Meath Forum

Armagh V Meath. Rd 2.

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Replying To royaldunne:  "That makes next game even more important. Think we also have worst score difference ?"
Yeah have the 2nd worst score difference cork have the worst

9774739191637399 (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 04/02/2024 23:09:27    2524418

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Replying To Spoofer:  "Not to derail the thread too much, but it's interesting how some posters on here who were in denial about McEntee for years are gunning for O Rourke in just over a year of his management. Maybe, just maybe, both did and are doing their best with a fairly limited set of players.

Yes overall McEntee's league campaign was good, but don't forget the bad losses in championship, almost whitewashed in div 1 and we were no more any closer to beating 'The Dubs'. That is total revisionism.

O Rourke has picked up a squad in a low ebb. Last year had ups and downs. Let's just see how the Louth game goes. The Sigerson excuse may be a valid one. A weeks rest and training could play into our hands. If we win, it's a win, draw and a loss which would probably be par for this current group."
I don't want to go in too heavy. But seriously this thing about "doing their best". It's a senior inter county job in division 2 for god sake, it's not a lad volunteering with an underage team. And I'm not making personal attacks against possibly our greatest ever player. But the standard of preparation and coaching for the team is sub par. And we got rid of the two members of our coaching team with the best recent track record and experience. And I think as a supporter who invests time and money travelling the country to watch Meath seniors, under 20's and minor I am entitled to an opinion when things are clearly going backwards

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 04/02/2024 23:20:27    2524420

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Replying To browncows:  "You are correct, but some posters think otherwise-probably guys who do not know whether there is air in the ball or feathers. I know there are guy complaining about management (I do not know how good or bad the present management is)- it may take 5 years!). If you are a genuine supporter you should support the team. Some folk in the past supported the manager. I always support the team first and the manager. Now over the last 15 years we unfortunately did not have the players. Andy did his best and now Colm, I assume will do his best so please stop the whinging.
I ask the question again in what year did we last beat Armagh in the Athletic Grounds?"
I can never remember us playing Armagh in Armagh before last night so it would be hard to beat them. But I'm not expecting us to beat them, even without their 2 best players. But I'd expect the game to be a contest and not a forgone conclusion with half an hour left. Louth went there the week before and lost by 1 so I don't think that's too much to ask

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 04/02/2024 23:26:28    2524424

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Replying To browncows:  "You are correct, but some posters think otherwise-probably guys who do not know whether there is air in the ball or feathers. I know there are guy complaining about management (I do not know how good or bad the present management is)- it may take 5 years!). If you are a genuine supporter you should support the team. Some folk in the past supported the manager. I always support the team first and the manager. Now over the last 15 years we unfortunately did not have the players. Andy did his best and now Colm, I assume will do his best so please stop the whinging.
I ask the question again in what year did we last beat Armagh in the Athletic Grounds?"
We as fans should at least want to see a game plan that is clear to see this thing about fans wanting to win games and for colm to say Meath fans want to see them winning a all Ireland is nonsense. We are so naive in how we play that's what people are annoyed about because he had the chance to bring someone in who is a experienced coach at inter county level but didn't

9774739191637399 (Meath) - Posts: 18 - 05/02/2024 00:27:05    2524437

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Jasus the amount of tripe some on here spout is beyond ridiculous. We need a system plain and simple and giving someone 5 years to figure that out is beyond the no nonsense at this stage.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 00:54:44    2524445

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Replying To browncows:  "You are correct, but some posters think otherwise-probably guys who do not know whether there is air in the ball or feathers. I know there are guy complaining about management (I do not know how good or bad the present management is)- it may take 5 years!). If you are a genuine supporter you should support the team. Some folk in the past supported the manager. I always support the team first and the manager. Now over the last 15 years we unfortunately did not have the players. Andy did his best and now Colm, I assume will do his best so please stop the whinging.
I ask the question again in what year did we last beat Armagh in the Athletic Grounds?"
Nonsense...if you cant make noticable improvement in 3 years forget about it. And tbh we should have starting seeing some by now.

Ed2010 (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 05/02/2024 07:46:22    2524450

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I see some trying to muddy the waters talking about agendas, and multiple accounts bs. None of them have stated that in year two of this set up are they happy with where we are. I'll await anyone to answer. Are they happy with the defense, can they tell me what the teams game plan is ? I look forward to an enlightened discussion.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 09:31:47    2524461

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Replying To 9774739191637399:  "Yeah have the 2nd worst score difference cork have the worst"
Cheers. Could come down to that between ourselves Kildare and cork.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 09:57:59    2524475

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Replying To LeitrimRoyal99:  "I don't want to go in too heavy. But seriously this thing about "doing their best". It's a senior inter county job in division 2 for god sake, it's not a lad volunteering with an underage team. And I'm not making personal attacks against possibly our greatest ever player. But the standard of preparation and coaching for the team is sub par. And we got rid of the two members of our coaching team with the best recent track record and experience. And I think as a supporter who invests time and money travelling the country to watch Meath seniors, under 20's and minor I am entitled to an opinion when things are clearly going backwards"
You sir are 100% right. I travel the country cost a lot of money in this day and age. All I ask is that we at least show something

