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Indeed , I think at this stage it's clear to see he is our most influential player, and has really grown into the role. That is why I can't understand why some people are suggesting he be moved to a different position, our half back line has been the weakest line we had for nearly a decade it is now our strongest. I wouldn't change a thing.
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 19/02/2019 10:35:08 2166309 Link 0 |
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To me a key player is Mickey Newman. He is doing well at the frees and he took that penalty well the last day too. Admittedly he not the quickest player. But he been keeps the scored board ticking over and, got a excellent free against the wind too against Armagh, When we where under serious pressure. Also Menton is key now as well giving the shortage we have there also. bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 19/02/2019 15:42:14 2166391 Link 0 |
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Yes its 1994 since we won national league title. Back then the league started in October 1993 and ended in the spring of 1994. There was only 1 league final. All top 2 teams in 4 divisions played each other in 4 quater finals. I think the year the div 1 final, div 2 final , div 3 final etc started was in 2008. I am open to correction on that. Playing in divsion 1 is and always has been essential for a team achieving sucess. A few points to develop. 2 The best examples of counties to show the importance of league football is Meath and Mayo. Mayo are the county with longest unbroken run in div 1 currently. Longer then Dublin or kerry. Mayo have spent the last 23 years in div 1 unbroken, year after year. Mayo have played in 8 All Ireland senior finals in the last 23 years. Its linked. Meath have spent 18 of the last 21 years in div 2. Meath have spent 2 of the last 21 years in div 3. Meath have spent 1 of the last 21 years in div 1. Meath have played in 1 All Ireland final in last 18 years. Its linked. The county who has spent most time in div 2 in last 20 years is Meath. And our position in div 2 has been so consistent. Meath have finished 7 or 8 times 3rd in div 2 in the last 12 years they played in div 2. So Meath were in div 3 in 2013. But from 2004 to 2005 and from 2008 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2018. Meath spent in div 2. So in summary 7 or 8 of those 12 years Meath spent in div 2 we finished 3rd in div 2. Hopefully this year wouldnt be 8th or 9th time we finish 3rd in div 2 in over a decade. 3 Two other examples to show how league football was important in the past is Meath and kildare. Firstly Only kerry Dublin Cork and Mayo have more national league div 1 titles. Vast majority of league titles have been dominated by few counties. So many counties have had little or no sucess. Meath 7 national league division 1 titles is a very impressive haul. Look at these examples. Galway have won 4 league titles, there last win was nearly 40 years ago. Down have won 4 league titles, there last win was nearly 40 years ago. Tyrone have won 2 league titles, both won in early 00s. Offaly have won 1 national league div 1 title and that was in 1998. Donegal have won 1 national league div 1 title and that was in 2007. Armagh have won 1 national league div 1 title and that was in 2005. Cavan have won 1 national league division 1 title and hat was in late 1940s. Roscommon have won 1 national league div 1 title and that was late 1970s. Laois and Monaghan also have won 1 national league division 1 title apiece by winning their only titles in mid 80s. While counties like Kildare louth longford Westmeath Fermanagh Sligo Wexford Tippearey have never won a national league div 1 title. So Meaths haul of 7 titles is very impressive seen they were also won by so many different Meath teams. Meath have long rich div 1 tradition. Meath won their first national league div 1 title in 1930s and played in 4 national league div 1 finals in 1930s. Meath won titles in 30s 40s 50s 70s 80s and 90s. Its no coincidence we have won the exact same number of league titles as All Irelands. 4 For example let take Meath and kildare. Both football strongholds. Meath have won 7 national league div 1 titles from 1930s to 1990s. Meath won 7 All Ireland senior titles from 1930s to 1990s. Kildare have never won national league div 1 title. Kildare havent won senior All-Ireland since league football began in 1930s. Meath have played in 13 national league div 1 finals from 1930s to 1990s. Meath have played in 15 All-Ireland senior finals from 1930s to 2001. Kildare have played 3 national league div 1 final ( 1950s 1960s and 1990s ) in last 80 years. Kildare have played in 1 All Ireland senior final in last 80 years. Its all linked. 