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Meath football does not seem to be getting any better. Is there a link between all counties bringing strength and conditioning to a new level and Meath no longer being competitive?! The traditional strength of Meath football can be easily matched now, which appears to be stopping them making any progress. For a county it's size they are gone again, before the Leinster final is even played.
sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 09/07/2017 08:54:16
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Replying To sam1884: "Meath football does not seem to be getting any better. Is there a link between all counties bringing strength and conditioning to a new level and Meath no longer being competitive?! The traditional strength of Meath football can be easily matched now, which appears to be stopping them making any progress. For a county it's size they are gone again, before the Leinster final is even played." Samyou're likely to be asked how many all Ireland and Leinster titles the UK have...
St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 09/07/2017 10:51:31
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Replying To St.Conleth: "Samyou're likely to be asked how many all Ireland and Leinster titles the UK have..." Sad but true
NaomhNaille (Donegal) - Posts: 124 - 09/07/2017 18:39:40
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Replying To sam1884: "Meath football does not seem to be getting any better. Is there a link between all counties bringing strength and conditioning to a new level and Meath no longer being competitive?! The traditional strength of Meath football can be easily matched now, which appears to be stopping them making any progress. For a county it's size they are gone again, before the Leinster final is even played." Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Royalace (Meath) - Posts: 121 - 09/07/2017 19:12:26
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Replying To sam1884: "Meath football does not seem to be getting any better. Is there a link between all counties bringing strength and conditioning to a new level and Meath no longer being competitive?! The traditional strength of Meath football can be easily matched now, which appears to be stopping them making any progress. For a county it's size they are gone again, before the Leinster final is even played." They have a serious young team . do not knock them yet
Dellboypolecat (Tyrone) - Posts: 15069 - 10/07/2017 00:13:15
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You'd imagine the UK could throw a brave oul team together though, they might just have a bigger pick than Dublin, not sure.
Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2747 - 10/07/2017 00:19:33
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Replying To Dellboypolecat: "They have a serious young team . do not knock them yet" A serious young team is a bit of an overstatement. No underage success and they don't have the talent to win trophies over the next 5 years at least. They might make a quarter final through the back door with a lucky draw.
They're not a patch as footballers compared to the teams of the 80s and 90s. People belittled them for physicality but they had smashing footballers. All time greats like Giles, Geraghty, Flynn, O'Rourke, Robbie O'Malley, Martin O'Connell to name just a few.
KK1926 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 175 - 10/07/2017 00:24:44
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Meaths sucess in 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s and 90s was not just down to being hard that makes no sense whatsoever. There was plenty of hard teams in that period. In the last 80 years only kerry and Dublin have been more sucessful for Meath. The reasons were sucessful not coz they were hards. The reasons are below
Paddy O Brien The greatest full back of all time. The King of Full backsize. Full back on the team of the century.
M O Brien P O Brien McConnell - The greatest full back line in the history of gaelic football.
Peter McDermont- At his peak the best footballer in Ireland in the 40s and 50s
Jack Quinn The best full back of his generation. And at his peak the best footballer in Ireland in the 60s
Pat Reynolds Snr In the sixties one of the best wing backs in Ireland
Pat Red Collier Famous Meath wing back from the 60s
Mattie Kerrigan At his peak the best centre forward in Ireland
Ken Rennicks One of the greatst players never to win All Ireland
Joe Cassells Legendary Meath captain
Mick Lyons the best full back in Ireland in the 1980s
Robbie O Malley One of the greatest corner backs of all time. Michael Muiritigh said he was the best corner back he ever saw
Martin O Connell The greatest wing back number 7 of all time. The only modern player on the team of the Millennium
McEntee and Hayes One of the best midfield partnership of last 40 years.
O Rourke Stafford Flynn One of the greateSt full forwards lines of all time
C O Rourke In the mid 1980s the best forward footballer in Ireland
B Stafford One of the greatest free taker s of all time
B Flynn Between 1987 -1991 The best corner forward in Ireland
Tommy Dowd In the mid 90s one of the best forwards in Ireland
Darren Fay The best full back of his generation the best full back of the 90s.
