I don't think Rafferty is a FB and lack depth if there are two or three injuries. Look through the league and it's the same six plus Ryan and Smith played almost all of it. Rafferty imho is a great corner back, tracker to go with a guy but he's been welll of the performance he had at the end of last season. Lavin and O'Halloran got exposed by Cork, and teams like Donegal and Kerry with 3-4 serious forwards were not well matched up. Keoghy is still a great player who owes us nothing but even he's showing some legs. Coffey and Caulfield are some specimens and can run for days and they're the types you need in this game of end to end but neither have that ability to sit at 6 and cut things out before they even happen .

Hope that doesn't sound like shots at anyone , not intended at all.. but if the team wants to push on we could do with adding a tight corner back (hopefully O'Halloran can improve) and controller for 3 or 6 and quality depth. In 87-88 and 96-99 we'd guys at 3&6 who could read the game, knew when to attack a ball and when to hold the position and cut things out before they even developed. I accept the game is slightly different now, but the principle still applies.

Depth chart for me would be
2 Lavin Smith Ennis
3 Rafferty Ryan Dwane
4 O'Halloran Muldoon Garrigan
5 Keoghan Hickey McDonnell
6 Coffey O'Neill O'Regan
7 Caulfield Harkin McConnell


Lot of guys there who are question marks in that Smith is a rookie, Muldoon has no game time, Harkin hasn't been involved and Hickey and O'Neill are seen as wing forwards who can come back and defend. The third choices bar have barley had a minute of competitive football for Meath.

apologies if I'm missing someone very obvious. Ross Ryan probably is in the mix there too."