Replying To Furlong1949:  "Your 100% right. Ziggy. Two points
1 Kildare are our Bogey team full stop. We have a bit of a Kildare problem. Look at our championship record v every other team in leinster it's really good. I know we have a bad recent record v the Dubs. But overall our record v Dubs is the best in the country. Our record v teams outside the province is real good. Mayo Corks we arw their bogey team in the championship and good record v Kerry. Kildare, we underestimate. We think it's all Dublin. But it's Kildare that have emerged in laat 20 years or more as county we find hard to beat. In the last 50 years they have beaten us 8 times. After Dublin that is the best record any team has . Laois are next with 3 wins.

We need to improve our record v kildare first before Dublin at senior. This year's game will be the first of a few meetings in the next few years in the championship between both of these young teams. Kildare do seem to have the basis of a quality team. As long they don't get another 15, 20 point hammering on Sunday. They look like a serious team. But at minor and under 21 year, Kildare have beaten us over and over in recent years. As well as Dublin.

Dublin will continue to produce good underage teams. But so far in this decade they have produced brillant underage teams . If you look at record in the lower grades. The gap has closed and Meath are beaten Dublin consistently. Kildare might dip at underage. Which is natural.

Meath have an opportunity and other counties eg louth8e Laois Westmeath have a chance in the next few years And looking at our record at under 14 15 etc. We should do well at the new minor and u20 level. But if we don't questions needed to be asked. In the last two years we had two good minor teams with allot of potential. However neither got to even a leinster final . We have got to get our work done at underage to turn into silverware in the next few years. If not serious questions have to be asked.

One thing also . I cannot understand why more of the 90s team have not been used more at underage level. Barry Callaghan has had both minor and under 21 jobs. No real sucess other then 1 hammering v Dublin. But why is someone like Graham Geraghty not been involved at minor and under 21 level. He had managed at different levels. Was a Meath selector. In any other county someone Geraghty would be singled out and brought in. Look how Peter Cavanan Brian Dooher and Lohan are in charge of Tyrone under 21 team. And Darra O Se was Kerry under 21 manager. And Dessie Farrell was minor and under 21 manager. When Jim Galvin leaves Dessie Farrell is ready to take over. When Mickey Harte leaves, Lohan management team will probaly take over. Other counties have sucession plans in place. Jim Galvin and Jimmy McGuiness were under 21 managers first before senior . Why are people like Gerathy Seamis Kenny Anthony Moyes not been made our under 17 and and under 20 manager. Imagine if we were playing Dublin at under 20 next year. And Graham Geraghty was manager. Thats what we need to do. We need to do what other counties are doing."

Replying To GGdub:  ".all meath fans think they've a god given right to eat off the top table just because there meath.living on past glory is the meath mans way.blame everyone else for falling short..all they do on here is talk about big bad dublin getting everything and poor meath gets nothing.its not the premier league lads' we aint buying our players..even if you were given 50million euro 'it wouldnt make a difference. you would never be at dublins level"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Your 100% right. Ziggy. Two points
1 Kildare are our Bogey team full stop. We have a bit of a Kildare problem. Look at our championship record v every other team in leinster it's really good. I know we have a bad recent record v the Dubs. But overall our record v Dubs is the best in the country. Our record v teams outside the province is real good. Mayo Corks we arw their bogey team in the championship and good record v Kerry. Kildare, we underestimate. We think it's all Dublin. But it's Kildare that have emerged in laat 20 years or more as county we find hard to beat. In the last 50 years they have beaten us 8 times. After Dublin that is the best record any team has . Laois are next with 3 wins.

We need to improve our record v kildare first before Dublin at senior. This year's game will be the first of a few meetings in the next few years in the championship between both of these young teams. Kildare do seem to have the basis of a quality team. As long they don't get another 15, 20 point hammering on Sunday. They look like a serious team. But at minor and under 21 year, Kildare have beaten us over and over in recent years. As well as Dublin.

Dublin will continue to produce good underage teams. But so far in this decade they have produced brillant underage teams . If you look at record in the lower grades. The gap has closed and Meath are beaten Dublin consistently. Kildare might dip at underage. Which is natural.

Meath have an opportunity and other counties eg louth8e Laois Westmeath have a chance in the next few years And looking at our record at under 14 15 etc. We should do well at the new minor and u20 level. But if we don't questions needed to be asked. In the last two years we had two good minor teams with allot of potential. However neither got to even a leinster final . We have got to get our work done at underage to turn into silverware in the next few years. If not serious questions have to be asked.

