Meath Forum

So It'S Clare

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Hoping Brennan and Reilly don't start. Surely Brennan can't after the last day.

summerof09 (Meath) - Posts: 315 - 06/07/2019 11:21:23    2206186

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What changes are people expecting? I would like to Ben start so he can prove himself but I have my doubts whether he will. Who will start ahead of him?

Think Biggy might start, they might look at it as him having a good scoring record against Clare and I know his shots were very poor against Dublin but he showed an improved work rate and tackling to what he has shown previously. Obviously he would be better coming on against a tiring defence with 20 mins to go.

Barney123 (Meath) - Posts: 676 - 06/07/2019 11:28:44    2206189

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Can't see anything only a win for Meath, super 8's will bring us on leaps and bounds, look at Roscommon last year, lost every game but in my opinion have improved as a team this year. I too expect some changes of personnel, young conlon needs to be used properly as a player, fantastic talent however he needs a game to be open to show his talents, saying it all year that Brennan is not good enough, better lads on the junior team but mc entee seems to like him for some reason.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1047 - 06/07/2019 11:32:37    2206193

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Replying To Barney123:  "What changes are people expecting? I would like to Ben start so he can prove himself but I have my doubts whether he will. Who will start ahead of him?

Think Biggy might start, they might look at it as him having a good scoring record against Clare and I know his shots were very poor against Dublin but he showed an improved work rate and tackling to what he has shown previously. Obviously he would be better coming on against a tiring defence with 20 mins to go."
The team that has been named will be the team that starts tomorrow i would say, the only changes will be to the bench where I anticipate ruairi o'caoilean and shane Walsh will come on, what I like most about the team named is the half back line, McCoy harnan and keoghan started against Carlow and absolutely dominated that game

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 402 - 06/07/2019 11:50:12    2206201

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Replying To Barney123:  "What changes are people expecting? I would like to Ben start so he can prove himself but I have my doubts whether he will. Who will start ahead of him?

Think Biggy might start, they might look at it as him having a good scoring record against Clare and I know his shots were very poor against Dublin but he showed an improved work rate and tackling to what he has shown previously. Obviously he would be better coming on against a tiring defence with 20 mins to go."
It would be desperate if Brennan starts. He had a good league in fairness to him but the Dublin game was a nightmare for him. I'd rsther have Thomas O'Reilly inside instead of him.

summerof09 (Meath) - Posts: 315 - 06/07/2019 12:01:34    2206205

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Best of luck to the team tomorrow, a repition of the form shown in the league should see us through.

Worth remembering though that in the recent league game, clare went in only a point behind at half time after playing against a strong wind and would have been confident enough at that stage. The Meath bench was emptied in the second half and if I remember correctly they played a huge part in a much improved second half display, with Graham Reilly leading the way.

I cannot see him start on Sunday as he will be of more benefit to the team if brought off the bench

ROYALOPTIMIST (Meath) - Posts: 179 - 06/07/2019 12:39:46    2206218

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Replying To Barney123:  "What changes are people expecting? I would like to Ben start so he can prove himself but I have my doubts whether he will. Who will start ahead of him?

Think Biggy might start, they might look at it as him having a good scoring record against Clare and I know his shots were very poor against Dublin but he showed an improved work rate and tackling to what he has shown previously. Obviously he would be better coming on against a tiring defence with 20 mins to go."
Colgan
Lavin McGill Gallagher
Keoghan Harnan Mc Cocy

Menton Flanagan or Devine

Sullivan McMahon Campion
Tobin Newman Conlon

There is the team I would start. I would have started Ryan but I think he is injured.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2019 13:18:45    2206229

