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Its complicated. Its not as simple as North/South. Meath is by-and-large a very united county. There are petty rivalries and grievances between regional areas but there is more unity behind the Meath banner than in an awful lot of counties. Meath people do stick together; be it from Enfield or Meath Hill, 70km apart north to south or Oldcastle to Bettystown 70km apart west to east. Supporters will support the Royals no matter where they're from, and we're all proud of our history and our county. The divide begins and ends with the fact that the county is big, it has 200,000 people, surrounded by other populous counties including being on the doorstep of a city of 1.25 million. It has many regional areas; the Dublin regional area, the Navan area, Kells area, Trim area, East Meath bordering south- Louth, West Meath bordering Co. Westmeath, south Meath bordering Offaly and Kildare, and North Meath bordering Cavan, Monaghan and Mid-Louth. It has many small and medium sized towns, and dozens of rural communities. It had dozens of clubs. There is always a conflict of interest somewhere when the county panel is up for discussion. If Meath was a hierarchy of importance, the Navan area and Dublin metro areas would top the list, and the North and South areas of the county including many notable towns may as well be Mordor. This is a commonly known fact, but unwritten and unspoken, and can be seen in how some areas of the county are vastly more modernised and serviced than others. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 587 - 17/07/2020 23:11:27 2284365 Link 18 |
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north meath proper would really only start in kells town and anywhere north of that. so a line drawn through kells, anywhere north of that line is north meath. south meath would be trim and a line drawn through trim anywhere south of that line is proper south meath. some areas then are hard to put either north ,south or central. you nearly have western meath thats kildalkey, athboy,kilskyre,crossakeill, and an east meath, duleek, julianstown, bettystown, stamullen. id also say south west meath, Longwood,clonard, ballinabrckey is a different world to south east meath , dunboyne, dunshauglin, batterstown, ashbourne, ratoath. dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 685 - 17/07/2020 23:34:48 2284371 Link 0 |
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So basically to answer Ollie. brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 18/07/2020 01:42:47 2284381 Link 10 |
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There is something in it though brian. True, simplifying it to North v. South is wrong, but there is 2 or 3 different Meath's, depending on where you live and your own local club and circumstances, you may be simply born into the GAA clique- of sorts. You may also be outside the clique and could be the next Colm Cooper, but still wouldnt get a run with the county. In my own personal opinion, a lot of the division was invented by people as a way to try and put reason to the relative lack of success in the county jersey since the turn of the millenium. People want a scapegoat, and they want something to blame. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 587 - 18/07/2020 07:35:20 2284385 Link 19 |
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North/south, east/west.... anything that spices up Meath football is all for the good. Back in the good old days championship rivalry was fierce. Its all gone a bit "nice". No wonder Meath are gone soft! bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1790 - 18/07/2020 09:49:32 2284391 Link 0 |
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Who's the next Colm Cooper that wasn't in some made up 'clique'. Or name anybody that is senior inter county standard that wasn't tried or didn't want to join the panel
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1454 - 18/07/2020 13:41:09 2284416 Link 15 |
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It was a figure of speech, and even if there was or is such a player, I dont name names, and I dislike when other people do. My point was that if for instance; If I happen to be some father's son from a popular and cliquey club, which DO exist, ill likely get more favourable treatment than a far superior player from a less 'cliquey' club, which also exist, out in the sticks somewhere. Think about why we in Meath just love putting sons and nephews of big county names on our panels, regardless of quality, why we have a history of selecting players on reputation, often beyond their ability, and based on their club alignment. My point is that the county is so insular that these acts often seem unnoticeably strange to many in Meath, but they are strange.
Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 587 - 18/07/2020 15:02:50 2284425 Link 19 |
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Cheers lads and lassies for the input. Meath is a huge county and a proud one steeped in history and tradition. If I was driving to Galway and driving through Meath it would take me one hour to drive through the Royal County. Ollie2 (Louth) - Posts: 781 - 18/07/2020 16:04:48 2284431 Link 1 |
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Ollie-I remember when I had a car like that!!! keep safe browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 18/07/2020 16:22:19 2284432 Link 18 |
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To be honest I think you are talking manure. You 'don't name names' because there are none! You can't come out with claims like this and then not name any players to back it up. I'll name some players. Keoghan from Rathkenny, Adam Flanagan from Clonard, Paddy Kennelly Dunderry, Eoin Lynch and Mickey Burke Longwood, Mickey Newman Kilmainham, Robin Clarke Duleek Bellewstown, Donnacha Tobin BHG, Kevin Ross Castletown, Dominic Yorke Meath Hill, Jordan Morris and Thomas Murtagh Nobber, Jason Scully Oldcastle, Eoin Harkin Dunsany, Sean Reilly Moylagh all have been on the Meath panel under the current manager. I don't think these clubs would ever be accused of wielding power over county inclusions. Maybe just maybe if players from clubs 'out in the sticks' (as you say) are good enough then they get picked. And I know it's crazy, but maybe the reason there isn't more picked isn't that there are 'cliques' working against them, but that they just aren't good enough.
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1454 - 19/07/2020 02:15:43 2284463 Link 18 |
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Yorke's performance against Tyrone in the league this year, for example, is evidence of your last sentence.
Selwyn (Meath) - Posts: 349 - 19/07/2020 10:18:40 2284479 Link 0 |
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Very unfair to judge any player on such a brief appearance, given no chance to redeem himself, if we are to judge so harshly then many players would never have made the grade and I am not just talking about current panel. This lad cannot be singled out, the goalkeeper issues is firmly down to management.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2135 - 19/07/2020 13:00:27 2284488 Link 16 |
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You too Browncows.
Ollie2 (Louth) - Posts: 781 - 19/07/2020 21:10:01 2284544 Link 0 |
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Well said, you'd feel sorry for Yorke and how he's been treated. Given one half of football and then hualed off for a guy who plays as a forward. The lads chances of ever playing intercounty were effectively shattered there and then. Its a damning indictment of Andy, Nally and Gary Rodgers that the 4 combined season's there's no descernable kick out strategy than hit and hope. We picked a keeper (Colgan) for too long who cost us 4-5 points a game through poor kickouts and mistakes, another keeper (Brennan) who can barely kick beyond his own 45 which invites teams to squeeze up on us and now one of the better kicking keepers in Yorke as he fluffed his lines. Lets not forget Andy fell out with Burlingham and Hannigan and neither got a proper chance, Beakey has been in and out and Adam McDermott from Dunshaughlin too. And who'll ever forget the bringing back of David Gallagher with Joe Sheridan as his back up in Andy's first year. Harry Hogan is another who seems to be consigned to the rubbish heap (or likley saw he's better off with soccer) Is there a good keeper in the county who hasn't been given a chance yet or been disregarded. Cian Flynn is a name i've heard a couple of times brian (Meath) - Posts: 1954 - 20/07/2020 15:00:59 2284638 Link 11 |
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Very well said. This issue is to our peril, its our single biggest problem and has been since 2016/2017 when it started to become clear that a replacement was urgently needed for O'Rourke in goal, then following his retirement. The fact that nearly three full seasons has passed since his departure and we're no further on is a sorry state of affairs; and we were by no means iron-tight with him in goal either so the goalkeeping position has been a big drain on Meath for at least 7/8 years, and I agree with everything you said about all of those people, the whole fiasco cant be good for any of them on a human level, nevermind anything else. The bringing back in of J. Sheridan to experiment with the idea of his taking up the No.1 jersey, into his mid-late 30s was also a little bit embarrasing, with the utmost of respect to the man. The handling of this whole issue is very amatuerish, division 4 stuff. Stuff that goes on in drinking clubs around the country, it should not be happening in a proper county set-up like ours. Not by a long shot. I have a lot of time for Andy McEntee and his back-up team and I think by and large they've done a good job with the team they inherited and the new blood they've brought on. I can solidly say they've improved that panel and if development takes it course and the law of averages starts to turn in our favour, then big results should follow in the intermediate term, provided the variables fall into place. On the goalkeeping issue; they've been a disaster. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 587 - 21/07/2020 17:30:46 2284776 Link 18 |