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Well that was a strange game. Kildare should have been 10 11 points up at half time missed goal chance and scoring chances to put meath away.. Meath defense as very poor in the last 15 minutes of the 1st half. Kildare did massive damage. Lavin struggled he was'nt the only one Kildare where wining ball with know one putting a hand on them. Ronan Ryan seem to pay the price harshly enough. But all in defense where poor during this period. It was very hard to watch.
But delighted with the second half performance. Great to get them quick goals to get us back in it. But I have to say it was poor play from Kildare coughing the ball up way to easily but in fairness to us we made use of it.
Cillian Osullivan had I good game as I suspected he would, He is almost unstoppable in the wide open spaces of Croke park. As I mentioned before a team like Dublin and Mayo just foul him, and largely get away with it. today you can see what he is capable of is not dealt with so to speak.
Delighted he had a great game. I hope he is ok he took a bad belt at the end and got a bad knock against Monaghan aswell.
Second half we where a different team. We seem to be able to pick holes in the defense some accurate hand passing helped do this. We continued a recent trait under Mc Entee to finish strong which is great to see.
Personallyare how w I didn't really ce won just as long as we did win. I think its going to be massive boast for us. regardless of they of how we get on the next day. The win a put to bed some bad under performances against Kildare in recent years.
I taught Kildare might get a goal in the last 5 10 minutes Meath like making life hard for ourselves. But Kildare never really looked like getting one. And we held firm which was good to see.
Delighted we got the win. It was looking like and another one of those days at half time.
But we turned it around fair play to all.
bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1265 - 15/11/2020 19:17:53
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Great win in the end, Kildare had us in serious trouble at h/t. Kirwan and Hyland well on top of Lavin and McGill who both struggled badly. Improved in second half but by then Menton had dropped back to help. We took full advantage of a porus defence and took the goals very well. Expected Kildare to fall back behind ball for start of second half, surely they expected Meath would go for broke early on? Today was all about winning and certainly gave us great entertainment. Andy Mc was asked after game why he made no changes at half time.
"Where would you have started? That's the thing, there were a lot of guys who weren't doing themselves justice out there. It would have been hard to pick one or two out of that". A fair summation
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2195 - 15/11/2020 19:33:10
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Replying To Foley91: "A good second half display but we gave a poor Kildare team a 6 point halftime lead. We gave every team in division 1 a lead this year through no proper kick out strategy and that why we didnt manage to win a game. We are 4 years looking at this. Every team knows to pressure our kick out. If we are to have any chance against Dublin we need to be at least level at halftime." 100% agree. Can't believe this still not addressed. Also no free taker still ... going into Leinster final this year with even less free takers than last years final (where our free taking was an embarrassment).
Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1352 - 15/11/2020 19:39:31
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Replying To stekhli: "Where is James McEntee guys ? Arguably one Meaths best players but nowhere to be seen ? Is he injured or what ?" James broke his thumb in league match against Dublin. Long term injury according to Andy
Diego (Meath) - Posts: 1205 - 15/11/2020 19:51:44
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Replying To Foley91: "A good second half display but we gave a poor Kildare team a 6 point halftime lead. We gave every team in division 1 a lead this year through no proper kick out strategy and that why we didnt manage to win a game. We are 4 years looking at this. Every team knows to pressure our kick out. If we are to have any chance against Dublin we need to be at least level at halftime." A very good win and hopefully everyone is available for next weekend. Kick out strategy is based on outfield players making runs/movement which is not happening and we then have guys blaming the goal keeper which has been happening over the past 5-6 years. Everyone posts about how good the Dublin keeper is with kick outs, however in most instances he is kicking to players who are not man marked. In the league when kick outs were contested he kicked over the line at least twice and others went astray.
browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 15/11/2020 19:53:01
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COS has taken several very hard knocks over last few weeks. hopefully ok for next w/e, a player we cannot do without. Had another great game today, never gives up, when things looked bad for Meath in first half he constantly took the game to Kildare. Thought kickouts were an improvement, hard to blame goalie for some that were not collected when he went short. We struggled to get primary possession on long kickouts especiall in first half.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2195 - 15/11/2020 19:53:42
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Replying To Diego: "James broke his thumb in league match against Dublin. Long term injury according to Andy" Broke my own thumb 3 weeks ago. so I can relate to this. Now I'm a lot older than James. But honestly I never thought something so small and what upto now I would consider as a very minor knock could cause so much pain and discomfort.
