Meath Forum

Senior Championship Match Predictions

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Replying To Talking_Sense:  "Thought Goldrick had a great game. He was right to give Gavin McGowan a black card. Watch the video closely, he took your man out first whilst leading with his right leg, so technically he tripped the Kells player. Thats why Goldrick is top ref. Look harsh but it was a Black Card"
Couldn't disagree more. The black card is for cynical behaviour not clumsy tackles. Coldrick gave several 'soft' frees, players, mainly Kells, going down with minimal contact. He also denied Kells an advantage at least twice when goal opportunities were on.

round_ball_99 (Meath) - Posts: 19 - 07/10/2020 10:04:18    2296192

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Replying To Ed2010:  "I was just talking about McGowan's black and he used his legs to take him out. U must not play much"
Best if neither of us talk about these incidents. It was a great game with 2 good teams and its better to ignore isolated incidents. Everything in a match cant go perfectly. My regrettable reaction was to show that if you pick on our players we can do the same. Main concern is for kells player who came off injured and we all wish him a speedy recovery

Ashrules (Dublin) - Posts: 549 - 07/10/2020 10:30:37    2296197

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Replying To Maestro:  "Joey confirmed that they werent happy with management and were sulking?

You dont seem to have a clue what is going on in Ratoath."
Bit harsh to say they were sulking. He was standing by his principles which was very admirable. Doesn't say much for the rest of the players on the field when a lad who hasn't kicked a ball all year can rock up and be unplayable winning the MotM and scoring the winning goal.

... Almost like there's an awful lot of BS training that is done in club football generally across the full GAA spectrum and that skills and playing style are actually very rarely improved upon. There's no way a soccer player or a hurler for example could rock up after not playing for a year and be so ahead of everyone else on the pitch.

Generally, it was an extraordinary interview by Joey Wallace and he came across very well I thought. He's got his head screwed on for sure.

Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1352 - 07/10/2020 11:35:28    2296211

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Replying To Crinigan:  "Bit harsh to say they were sulking. He was standing by his principles which was very admirable. Doesn't say much for the rest of the players on the field when a lad who hasn't kicked a ball all year can rock up and be unplayable winning the MotM and scoring the winning goal.

... Almost like there's an awful lot of BS training that is done in club football generally across the full GAA spectrum and that skills and playing style are actually very rarely improved upon. There's no way a soccer player or a hurler for example could rock up after not playing for a year and be so ahead of everyone else on the pitch.

Generally, it was an extraordinary interview by Joey Wallace and he came across very well I thought. He's got his head screwed on for sure."
That's quite an unfair statement on the rest of the players, of course Joey had a fantastic game and he's a real special talent but he still needs ball put into him and players to work beside him and they did, Joey had the same impact last year when he returned but again the others players knew his skill set and will work around that and the success story of Ratoath is a collective effort. Regarding the interview well I've had my fill of that story, it's nearly a year now and we have retained the Keegan Cup and have three hurling finals in Minor, Junior and Senior still to play, underage is flourishing and the club have recently bought more land to develop more pitches and facilities, I'm more interested in those things than whatever happened last year and who was right or who was wrong, some people seem to think there is a lot wrong with Ratoath GAA, I think the above mentioned facts would tell you otherwise. People will always have their opinions to which they are fully entitled but the good of the club should always come first, as Joey said he's a Ratoath man through and through, that's all I want to hear.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3743 - 07/10/2020 13:13:56    2296235

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Replying To Richieq:  "That's quite an unfair statement on the rest of the players, of course Joey had a fantastic game and he's a real special talent but he still needs ball put into him and players to work beside him and they did, Joey had the same impact last year when he returned but again the others players knew his skill set and will work around that and the success story of Ratoath is a collective effort. Regarding the interview well I've had my fill of that story, it's nearly a year now and we have retained the Keegan Cup and have three hurling finals in Minor, Junior and Senior still to play, underage is flourishing and the club have recently bought more land to develop more pitches and facilities, I'm more interested in those things than whatever happened last year and who was right or who was wrong, some people seem to think there is a lot wrong with Ratoath GAA, I think the above mentioned facts would tell you otherwise. People will always have their opinions to which they are fully entitled but the good of the club should always come first, as Joey said he's a Ratoath man through and through, that's all I want to hear."
He's a Ratoath man through and through.....really??? I mean really??????