5 Only two teams have won Sam outside div 1 in last 30 years. Armagh were in div 2 when they won Sam in 2002. And Galway were I think in div 3 when they won Sam in 1998. They were not in div 1 in 1998 when they won Sam. The last team that played in All Ireland final from div 2 was Donegal in 2014. So its really easy to explain. Get promoted and stay in div 2 and sucess and follow. People question if Meath will win an All Ireland in next 10 or twenty years. Well if Meath or any county were stay in divsion 1 for 5 or 6 years provicial sucess and breaking into top 5 or 6 teams will happen. Stay a decade in div 1 and a county would be playing in All Ireland finals and be All Ireland contenders. Meath permanent residency in div 2 for near two decades has hampered Meath football greatly. So many players and teams were held back by playing div 2 football. Bad habits were continued year after year playing in div 2. Only by playing div 1 football regularly can a team be sucessful. It was the same 80 years, it was the same 40 years ago and its the same story now. PS Regards Meath win 94. That team.defeated Armagh playing some brillant football in 94 final. Boylan teams never got the credit they deserved for when Boylans Meath was on song there play was attacking exciting skilful football. 94 final was one of those example when under him Meath could blow away a team with brillant entertaining football. We never got credit for some of attacking performances of football we played in 80s and 90s. In 94 I believe we could have won Sam. There was lovely balance between old and new players. You had O Malley Coyle O Connell and Geraghty in defence. And you had Trevor Giles Colm O Rourke Tommy Dowd and Bernard Flynn in the forwards. We had much better forwards then Dublin in 1994. And only for an lucky goal for Dubs we would have beaten them in leinster in 94. We wud have had beaten Leitrim in semi-finals. And we would have had the forwards to really trouble Down in final. In 1994 we were in the top 4 or 5 teams in the country and we could have won Sam. Anyway thats just a sidenote. The fact is the sooner we get into div 1, the better. Promotion to div 1 would be massive boost for Meath football. And it could be a turning point. And I think like Galway ,Meath would adapt to div 1 better then people think. Performances v Donegal twice Tyrone Galway Dublin and Roscommon ( all pretty much div 1 team standard teams ) in the last two years show we wouldnt definitely be in awe of the Tyrones or Donegal s of this world. So promotion is so so SO SO important. I said at the start of the year I felt a gut feeling we wud get promoted. I did predict we would get promoted in at start of the league. A n d so far with 4 from 6 things r going to plan. But that doesnt mean I am worried about the league. We r so unpredictable, we could beat kildare and Fermanagh and then lose to Clare and Cork. If we win 3 of next 4 games. Win the next 3 games in a row and we will be promoted. Its not impossible. We have probaly played the best football in the div so far, but could lose to Cork. But my gut feeling has been we will be promoted. I hope that is the way it turns out. Our defence has been really good. And players like Campion have really improved the team. We have had very few under 21 players coming and making impact straight away in recent years. Campion and Devine are the first wave of new talented young Meath players to come thru in the next 4 to 5 years. Hopefully McEntee is in charge for the next couple of years. He is our best bet to suceed. And remember it takes time to turn around a county in doldrums. It took.Boylan 4 years twice, and it took McGee four years and Dwyer 5 years to turn around Meath Offaly and kildare. For me McEntee is only half way thru his job now. I expect we will see improvements this years. I never felt promotion or super 8 involvement was possible in year 1 or year 2. But in year 3 we sud see improvement and we r. Its in year 4 or 5 is when we should see a proper breaktbtough eg competing at div 1 or super 8 level. We r still 12 to 24 months away from that position. But we r definitely going in the right direction. But a victory Cork, something we havent achieved in league or championship since 1999 All Ireland final is another step on the road to div 1. Finally regards Midfield I think S McEntee and B Menton have done well. But they are really two wing backs playing in midfield. We havent had really strong midfield partnership since Gillespie and Meade in 2012 and 2013. And we havent had a top class midfielder since John McDermont retired in 2001. It has been a problem area for two decades. McEntee in two years had had 7 different partners for Menton. We have changed midfield every 3 or 4 games. Mentons partners have been Shane McEntee, Adam Flanagan, Paddy Kennelly, Harry Rooney, James Toher , Ronan Jones and Brian Conlon. Jones and Rooney for me our are best out and out midfielders. When Jones comes back next year from USA it will be massive boost. Every county in Ireland would have suffered if they lost midfielders the calibre of Conor Gillespie Conor Nash Shane O Rourke Harry Rooney and Ronan Jones . Imagine if we had all.those guys available and fit now . We wud be in div 1 and competing at super 8 level. Regards