John McDermont At his peak the best midfielder in Ireland
Galway Gerathy All star wing back wing forward and full forward. One of the most talented footballers of the last 40 years
Ollie Murphy Between 1999 2001 The best corner forward in Ireland
Trevor Giles Two time footballer of the year. One of the greatest if not the greatest centre forward of the last 40 years
Fr Tully one of the best manager coaches of the 40s 50s 60s
Peter McDermont One of the best manager coach of the 60s
Sean Boylan The second most sucessful manager of all time and some consider the greatst manager of all time.
Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 10/07/2017 19:53:26
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So the reason Meath were so sucessful in therror last 80 years was not because of hardness maybe it because they had some of the best defenders ( O Brien Quinn Lyons Fay O Connell O Malley) some of the best midfieldersolution ( Meegan Hayes McEntee McDermont) and some best forwards ( McDermont O Rourke Stafford Giles Geraghty) and some of the best managers( Fr Tully McDermott Boylan ) of all time. That's the reason. Even a Kildare or Cavan supporter ( counties that obsessively hate Meath with passion ) would begrugery admit this.
Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 10/07/2017 20:02:30
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underage is getting better,but the problem is we tend to lose alot of our best young talent. as for the team now? judge them after 3 years under mcentee. that donegal game could have went either way..
ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 10/07/2017 20:28:23
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Replying To Furlong1949: "So the reason Meath were so sucessful in therror last 80 years was not because of hardness maybe it because they had some of the best defenders ( O Brien Quinn Lyons Fay O Connell O Malley) some of the best midfieldersolution ( Meegan Hayes McEntee McDermont) and some best forwards ( McDermont O Rourke Stafford Giles Geraghty) and some of the best managers( Fr Tully McDermott Boylan ) of all time. That's the reason. Even a Kildare or Cavan supporter ( counties that obsessively hate Meath with passion ) would begrugery admit this." I wouldn't.
You forgot to mention all the Leinsters and all Irelands ye have.
St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 10/07/2017 20:36:41
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Meath like a lot of counties got lazy , it takes years to get back to where they once were , hopefully sooner than later
hipster (Dublin) - Posts: 2509 - 10/07/2017 21:13:15
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In a way the good times of the 80's and 90's almost came too easily for Meath. We ended up with a great team of players under a manager (Boylan) who almost accidentally landed the job. Some leaders on the team gelled with Boylan and with a them against us mentality they were at the top there or thereabouts for about 15 years.
The success came so easily that our county board at the did not deem it necessary to put the hard work in at underage and were pretty clueless in knowing what to do to put in structures to maintain the success. And, since Boylan left, there has been a succession of managers with only Eamon O'Brien winning anything of note - albeit controversial.
On top of the above we have lost some key players through injury and emigration so the pick up that may have happened has been delayed. We are all hoping for better things under Andy Mac but it is clear that it isnt an easy path
oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 10/07/2017 21:18:46
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Replying To oldsam_newsam: "In a way the good times of the 80's and 90's almost came too easily for Meath. We ended up with a great team of players under a manager (Boylan) who almost accidentally landed the job. Some leaders on the team gelled with Boylan and with a them against us mentality they were at the top there or thereabouts for about 15 years.
The success came so easily that our county board at the did not deem it necessary to put the hard work in at underage and were pretty clueless in knowing what to do to put in structures to maintain the success. And, since Boylan left, there has been a succession of managers with only Eamon O'Brien winning anything of note - albeit controversial.
On top of the above we have lost some key players through injury and emigration so the pick up that may have happened has been delayed. We are all hoping for better things under Andy Mac but it is clear that it isnt an easy path" Meath football did not begin in the 80s. Meath had great teams in the 40s 50s 60s and 70s. But what Boylan did was to turn us into Kerry for 15 years . We were the dominate force in the period. In 15 years Meath played in 9 All Ireland senior finals including replays. Meath overachieved under Boylan but you could say we have overachieved for 70 or 80 years. We could be now the new Cavan. I hope not. But it is a possibility.