Well where was he then when all his team mates committed to the football campaign this year after the mess that followed last years win, many of them unhappy with what happened also. But all of them bar the two Wallace's were prepared to put it all behind them and get on with defending their title under a new manager. And don't try and tell me they were busy with their athletics - they can't have got much joy out of those results. Don't anyone try and kid themselves, they didn't come back for their team, their manager or their club. They came back only for themselves because they had no choice as they wouldn't have been able to play for Meath otherwise. Let's call a spade a spade lads.

hilloftara (Meath) - Posts: 48 - 07/10/2020 14:04:15    2296256

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Replying To Crinigan:  "Bit harsh to say they were sulking. He was standing by his principles which was very admirable. Doesn't say much for the rest of the players on the field when a lad who hasn't kicked a ball all year can rock up and be unplayable winning the MotM and scoring the winning goal.

... Almost like there's an awful lot of BS training that is done in club football generally across the full GAA spectrum and that skills and playing style are actually very rarely improved upon. There's no way a soccer player or a hurler for example could rock up after not playing for a year and be so ahead of everyone else on the pitch.

Generally, it was an extraordinary interview by Joey Wallace and he came across very well I thought. He's got his head screwed on for sure."
What a load of nonsense, so you're telling if Joe Canning missed 8 months and came back with 4 weeks training under his belt there is no way he would be Man of the Match in a club game?

Maestro (Meath) - Posts: 584 - 07/10/2020 15:50:17    2296270

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Replying To LoyalRoyal66:  "Does it raise a possibility that we are looking at the same situation evolving over the next decade that we have already seen at inter-county level with Dublin's dominance?

How are rural senior clubs supposed to compete with the likes of Ratoath who have reaped the rewards of a population boom over the last two decades and will continue to grow in size. I expect other clubs like Ashbourne and St. Colmcilles to also reap these rewards once they get their underage structures performing well.
Traditional superpowers like Skryne, NOM and even more recent forces in Kells and Simonstown may struggle to compete in the not to distant future"
Im not so sure.
undoubtedly if the new big urban areas like ratoath, don/ash, dunboyne, dunshauglin and st colmcilles get their structures and underage right continuously they should have a massive talent pool steadily pouring through and should be regulars to compete for the keegan cup in the next 10-15 years.
however sport and football doesnt always work like that and underage success or numbers is no guarantee for adult success.
A lot of people thought ashbourne would be dominant in the last 10 years, they had plenty of underage success, unreal facilities and even a 2nd team playing intermediate, however they havent made the senior breakthrough yet.
I myself thought dunboyne would win or at least be a main challenger since their last success in 2018. they won u21, junior and senior that year and had been knocking on the door for years before they got over the line.
Ratoath are now the team tipped to dominate, they could even do the hurling and football double if the hurling is played. Ratoath have done brilliantly to win back to back keegans, however i think its fair to say this year they looked far less convincing than last year (obviously the wallaces were a big miss) so i dont think among a lot of senior teams there would be a massive fear of domination for the next 5 year from ratoath and by that i mean any right minded team in meath would respect ratoath and recognise they are a very good side and wont be an easy team to beat but i dont think there is dismay from the usual keegan contenders that there is no hope or no point in even playing a championship as ratoath have it sewn up for the next few years.

I do think obviously the big urban areas have an advantage and that clubs like ratoath and dunboyne arent going away and will compete continuously for the next decade and beyond. And that clubs like St Colmcilles and Ashbourne will improve and challenge. However i think you will always get a handful of clubs that will have consistently strong teams and then other clubs that will come along with once in a generation teams.
Simonstown, Summerhill, Skyrne and Wolf Tones and Na Fianna should all have strong teams that will have years of competing and years where they are also rans.
O'Mahonys in he next 10 years could get another great team and pick up a keegan or 2.
Kells may go again with this group and be competive for a few years.
Then you could have clubs who get a once in a generation group and win a keegan from nowhere ie moynalvey or even a team who gets promoted like Trim (who i think are a sleeping giant) who could come along with a great team.

Meathmaverick (Meath) - Posts: 106 - 07/10/2020 17:25:29    2296283

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Replying To hilloftara:  "He's a Ratoath man through and through.....really??? I mean really??????

