Meath Forum

Your 'Not The Very Worst Day But One That Still Stands Out As Bad' Day As A Meath Supporter

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Replying To brian:  "I was there and what a miserable location it was. Why did they bring a game to Ballinasloe of all places. Galway or Tuam you'd understand, but Ballinasloe.... A complete kip
It ****** rain all day to from what i remember of it. Absolute slog of a game."
I had totally forgotten about this game until now. A win is a win but by Jasus that was a terrible game , day and pitch.
Another win game in a kip. About 8 or 10 years ago a game in ballymahon obc. The pitch was literally a hill.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 11/03/2021 20:42:07    2333921

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yes i thought that, massive crowd at it too if i remember , meath would have won by more if a dry day although clare were a great team and bet kerry in munster final

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 767 - 11/03/2021 21:19:16    2333930

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Do you have or anyone else a link to the podcast. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks"
https://play.acast.com/s/lmfm-s-after-the-gold-rush. This should work RD

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 12/03/2021 01:53:01    2333943

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Replying To Meath10:  "Coming out of Dr Cullen park in 2008 after losing to Wexford was horrific. Especially since we had done well the year before and it looked like we were beginning to make a comeback. Another false dawn sadly."
yeh. That defeat on scorching hot day against Wexford is the one that sticks out in my mind. A real low point for many reasons. It was the kind of day that will make the good days all the sweeter when Meath do win something again.

TobinsBeard (Meath) - Posts: 126 - 12/03/2021 12:51:07    2333976

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Replying To TobinsBeard:  "yeh. That defeat on scorching hot day against Wexford is the one that sticks out in my mind. A real low point for many reasons. It was the kind of day that will make the good days all the sweeter when Meath do win something again."
lads ...last night on Eir….and again on next Sunday....but 2001 All Ireland final loss......because we totally "walked" into that one
Also the 1991 Final against Down...to loose that in the context of what had been such a momentus campaign must have been gut wrenching to the players
finally , was in Enniskillen , in 04 I think...extra time....Trevor steps up.....out on his legs & tries to get a replay from at least 40 yards out....real diffcult part of that trip was drinking the first few pints in a bar in the town that served Mcewans....and only realising called after first pint, that we were on the wrong side of the divide....

Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 401 - 12/03/2021 14:21:24    2333992

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My Top 5 worst defeats of games I was at in no particular order

1.Wexford 2008
2.Westmeath 2015
3.Down 2017
4.Kildare 2010
5.Longford 2018

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1175 - 14/03/2021 21:45:01    2334180

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Replying To grahamc9897:  "My Top 5 worst defeats of games I was at in no particular order

1.Wexford 2008
2.Westmeath 2015
3.Down 2017
4.Kildare 2010
5.Longford 2018"
Add in Limerick in 09, beaten by about nine points could have been much worse as we scored three late goals. Plus our last two defeats to Dublin showed up all our current flaws. Bad defeats all too common over the last number of years.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2195 - 16/03/2021 18:19:45    2334341

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limerick 2008 you mean? 4-12 to 4-03 probably the worst meath perfermance ever. in 2009 we beat limerick in a qualifier in portlaoise by a point and went on and bet mayo in quater final of al ireland

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 767 - 16/03/2021 23:38:38    2334368

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Replying To dickie10:  "limerick 2008 you mean? 4-12 to 4-03 probably the worst meath perfermance ever. in 2009 we beat limerick in a qualifier in portlaoise by a point and went on and bet mayo in quater final of al ireland"
As you say 2008, one of the worst, shambles from start to finish.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2195 - 17/03/2021 19:19:46    2334421

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "https://play.acast.com/s/lmfm-s-after-the-gold-rush. This should work RD"
Thanks for that

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 18/03/2021 17:17:40    2334482

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Replying To dickie10:  "limerick 2008 you mean? 4-12 to 4-03 probably the worst meath perfermance ever. in 2009 we beat limerick in a qualifier in portlaoise by a point and went on and bet mayo in quater final of al ireland"
Rumours of the team being out on the town in Limerick the night before and being very hungover for the game that day

Meath10 (Meath) - Posts: 190 - 19/03/2021 11:39:20    2334512

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Replying To Meath10:  "Rumours of the team being out on the town in Limerick the night before and being very hungover for the game that day"
You sure about that? Rumour i heard was that there was a big bust up on the bus on the way down and certain players had to be begged to play. Hence why Coyle left straight afterwards. Joe Sheridan and Graham Geraghty (hamstring injury) didn't start and were brought on with the scoreline at 4-11 to 0-3.

