So the meath team is full of young men again,just like 1996- could this be the replica year of 1996 when meath came from nowhere to claim the leinster title from the current champions, it being dublin just like this year. Here is the team of 1996 and my opinion on the ratings vs a quite possible starting meath team for the upcomin match.
Are we as good as 1996 and can history repeat itself?!?

Meath Team 2012 Meath Team 1996

1. David Gallagher 6.5/10 1. Conor Martin 6/10
2. Bryan Menton 7.5/10 2. Mark o' Reilly 7/10
3. Kevin Reilly 8.5/10 3. Darren Fay 9/10
4. Donal Keoghan 7/10 4. Martin o Connell 8/10
5. Donnacha Tobin 7/10 5. Colm Coyle 7/10
6. Shane McEnarney 6.5/10 6. Enda mcmanus 7/10
7. Mickey Burke 6.5/10 7. Paddy Reynolds 7.5/10
8. Conor Gilispie 6.5/10 8. Jimmy mcguiness 6.5/10
9. Peadar bryne 7/10 9. John mc Dermot 9.5/10
10.Alan Forde 7/10 10. Tevor Giles 9/10
11.Damien Carroll 7.5/10 11. Tommy Dowd 8/10
12.Graham Reilly 8/10 12. Graham Geraghty 9/10
13.Brian Farrell 7.5/10 13 Evan Kelly 7/10
14.Joe Sheridan 8/10 14. Brendan Reilly 7.5/10
15.Cian Ward/Steven Bray 8/10 15. Barry Callaghan 6/10

Total 109 Total 114

gaz772 (Meath) - Posts: 42 - 05/07/2012 11:40:05    1210028

getting a bit ahead of yourself there! we will see how they get on against the All ireland champs before we start comparing

NAIL_BAR (Meath) - Posts: 457 - 05/07/2012 11:57:40    1210048

I would be waiting until after the Dubs match to at least make any sort of judgement on those players. We were totally flat against ye regardless of how well those young lads performed. Not saying you wouldnt beat them either, just be weary of one good day out. All the best against them though.

Kildare30 (Kildare) - Posts: 603 - 05/07/2012 12:18:46    1210063

There is no reason why they can't be as good as the 96 team. The problem with this team the last few years is that they have only had one good performance in them each year. After that they flopped with not every player giving it 100%. I think its their mentality. Hopefully the younger lads can change this, combined with the influence of Giles, Geraghty, Evans.

ClassApart (Meath) - Posts: 1200 - 05/07/2012 12:25:39    1210070

Lads this getting crazy, the win sunday was great but the media are blowing us out all proportions and a lot of posters on this Forum.
Comparing this team after one good performance to an all ireland winning team is just ridiculous.

The Dublin match will decide weather this team is legit or not and i hope i'm wrong but i fear we could be in for a hiding for the following reasons.

Dublin are all ireland champions and have so much dept of talent to call on
We have played one good game all year
Historicaly we collapse afer one good game (2001 Galway,2007 Kerry,2009 Cork,2010 Louth)
Dublin were poor against Wexford and won't be as complacent going into a game against meath and will want to prove themselves.
They'll want to avenge 2010
Media and fans now have high expectations of meath based on one performance- we were 3/1 to win the kildare match for a reason and its not cause the bookies are idiots.

BlackKettle (Meath) - Posts: 66 - 05/07/2012 12:41:55    1210087

a completely ridiculous thread. your getting so far ahead of yourself its embarrassing. your basing these new young fellas on one game. you can base the 1996 team on their careers(most of which were excellent). its this type of rubbish which inflates egos among young lads. cannot believe the hype the win has created. feet on the ground anyone??

edd (Meath) - Posts: 49 - 05/07/2012 12:44:27    1210091

No harm having a bit of Craic imparting teams to be fair. Noone is saying we'll win the all Ireland but I've been goin on about 1996 comparisons ever since we lost to Louth in the league.

OBVIOUSLY one swallow doesn't make a summer, and one good show against the lillies means sweet fa in the bigger scheme of things unless we follow it with performances consistently at that level.

For the record tho Martin o connell deserves more than an 8. Team of the millennium! Come on!

cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 173 - 05/07/2012 13:17:18    1210120

Imparting = comparing (predictive text)

cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 173 - 05/07/2012 13:24:41    1210130

I don't like these sort of threads, I think they absolutely no good for our young lads and leaves us very vulnerable to criticism after a potential defeat. The young lads of 96 went on to contest 3 All-Irelands, winning 2 of them and contested 5 leinster finals winning 3, our current group of young players had an excellent win over a good Kildare team (who are never easy to beat) nothing more, so lets nip those comparisons in the bud until something is actually won.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 05/07/2012 14:00:36    1210174

No personal offence intended to the guy who started this thread, maybe your thinking behind this is just to use one of our greatest ever teams as a barometer of where the current side is at, however your ratings would suggest you are too young to have seen most of these players or the sands of time have clouded your memory.

To even contemplate giving Donal Keoghan 7/10 (one Championship appearance in Croke Park) and Martin O'Connell 8/10, (Team of the Millenium, at the time a double All-Ireland winner) is way out mate.