J McEntee. He has been our most improved Meath player in last 7 months. Injuries were a problem for him for years. And he found it hard to make impact at half forward. Moving back to wing back has been a masterstroke. It only happened after we lost to Cavan Tipp and Cork last year. But it has worked so well. In his last 8 league and championship matchs at wing back in 7 of them he has been contender for man of the match eg v Down and louth in league 2018 , Bynre cup final v Westmeath 2018 and Tyrone 2018. And also man of the match contender in Tipp Donegal and Armagh matchs 2019. He reminds me at times of Declan Meehan. Who also was a wing forward who excelled when moved back to wing back. All the top teams have quality wing backs. And with kane on the other wing and keoghan in the centre, that is the best Meath half back line in this decade. Leave the current 6 defenders in place for all the season. Our defence hasnt looked as good in years. This is a massive area of improvement. The forwards is a problem. We have good quality forwards. But we lack a target man. Newman has been really good this year and is a quality forward. Someone like Shane Walsh from our under 20s team last year would be player that could be a possible full forward in the future. He concentrating on his studies this year but in the future he is an excellent prospect. Meath football has always had a target man eg Noel Curran in 60s , O Rourke in 80s , Dowd and Reilly in 90s and Geraghty in 00s. However players like Campion and Devine have been excellent addition to our forwards. A target man is still an area we need. We could do with a Comer from Galway. He would a perfect buy for us if there was imaginary gaa transfer system. PS Has anyone any news on Alan Forde. I think he is a quality wing forward that would be a great addition to the team. A fit Alan Forde for me would start at wing forward in every Meath team. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 19/02/2019 16:27:58 2166400 Link 15 |
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Furlong back in 1997-1998 they rearranged the leagues so their was no Division 1 to Division 4. Instead it was called Group A to Group D. Galway was in Group A. The top two in each group went in to Division 1 for 1998-1999, third, fourth went in to Division 2 and so on. Galway finished top of their group so they were playing Division 1 IN 1998-1999. Offaly won their first and only league title when beating Derry in the final in the 1997-1998 season.
OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 19/02/2019 17:50:16 2166415 Link 0 |
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Completly agree. he is the type of player every team needs, has ability and attitude required to play in any position. Leads by example. Would be a big loss so hopefully we see him line out Saturday night.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2149 - 19/02/2019 18:53:13 2166427 Link 15 |
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Thats correct Ollie. Its one of the years the GAA had a brainwave to draw up the groups. But Galway were actually and should have been div 3 team in 1998. Let me explain. Galway were relegated from div 2 in 1995. Galway finished 4th in div 3 in 1996 Galway finished 5th in divsion 3 in 1997. So Galway were technically a division 3 team in 1998. As they were in divsion 3 the year beforehand and did not get promoted. In any other year pretty much Galway would have been in div 3 in the 1998 league campaign. But as you said the gaa broke the country into 4 groups in 1998. And the groups made feck all sense. So in 1998 in group A which you could call division 1 was Galway but also Carlow and kilkenny footballers were in group A , div 1 for that season. In 1998 in group C , which u could call division 3 was Dublin and kerry. So yes Galway were in group A with kilkenny footballers in 1998. But if you look at the year before they failed to get promoted from div 3. If the GAA didnt rearrange the leagues in a sort of all.over the place which meant kilkenny footballers were in top division, Galway in any other year wud have been a division 3 team in 1998. They werent a div 3 team coz there was no division 3 and GAA just tore up all the promotions and relegations of 1997 league season and it meant a div 3 team like Galway were in group A with kilkenny and the Dubs were in group C. So thats why I said Galway were in div 3 in 1998. They werent. But they were kind of or should have been a div 3 team in 1998. I hope that makes sense. Its fecking confusing. And 1998 was one of the years GAA messed around with the league. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 19/02/2019 19:20:47 2166436 Link 16 |
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Fair play furlong I love reading your posts the Jimmy Magee of meath, keep up the good work Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 666 - 19/02/2019 20:55:57 2166452 Link 3 |
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Thanks Royal.legend. I appreciate it.
Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 19/02/2019 21:06:56 2166457 Link 14 |
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Aren't they just magnificent, I sometimes can't get the exact date or something and rather than go looking it up I await furlong to clarify it, also got to give a shout-out to our wee man Ollie another encyclopedia of gaa knowledge, honestly lads you should get together and write a book , as you have in-depth knowledge of the game no pundits have.
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 19/02/2019 21:54:51 2166468 Link 1 |
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That's very true Furlong. In the 1990's the league were rearranged a few times. Actually in the 1996-1997 season Louth finished second in Division two and they would of been promoted to Division one for the first time since 1971 only for the leagues to be rearranged.
OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 19/02/2019 22:57:54 2166474 Link 1 |
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Royaldunne thank you for the kind words and you are right about Furlong. He has some knowledge on GAA and I love reading his posts. What part of the Royal County is Furlong from? If he is anywhere near Drawda he could pop in to the Bull and have a pint of stout with me. And of course Royaldunne you are more than welcome to join in.
OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 19/02/2019 23:01:31 2166477 Link 2 |
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Thanks Royaldunne I appreciate it. When I go off on one of my long winded messages I always hope I make sense as I have tendency to cover 16 points in 1 paragraph. Thanks for the comments. Regards Ollie he knows his stuff. A great louth supporter. And always fair towards Meath. Just a short point ( which means 16 paragraphs). I think Nally has been a great appointment. The role of a coach has increased dramatically in recent years. Galvin is manager , Sherlock is coach. Eamon Fitz Maurice had Cian O Neill as coach. Donie Buckley has been coach for kerry then Mayo and back to kerry again this year. Tony McEntee has been coach to Mayo in 2016 and 2017. Lally was coach for Galway last year when they had their best year since 18 years. He was also Tyrone coach when they won Sam in 03. Harte has always being manager with lally coach in 03 and Donnelly coach in 05 and 08. And Stephen O Neill is currently coaching Tyone. Look at hurling limerick coach last year who coached limerick to Liam , he was coaching Clare when they won All Ireland in 2013. All the top teams have quality coachs. Sean Boylan and Mick Dwyer were man managers. They werent really coachs. Boylan was man manager genius. But he did very few tactics. The same with Dwyer . Susposedly this year Andy has done allot of one to one talking with players. Im not certain but I d say Nally has done most of coaching. Nally does seem.to be out and out coach. We have being falling between two stools in recent years with a possession and kicking game. This year we look much more direct attacking. The key now is to keep Nally. There are very few quality coachs in thr country. If u find one u need to keep him. And while coachs don't always make good managers. If Meath were to make real progress over the next few year under McEntee and Nally , Nally as a future Meath manager is a runner. It seems to me he cud one best coachs in leinster. And if Meath progress in next few years with Nally aboard Nallys reputation will sore. Look at how Donie Buckley is so highly thought of. As I said if we get promotion and keep improving over this year and next year. It is essential to keep Nally part of the set up. Rodgers also seems to be great choice. Our kickout strategy and breaking ball has improved this year. We are far from the finished article, but we r going in the right direction and we are seen real progress and real improvement. Promotion this spring could be pivotal. For me the three most important things for Meath football this year are the seniors to gain promotion. The minors to win leinster. And the under 20s to at least reach leinster final and then hopefully go on to win leinster. The minor and under 20 leinster championship are so important . We should be winning another minor title seen our players won Gerry Reilly cup and Dublin minors were in recent months annihilated by kerry. Of course you never know with young lads. But it those seem we have strong minor team this year And with players with leinster minor medals in their pocket , we should definately sud be contenders at under 20. As I said I know u never know with young lads. But we need a under 20 title so badly. We need to start to see provicial sucess at under 20 titles soon. To build on our minor sucess. For the seniors. Carlow will be tricky. But it does seem to me we cud looking at Meath v laois leinster semi final. Laois are our