One thing also . I cannot understand why more of the 90s team have not been used more at underage level. Barry Callaghan has had both minor and under 21 jobs. No real sucess other then 1 hammering v Dublin. But why is someone like Graham Geraghty not been involved at minor and under 21 level. He had managed at different levels. Was a Meath selector. In any other county someone Geraghty would be singled out and brought in. Look how Peter Cavanan Brian Dooher and Lohan are in charge of Tyrone under 21 team. And Darra O Se was Kerry under 21 manager. And Dessie Farrell was minor and under 21 manager. When Jim Galvin leaves Dessie Farrell is ready to take over. When Mickey Harte leaves, Lohan management team will probaly take over. Other counties have sucession plans in place. Jim Galvin and Jimmy McGuiness were under 21 managers first before senior . Why are people like Gerathy Seamis Kenny Anthony Moyes not been made our under 17 and and under 20 manager. Imagine if we were playing Dublin at under 20 next year. And Graham Geraghty was manager. Thats what we need to do. We need to do what other counties are doing."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "The fact is to say Meath have had no underage sucess is factually wrong. It is an 100% incorrect statement. Meath have had underage sucess in the traditional sense.
Firstly yes Meaths record at under 21 is appalling. We have not won 1 leinster under 21 title in 16 years . We have only played in 1 leinster final under 21 in 16 years. We have not played in a senior final in 16 years. It's linked . In the 90s we won 4 under 21 leinster titles. Our minor record is better. In the last 16 years we have reached 2 minor All Ireland finals. After Dublin we are the only leinster county to reach minir final in 14 years.
Yes Kildare and Dublin are stronger at minor and under 21 level in recent years. And even though Kildare won a couple of leinster titles?
they still did not reach a final like we did in 2012. Kildare have never won a minor All Ireland title. But yes they are much ahead of Meath in the provience at minor and particularly under 21 level.

Meath have not had a group of titles or sucess like Cavan and Roscommon footballers and Clare hurlers have had recently at underage level. We need to. But we haven't. But in the traditional sense we have had underage sucess.
I
n that we reached the 2012 All Ireland minor final. Which is the only leinster team outside Dublin to reach All Ireland minor final in 14 years. You have to go back to 2003 when Laois reached the All Ireland for a leinster to team other then Dublin reached a final.

So we have produced one of the best minor teams to come out of leinster in 15 years. Yes they were beaten twice by Dublin. But that Dublin team is their only win 30 years or so. And is the best minor Dublin team ever. And one of the best I ever seen. And the one of the advantages they had over that small light young Meath team. Was their physique . That Dublin team size, so many of them were built like seniors. But that was a sucessful Meath minor team. They defeated very highly fancied Mayo and Tyrone teams. Tyrone were seen as been very strong that year. And some where saying they were the best Tyrone minor team since the great minor Tyrone team that backboned the Tyrone team of the noughties. And many of those Tyrone minors would lead Tyrone to under 21 sucess a year or two later. Mayo also had a very strong minor team in 12. And thoSe Mayo minors would win under 21 title in a year or two.
While 8 or 9 of that Meath minor team have played senior for Meath. And at least 5 of that minor will be the backbone of the Meath senior team for the next 5 or 6 years . The manager of that minor team is now senor manager.
Yes Meath have not had a cluster of title eg Roscommon. But we have had a sucessful underage team. And in the past that is how you obtained sucess. The 1999 Cork hurling team was backboned by the under 21 1998 winners.
1997 Kerry All Ireland winning team was backboned by the 1995 under 21 winning team and manager. 1996 Meath winning All Ireland team was backboned by 7 under 21s from.the same years leinster under 21 winning team. While the 1998 All Ireland Galway winning team was built on a Galway minor team that reached minor final in the 90s While the Armagh 2002 winning team had many players that came from 1992 All Ireland finalis the minor eg McGeeney.
So yes Meath have had some underage sucess. To say they haven't is wrong. But we need much more to facedown Dublin and Kildare."

Replying To Ulsterman:  "I would have thought that with such a large amount of people now living in the Dublin commuter belt in Meath that the county would have benefited from a bigger, younger playing element in their clubs? Has there not been an upside to this. Gaelic football, especially Leinster, really needs a county with such a strong tradition and record like Meath. I always liked them, I think Ulster teams learnt from the great Meath 80's and 90's sides."