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 15/11/2020 20:15:26
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Replying To Foley91: "A good second half display but we gave a poor Kildare team a 6 point halftime lead. We gave every team in division 1 a lead this year through no proper kick out strategy and that why we didnt manage to win a game. We are 4 years looking at this. Every team knows to pressure our kick out. If we are to have any chance against Dublin we need to be at least level at halftime." I think you are one of very few here who has expressed the same concerns as I!
There seems to be a sense of delusion amongst some fans and some pundits from what I've seen this evening.
That was an awful standard today, by both teams.
Yes there were some positives but whilst I'm not expecting us to beat Dublin, I was expecting much better than today's display. Our league performances were of a higher intensity and we were much more clinical.
Sorry to say, I'm genuinely disappointed and afraid for next week.
Tweety (Meath) - Posts: 31 - 15/11/2020 22:17:58
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Great win. Thought we were down and out at half time. COS needs to stop carrying the ball down dead ends and getting turned over. Would like to see James Colgan get more game time he has a good few scores from
Very limited minutes in the last 3 games. Keoghan as usual a cut above the rest. Work cut out again Dublin but if Cork can pull off an upset why not the royals !
cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 15/11/2020 23:20:08
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Replying To Tweety: "I think you are one of very few here who has expressed the same concerns as I!
There seems to be a sense of delusion amongst some fans and some pundits from what I've seen this evening.
That was an awful standard today, by both teams.
Yes there were some positives but whilst I'm not expecting us to beat Dublin, I was expecting much better than today's display. Our league performances were of a higher intensity and we were much more clinical.
Sorry to say, I'm genuinely disappointed and afraid for next week." Huge success in my opinion....cause way it was looking at half time , we'd be on here this morning looking for a New Manager , and for that alone, i'm relieved & delighted. But you are spot on, it was a really difficult watch for the first 38 minutes, and whatever about our problems, Jack O & Kildare have a hell of a lot of head scratching to do over the next few months . Now for us , Andy is no genius, BUT... his positives are still there, and added to that he has promoted some of the younger guys with that x factor. So finally , we have a degree of unpredictability about us that will cause opposition real concern. Now im not saying Dessie Farrell will need sleeping tablets this week, but you can at least imagine him taking some consideration for what threats we may pose going forward. ..... So we are where we would have wanted to be...we have beaten what was in front of us, and we finished out the League campaign well. End of this chapter lets move onto next
Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 401 - 16/11/2020 10:23:23
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Replying To Tweety: "I think you are one of very few here who has expressed the same concerns as I!
There seems to be a sense of delusion amongst some fans and some pundits from what I've seen this evening.
That was an awful standard today, by both teams.
Yes there were some positives but whilst I'm not expecting us to beat Dublin, I was expecting much better than today's display. Our league performances were of a higher intensity and we were much more clinical.
Sorry to say, I'm genuinely disappointed and afraid for next week." Fully agree, really Kildare shot themselves in the foot and allowed us back into the game. We were cleaned out at midfield (again) and our backs gave Kildare so much space in the latter stages of the first half, Kildare should have been out of sight at half time. Kick outs still an issue (3 years ongoing), surely Colgan a better option. I honestly don't see much progress, still miles behind the Dubs. Outside of the Dubs the rest of Leinster is just muck and the Leinster council needs to step in and help all counties outside of the capital for a change.
AthboyCelt (Meath) - Posts: 148 - 16/11/2020 10:29:34
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Start with the negatives to get them out of the way.
The first half was the worst half of football I've seen us play in a while. Since probably Donegal in the league. The tackle count was way down, 0 intensity brought to it. Got destroyed on our own kick out and they walked out with all of theirs. The half-back line and midfield were in no man's land, they put zero pressure on the ball in, but also didn't cover the full back line and left them 1 on 1. Our full-back line is usually not too bad in one on one's. But Lavin, in particular, got taking for a run of Croke Park in the 1st half which is very unlike him as he's a quality defender.