bogey team. And our flying at the moment. Winning game after game in last 2 years and I expect to see them in div 2 next year. That cud be a massive game. But we should beat Offaly. Carlow cud be another longford but if we continue our early season form we wud be capable of beating Carlow. But whoever win v Laois and Westmeath I think that will our big game in championship. Win and we r in leinster final for the first time in 5 years and reach leinster final we r one win away from super 8. My gut feeling is we will.win promtion reach leinster final but be beaten in back door. Overall that wouldnt be a bad season. Under Super 8 format , a young up and coming team cud be destroyed by playing possibly three top division 1 teams in 1 month. look at what happened to Roscommon last year. Reaching the super 8 next year after hopefully a spring in division 1 wud be the ideal preparation for super 8. But still if we got to Super 8 and won promotion I think we wud all agree that wud be a great season and a huge improvement. Beating Cork is so important. Cork always up their game v Meath. They never forgave for beaten them in 4 All-Ireland finals in 50 years. We were their bogey team up to 2000. But since 2000 as far as I can see we have failed to beat them. There was 2007 semi final. Two league game recently. There was at least two league games in 00s which were all.Cork wins. And even in 99 they defeated us in national league div 1 semi final when in the worst game I ever saw Cork beat Meath by 0-6 to 0-3. By the end of the year both teams were in an All Ireland semi final. If the score is Meath 0-2 Cork 0-1 on Saturday I wouldnt really care. The result is paramount. But if Cork again are not firing on all.cyclinders then Meath should make sure to go full throttle and really hit Cork early and make sure their confidence stays low. A big Meath win could be a possibility. A Meath loss cud also happen. But if we r improving and Cork are in disarray we should really go for a comprehensive Meath win. I hope that doesnt jinx us and I wud take 1 point win. But this is what a team that whats to play in Division 1 wud do to Cork. Look at what Kerry Tyrone and Clare have done to Cork recently. If we see something like that from Meath it would set us up for basically a promotion decider in Navan versus the old rivals kildare. Whoever wins that cud have one foot in div 1. We r improving and going in right direction. But we need to finish the league the way we started it. If we do we have a mighty chance of promotion. Heres hoping Dublin will be Navan and we will be going to Castlebar and Tralee and Clones next spring. That would be brilliant for this young team. And for the Meath supporters. I can safely say without a doubt everyone here would agree with this. Meath football is sick to the teeth of division 2 football. 1 year in divsion 1 you wud learn more about ur team and ur players wud learn more in 1 year in.divsion one then ten years in division 2. Hopefully the 13 year long wait since we were promoted to div 1 and 21 year long wait since we played in 8 team division 1 is nearly at an end. Meath Division 2 champions 2019. I would celebrate that. We all.wud. Heres hoping it will become reality. It is 20 years since we won a national title. The year 9 is always good one for Meath. All Ireland champions in 1949 and 99. And our last All Ireland semi final was in 2009. Hopefully 2019 will be another great year for Meath football with the number ending with 9. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 19/02/2019 23:45:53 2166480 Link 15 |
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Thanks Ollie. I appreciate it. Regards Louth in 96 97 topping div 1. Louth had an excellent team in 90s. Reached was it 5 or 6 leinster semi finals in a row. Defeated kildare with Micko in his first championship game in charge after kildare reached league final in 92 . louth were unlucky not to beat Dublin in 90s only for Joe McNally goal. And were so close to beating Meath in 98 leinster championship only for the brilliance of Tommy Dowd. In any other era that louth team would have reached a couple of leinster finals and would have won Delaney cup with players of the calibre of Seamus O Hanlon and Stefan White. It was the most competitive leinster championship in history when Dublin Meath kildare Offaly laois and Westmeath won leinster titles in basically 8 years ( 1996 to 2004 ). I have links to many areas to Meath. But I would be closest to Dunboyne area. Even tbough its not my original Meath local club. Yes definitely I would be interested in meeting The legendary Ollie from an Lu and the great Royaldunne for a few scoops sometime in the future. Just at the moment life is bit hectic at the moment as I am responsible for two sick elderly parents at the moment. That curtails allot of my activities. But sometime in the future Ollie I will take u up on your kind