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Actually thought it would be Wexford we were facing. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 01/11/2020 15:27:48 2303853 Link 0 |
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GAA go I'd say. Probably have to pay a fiver for it
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1464 - 01/11/2020 15:54:21 2303889 Link 12 |
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Wicklow have had a very positive season. They acheived promotion from division 4, and now a championship win over their local rivals Wexford. By all accounts there is positivity in the county regards management and particularly underage development. By their metrics, they're on a big high. They'll recreate the siege of Aughrim in a week's time if they can and beating Meath in the championship would be historic for them. And you know something else boys? They could conceivably do it. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 589 - 01/11/2020 16:39:43 2303918 Link 17 |
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Would have preferred a Wexford win, strictly based on venue for next weekends game, Aughrim is never an easy place to go and weather may help balance the sides, Wicklow have had a couple of good results and promotion will be a big confidence boost, however on our last three performance's against Div. 1 opposition we should have enough to make semi. Don't think its on TV so will have to rely on GAA GO. seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2151 - 01/11/2020 19:30:43 2304046 Link 15 |
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1957 was Wicklows one and only victory (so far)over Meath in the Leinster Championship.
dubarra (Wicklow) - Posts: 541 - 01/11/2020 19:54:31 2304060 Link 0 |
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I didnt know that. Famously got a draw against us in 91 after the 4 games against Dublin
bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 01/11/2020 20:27:18 2304089 Link 0 |
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We have lost to Wicklow once in the 50s. We have played Wicklow 14 times in the championship. 12 Meath victories, 1 loss in 1957 and 1 draw amazingly in 1991 of all years. Wicklow have been dogged oposition in the last decade for Meath. These are our last victories v Wicklow in the last 30 years in the championship 2015 Meath defeat Wicklow by 4 points 2013 Meath defeat Wicklow by 5 points 2012 Meath defeat Wicklow by 5 points 2004 Meath defeat Wicklow by 8 points 1999 Meath defeat Wicklow by 10 points 1995 Meath defeat Wicklow by 14 points 1991 Meath defeat Wicklow by 3 points 1991 Meath draw v Wicklow We havent had a big victory over Wicklow since the 90s. And in last ten years there has only been 4 or 5 points between the teams. The last game we play in Navan Wicklow played very well and could have won. They are on winning run. We havent won since July last year and allot of loses since last July. And they have won promotion and Aughrim has a long history of been tough place to go. And it could be a wet windy November day. They also have young manager Davy Burke, whose is building an impressive CV, he will be a future kildare senior manager. He is the only kildare manager to ever win an All Ireland title at any grade at any level. And kildare men in charge of leinster opposition have caused problems for us in the past. If you look at some our biggest defeats in leinster to opposition outside kildare and Dublin you will find a kildare manager involved when Meath are defeated. 1 Luke Dempsey a kildare man from Johnstownbridge who was in charge of Westhmeath when we drew with them in 2001 q final 2 Padraig Nolan a kildare man from kilcock who was in charge of Offaly when they beat us in 2000 leinster champ 3 And when Westmeath beat us in 2015 leinster champ they were also managed by a kildare man Tom Cribben from Clane. I have never met kildare gaa fan who didnt have deep dislike against Meath football ( and thats an understatement) , so I am always wary when kildare manager is in charge of leinster opposition. We be must be ready for a possible tricky and difficult opposition in a weeks time. Anf if we play like we did v Offaly 19 or longford 18 we will lose, if we play like we did from 20 min to full time v Monaghan and Dublin we will.win with a substantial lead. We need to have a good start. If they are in the game going into second half they will grow more and more confident. We have to cut out these poor starts. I think Monaghan and Dublin were up for it and came flying out the start they had something to play for. We were slow starting. And I think kerry tryed to blow us away in the first half. But on those 3 occassions we showed spirit great character and good quality football to drag us back into game. We need to start good next week, similar to Galway game were we went 9 up after 25 mins. We need to really take the game to Wicklow get a lead there heads will drop a little bit, and they will have to come on to us and that should leave huge holes for us to punch in their defence with our counterattacking possesion game. We have to use all our physicality and all that div 1 experience v Wicklow, we are a better team we just gotta show it, start very strongly is important and a good win would lead us into titanic battle with the noisey neighbours, the media darlings, the hype machine named kildare in the semis. But we are not good enough to take Wicklow lightly. If we do Wicklow wil win. The older players need to be driving the team on from the start. Keoghan will do that he always