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I am not sure either but Brennan was bad the last day. Your right Brennan was good during the League and nailed at least 1 free against Kildare which was massive at the time and scored a point from play I think that day as well. But the ground has dried now things are moving faster. Brennan lacks serious pace needed in championship. But Andy cant have double standards here. He whipped Thomas Reilly of against Carlow just before half time. And was dropped for Loais game. Brennan missed 2 frees either side of half time against Dublin so I guess his name sticks out also Dublin seem to exploit his lack of pace. But we will have to wait and see.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2019 13:31:56    2206236

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Replying To bobkarlgees:  "I am not sure either but Brennan was bad the last day. Your right Brennan was good during the League and nailed at least 1 free against Kildare which was massive at the time and scored a point from play I think that day as well. But the ground has dried now things are moving faster. Brennan lacks serious pace needed in championship. But Andy cant have double standards here. He whipped Thomas Reilly of against Carlow just before half time. And was dropped for Loais game. Brennan missed 2 frees either side of half time against Dublin so I guess his name sticks out also Dublin seem to exploit his lack of pace. But we will have to wait and see."
Indeed all very relevant points. The bar was raised considerably when championship started. League showed progress all right. I traditionally measure a Meath team by how well they do in a Leinster final against Dublin. Ok this is an exceptionally good Dublin team. We did very poorly full stop. The most annoying thing is some of the weaknesses exposed had little to do with the quality of the opposition .The tactic of kicking high balls in to Conlan on his own.? What was that about? Conlan can only feed off players capable of winning ball where he can use his speed and scoring ability.Dont know the man ....but give him a fair chance to show his strengths I blame management here full stop. The example you highlighted about Brennan's lack of pace was painfully obvious in the example where Dubs Mc Carthy accelerated towards hill goal. indeed all forwards were poor on the day. Our forwards are limited, but can certainly be used better with basic direction from the sideline.....This long time supporter accepts that we are on a steep learning curve both with players and management as illustrated again in the Leinster final. If there is clear evidence that learning has taken place when it matters i will be happy with that. The jury remains out on that issue for this poster!!
Again full marks to the playing panel for their patience . They have the honour of wearing the jersey of a traditionally strong footballing county . All the very best to Andy and players for this match. This is the time to show lessons have been learned

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 06/07/2019 15:33:33    2206269

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Replying To nobull456:  "Indeed all very relevant points. The bar was raised considerably when championship started. League showed progress all right. I traditionally measure a Meath team by how well they do in a Leinster final against Dublin. Ok this is an exceptionally good Dublin team. We did very poorly full stop. The most annoying thing is some of the weaknesses exposed had little to do with the quality of the opposition .The tactic of kicking high balls in to Conlan on his own.? What was that about? Conlan can only feed off players capable of winning ball where he can use his speed and scoring ability.Dont know the man ....but give him a fair chance to show his strengths I blame management here full stop. The example you highlighted about Brennan's lack of pace was painfully obvious in the example where Dubs Mc Carthy accelerated towards hill goal. indeed all forwards were poor on the day. Our forwards are limited, but can certainly be used better with basic direction from the sideline.....This long time supporter accepts that we are on a steep learning curve both with players and management as illustrated again in the Leinster final. If there is clear evidence that learning has taken place when it matters i will be happy with that. The jury remains out on that issue for this poster!!
Again full marks to the playing panel for their patience . They have the honour of wearing the jersey of a traditionally strong footballing county . All the very best to Andy and players for this match. This is the time to show lessons have been learned"
Apart from one highball into Conlon that was a miss hit that he went for , Can you tell me one other?? As the balls into him for majority of game were perfect. To say otherwise is highly inaccurate. He had problems loosing his marker or getting disposed, or actually on one occasion loosing it due to wet ball. It appears that very little people were at the game or relied on spillanes wrong analogies. Very disappointing from a Meath perspective that this is actually seen now as fact. Where it did not happen

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 06/07/2019 16:05:27    2206282