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 19/03/2021 12:15:34    2334513

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Replying To brian:  "You sure about that? Rumour i heard was that there was a big bust up on the bus on the way down and certain players had to be begged to play. Hence why Coyle left straight afterwards. Joe Sheridan and Graham Geraghty (hamstring injury) didn't start and were brought on with the scoreline at 4-11 to 0-3."
I don't care what happened in Limerick the night before or on the bus the real damage was done at halftime in Carlow. Peadar Byrne and Alan Nestor worked their socks off in the first half with both doubling back behind midfield and winning loads of ball and then working forward at speed. Then management ignored the old maxim 'if it's not broken then don't fix it'. Alan Nestor was replaced by Brian Farrell at halftime and the super successful game plan of the first half fell apart. Was Alan Nestor injured? if the answer is yes then he should have been replaced by a similar type player to keep the energy going around the midfield area. Shane O'Rourke did eventually come on and may have suited this role. It is my firm belief that it was a player to bring work rate that we needed rather than a finisher, like Brian Farrell who was returning from a spell injured and who may not have been up to the pace of championship football. After coughing up a substantial lead while playing great football in that first half moral was on the floor and it was always going to take more than six days to remedy that.

MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1080 - 20/03/2021 11:24:26    2334576

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Longford 2018 - purely because the losing of the game was always going to be a real possibility at that time and as the game was progressing, the Meath team genuinely looked second best and were the inferior team in every facet of the game. Longford, who are a decent team but a 5/10 in every area, were in control, bar a dodgy goal chance near the end. It wasnt like the shock defeats of the past in the 00s I had seen which were shocks and troughs, but it was genuinely a real possibility in this game that we would lose, yet sitting in a half built Pearse Park (which was largely filled with travelling nervy Meath supporters and confused Longford supporters) and watching the standard bearing of where we are play out was very melancholic. It was incredibly bizarre and a very depressed and bemused atmosphere. Again, I dont think anyone was really surprised on the day. It wasn't even that Meath played poorly, as they didn't. But they just weren't the best team on the pitch. It was the culmination of 20 years. Meath were at a level they hadnt been in perhaps living memory and their ceiling was much lower than it should be.

Things have picked up since and Meath are operating at a higher level, largely.

Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 20/03/2021 13:48:09    2334589

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Replying To MillerX:  "I don't care what happened in Limerick the night before or on the bus the real damage was done at halftime in Carlow. Peadar Byrne and Alan Nestor worked their socks off in the first half with both doubling back behind midfield and winning loads of ball and then working forward at speed. Then management ignored the old maxim 'if it's not broken then don't fix it'. Alan Nestor was replaced by Brian Farrell at halftime and the super successful game plan of the first half fell apart. Was Alan Nestor injured? if the answer is yes then he should have been replaced by a similar type player to keep the energy going around the midfield area. Shane O'Rourke did eventually come on and may have suited this role. It is my firm belief that it was a player to bring work rate that we needed rather than a finisher, like Brian Farrell who was returning from a spell injured and who may not have been up to the pace of championship football. After coughing up a substantial lead while playing great football in that first half moral was on the floor and it was always going to take more than six days to remedy that."
I can't remember the game in depth. But having listened to the LMFM podcast, we lost to Wexford on the 1st June. And the Limerick game was the 19th July. So we actually had 6 weeks rather than 6 days which you'd often get. Interesting though Colm Coyle managed the minors in 2017 and it was a very similar story. Lost to Dublin after blowing a massive lead. Then crashed out to Laois. In both instances it seems as if he lost the morale of the panel

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 20/03/2021 16:22:35    2334602

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Most games that were in my mind have already been included.
But for me, the other day that stands out for me was actually a game we ended up winning. It was the qualifier against Leitrim in 2005. The atmosphere was great (even when the heavens opened), but we were absolutely atrocious. We had a stupid number of wides and it was a draw game for a good chunk of the second half. Then Leitrim went one up in injury time only for Ollie Murphy to put over a stunning equaliser. We went on to win relatively comfortably in extra time but that was the game that made me realise that Boylan wasn't going to be able to rebuild us into a force.
If I remember correctly, we may have actually used an extra sub as well that day and could have forfeited the win had Leitrim objected.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1374 - 22/03/2021 13:28:31    2334700