Well where was he then when all his team mates committed to the football campaign this year after the mess that followed last years win, many of them unhappy with what happened also. But all of them bar the two Wallace's were prepared to put it all behind them and get on with defending their title under a new manager. And don't try and tell me they were busy with their athletics - they can't have got much joy out of those results. Don't anyone try and kid themselves, they didn't come back for their team, their manager or their club. They came back only for themselves because they had no choice as they wouldn't have been able to play for Meath otherwise. Let's call a spade a spade lads."
They were absent for a serious chunk of last year too, Joey missed the entire group stage (5 matches) in 2019 and only came back at quarter final stage, Eamonn returned for the second last or last group game I'm not sure which, in his interview Joey couldn't commit to being available all the time in 2021 either, maybe they had different reasons included in their thought processes this year but they have been absent before, I think the comment of returning in part reason to play with Meath was I'll judged and I wouldn't be so sure that is exactly the case, I think his celebration after the goal would suggest Joey was more than happy to be part of that Ratoath team and it's success.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3743 - 07/10/2020 19:11:04    2296304

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Replying To Meathmaverick:  "Im not so sure.
undoubtedly if the new big urban areas like ratoath, don/ash, dunboyne, dunshauglin and st colmcilles get their structures and underage right continuously they should have a massive talent pool steadily pouring through and should be regulars to compete for the keegan cup in the next 10-15 years.
however sport and football doesnt always work like that and underage success or numbers is no guarantee for adult success.
A lot of people thought ashbourne would be dominant in the last 10 years, they had plenty of underage success, unreal facilities and even a 2nd team playing intermediate, however they havent made the senior breakthrough yet.
I myself thought dunboyne would win or at least be a main challenger since their last success in 2018. they won u21, junior and senior that year and had been knocking on the door for years before they got over the line.
Ratoath are now the team tipped to dominate, they could even do the hurling and football double if the hurling is played. Ratoath have done brilliantly to win back to back keegans, however i think its fair to say this year they looked far less convincing than last year (obviously the wallaces were a big miss) so i dont think among a lot of senior teams there would be a massive fear of domination for the next 5 year from ratoath and by that i mean any right minded team in meath would respect ratoath and recognise they are a very good side and wont be an easy team to beat but i dont think there is dismay from the usual keegan contenders that there is no hope or no point in even playing a championship as ratoath have it sewn up for the next few years.

I do think obviously the big urban areas have an advantage and that clubs like ratoath and dunboyne arent going away and will compete continuously for the next decade and beyond. And that clubs like St Colmcilles and Ashbourne will improve and challenge. However i think you will always get a handful of clubs that will have consistently strong teams and then other clubs that will come along with once in a generation teams.
Simonstown, Summerhill, Skyrne and Wolf Tones and Na Fianna should all have strong teams that will have years of competing and years where they are also rans.
O'Mahonys in he next 10 years could get another great team and pick up a keegan or 2.
Kells may go again with this group and be competive for a few years.
Then you could have clubs who get a once in a generation group and win a keegan from nowhere ie moynalvey or even a team who gets promoted like Trim (who i think are a sleeping giant) who could come along with a great team."
Agree until last two paragraphs, where will O Mahoneys get this team from in next 10 years ? I would think they coukd get relegated in next few years. Kells have gone 6 seasons now with very little if any new blood in last 4/5 years. Very hard to keep going again especially after Sunday. Trim are nowhere near good enough, can't win an Intermediate let alone a Senior. Dunboyne are the under achievers in Meath.

Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1489 - 07/10/2020 21:16:44    2296322

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Replying To Analyst:  "Agree until last two paragraphs, where will O Mahoneys get this team from in next 10 years ? I would think they coukd get relegated in next few years. Kells have gone 6 seasons now with very little if any new blood in last 4/5 years. Very hard to keep going again especially after Sunday. Trim are nowhere near good enough, can't win an Intermediate let alone a Senior. Dunboyne are the under achievers in Meath."
i dont think you actually read my post analyst,
I dont necessarily think o'mahonys will win a keegan in the next 10 years but what i do know is that 10 years is an awful long time in football. 10 years ago cilles, moynalvey, kells and na fianna were all playing intermediate football and ratoath were junior, so to think an established club could come from nowhere to win a championship isnt beyond the realms of possibility.
Also i myself think Kells chance has probably gone, but i said the same last year and they got closer than ever this year.
Im not tipping Trim either, however i do think they have massive potential, i think they would be better equipped than a lot of clubs if they went senior.
im not predicting these teams to win championships but saying football is unpredictable and there will always be surprises in the next 10 years.