does, but we needs the two McEntees, Lavin, McGill, Menton, McMahon and Sullivan the experienced players to really push the team show example to the young lads. The young lads have been brillant but they are inexperienced. Thats why Cillian Sullivan hopefully will play he is becoming one our leaders. Getting on ball driving forward like the others from 2012 minor team they should be peaking as they hit 25 26 27 mark this year. Harnan is backing training he wouldnt start. Hopefully will see some game time. He is a natural defender still only 25. Injuries have hampered his career but always felt he can become a quality half back and leader for us. Two players who r starting to become leaders for us are Ronan Jones and Thomas Reilly. Jones would be 24 or 25. Allot of midfielders peak in their mid to late 20s like John McDermont. You get the odd great who are great at 21 like Jack O Shea Brian Mullins Sean Cavanagh Dara O Se and Brian Fenton. But they are the exception to the rule. Jones is going up a level, he is best midfielder in the county, but against Monaghan he looked like quality midfielder at inter county level. We havent had effective midfield partnership since Meade and Gillespie in 12 13. I think we have done ok at midfield in last few years. But there are issues like lack of natural high fielding midfielders which are contributing to our kickout problem. But with Jones added to Menton and B Conlon and Devine possible options means we do look stronger in this department. Jones and Menton will cause problems for traditional midfield who lack atleticism. We saw that v Monaghan , our midfield is an athletic ball carrying midfield and it will cause problems for certain teams. Hopefully we get over Wicklow then Jones and Menton v Feehily who was man of the match v Meath in 2017. Feehily was a huge role in kildares two big defeats v Meath in 2017. Feehily is one best highfielders in the country while Jones is not big at 6ft and its not the strongest part of his game his high fielding and physicality has improved greatly. And Feehily faced at 21 year old in 2017 hopefully he will face a different stronger footballer at 24 or 25 this year. If Jones kepts Fehily from dominating and our backs got better of kildares forwards we will win. But thats for another day. First things first we need to go to Aughrim and get result. ( Also just seen McKennas impact from Auzzie rules back in Tyrone. Cian McBride is injured so he could be out for championship. We wish him and Conor Nash the best in Auzzie Rules, but if they were to comback Meath football. Imagine in a year or two if Meath had Ronan Jones Brian Menton Conor Nash and Cian McBride around centre field and you also could have Brian Conlon and Ethan Devine and someone like Daithi McGowan another athletic wing forward. We would have some athleticism and big men around midfield. Particularly Nash he did look like a generational talent. And is a huge loss. We might never see him a Meath jersey. But just in 2021 or 2022 imagine if you had Meath team with Conor Nash , Cian McBride, Brian Menton, Ronan Jones and Ethan Devine as options around centrefield We have some ball carriers on the team. And every sucesful Meath team has had big men around centre field. Now you need big men with pace basically atheletic players. Look at Donegal today big and strong around midfield. One of the reasons they beat Tyrone was Tyrone are quite small in that area. Donegal have big athletic half forward line and Murphy as well as well as a strong midfield. Our half forward line is pacey skilful and suits counter attacking game. But it can lack height and ball carriers breaking through tackle, thats why Ronan Jones is so important and why I would play Ethan Devine on the 40 he offers that. And if we win v. Wicklow . For the kildare game you could havr Ethan Devine, Padraig Harnan and Shane Walsh playing who all went to school in kildare. So they would know all about kildare v Meath how much they dislke us, they should be players who would be really up for that local derby. It must be said kildare have Offaly and while kildare ended the leagud better, Offaly is tricky. If Offaly played like they did v us last year and if kildare play like they did in the first 5 games in the league this March when they ended up in relegation zone in the bottom 2 of div 2 before the break. Play like they did early in the year, Offaly have a great chance v kildare) The other player who has really impressed me is Thomas O Reilly. Still only 23. He is the most improved footballer on the panel in last 12 months. He played in 2017 2018 2019 leagues but was gone by championship. He didnt really impact. Taken off v Clare last year after being brought on. Could have sulked he didnt he rolled up sleeve and has become pretty much a guranteed first team starter. He is our main freetaker and with Morris from the left and Colgan taking 40 metre frees our freetaking option have improved and it looks we have gone from 60% to 90% on the frees. Thomas O Reilly started the league and he was brillant scoring 6 brillant points from play v Tyrone and Donegal. He wasnt as good in the next 3 games clearly teams are now marking him tighter. But he is starting to show leadership in last two games where he has been excellent on frees and has scored some important scores and can win his own ball. And you could see him forming a trio with Walsh and Morris in full forward line. Hes one of those players under McEntee who has improved year on year like lavin Gallagher J McEntee C Sullivan McMahon and also Jones. Hes only 23 and as as hits 24 25 26 I think his potential