Meath Forum

Meath V Donegal

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Sad to hear of Andy McEntee's mother passing away this morning, may she rest in peace.

Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 685 - 03/02/2020 21:55:10    2264961

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Replying To Royal.Legend:  "Sad to hear of Andy McEntee's mother passing away this morning, may she rest in peace."
RIP

Condolences to the extended families.

David (Meath) - Posts: 567 - 03/02/2020 22:17:46    2264967

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Replying To FoolsGold:  "Newman is the only household name Meath are missing. A good free taker. Walsh only played 2 games last year? . He hasn't been there for 4 or 5 years to say he's a huge loss..
The other players are they much better then what's there?"
The man is right, sick to my stomach hearing about all these injured players, Newman is the only real difference maker that is out, there comes a point where you have to stop make excuses and move forward with what you've got

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 404 - 03/02/2020 22:30:18    2264973

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Replying To Royal.Legend:  "Sad to hear of Andy McEntee's mother passing away this morning, may she rest in peace."
Yes, she was a great lady and raised a great GAA family. May she Rest In Peace.

oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 04/02/2020 09:06:11    2264999

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Replying To redser123:  "The man is right, sick to my stomach hearing about all these injured players, Newman is the only real difference maker that is out, there comes a point where you have to stop make excuses and move forward with what you've got"
Newman, Harnan, Lavin, Lenihan all are 100% difference makers for this meath side. Seamus Lavin was excellent all last year as was Harnan. Walsh is a young lad who was widely tipped to make an impact both inside and outside the county. Unfortunately Meath certainly cannot afford to miss 5 quality starters and that's the end of it. There are not many counties who can

Thejoeshow (Meath) - Posts: 687 - 04/02/2020 10:20:32    2265017

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Replying To Thejoeshow:  "Newman, Harnan, Lavin, Lenihan all are 100% difference makers for this meath side. Seamus Lavin was excellent all last year as was Harnan. Walsh is a young lad who was widely tipped to make an impact both inside and outside the county. Unfortunately Meath certainly cannot afford to miss 5 quality starters and that's the end of it. There are not many counties who can"
Did Donegal not beat us three times last year and if I recall right Murphy wasn't playing in one of those games. Lets just accept that our current crop of players are not at the level of many other division 1 teams and Andy cant work miracles. When I look at club football there is not one player that really stands out. So bemoaning the fact that we are missing certain players on the team through injury is not going to make a huge difference. We might just lose by less to the better teams.

Poormouth (Meath) - Posts: 204 - 04/02/2020 11:06:10    2265040

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Replying To Poormouth:  "Did Donegal not beat us three times last year and if I recall right Murphy wasn't playing in one of those games. Lets just accept that our current crop of players are not at the level of many other division 1 teams and Andy cant work miracles. When I look at club football there is not one player that really stands out. So bemoaning the fact that we are missing certain players on the team through injury is not going to make a huge difference. We might just lose by less to the better teams."
Yes they did and each game went to the wire and meath were well in all games

Thejoeshow (Meath) - Posts: 687 - 04/02/2020 11:26:00    2265046

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Lads, I know many of the current panel as ex-schoolmates, played against them and in other sports as well from youth level. I have to say we have some serious athletes out there, unquestionably. The team that played Donegal, with respect, was our weakest effort imaginable for a division one match. We were very, very limited. The athleticism and conditioning was there, everything else fundamentally lacking without our top 15/18 players. That much is absolutely clear and is not a sleight on the panel. We are where we are.

Lads we need to get real. Throwing around names of players, injured or otherwise, and putting pressure on them given the opening two league games is a mistake. We are in a crisis with the goalkeeper, and an injury crisis. It has to be very difficult for the panel and saying that 3/4 lads would make a massive difference is wrong, its actually embarrassing. Id say if you offered those lads a spot back in Division 2 right now they'd take it. We must stay behind the team but in the right capacity, if the prevailing attitude persists, it could ultimately do massive damage to the panel going forward, in regards retention and confidence.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 04/02/2020 17:13:51    2265152

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Replying To Young_gael:  "Lads, I know many of the current panel as ex-schoolmates, played against them and in other sports as well from youth level. I have to say we have some serious athletes out there, unquestionably. The team that played Donegal, with respect, was our weakest effort imaginable for a division one match. We were very, very limited. The athleticism and conditioning was there, everything else fundamentally lacking without our top 15/18 players. That much is absolutely clear and is not a sleight on the panel. We are where we are.