Meathmaverick (Meath) - Posts: 106 - 08/10/2020 10:12:12    2296360

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Replying To Analyst:  "Agree until last two paragraphs, where will O Mahoneys get this team from in next 10 years ? I would think they coukd get relegated in next few years. Kells have gone 6 seasons now with very little if any new blood in last 4/5 years. Very hard to keep going again especially after Sunday. Trim are nowhere near good enough, can't win an Intermediate let alone a Senior. Dunboyne are the under achievers in Meath."
I agree totally. The old part of the county, ie; Kells/Navan/Trim are collectively in a strange place. That Kells team have a lot of miles on the clock, and their leaders/danger men are all older, senior players. If they come back again and push into the knockouts in the coming years it will be a good acheivement given their history of falling short and the fatigue in their squad.
Trim is a very, very odd situation. A hurling town in the eyes of many. They should still be senior in footballing terms at least. There are towns the size of Trim in other counties with 2/3 senior football clubs. The situation isnt good enough. There has obviously been grassroots issues for years that are in relation to coaching/retention/local interest etc. These issues over time collectively lead to the situation Trim find themselves in, and maybe will always be in.
O'Mahony's are 2nd fiddle in Navan to Simonstown atm, but unlike Kells and Trim they have a much greater population and dozens of schoolboys always over the horizon. They'll periodically be very good.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 10/10/2020 16:32:52    2296701

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Ive said before and I'll say it again, teams in North Meath are going nowhere if they don't start amalgamating and likes of Ratoath, Ashbourne, Simonstown and Dunboyne are going to dominate for decades to come unless North Meath teams smell the roses.

I'd be surprised for example if Kells given their age profile come back again. But they'd definitely have won it if they had the superstar forward that plays for a very local intermediate team and another excellent centre back that places for another very local intermediate club...

Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1352 - 10/10/2020 21:41:52    2296732

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Replying To Young_gael:  "I agree totally. The old part of the county, ie; Kells/Navan/Trim are collectively in a strange place. That Kells team have a lot of miles on the clock, and their leaders/danger men are all older, senior players. If they come back again and push into the knockouts in the coming years it will be a good acheivement given their history of falling short and the fatigue in their squad.
Trim is a very, very odd situation. A hurling town in the eyes of many. They should still be senior in footballing terms at least. There are towns the size of Trim in other counties with 2/3 senior football clubs. The situation isnt good enough. There has obviously been grassroots issues for years that are in relation to coaching/retention/local interest etc. These issues over time collectively lead to the situation Trim find themselves in, and maybe will always be in.
O'Mahony's are 2nd fiddle in Navan to Simonstown atm, but unlike Kells and Trim they have a much greater population and dozens of schoolboys always over the horizon. They'll periodically be very good."
There's a lot of new housing going up in Navan, most of it favouring Simonstown and Walterstown, but that doesn't mean some blood from the new developments won't go to O'Mahonys. They have also had a few high profile transfers in but the key will be how well the juvenile end of things is managed going forward. A huge population increase can paper over any cracks in a juvenile section that is mismanaged.

Kells will be there or thereabouts for the next few years - Wall will be key to that though. They were so close this year, literally seconds away. Assuming we are back to normal next year, I think they will find it more difficult to get to the same stage again - leading after 60 minutes in the county final because the like of Dunboyne will get a second bite of the cherry.

As for Trim, some of the best facilities in the country, never mind meath. They compete well at juvenile level and have a big population, you would imagine that it should be an easy enough fix!

round_ball_99 (Meath) - Posts: 19 - 10/10/2020 21:46:03    2296735

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Replying To round_ball_99:  "There's a lot of new housing going up in Navan, most of it favouring Simonstown and Walterstown, but that doesn't mean some blood from the new developments won't go to O'Mahonys. They have also had a few high profile transfers in but the key will be how well the juvenile end of things is managed going forward. A huge population increase can paper over any cracks in a juvenile section that is mismanaged.

Kells will be there or thereabouts for the next few years - Wall will be key to that though. They were so close this year, literally seconds away. Assuming we are back to normal next year, I think they will find it more difficult to get to the same stage again - leading after 60 minutes in the county final because the like of Dunboyne will get a second bite of the cherry.