is serious. I have been very impressed with Thomas Reilly anx he can become hopefully an even better player in the next 24 months for us. Anyway its knockout football. And Meath thrived on knockout football back in the day. Since the backdoor in 2001 we have never really adapted to it. Our record in the back door is average. But knockout from 1930 to 2000 after kerry the best gaelic football county in Ireland at knockout championship football was Meath. This is in our DNA, do or die football, its the essence of Meath football. If these young players can tap into that championship winning mentality we use to thrive on well lets say leinster championship wouldnt the easy win for Dublin people think. First things first , we need to beat Wicklow, which is Aughrim will be tough. Then possible game v our biggest rival currently the crowd who hate us most , kildare. Its championship football old school, old style. Hopefully this young Meath team can show their great skills and display great spirit in the coming week. If we play like we did in first 20 mins v Galway and the Monaghan and Dublin and kerry performances after the first 15 mins we will be a match for everyone and anyone. Team I would pick v Wicklow 1 Colgan 2 Lavin 3 MGill 4 Hickey 5 J McEntee 6 Ryan 7 Keoghan 8 Menton 9 Jones 10 Sullivan 11 McMahon 12 Devine 13 Morris 14 Walsh 15 O Reilly Subs 16 Brennan 17 Gallagher 18 S McEntee 19 Harkin 20 B Conlon 21 Scully 22 Campion 23 lenihan 24 J Wallace 25 J Conlon 26 Toner Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 01/11/2020 21:55:38 2304151 Link 18 |
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Ah come on Leitrim Royal. A fiver is a small price to pay to watch match from the comfort of your sitting room.
Jack L (None) - Posts: 3101 - 01/11/2020 22:29:51 2304172 Link 0 |
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Thanks for the correction. I thought that was a draw like 91. Fair play
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 02/11/2020 07:56:54 2304219 Link 0 |
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Should be beating Wicklow thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1049 - 02/11/2020 08:45:35 2304228 Link 0 |
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Absolutely agree, great service. Not complaining, was only saying it matter of fact. My name is LeitrimRoyal not CavanRoyal !!
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1464 - 02/11/2020 09:18:12 2304238 Link 10 |
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Looking at games yday winter championship is built for big powerful athletic men.is it horses for courses at the minute till we hopefully get to croker.by that i mean would a barry dardis sean tobin type starters then let in thd speed merchants when other teams tiring.aughrim not be suited for any pull back.dogged outfit wicklow. Borderroyal (Meath) - Posts: 488 - 02/11/2020 09:51:43 2304252 Link 0 |
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This will be a tough fixture for us, I rarely remember us beating Wicklow with any comfort, they came to Navan in 2015 and gave us a right scare and only for a freak long range goal by Kevin Reilly in 2013 Wicklow might have pressed for home. Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/11/2020 09:54:00 2304255 Link 18 |
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Very dangerous game for Meath, Wicklow in Aughrim are a different animal. Championship is all about results, lets get out of there with a 1 point win. Nothing else matters LoyalRoyal66 (Meath) - Posts: 82 - 02/11/2020 13:04:56 2304388 Link 0 |
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Don't buy into all this cliched nonsense of Wicklow being a different animal in Aughrim and the pitch and conditions being a leveller . Very very rarely pans out like that. Maybe with two teams closer in quality but its a team who were operating in Division 1 this year v a team who were in Division 4. And we competed really well in the last few games in Division 1. I expect us to win by 7 at least and will be surprised if we don't. Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 02/11/2020 13:56:23 2304416 Link 0 |
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Ahh jasus if they don't win it be like Santa getting Covid. Cancel Christmas
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 02/11/2020 15:19:39 2304454 Link 1 |
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I tend to agree with you about about getting strong athletic men on the pitch! I'd be looking at the likes of Jack Flynn from Ratoath - brilliant with the 20s last year and carried that form into the Senior Championship with Ratoath - big strong lad but as he showed he can score and play too! He is in the panel now too!
ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 422 - 02/11/2020 16:26:32 2304494 Link 2 |
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Yeah he was a shining light for Rathoath this year. Can win ball around the middle. The lads from We are Meath love him!
Royalblufill (Meath) - Posts: 480 - 02/11/2020 16:52:31 2304507 Link 0 |
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I don't mean to sound harsh but I couldn't care less if Santa does get covid, I'm asking him for an old fashioned blow up doll this year and he better bloodly well bring it!!
Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/11/2020 17:47:57 2304530 Link 17 |
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Has Andy settled on his best 15? bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1792 - 02/11/2020 17:51:59 2304537 Link 0 |