Lads we need to get real. Throwing around names of players, injured or otherwise, and putting pressure on them given the opening two league games is a mistake. We are in a crisis with the goalkeeper, and an injury crisis. It has to be very difficult for the panel and saying that 3/4 lads would make a massive difference is wrong, its actually embarrassing. Id say if you offered those lads a spot back in Division 2 right now they'd take it. We must stay behind the team but in the right capacity, if the prevailing attitude persists, it could ultimately do massive damage to the panel going forward, in regards retention and confidence."
I think I understand what your saying young gael. And I dont condone putting pressure on players as you put it. But as you say we have injury crisis. And people pointing that fact is putting pressure on current players. And now they want give up div 1 and drop to div 2 ? If that is the case we have become very weak soft as county.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1265 - 05/02/2020 08:46:24    2265268

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Replying To Thejoeshow:  "Yes they did and each game went to the wire and meath were well in all games"
horse manure, the only one we were close in was the league game in Ballyboffey.

They easily disposed of us in the other two. They were never under pressure and when they kicked for home we hadn't an answer. Yes that's a lot to do with conditioning and we'll get there but to say they went to the wire is green tinted glasses in its most extreme.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 05/02/2020 12:13:25    2265331

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Replying To bobkarlgees:  "I think I understand what your saying young gael. And I dont condone putting pressure on players as you put it. But as you say we have injury crisis. And people pointing that fact is putting pressure on current players. And now they want give up div 1 and drop to div 2 ? If that is the case we have become very weak soft as county."
It was a terrible pessimistic comment from young Gael and theres no way a team managed by andy mcentee would ever think like that, meath have five games left and although it looks likely we'll get relegated it's not a done deal yet, so let's all make our way to navan next sunday with believe that this young meath team can get the points that will keep us in the division.

Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 685 - 05/02/2020 12:59:04    2265344

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Replying To brian:  "horse manure, the only one we were close in was the league game in Ballyboffey.

They easily disposed of us in the other two. They were never under pressure and when they kicked for home we hadn't an answer. Yes that's a lot to do with conditioning and we'll get there but to say they went to the wire is green tinted glasses in its most extreme."
Horse Manure?

In Ballybofey we gave it away
In the league final we lost by 2 points
In Super 8s we were bang in the game and actually on top until last 15, as you say conditioning will come but in the other two games it was close, we could go back to the league games previous or previous qualifiers to show how close the two have been.

Thejoeshow (Meath) - Posts: 687 - 05/02/2020 13:22:03    2265350

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Replying To Thejoeshow:  "Horse Manure?

In Ballybofey we gave it away
In the league final we lost by 2 points
In Super 8s we were bang in the game and actually on top until last 15, as you say conditioning will come but in the other two games it was close, we could go back to the league games previous or previous qualifiers to show how close the two have been."
League final, Donegal were in complete control for the majority of the 2nd half, it was an eye opening experience for the lads, as mentioned by some afterwards to where they needed to get to.
The super 8 game, we dropped right off a cliff after 50 minutes.

Reality is we struggled in a lot of game in Div 2 last yr and scraped over the line in them games which was great to see, but we are probably seeing that lack of quality restricting us this yr on top of the injuries. We are not in the games after 50 minutes, the opposition put in a burst and they are out of sight.

juicy (Meath) - Posts: 402 - 05/02/2020 14:08:43    2265363

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Replying To juicy:  "League final, Donegal were in complete control for the majority of the 2nd half, it was an eye opening experience for the lads, as mentioned by some afterwards to where they needed to get to.
The super 8 game, we dropped right off a cliff after 50 minutes.

Reality is we struggled in a lot of game in Div 2 last yr and scraped over the line in them games which was great to see, but we are probably seeing that lack of quality restricting us this yr on top of the injuries. We are not in the games after 50 minutes, the opposition put in a burst and they are out of sight."
I'm not a blind optimist like some of the lads on here, but what games did we struggle and only scrape through in last year??? Right they lost to donegal and Kildare game was tight alright, and they will struggle in div 1 but 100% got there on merit
Beat tipp by 5
Beat Armagh by 6
Beat Clare by 5
Beat fermanagh by 7
Beat cork by 6
Beat kildare by 1

Hardly too many struggles there??

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 938 - 05/02/2020 20:25:39    2265501

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Replying To southmeathgael:  "I'm not a blind optimist like some of the lads on here, but what games did we struggle and only scrape through in last year??? Right they lost to donegal and Kildare game was tight alright, and they will struggle in div 1 but 100% got there on merit
Beat tipp by 5
Beat Armagh by 6
Beat Clare by 5
Beat fermanagh by 7
Beat cork by 6
Beat kildare by 1