offer. Your gentleman. Meath football is my greatest passion. I grew up in 80s and 90s and if u did it give u such strong passion and identity following Meath. It was us against 31 counties and the media and the GAA. We wud go to battle as a county with 15 players on the field and 10000s in the stands. U wud see Meath men do extraordinary things with in credible passion. That was an inspiration for ones life outside sport. That whatever situation u r in. Never give up. I was there at the 4 games in 91 and two games v Mayo in 96. Still hairs stand up on the back of the neck thinking of it . Of course I definitely talk about past to much. Thats because in this decade it has being tough time for Meath football. But hopefully we r on the way back. The GAA needs a strong Meath. For even the detractors of Meath football would admit Meath football has unique traits that makes us a county stand alone . A county bordering 7 counties, 2 proviences and the capital. No football counties has as much rivals on its doorsteps. It meant wherever u were in Meath u had a rival to compete with. In the south u had kildare. To the west u had Midlands counties of Westmeath and Offaly. To north u had Louth and the whole provience of Ulster bearing down on Meath, cheifly Cavan and part of Monaghan and of course the metropolis of Dublin encroaching from the east. It meant when Meath players got out of the provience these great battles with neighbouring counties meant Meath footballers were battle harden and ready for kerry Corks Galways Mayos and Tyrones. Great battle with louth and Cavan in 40s and 50s. Great battles with Offaly in 60s and 70s. Great battles with kildare in 90s 00s . Great battles of course with Dublin in 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s and 00s. Those rivalies were the making of Meath football . Because thats were Meath football fighting spirit came from . To be a sucessful Mesth team u had to beat neighbouring counties like Dublin kildare louth Westmeath Cavan who would go through brick walls at the sight of a Meath man on a football field..And when Meath sometime cane out on top of these local battles eg Louth in late 40s Offaly in 1970 Kildare in 98 Dublin 49 64 86 96 01 10. It meant after going to war v the neighbours in great local derby battles..After these battles Meath footballers were ready for any county or any situation. Slane Castle or hill of Tara or not ancient historical sites..They are fortresses that Meath footballers have always defended to the end.. And while I do go on about the past and anyone who criticises me for that has a fair point. We need to forget the old guff about the past and concentrate about present and future and anyone who says that to me , they have fair point. But in my opinion until our young players understand the identity the traditions and find that inner stubborn arrogant thick pure never say die Meathness. Until they find those inner fighting qualities which I believe are in all great Meath footballers , until they tap into that we will falter. When u think in a modern way with modern training techniques philosophies and atitudes u will be sucessful. But u also need that feeling in your gut ,that separated us from the rest in the past. That feeling of being never beaten it doesnt how long left or how much u r losing by. If u never give up , u never really lose. Our young players need to be modern footballers with all the modern traits but they need to stand on the shoulders or past gaints and realise Meath football is not a hobby is not pastime its everything good and great in our county. It is our greatest achievement as a county . Meath gaelic football is our counties greatest achievement. Its for another generation to carry on the legacy the values the fighting spiirt of 49 54 67 87 88 96 99 and create their own legacy and create their own history. I believe our best days Meaths most sucessful days are ahead. Why ? Why not. Our county is getting are act together at underage. There is a growing population we need to tap into. We have great volunteers and coachs on the ground. And we have great clubs from Clonard to kilmainhamwood from Senechalstown to Rataoth and every club in between. Dublin raise the game , we have always seen that as a challenge to rise to , we always rise to Dublin domination and eventually the Dubs will be dethroned . We can do it again. Why not. Theres nothing stopped us. Just hard work dedication determination skill and 15 Meath ready to fight to bitter end on a football.field. Back in the day the toughest opponent on a gaa field was a Meath footballer. I hope to see days like that again. When I see players like Daragh Campion playing like a proper Skyrne Meath footballer following in the footsteps of great skyrne Meath footballers like Paddy O Brien Colm O Rourke Trevor Giles John McDermont and Liam Hayes. I know there is a bright future for Meath football. And