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Replying To nobull456:  "Indeed all very relevant points. The bar was raised considerably when championship started. League showed progress all right. I traditionally measure a Meath team by how well they do in a Leinster final against Dublin. Ok this is an exceptionally good Dublin team. We did very poorly full stop. The most annoying thing is some of the weaknesses exposed had little to do with the quality of the opposition .The tactic of kicking high balls in to Conlan on his own.? What was that about? Conlan can only feed off players capable of winning ball where he can use his speed and scoring ability.Dont know the man ....but give him a fair chance to show his strengths I blame management here full stop. The example you highlighted about Brennan's lack of pace was painfully obvious in the example where Dubs Mc Carthy accelerated towards hill goal. indeed all forwards were poor on the day. Our forwards are limited, but can certainly be used better with basic direction from the sideline.....This long time supporter accepts that we are on a steep learning curve both with players and management as illustrated again in the Leinster final. If there is clear evidence that learning has taken place when it matters i will be happy with that. The jury remains out on that issue for this poster!!
Again full marks to the playing panel for their patience . They have the honour of wearing the jersey of a traditionally strong footballing county . All the very best to Andy and players for this match. This is the time to show lessons have been learned"
So just to clarify there WAS NO TACTIC of hitting high ball into Conlon. Since it didn't happen to say it did is blatantly inaccurate

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 06/07/2019 16:10:09    2206287

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I agree with previous posters, Meath teams traditionally can be rated by their performances against Dublin. By that logic the teams of 86-91 and 96-01 can be rated Meath's best ever teams (as we already knew) because they dominated that particular fixture. Judging the quality of Meath teams is very difficult because realistically, since the era of the qualifiers we've slipped so much. Traditionally Meath teams went hell for leather, beat Dublin in a Leinster final then went out full of confidence in the All-Ireland series. The era of knockout championship football was great for how Meath teams prepared. Since the qualifiers came in, Meath met opposition from around the country and their conservatism in the face of 00s blanket defence puke football put them back even further, also a series of failures within the county boards (which seems to be a taboo topic here) and societal changes within the county. Throw too many managers and players coming and going over a sustained 15 year period and collapses against "weaker" Leinster teams like Wexford in 08 and Westmeath in 16 and Longford (to an extent) in 18. Id consider the failure to beat Louth fair and square in 2010 as a factor also. Meath also now have poor records against sides met in qualifiers such as Laois, Fermanagh, Tyrone, etc, all brought on by this series of failures and shortcomings.

Apologies for the stream of negativity but my point is that judging Meath off of Dublin in this day and age isn't appropriate. We went from Top 2/3 in the early 00s in the uncanny valley of the old championship without qualifiers and excessive tactical meddling, rule changes etc to maybe 7/8 now IF we are victorious over Clare. Although this was a good year, we are where we are lads. We've a long way to go. Id judge the Meath team of the present from one game to the next and no further. In my own personal opinion, I think the mainstay of supporters who grew up in 80s,90s and early 00s (aged 30-50, a massive spread) are very hard on this team. We do a good job of making a show of ourselves on this very forum because we cant seem to differentiate this new generation from the one of the past. Meath is completely different now and as a county its struggling to define itself on a football field anymore. As a member of the younger generation I can confirm that there is a massive generation gap with the old-timers, and bridging that gap is very difficult to do. We are on the right track.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 587 - 06/07/2019 16:56:43    2206297

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Replying To royaldunne:  "So just to clarify there WAS NO TACTIC of hitting high ball into Conlon. Since it didn't happen to say it did is blatantly inaccurate"
Whatever about it being a tactic ..the reality was it happened on more than one occasion. In fact to make it more confusing Newman kicked the ball in. Common sense suggests Newman should have stayed in with Conlan used as picking up breaks to feed him etc. . Then what has common sense to do with some posts on here ??