The positives.
We keep scoring goals which is great. Young guys are really improving this team. Costello was MOTM yesterday, Morris another goal. Walsh was pretty good in the first half but went out of the game. Hickey and Scully were very good when they came on and they brought intensity in the second half. Shane McEntee a fantastic block on Dan Flynn putting his body on the line. Walsh and Jones getting a turnover for Joey Wallace's goal.
Overall it was far from our best performance and the goals put a gloss on it. But we just beat a division 2 team by 9 points without playing well. 3 years ago Kildare beat us by 9 in league and championship. We've flipped it and if the league happens next year that's a great thing to know going into a crucial game. Looking at the Dub game we have to get a lot better or it'll be a repeat of last year's margin. Kickouts were a huge issue in that first half and I would play Colgan on Saturday. Yesterday I would say only O'Sullivan, Costello, Shane McEntee and Thomas O'Reilly of the starters can say they gave a great performance, Jordan Morris was dangerous but he did kick 3 wides. Big players for us like Jones, Menton, McGill, Lavin, Keoghan and McMahon all played below par and we still won. If they can all up their games maybe we could hang around with the Dubs for a good while and give them their best test in Leinster since 2012. (The Jim Gavin Dublin monopoly of Leinster is really scary to look back at. Lets hope it isn't the same under Dessie)
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 16/11/2020 10:37:38
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The best thing about yesterday was that the team won playing poorly which is a sign of a good team.
bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1807 - 16/11/2020 12:09:06
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Replying To AthboyCelt: "Fully agree, really Kildare shot themselves in the foot and allowed us back into the game. We were cleaned out at midfield (again) and our backs gave Kildare so much space in the latter stages of the first half, Kildare should have been out of sight at half time. Kick outs still an issue (3 years ongoing), surely Colgan a better option. I honestly don't see much progress, still miles behind the Dubs. Outside of the Dubs the rest of Leinster is just muck and the Leinster council needs to step in and help all counties outside of the capital for a change." Agree absolutely............Kickouts still after years really a joke and disaster waiting to happen ..WHY no lessons learned? where and how is this covered in training? Freetaking the same ..no consistency. Why not persist with 1 person to develop in goalkeeping role and similar for person with free taking job . Both critical roles requiring confidence . How can you develop confidence jumping from Billy to Jack ?? NO excuses this is not good enough !! (I still want Andy Mc Entee to stay in the job )
The goals yesterday just paper over the cracks . Yes there are some positives no doubt COS a great worker as is Donal Keoghan.....but we knew that already! Morris ,Costello,Jones promising Walsh clearly has ability and needs more urgency and intensity to his play. I would try him at 11 in the hope that we might improve fielding skils around the middle third. It maight help the goalie options for kick outs also..... Our full backs were second best yesterday in the first half especially.
All in all some improvement ,but we will find out the real story next Saturday when we play against the best. For this poster when its clear we have learned from recurring mistakes ,and start playing to our full potential as a team will i regard ourselves as having really progressed.
That will be a real "WIN" for now in the current circumstances.
Best of luck to all concerned for this massive task on Saturday. Man marking especially will be difficult for this one. It is possible ...otherwise we may as well give a walk over now NO apologies and NO excuses !!
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 16/11/2020 12:46:40
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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99: "Start with the negatives to get them out of the way.
The first half was the worst half of football I've seen us play in a while. Since probably Donegal in the league. The tackle count was way down, 0 intensity brought to it. Got destroyed on our own kick out and they walked out with all of theirs. The half-back line and midfield were in no man's land, they put zero pressure on the ball in, but also didn't cover the full back line and left them 1 on 1. Our full-back line is usually not too bad in one on one's. But Lavin, in particular, got taking for a run of Croke Park in the 1st half which is very unlike him as he's a quality defender.
The positives.
We keep scoring goals which is great. Young guys are really improving this team. Costello was MOTM yesterday, Morris another goal. Walsh was pretty good in the first half but went out of the game. Hickey and Scully were very good when they came on and they brought intensity in the second half. Shane McEntee a fantastic block on Dan Flynn putting his body on the line. Walsh and Jones getting a turnover for Joey Wallace's goal.