the future has to be written and while a sucessful future is not guranted, it is not impossible eitheir , as long as you have 15 Meath men from every part of county from clubs like Nobber and Kilbride and Dunshaughlin and Summerhill and Trim and kells and Carnaross and Asbbourne and Ballinlough and Moyvalvey and kilmainhamwood and every club in between , when you have young men from these areas , the impossible might just become possible. It depends if u think Meath football or sportspeople or special and have unique traits. I was watching Tv tonight and the greatest sports man I saw was not an Argentine called Messi or Brazilian called Firmono or Eyytian called Salah or Spaniard called Thiago. The greatest sportsperson I saw on TV tonight was a Meath man called Gordon Elliot. Its still in us as county. We can produce Devin Toners Robbie Powers and Gordon Elliots. Surely if we can produce great sportsmen of that calibre, surely out there somewhere now or next year or in ten year or in twenty years time there is another Jack Quinn another Paddy O Brien, another Trevor Giles ,another Colm O Rourke and another Peter McDermont and maybe even another Sean Boylan. Maybe our best days as a county are ahead of us. Why not. A Meath gaa story. Its the summer of 1964 Meath are playing Dublin in a leinster final. Meath havent beaten Dublin in a decade. Dublin are reigning All Ireland champions. Dublin r seen as a team that will dominate leinster football for a decade or more and along with Down wil dominate the GAA decade. There are three Quinn brothers from Kilbride on the Meath team. The Quinn father is not well. The Quinn brothers feel it would inappropriate to play leinster final as there fathers sickness worsens. Their father tells them go out and play Dublin in leinster final. So the three brother head to Croker on a scorching hot summers days as Meath team who r complete underdogs v All Ireland champions Dublin. The three brothers not only go on to v Dublin to play in a leinster final ,they perform on a Meath team that produces the greatest performance v Dublin in leinster final then or since. Meath are leinster champions and will be All Ireland champions in 3 years. Dublin are sent to the football.wilderness for ten years until they win leinster again in 1974. The Quinn brothers brought back the leinster trophy to their ailing father. They showed him the cup. He passed away the following week. Meath football meant so much to people in the past and still.does. All it takes is one victory and everything can change for the better. An Mhi Abu. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 20/02/2019 01:17:48 2166484 Link 15 |
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In the 1990's louth reached six Leinster semi-finals. That was the most Leinster semi-finals that the Wee County had reached since the glory days of the 1950's. They lost out to Laois after a replay in 1991, the Dubs in 1992, 1994 and 1996, Offaly in 1997 and in Meath in 1998. You are right Furlong. That was a missed opportunity for Louth to reach not only to reach a Leinster final but to win one. Two matches stick out for me that wee missed the boat. The first match against Laois in 1991. Laois won the replay. This was the infamous match when there was a big brawl and both teams were giving big fines. Louth and Laois build up a little bit of a rivalry in the early 1990's. Louth beat the O'Moore County in 1992 while Laois beat the Wee County in 1993. The other match was when Offaly beat Louth in 1997. Ironically if Louth had won both of their matches they would of played Meath in the Leinster finals. After the 1990's I never thought that I see Louth reach a Leinster final so when the great Paddy Keenan inspired Louth to their first Leinster final appearance in 50 years , I am not ashamed to say it that I had a few tears in my eyes that after years of semi-finals heartbreaks that Louth finally reached the promised land. OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 20/02/2019 12:49:04 2166537 Link 0 |
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Jasus I'd take you up on that anytime
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 20/02/2019 13:56:50 2166565 Link 0 |
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is this a trip down memory lane here or we dealing with present matters. My god sam1996 (Meath) - Posts: 436 - 20/02/2019 14:07:12 2166569 Link 3 |
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Very funny coming from someone that calls themselves sam1996
Royal.Legend (Meath) - Posts: 666 - 20/02/2019 14:49:32 2166578 Link 0 |
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Sam my old flower to understand the present you have to look at the past.
OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 20/02/2019 14:53:16 2166580 Link 1 |
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Good man Royaldunne. Keep her lite.
OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 20/02/2019 14:54:02 2166581 Link 0 |
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Ollie did have a very good team in 90s. Only for McNally goal v Dubs , Dowds brillance in 98 and Geraghty moment of magic in 02 , there r three games Louth came so close to beating Dublin and Meath. Louth have always had really good footballers. Great players like Seamus O Hanlon Stefan White Brian Keenan JP Rooney Colin Kelly. When I talk about Meath unique traits and characteristics Im sure people say here he goes again. But every county has unique characteristics and traits , there own traditions and great teams and players. Louth also have unique identity as a county. Like Meath louths identify was built around a great era. Meaths is built around 80s and 90s. Louth was built around the great louth teams of 40s and 50s. The golden age of leinster football when Meath Dublin louth kildare Wexford Laois Carlow all won leinster titles and Meath Dublin and louth won Sam. Meath v louth rivalry in late 40s is one great leinster rivalries when you had two All Ireland contenders on each other borders. Only the kildare v Dublin rivalry of 1920s , Dublin v Offaly rivalry of early 80s , Meath v Dublin rivalries of 80s and 90s , and Meath v kildare rivalries of late 90s would have come close to louth v Meath in late 40s and 50s. Also Cavan had a great team also. It meant in that period Meath louth and Cavan were three All Ireland contenders on each others border. Of course Louth greatest moment wud come in 57. One of the great leinster teams , Louth the smallest county beat Cork largest county. To this day that team is loved and talked about in such high esteem in louth. Those men are the standard bearers of louth football. Louths greatest team. And one of the greatest All Ireland wins by any leinster team.Louth of course like Meath has counties bordering it from two proviences , Ulster and leinster. This gives both counties unique characteristics that other leinster counties dont have. In terms of the future I think both counties can look forward to a positive future. GAA have invested in Meath louth kildare and Wicklow in east GAA project in last 6 months . In response to Dublins sucess. I think all 4 counties are receiving 300000 to 400000 euros and 25 full time coachs are being spilt between 4 counties. It doesnt seem much compared to the 50 to 60 full time coachs the Dubs have had for 15 years. It still will greatly help all the above counties. The 25 new full time coachs began work in last 6 months so in the coming years this will help. With a growing population in all the above eastern counties the gaa need to focus on these counties. I always felt GAA should do more for county louth which has strong gaa tradition great clubs and great gaa folk. Of course soccer is very strong louth with Dundalk town and Drogheda Utd and Steve Stauton Gary kelly Ian Harte etc. But that can be good thing if louth GAA could tap into Dundalks winning mentality. I am in the minority but I believe we will see more competitive leinster championship in years to come. I know that seems unlikely now. But the only time we had teams dominating GAA in hurling and football, the following period was very competitive. Kerry dominated football for 11 years along with Dublin. In 12 years Dublin and kerry won 11 All Irelands. In the following 12 years 1986 to 1998 8 different counties won Sam in 12 years. In hurling kilkenny were dominating hurling for years. Kilkenny and Tippearey dominated hurling from 2006 to early part of this decade. Yet Clare Galway and limerick have won liam in last 6 years, this was unthinkable 10 years ago. So after kilkenny and kerry dominated hurling and football you had very competitive periods. In hurling now you have potentialy 8 contenders for an All Ireland . 10 years ago you had two. In 70s and early 80s you had two contenders for Sam. Ten years later in 90s you had 8 to 10 contenders every year. When a team dominates in the past it forces other counties to up their game. Dublin dominance has forced counties to up their game. And things like fulll time coachs on the ground in Meath and louth will definitely help football in both counties . And i expect that Meath louth kildare and Wicklow will be much stronger in next 10 to 15 years. And wouldn't be great if days of 40s and 50s happened again where Meath and louth were the two best teams in leinster and a Meath and louth championship match would decide the leinster championship . Wouldn't be great if that happened again. Heres hoping. The Dubs cannot keep dominanting forver. All counties r upping their game on the ground. This is a positive outcome. Hopefully it leads to more competitive leinster championship in 10 years time. If it doesn't, there will be no leinster championship in 10 years time. Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 20/02/2019 14:54:16 2166582 Link 15 |