Boylan made that a great team. The great players you mention before Boylan took over were no hopers going nowhere fast. Remeber Meath were knocked out of leinster in 81 and 82 by Wexford and longford. The players were not taking it seriously. Without Boylan they would have won nothing. Many people thought Laois were the team to topple Dublin in mid 80s they hammered Meath in 85 and won the league in 86. They had an excellent team at the time. The difference was Meath had Boylan they didn't.
He turned Stafford from a player no one rated into the best footballer in Ireland in 87 88 and one of the greatest free taker s of all time. They became great players because of Boylan. But before he came they were losers.
He then won an All Ireland in 96 which was extraordinary. In that it is one of the few times a team had come from.nowhere to win Sam. Other examples are Dublin in 74 and Galway in 98. Also the Meath team of 96 is one of the youngest teams to ever win Sam with 7 under 21 players. The only other young team to win Sam ever was Kerry in 75. That Meath came from.nowhere and are one of the greatest Yong teams of all time. Their performance in both finals in 96 where they were well behind in both games . They showed great courage to win the final. One of best performances of strenght and courage by a young team ever in a big match. But because Mayo stole the narrative afterwards and all you hear is the bouncing ball over the bar the franca and McHale. The fact is Meath had a much superior team and showed great resolve and courage by a young team. Boylan then showed more genius by winning another A Ireland with a third team in 99. His great skill was to take solid club players and bring into a Croke Park and turn them into county players who could take on Dublin. Players like Beggy Callaghan McGuiness Cormac Murphy .
Boylan was a genius without Meath would not have did what they did. And what has happened since is the same that happened to Man Utd when Ferguson left. All the problems and issues underneath come to fore.
Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 10/07/2017 23:22:14
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Replying To Furlong1949: "Meath football did not begin in the 80s. Meath had great teams in the 40s 50s 60s and 70s. But what Boylan did was to turn us into Kerry for 15 years . We were the dominate force in the period. In 15 years Meath played in 9 All Ireland senior finals including replays. Meath overachieved under Boylan but you could say we have overachieved for 70 or 80 years. We could be now the new Cavan. I hope not. But it is a possibility.
Boylan made that a great team. The great players you mention before Boylan took over were no hopers going nowhere fast. Remeber Meath were knocked out of leinster in 81 and 82 by Wexford and longford. The players were not taking it seriously. Without Boylan they would have won nothing. Many people thought Laois were the team to topple Dublin in mid 80s they hammered Meath in 85 and won the league in 86. They had an excellent team at the time. The difference was Meath had Boylan they didn't.
He turned Stafford from a player no one rated into the best footballer in Ireland in 87 88 and one of the greatest free taker s of all time. They became great players because of Boylan. But before he came they were losers.
He then won an All Ireland in 96 which was extraordinary. In that it is one of the few times a team had come from.nowhere to win Sam. Other examples are Dublin in 74 and Galway in 98. Also the Meath team of 96 is one of the youngest teams to ever win Sam with 7 under 21 players. The only other young team to win Sam ever was Kerry in 75. That Meath came from.nowhere and are one of the greatest Yong teams of all time. Their performance in both finals in 96 where they were well behind in both games . They showed great courage to win the final. One of best performances of strenght and courage by a young team ever in a big match. But because Mayo stole the narrative afterwards and all you hear is the bouncing ball over the bar the franca and McHale. The fact is Meath had a much superior team and showed great resolve and courage by a young team. Boylan then showed more genius by winning another A Ireland with a third team in 99. His great skill was to take solid club players and bring into a Croke Park and turn them into county players who could take on Dublin. Players like Beggy Callaghan McGuiness Cormac Murphy .