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 06/07/2019 17:05:10    2206299

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Replying To royaldunne:  "So just to clarify there WAS NO TACTIC of hitting high ball into Conlon. Since it didn't happen to say it did is blatantly inaccurate"
I think your right I don'think it was a tatic. But it did happen Shane Mc Entee loobed a high ball in to Conlon in the second half. Newman was guilty too. Mc Entee ball will etched in my brain forever. It was horrendously.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2019 18:17:29    2206348

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We dodged a bullet avoiding Tyrone.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 06/07/2019 19:20:14    2206389

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Replying To Jack_Goff:  "We dodged a bullet avoiding Tyrone."
Maybe but Cavan where bad very my eyes couldn't take much of that game. We have to perform tommorrow though. Maybe Cavan where suffering from the hangover from the Ulster final.I hope we don't do the same. I am getting nervous now. Especially after the pure scoring the last day. We need get the forward selection right it's going to be important.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2019 19:41:41    2206408

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Replying To bobkarlgees:  "Maybe but Cavan where bad very my eyes couldn't take much of that game. We have to perform tommorrow though. Maybe Cavan where suffering from the hangover from the Ulster final.I hope we don't do the same. I am getting nervous now. Especially after the pure scoring the last day. We need get the forward selection right it's going to be important."
Not sure selection is the real issue. We have about 10 forwards who are roughly of similar standard. We have to do the best we can with any of those. So therefore it comes down to Attitude and approach (freedom from fear,LEARNING FROM MISTAKES etc. ) Organisation and motivation. Reliable freetaking. Really a very big day for the management team. I expect a clear cut win . Best of luck to all !!

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 06/07/2019 20:20:41    2206439

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Apart from one highball into Conlon that was a miss hit that he went for , Can you tell me one other?? As the balls into him for majority of game were perfect. To say otherwise is highly inaccurate. He had problems loosing his marker or getting disposed, or actually on one occasion loosing it due to wet ball. It appears that very little people were at the game or relied on spillanes wrong analogies. Very disappointing from a Meath perspective that this is actually seen now as fact. Where it did not happen"
There were numerous examples and it got to the point that anyone looking on had to be frustrated. It was so stupid that yes it could not have been a pre determined tactic but happen it did.

The side line must have given up at that point because the obvious thing to do was bring Conlon out the field, to see if he could get on the ball further out.

ROYALOPTIMIST (Meath) - Posts: 179 - 06/07/2019 20:48:56    2206463

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Replying To ROYALOPTIMIST:  "There were numerous examples and it got to the point that anyone looking on had to be frustrated. It was so stupid that yes it could not have been a pre determined tactic but happen it did.

The side line must have given up at that point because the obvious thing to do was bring Conlon out the field, to see if he could get on the ball further out."
Exactly.......... happen it did as you describe......WHY ? we will never know , stupid puts it mildly. History now anyway ! Lets see if we have moved on from the poorest performance from forwards in years.

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 06/07/2019 21:23:12    2206502

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Replying To ROYALOPTIMIST:  "There were numerous examples and it got to the point that anyone looking on had to be frustrated. It was so stupid that yes it could not have been a pre determined tactic but happen it did.

The side line must have given up at that point because the obvious thing to do was bring Conlon out the field, to see if he could get on the ball further out."
Royal Optimist, I have to agree with you and I said it previously about bringing Conlon out and let him use his pace attacking the Dublin backs.
As regards the high ball to Conlon, Biggy even did it from a quick free. Management need to take a certain share of the blame for the ?scenario and not being able to recognize/change tactics.
From talking to some former players, the bounce/skid of the ball on a wet sod in Croker always seems harder to judge than most other pitches (maybe something to do with the type of grass) so even low fast ball to Conlon was going to be more difficult to control particularily if your not used to playing there.
Anyway let's hope for a dry sod tomorrow which I think will help us. Team as announced will probably not start although I suspect the backs will. Good luck too Andy and the Lads. Hopefully the next thread started on this Forum will be in relation to the Super 8's

Diego (Meath) - Posts: 1205 - 06/07/2019 21:37:39    2206526

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