As for Trim, some of the best facilities in the country, never mind meath. They compete well at juvenile level and have a big population, you would imagine that it should be an easy enough fix!"
Trim are never in last 10 years in Div1 at Juvenile or Minor. Mad stuff for club that size. There underage has went to pot at many age groups bar odd one and even then come U14 etc they are playing almost all the time in Div2.

Talking_Sense (Meath) - Posts: 209 - 11/10/2020 09:08:22    2296754

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Replying To Analyst:  "Agree until last two paragraphs, where will O Mahoneys get this team from in next 10 years ? I would think they coukd get relegated in next few years. Kells have gone 6 seasons now with very little if any new blood in last 4/5 years. Very hard to keep going again especially after Sunday. Trim are nowhere near good enough, can't win an Intermediate let alone a Senior. Dunboyne are the under achievers in Meath."
Totally agree kells have been shocking the last few years bringing players, a few young lads coming up from their youth team one of them on the Gerry Reilly panel last year was good. Unfortunately in 5/6 years Dunshaughlin will dominate all football they dominate underage football with colmcilles and ratoath being close. Me being from ashbourne I'm sad to say I think our days are gone for now but give us 5 years and we may be back.

GerryAshbourne (Meath) - Posts: 4 - 11/10/2020 10:41:34    2296767

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Replying To Talking_Sense:  "Trim are never in last 10 years in Div1 at Juvenile or Minor. Mad stuff for club that size. There underage has went to pot at many age groups bar odd one and even then come U14 etc they are playing almost all the time in Div2."
It seems clear that hurling is number 1 priority at underage in Trim, even if they were competing in minor Div1 last year and the year before which wouldn't be the norm.
My theory is it's a tradition thing where there is just more interest in the hurling in the town and the surrounding area. There is a good few of their adult hurlers that don't play football at any level

showforit (Meath) - Posts: 156 - 11/10/2020 11:13:59    2296772

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Replying To Talking_Sense:  "Trim are never in last 10 years in Div1 at Juvenile or Minor. Mad stuff for club that size. There underage has went to pot at many age groups bar odd one and even then come U14 etc they are playing almost all the time in Div2."
It seems clear that hurling is number 1 priority at underage in Trim, even if they were competing in minor Div1 last year and the year before which wouldn't be the norm.
My theory is it's a tradition thing where there is just more interest in the hurling in the town and the surrounding area. There is a good few of their adult hurlers that don't play football at any level

showforit (Meath) - Posts: 156 - 11/10/2020 11:40:03    2296780

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Replying To Talking_Sense:  "Trim are never in last 10 years in Div1 at Juvenile or Minor. Mad stuff for club that size. There underage has went to pot at many age groups bar odd one and even then come U14 etc they are playing almost all the time in Div2."
Trim seem happy enough to compete at div 2 and looking at the minor roll of honour, they have a few div 2 minor titles in the last few years. They probably should have been regraded to div 1 which would have brought them on leaps and bounds. It is disappointing to see a div 1 level team dropping a level, probably because they have a better chance at winning a cup. Its a very short sighted strategy. Agree with you though, mad for any club that size (or bigger).

round_ball_99 (Meath) - Posts: 19 - 11/10/2020 19:18:46    2296856

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Replying To GerryAshbourne:  "Totally agree kells have been shocking the last few years bringing players, a few young lads coming up from their youth team one of them on the Gerry Reilly panel last year was good. Unfortunately in 5/6 years Dunshaughlin will dominate all football they dominate underage football with colmcilles and ratoath being close. Me being from ashbourne I'm sad to say I think our days are gone for now but give us 5 years and we may be back."
Dunshaughlin will be relegated next year
Cilles are going well at all underage groups but with Dunshaughlin one swallow does not make a summer

head4dblackspot (Meath) - Posts: 513 - 11/10/2020 21:45:01    2296880

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Replying To head4dblackspot:  "Dunshaughlin will be relegated next year
Cilles are going well at all underage groups but with Dunshaughlin one swallow does not make a summer"
Don't know where he got the notion of Dunshaughlin dominating. Division 2 winner the last 2 years but that's nothing to write home about. I can't remember the last time before this year they were contenders in division 1. They have a bright future with Costello, Mitchell and this years minor team. And with the new estates going into the town they should only get stronger. But a long way off domination

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 12/10/2020 09:51:28    2296921

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