Overall it was far from our best performance and the goals put a gloss on it. But we just beat a division 2 team by 9 points without playing well. 3 years ago Kildare beat us by 9 in league and championship. We've flipped it and if the league happens next year that's a great thing to know going into a crucial game. Looking at the Dub game we have to get a lot better or it'll be a repeat of last year's margin. Kickouts were a huge issue in that first half and I would play Colgan on Saturday. Yesterday I would say only O'Sullivan, Costello, Shane McEntee and Thomas O'Reilly of the starters can say they gave a great performance, Jordan Morris was dangerous but he did kick 3 wides. Big players for us like Jones, Menton, McGill, Lavin, Keoghan and McMahon all played below par and we still won. If they can all up their games maybe we could hang around with the Dubs for a good while and give them their best test in Leinster since 2012. (The Jim Gavin Dublin monopoly of Leinster is really scary to look back at. Lets hope it isn't the same under Dessie)" good post I agree but I going challenge on a few points
"Jordan Morris was dangerous but he did kick 3 wides."
Your right he needs to work on his points scoring no doubt , but what a player, What great goal too he backs himself every-time, this is so refreshing, Where other lads are passing it around, he says give to me and just has a go. one of the reasons we did'nt score many points so to many players get caught in too minds and end up delaying for a extra second and the chance is gone.
Morris scored 1.1 yesterday also he passed the ball to Costello for his goal. Most players dont have to balls to go for that pass and the chance is gone. he did fair play to him. His vision is great.
"Shane McEntee a fantastic block on Dan Flynn putting his body on the line."
Surely it was a decent block which saving a point, no doubt. But body on the line no chance he was 4 feet away from Flynn there was no chance of contact. Are we gone soft if we think this is body on the line.
Body on the line to me is something COS did when he went for that 50/50 ball at the end of the game and left himself wide open for a slap. And ended he ended up getting one.
Or the time in Monaghan a few weeks ago , when COS went for a another 50/50 and ended leaving himself wide open. And he got flatted.
bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1265 - 16/11/2020 13:34:46
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Replying To bobkarlgees: "good post I agree but I going challenge on a few points
"Jordan Morris was dangerous but he did kick 3 wides."
Your right he needs to work on his points scoring no doubt , but what a player, What great goal too he backs himself every-time, this is so refreshing, Where other lads are passing it around, he says give to me and just has a go. one of the reasons we did'nt score many points so to many players get caught in too minds and end up delaying for a extra second and the chance is gone.
Morris scored 1.1 yesterday also he passed the ball to Costello for his goal. Most players dont have to balls to go for that pass and the chance is gone. he did fair play to him. His vision is great.
"Shane McEntee a fantastic block on Dan Flynn putting his body on the line."
Surely it was a decent block which saving a point, no doubt. But body on the line no chance he was 4 feet away from Flynn there was no chance of contact. Are we gone soft if we think this is body on the line.
Body on the line to me is something COS did when he went for that 50/50 ball at the end of the game and left himself wide open for a slap. And ended he ended up getting one.
Or the time in Monaghan a few weeks ago , when COS went for a another 50/50 and ended leaving himself wide open. And he got flatted." What 50/50 ball? He was hand passed the ball, collected it and went to run past the player but got hit from behind, nothing 50/50 about it or body on the line for that matter!!
I honestly wonder if people actually watch the full game or just the highlights before they post on here. While Lavin very uncharacteristically was poor today, the Kildare forward line only got properly on top from about the 26th or 27th minute until half time. It was 0-4 to 0-4 after 25 mins and for the last 10mins or so they tore us apart, but from the second half onwards we were completely on top, conceding 5 points and only 1 wide, so only 6 shots in the second half!! That pretty solid defending in any mans book.
Definite improvement needed for Saturday but let's not make things out to be worse than they were. Playing against a strong breeze in the first half was always going to be tough but we managed it, and as per our last 3 games our bench came on and made a big impact scoring 2-2 I think. The other positive to note is that we kicked 5-8 out of 5-9 from play and only missed 2 placed balls.
ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 582 - 16/11/2020 18:11:42
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Replying To ratlag: "What 50/50 ball? He was hand passed the ball, collected it and went to run past the player but got hit from behind, nothing 50/50 about it or body on the line for that matter!!
I honestly wonder if people actually watch the full game or just the highlights before they post on here. While Lavin very uncharacteristically was poor today, the Kildare forward line only got properly on top from about the 26th or 27th minute until half time. It was 0-4 to 0-4 after 25 mins and for the last 10mins or so they tore us apart, but from the second half onwards we were completely on top, conceding 5 points and only 1 wide, so only 6 shots in the second half!! That pretty solid defending in any mans book.
Definite improvement needed for Saturday but let's not make things out to be worse than they were. Playing against a strong breeze in the first half was always going to be tough but we managed it, and as per our last 3 games our bench came on and made a big impact scoring 2-2 I think. The other positive to note is that we kicked 5-8 out of 5-9 from play and only missed 2 placed balls." Spot on!
ASaminthehand (Meath) - Posts: 422 - 16/11/2020 21:57:49
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Am I the only one who doesn't think COS had the amazing game many are stating here? I get he's a tremendous worker and a great defender who adds a lot to us defensively. Also, his effort can never be questioned, however, he gets turned over too many times for my liking. 2 to 3 times a game he puts the head down and sprints straight down a dead-end where he is turned over softly.
I understand this can cause panic in opposition defences and don't get me wrong I'd definitely start him. I just feel it's the one aspect of his game he could improve on. Against Dublin we just won't get away with turnovers while in an attack like this, what could have been a score for us will be a score for the Dubs as quick as a flash.
We've got away with things like this, poor kick-outs, and no consistent free-taker to date. The team is improving by the match and I'm more excited about this crop of players than any in recent memory. I just think to make the step to that next level where we can challenge for silverware things like this still need to improve.
Mike Hunt (Meath) - Posts: 70 - 17/11/2020 09:35:50
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Replying To Mike Hunt: "Am I the only one who doesn't think COS had the amazing game many are stating here? I get he's a tremendous worker and a great defender who adds a lot to us defensively. Also, his effort can never be questioned, however, he gets turned over too many times for my liking. 2 to 3 times a game he puts the head down and sprints straight down a dead-end where he is turned over softly.
I understand this can cause panic in opposition defences and don't get me wrong I'd definitely start him. I just feel it's the one aspect of his game he could improve on. Against Dublin we just won't get away with turnovers while in an attack like this, what could have been a score for us will be a score for the Dubs as quick as a flash.
We've got away with things like this, poor kick-outs, and no consistent free-taker to date. The team is improving by the match and I'm more excited about this crop of players than any in recent memory. I just think to make the step to that next level where we can challenge for silverware things like this still need to improve." I would be of the same opinion. He is a fantastic athlete and gives 110% every game but sometime his decision making is letting him down and in some instances getting him hurt.
Foley91 (Meath) - Posts: 418 - 17/11/2020 10:32:35
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Replying To Mike Hunt: "Am I the only one who doesn't think COS had the amazing game many are stating here? I get he's a tremendous worker and a great defender who adds a lot to us defensively. Also, his effort can never be questioned, however, he gets turned over too many times for my liking. 2 to 3 times a game he puts the head down and sprints straight down a dead-end where he is turned over softly.
I understand this can cause panic in opposition defences and don't get me wrong I'd definitely start him. I just feel it's the one aspect of his game he could improve on. Against Dublin we just won't get away with turnovers while in an attack like this, what could have been a score for us will be a score for the Dubs as quick as a flash.
We've got away with things like this, poor kick-outs, and no consistent free-taker to date. The team is improving by the match and I'm more excited about this crop of players than any in recent memory. I just think to make the step to that next level where we can challenge for silverware things like this still need to improve." Good point reading McStay (who is hard to listen to in commentary ) in the Times today states that 11 of Mayo's 14 points came from Steals, the better teams will punish poor decision making, the speed of the transition into attack is so quick
ABD09 (Meath) - Posts: 68 - 17/11/2020 11:09:12
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