Hardly too many struggles there??"
The Armagh Game required a late goal to prevent Armagh coming back from 10 points down at half time. Tipp game was level with 10 to go. The end result does always do justice to the game, good or bad. my point being is there was struggles to get across the line and fitness was put down as being the factor in the last 10 minutes of these games. maybe scrape was the wrong term but we never played any of the teams off the park. all the games were close with fitness winning out on our side

juicy (Meath) - Posts: 402 - 06/02/2020 11:56:32    2265643

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Replying To juicy:  "The Armagh Game required a late goal to prevent Armagh coming back from 10 points down at half time. Tipp game was level with 10 to go. The end result does always do justice to the game, good or bad. my point being is there was struggles to get across the line and fitness was put down as being the factor in the last 10 minutes of these games. maybe scrape was the wrong term but we never played any of the teams off the park. all the games were close with fitness winning out on our side"
Meath played with a gale force wind in the first half of the Armagh game and played against it in the second half, so it was extremely difficult to get the ball up the field, but they did so excellently in the last 5 minutes of the second half to secure the win after Armagh fought back with the wind advantage. I am convinced some Meath supporters prefer seeing Meath teams fail just so they can have a good moan. If they win a game its argued they didn't win comfortably enough for some peoples liking, then when they lose they are the labelled the worst team in the country. There is no middle ground at all with some people.

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 998 - 06/02/2020 14:30:45    2265686

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Replying To BigJoe14:  "Meath played with a gale force wind in the first half of the Armagh game and played against it in the second half, so it was extremely difficult to get the ball up the field, but they did so excellently in the last 5 minutes of the second half to secure the win after Armagh fought back with the wind advantage. I am convinced some Meath supporters prefer seeing Meath teams fail just so they can have a good moan. If they win a game its argued they didn't win comfortably enough for some peoples liking, then when they lose they are the labelled the worst team in the country. There is no middle ground at all with some people."
Meath are a handy side. They're not Division one material, that much should be absolutely obvious. They are however part of a large collective of sides consisting of Armagh, Cavan, Kildare, Clare, Tipp, Cork, Roscommon, Down, etc that are all within a few scores of each other and tussling it out for the position of 8th to 12th in the country any given year. This is a large group of counties spanning Division 2 and 3, which Meath emerged out of in last season's NFL. The management of McEntee and his coaching staff have delivered a very fit, conditioned, and athletic team. They also worked like dogs last year and won games very often against naturally better players by workrate and honesty. They also have a particular running playing style and a talent level in the top 15/20 players that got us over the line in last years league and a good run in the LSC and vs. Clare in the Rd.4 qualifier, however when injuries, squad shortcomings, and better opposition come into the fray, the work done, although very admirable, just comes up short and we look abysmal on the field, as our running style and weakened team simply cannot compete against the best sides who can easily negate our running game, flood midfield, know our kickouts are poor, and physically can push Meath off the ball. We also have no forward options at the minute who are reliable at the highest level to take their scores. Meath management have achieved a great thing by getting this particular squad to Division one, and we should acknowledge that but pointing out these issues in my view, isn't negativity like some lads on this think it is.

Too many of you never left the 90's lads. Times have changed.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 06/02/2020 15:11:49    2265702

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Replying To juicy:  "The Armagh Game required a late goal to prevent Armagh coming back from 10 points down at half time. Tipp game was level with 10 to go. The end result does always do justice to the game, good or bad. my point being is there was struggles to get across the line and fitness was put down as being the factor in the last 10 minutes of these games. maybe scrape was the wrong term but we never played any of the teams off the park. all the games were close with fitness winning out on our side"
Whatever happens this year, we are in this division on merit, simple as that.

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 938 - 06/02/2020 20:31:50    2265773

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Replying To Young_gael:  "Meath are a handy side. They're not Division one material, that much should be absolutely obvious. They are however part of a large collective of sides consisting of Armagh, Cavan, Kildare, Clare, Tipp, Cork, Roscommon, Down, etc that are all within a few scores of each other and tussling it out for the position of 8th to 12th in the country any given year. This is a large group of counties spanning Division 2 and 3, which Meath emerged out of in last season's NFL. The management of McEntee and his coaching staff have delivered a very fit, conditioned, and athletic team. They also worked like dogs last year and won games very often against naturally better players by workrate and honesty. They also have a particular running playing style and a talent level in the top 15/20 players that got us over the line in last years league and a good run in the LSC and vs. Clare in the Rd.4 qualifier, however when injuries, squad shortcomings, and better opposition come into the fray, the work done, although very admirable, just comes up short and we look abysmal on the field, as our running style and weakened team simply cannot compete against the best sides who can easily negate our running game, flood midfield, know our kickouts are poor, and physically can push Meath off the ball. We also have no forward options at the minute who are reliable at the highest level to take their scores. Meath management have achieved a great thing by getting this particular squad to Division one, and we should acknowledge that but pointing out these issues in my view, isn't negativity like some lads on this think it is.

Too many of you never left the 90's lads. Times have changed."
Hard to argue with any of that..... it's just a pity injuries have come when they have, as we really needed a full deck to even have a chance of being competitive..... and also denying lads like Walsh campion lavin the chance to test themselves at the top, as these are the lads that'll be there for years to come.

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 938 - 06/02/2020 20:34:57    2265774

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