Replying To oldsam_newsam:  "I am not from a border town with Dublin but I note a post earlier from a meath man in a border club saying that very few of the new residents in his town have joined the club. I would have thought that people will get involved when they have kids coming up but, perhaps, Dub parents that are close to the border and work in Dublin find it just as easy and preferable in some ways to bring their sons to play in Dublin - especially if they are good."

Replying To Ulsterman:  "I would have thought that with such a large amount of people now living in the Dublin commuter belt in Meath that the county would have benefited from a bigger, younger playing element in their clubs? Has there not been an upside to this. Gaelic football, especially Leinster, really needs a county with such a strong tradition and record like Meath. I always liked them, I think Ulster teams learnt from the great Meath 80's and 90's sides."

Replying To ziggy32001:  "in fairness seamus kenny is one of the guys leading the charge with the underage. he is overseeing the structures itself. jamie queeney,paddy reynolds(minors last year and u20's now) are involved too. also martin o'connell is with the u17's and fay was involved at one point. structures are now there we just need to see results now.."

Replying To jonno:  "What a load of nonsense. Kildare have won 3 of the last 4 Leinster minor titles you dilute this to a 'couple', and Meath have had one of the best minor teams in Leinster for the past 15 years even though they won nothing. Success in a 'traditional sense' means winning, in your Meath mentality there is a different type of success- good luck with it. Nonsense!"

Replying To GGdub:  ".all meath fans think they've a god given right to eat off the top table just because there meath.living on past glory is the meath mans way.blame everyone else for falling short..all they do on here is talk about big bad dublin getting everything and poor meath gets nothing.its not the premier league lads' we aint buying our players..even if you were given 50million euro 'it wouldnt make a difference. you would never be at dublins level"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Well firstly
1 I don't think most Meath supporters don't belive we have a God given right to sucess. I think that is unfair and uncalled for.
2 We do have a proud tradition and great gra for gaelic football. For tens of thousands of people in the county we are very proud of our counties achievements and it gives us strong sense of identity and pride. That will be passed on from one generation of Meath folk to another. The fire inside Meath people to topple Dublin from their perch will continue throughout the rest of this decade into 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s and long after we all gone. We might not always beat Dublin. But we will always try and do our best to beat the Dubs
3 Dublin have had allot of financial aid assistance whatever you what to call it. To say not would be a lie,a denial of facts. I have to say most Meath supporters have not criticised Dublin over their financial windfall in recent years. Most Meath supporters would say it is problems in our own county that have led to our stagnation. Until we sort our own problems we are going nowhere fast
4 One of the reasons Dublins sucess along with financial favouritism has been the volunteering work done at clubs especially in the south of the county. If you travel through south Dublin on Saturday morning club after club with volunteers are our training the next Dublin future all stars.
The growth in south Dublin in recent years had had a massive role to play in Dublins sucess. People talk about Meath and migration. But actually the single biggest example of migration assisting sucess is in Dublin recently.
David McWilliams. Yes David McWilliams. Wrote an excellent article in the indo the day after Cuala won club final. It was one of the best articles I have read recently on GAA. He said that 20 years ago in Bonos parish of Dalkey ,there was little GAA. But in 20 years Cuala became the best hurling club in Ireland . Well the migration of country folk to Dublin has a role to play. So many of these country folk who migrated to Dublin passed on their love and passion of GAA to their kids. Especially in middle class areas now were the GAA was once uncool. Along with Gaelgoir schools playing GAA is very much en vogue in South Dublin. But this point of country parent's passing the love of GAA to their children can be seen in the current Dublin team. So many of them have country parent's. Quite a few from Donegal eg McMemanin. So this and the work by volunteers as well as financial giveaways have been the foundation on which Dublin have flourished."

Replying To Jack_Goff:  "It's time to face reality lads. Nobody has in leinster including meath and Kildare will beat Dublin again until the gaa financially invests in us to turn our teams into professional outfits. Massive funding would need to start next year in meath and Kildare underage and maybe in 15 years we might beat them.

They don't care too much for leinster. It's just another stop to the all Ireland. Unfortunately for leinster teams they'll likely keep getting tested at the all Ireland semi and final stages so that motivates them to keep their current standard up.

They've won 12 of the last 13 leinsters. That will likely be 19/20 in 7 years time. I hope meath get Dublin in round 1 next year so we can forget about leinster early and focus on a long run in the qualifiers."

Replying To Malonemagic:  "Which do you think will happen first ? The leinster championship disbanded for a new structure...or someone other than dublin wins it ? Both seem very unlikely."