Boylan was a genius without Meath would not have did what they did. And what has happened since is the same that happened to Man Utd when Ferguson left. All the problems and issues underneath come to fore." How come you don't hear Kerry or Dublin dining out on past success? Is that just a Meath thing?? Doesn't do you much good now, does it?
kildare73 (Kildare) - Posts: 854 - 11/07/2017 00:21:05
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Concentrated to much on league as did Galway cavan Donegal Louth monaghan mayo and dare I say tipp and Armagh even though a number of the teams are still involved a number of there performances have been dead and not up to there best and that's not me saying it after our bit of success against Galway that's me saying it after watching us at championship last year we were out on our feet trying to scrape by, hold on and hope things clicked.
Next year with the super 8s I think a lot of teams will be smarter and it'll effectively kill the league for everyone bar the big 2, mickey harte the cute fox once they were safe this year let them get a few hammerings and was concentrating on the real stuff.
If we came 5th in division 2 next year and reached super 8 ild be thrilled, days like Sunday are 100 times better than beating Kerry Donegal cork in league.
OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 11/07/2017 08:36:52
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Replying To OhtobeARossie: "Concentrated to much on league as did Galway cavan Donegal Louth monaghan mayo and dare I say tipp and Armagh even though a number of the teams are still involved a number of there performances have been dead and not up to there best and that's not me saying it after our bit of success against Galway that's me saying it after watching us at championship last year we were out on our feet trying to scrape by, hold on and hope things clicked.
Next year with the super 8s I think a lot of teams will be smarter and it'll effectively kill the league for everyone bar the big 2, mickey harte the cute fox once they were safe this year let them get a few hammerings and was concentrating on the real stuff.
If we came 5th in division 2 next year and reached super 8 ild be thrilled, days like Sunday are 100 times better than beating Kerry Donegal cork in league." thats a good point, teams may now become more focused on super 8s, ok for the stronger counties who can do just enough, but poses a problem for the likes of Meath.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2142 - 11/07/2017 12:59:02
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It was a poor Championship for Meath and McEntee.
Gone before the Leinster final match ball is thrown in
Well beaten by Kildare ( you could even say embarrassed)
Very much struggled to beat Sligo at home
Then found their best performance while still losing to Donegal
Time to concentrate on trying to get back into Div 1 and trying to find some form / competiveness
Honestly think they'll have to go the defensive route and tailor fit themselves to adapt to such.
Dublin would have hammered that current Meath setup but they were well off a Leinster final to avoid it... which in the grand scheme off things was probably a good thing for this current management setup.
As it stands Meath wont be winning Leinster this decade and another league campaign without promotion in 2018 will be quite telling.
McEntee will get the chance he deserves but it wont be long until he's under a bit of pressure
jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 11/07/2017 13:34:42
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For the life of me I can't see how Meath are so hopeful of a revival under McEntee. Ye have one really top player in Reilly who will be 29 next year, The youth are not top intercounty players in my opinion. Until Meath wake up and start building from the bottom up they will never return to the heights that many hope.
It's irrelevant how good McEntee is. The likes of all yer Leinster neighbours and Cavan also seem to have far far superior structures than whats in Meath.
Are the likes of McDermott, Geraghty, Fay, etc involved in underage in Meath? They need to be and fast if they aren't already
tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 11/07/2017 13:35:27
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I remember when Meath were winning all around them in the 90's. They were bitter and hateful winners at the time and now that has translated into losers. After the game v Kildare in tullamore there was a fair bit of banter flying around yet the majority of the Meath fans were quick to refer to their past successes as always. You really can't beat them by enough.
I had expected them to beat Donegal at home to be honest as I feel that Donegal are seriously after going back under Gallagher. It's also a Donegal team with arguably their best player in Macnelis missing.
In Tullamore there wasn't one Meath player that would get on the Kildare team. They looked fit enough but just didn't have the football in them.
I could go on for ever about their current crop which won't be posted about them.
The problem with Meath is the footballers are not there presently and hopefully won't be for a long time.
This Sunday for me isn't in the grand scheme of things overally important. I can't see us beating the Dubs and what we have seen what they can do to division 2 teams. Next year after a year in the division is a bigger test and a lot more important.
daytona11 (Kildare) - Posts: 4012 - 11/07/2017 14:08:22
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