McHugh stands by "Meath gone soft" statement
May 23, 2012
Has Meath football gone "soft"
As the underperforming Royals approach Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final against Wicklow with a degree of trepidation, McHugh has accused the former Leinster giants of standing still since their stunning 15-point demolition of Kerry in the 2001 All-Ireland semi-final, and also claims the Celtic Tiger has been responsible for taking some of the hard edge off their footballers.
"Kerry have gone on to win four All-Ireland titles (since 2001), while Meath have won a single Leinster crown. The Royals, in the intervening years, have stood still waiting for it to happen," the former Donegal star writes.
"They didn't go with the times and for a while, neither did Kerry. The first thing that Jack O'Connor did when he took over from Paidi (O Se) was look at how the Ulster teams were playing, and he got coaching manuals from the Ulster Council.
"Meath kept thinking they could thump big, long, ball into the full forward line, but football has changed. And people would question whether Sean Boylan stayed on for too long at the helm.
"I said during the league that Meath had gone soft compared to the days of Mickey Lyons and Liam Harnan, and not one Meath person I've met since has disagreed with me. Meath is one of the wealthiest counties in Ireland, but I feel the Celtic Tiger left them vulnerable and turned them soft. The same manual labours on farms weren't being done and that tough breed of player disappeared."
He continued: "I think the man who should definitely take over Meath is Gerry McEntee, as he'd unite the whole county and put pride back in the Meath jersey. But it's a long road to catch up with Kerry and get back to the heady days of 2001." Tweet