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Replying To Ratoath Royal:  "Most games that were in my mind have already been included.
But for me, the other day that stands out for me was actually a game we ended up winning. It was the qualifier against Leitrim in 2005. The atmosphere was great (even when the heavens opened), but we were absolutely atrocious. We had a stupid number of wides and it was a draw game for a good chunk of the second half. Then Leitrim went one up in injury time only for Ollie Murphy to put over a stunning equaliser. We went on to win relatively comfortably in extra time but that was the game that made me realise that Boylan wasn't going to be able to rebuild us into a force.
If I remember correctly, we may have actually used an extra sub as well that day and could have forfeited the win had Leitrim objected."
totally.....jazuz got drowned....and the bloody traffic...but great trip....& 100% on the feeling that Seanie was facing an uphill battle
I have to say in a lot of the games mentioned , I struggle with were the blame lay . I do think that the squads of 2007-2012 were really good squads , but something was hollowed out by the way of leadership in the post Sea era....and maybe that comes with chopping & changing in management & each change chucking out faces that may not have initially suited.
Most leaders take a log time to become what they eventually become....and whether you are up against it with a resurgent Wexford, or a Handy Limerick team are banging in the guys...what gets you through at those moments is leadership

Thelongwoodslasher (Meath) - Posts: 401 - 22/03/2021 16:14:43    2334720

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Replying To Thelongwoodslasher:  "totally.....jazuz got drowned....and the bloody traffic...but great trip....& 100% on the feeling that Seanie was facing an uphill battle
I have to say in a lot of the games mentioned , I struggle with were the blame lay . I do think that the squads of 2007-2012 were really good squads , but something was hollowed out by the way of leadership in the post Sea era....and maybe that comes with chopping & changing in management & each change chucking out faces that may not have initially suited.
Most leaders take a log time to become what they eventually become....and whether you are up against it with a resurgent Wexford, or a Handy Limerick team are banging in the guys...what gets you through at those moments is leadership"
Hard to know, I still contend that the worst thing we did was get rid of Eamonn O'Brien. An all Ireland semi final, a Leinster title and he was shown the door. We've not been as close since and successive managers wasted the best years of many a decent Meath footballer. Banty left us worse off and O'Dowd left us on our knees. And Andy is in danger of almost as much damage. This season if there is one will determine if we're any better off. We need to show that we are still a top 12 team, get back into division one, consolidate the best of the rest in Leinster and have some new leaders emerged in place of Donal and Bryan. There's talent coming through and it could push us closer but it could be as easily wasted. Succession planning from minor to 20s is in place and maybe Senior should be considered too. Is Bernie Flynn the next senior manager? Is he gone in 23 when John McCarthy succeeds him?

brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 22/03/2021 23:20:47    2334776

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Replying To brian:  "Hard to know, I still contend that the worst thing we did was get rid of Eamonn O'Brien. An all Ireland semi final, a Leinster title and he was shown the door. We've not been as close since and successive managers wasted the best years of many a decent Meath footballer. Banty left us worse off and O'Dowd left us on our knees. And Andy is in danger of almost as much damage. This season if there is one will determine if we're any better off. We need to show that we are still a top 12 team, get back into division one, consolidate the best of the rest in Leinster and have some new leaders emerged in place of Donal and Bryan. There's talent coming through and it could push us closer but it could be as easily wasted. Succession planning from minor to 20s is in place and maybe Senior should be considered too. Is Bernie Flynn the next senior manager? Is he gone in 23 when John McCarthy succeeds him?"
Agree with this. It's Andy last year I'd say if he can't get us back into div 1 (should league be played ) I'd say then over to Flynn and co. . There is a obvious idea that Flynn geraghty and Reilly will take over in next couple of years , maybe I'm wrong but that's what it looks like to me.
Footnote IF the u20s can have some success

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/03/2021 18:22:30    2334870

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we had a habit around the 2002-2010 of giving teams that were up and coming or even just bang average great days out at our expense, Donegal in 02, Fermanagh 03 and 04, cavan 05, wexford 06 and 08 and limerick 08 and very nearly Louth in 2010.

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 767 - 23/03/2021 22:36:11    2334900

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