Maybe it would be better to concentrate on staying under the radar as we always historically have done and letting the team develop without hyping the whole thing out of existence.

highking12 (Meath) - Posts: 184 - 05/07/2012 14:06:22    1210179

People need to calm down. The Hysteria after sunday is really going into over-drive. We did well to win the game and were impressive in our performance. especially the younger players. But we need to calm down. The leinster final is another big game. We are not as bad as wev been made out to be and not as good as wer made out to be. take it game by game. if we win leisnter then il say fair play wer not bad. if we loose then people prob be calling for bantys head again and that wer no good. Banty should get another 5 years after sunday. let him build a team.

db9 (Meath) - Posts: 283 - 05/07/2012 14:15:59    1210186

One thing people must remember is that 5 of the 96 team had won a Leinster title against Louth earlier that year so there was a foundation in place to build on the 96 era.

This current team had had one good performance ( and I argue the point that it was just as much Kildare being dreadful as we were good ) and people all of a sudden have very short memories.

To compare that great team of 96 by the current squad is absurd and I'm glad most the posters have seen it for that.

Laytown Legend (None) - Posts: 424 - 05/07/2012 15:47:44    1210306

lads i think we need to settle down big time. yeah we played well last sunday but that was against a team that most of us were sayin would get hammered by dublin. kildare were brutal on the day and we played well end of. we now need a good performance against the dubs, win lose or draw, if we get that i for 1 will be delighted. always remember the fans optimism/arrogance eventually gets to the players. remember 2007 colm o rourke wrote before the ai semi finals that he was lookin forward to a dublin meath final and everybody knows what happened then. i think theres serious potential in the county but at the moment thats all it is, potential.
before anyone attacks me im not sayin anyone on here is arrogant YET.
AN MHI ABU

royal69er (Meath) - Posts: 96 - 05/07/2012 17:26:43    1210434

This is our problem lads we are comparing our players to an All-Ireland winning team,all this talk is putting way to much pressure on the current lads,this must stop now.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/07/2012 20:38:28    1210567

Never seen such a ridiculous thread in my entire life, Gazz772 compareing guys who have played 1-2 championship games with fellas who have 2-3 All-Irelands in their pockets, a hand full of Leinsters thrown in, with a few all-star awardsand to top it off a man on player of the century, Yes it was a great result against Kildare, celebrate it, move on the next day, and prepare for a Leinster final against the All-Ireland champions, but keep building up the hype and building the young guns only brings huge pressure on them and instead of sneaking into croker on Leinster final day under the radar we could be going in and gearing up for a big fall.

iamurdad (Meath) - Posts: 93 - 06/07/2012 12:45:06    1210840

Think everyone needs to claim down, I never said they were as good as 1996 I just compared... Big deal?!? Things arent going to change with a small comparison?!? If we are to compare any future Meath team against any team why shudnt it be against one of best teams ever?!? Because to compare it to a weak team is absolutely pointless.... People shud grow up and stop being so traumatic over nothing.... Have believe that one team this young team could be as good as the men of 1996 and restore Meath football back to its rightful place- "fearful opposition"

gaz772 (Meath) - Posts: 42 - 07/07/2012 08:42:20    1211277

i can't see us coming close to winning sam for at least 3 years nd only if we keep improving. but we can beat the dubs in 2 weeks time and that is just as good as winning an all ireland. nothing like beating the dubs in a leinster final and i hope the lads are treating this like an all ire final as it's as big as it's going to get for us this year and maybe a few years yet.

Now if we were to beat Dublin I can only imagine the hype that would be created then. Nothing beats the feeling of triumph when you come from nowhere and that's what would make this leinster so special.

BettystownRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 3353 - 07/07/2012 10:06:11    1211297

sorry few words wrong there. predictive text "calm" being one *

gaz772 (Meath) - Posts: 42 - 07/07/2012 11:01:21    1211328

gaz772
County: Meath
Posts: 32

1211277
Think everyone needs to claim down, I never said they were as good as 1996 I just compared... Big deal?!? Things arent going to change with a small comparison?!? If we are to compare any future Meath team against any team why shudnt it be against one of best teams ever?!? Because to compare it to a weak team is absolutely pointless.... People shud grow up and stop being so traumatic over nothing.... Have believe that one team this young team could be as good as the men of 1996 and restore Meath football back to its rightful place- "fearful opposition"

Has to go down as one of the most ridiculous threads in Meath Hogan stand History. After beating a medicore kildare team of body-builders, your comparing some of these lads with some of the best footballers in the country ever, based on one game in croker. Even if (and its a big IF) they bet the dubs in the final and they went on to win the AI this year then they still wouldnt compare with the class of 96 as most have 2 AI medals. So your ratings are completely daft.

NAIL_BAR (Meath) - Posts: 457 - 07/07/2012 11:20:07    1211342

Dublin have been poor this year and if they under perform again and we win enjoy it because we won't be beating the likes of cork and donegal!

BettystownRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 3353 - 07/07/2012 11:34:59    1211347