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 09:59:48    2524476

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Cheers. Could come down to that between ourselves Kildare and cork."
3 of the biggest populated counties in the country and all struggling 3 counties that over the last number of years have lost their identity with the massive influx of people into all towns and villages especially Meath and kildare .
It definitely has had a negative impact on rivalries that clubs in Meath had back in the 80s and 90s and has definitely affected the Meath teams .
Navan omahonys , walsterstown , both with a massive pick now compared to the 80s are now intermediate, Dunderry now Junior Senchestown , Skreen, just hanging on in the senior Simonstown the same all these teams killed each other in the 80s and 90s and that carried through to the County team .
Summerhill have stayed competitive against the expanding towns bordering Dublin but the other traditional strong Meath clubs have faded badly yet their populations have increased massively and I say the same can be said with Kildare and Cork .
I could be wrong but I think until Meath sort out the senior club competition and put a bigger effort into integrating new people back into our traditional strong
Clubs and these clubs are back in the senior ranks we will continue to struggle .

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 280 - 05/02/2024 11:28:58    2524505

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Replying To mmc:  "3 of the biggest populated counties in the country and all struggling 3 counties that over the last number of years have lost their identity with the massive influx of people into all towns and villages especially Meath and kildare .
It definitely has had a negative impact on rivalries that clubs in Meath had back in the 80s and 90s and has definitely affected the Meath teams .
Navan omahonys , walsterstown , both with a massive pick now compared to the 80s are now intermediate, Dunderry now Junior Senchestown , Skreen, just hanging on in the senior Simonstown the same all these teams killed each other in the 80s and 90s and that carried through to the County team .
Summerhill have stayed competitive against the expanding towns bordering Dublin but the other traditional strong Meath clubs have faded badly yet their populations have increased massively and I say the same can be said with Kildare and Cork .
I could be wrong but I think until Meath sort out the senior club competition and put a bigger effort into integrating new people back into our traditional strong
Clubs and these clubs are back in the senior ranks we will continue to struggle ."
I don't understand some of the angrily pessimistic posts here. No one is arguing this group of players should be winning All Irelands. But we won a TC with a young team and with no major evidence of modern coaching in our preparation. That suggests we're at least a Div 2 team in terms of raw talent. It's not outlandish for this group to aspire to be a regular Div 1 team, tough for anyone to beat. I hope COR is the man to do it, but I just haven't seen any evidence he's embracing any modern thinking around defensive set up, attacking patterns, kickout strategy, outfield keepers etc.

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 94 - 05/02/2024 11:58:16    2524515

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Having been at both games this year it's very frustrating to say the least.We could've won v Fermanagh but could easily have lost it as well as strange as that sounds.Started well (alright)v Armagh and after 28mins it was 5 a piece and then conceded a goal right before half time a sucker punch just like the Fermanagh match.Come out second half 2 mins bang another goal game over.From then on Armagh could relax and pick us off at will as we had to try close the gap and left ourselves open to the counter attack.I didn't expect to win up there but thought we'd run them close but the second goal killed the game and we were never going to get back into it then.While I agree with people blaming the manager (he has to take some of the blame)the players cant hide behind him.In both games we have giving the ball away so many times most under little pressure,even simple hand passes going astray,then there's our shooting?We're taking ridiculous shots on from either too far out or from near impossible angles and when we should be shooting we are passing the ball back or sideways.We are getting men behind the ball but we aren't tackling we are standing off marking space and an off the shoulder run by the opposition cuts right through us.I watched Donegal yesterday and the intensity in their tackling was impressive three or four men surrounding the man on the ball but only one tackling and the rest hunting in packs.We cant keep giving away so many kickable frees either how many points did Armagh get from frees and Fermanagh missed a good lot the first day as well.If we do that the next day Sam Mullroy will have a field day.An honest question here who is the right coach everyone is asking for?I remember when we went ultra defensive v Dublin a few years back and held them to 5 points in the first half some people on here were given out saying that's not the way to go so negative just damage limitation and then we go 15V15 a few years later and same people are saying that's crazy.If we want a defensive style game you need to attack quick and hard and give the ball to forwards who can take men on and score.I think unfortunately we dont have the standard of forwards (at the minute)to do that. We dont have a Clifford,o callaghan,conor macmaus,a walsh(Galway one)a mac gugian from Derry type players to do that.Id like us as I said to be tackling better actually tackle the ball not standing around blocking space that wont cut it v better teams.Having said all that still give us a good chance at home to Louth and Kildare. If we can get Gray,Ryan back that would certainly give us a lift.Im not happy with our position at the minute but will wait and see how the table looks after our next 2 home games before I'll properly judge them

Proudroyal (Meath) - Posts: 294 - 05/02/2024 12:05:39    2524517

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Replying To MeathAbroad:  "I don't understand some of the angrily pessimistic posts here. No one is arguing this group of players should be winning All Irelands. But we won a TC with a young team and with no major evidence of modern coaching in our preparation. That suggests we're at least a Div 2 team in terms of raw talent. It's not outlandish for this group to aspire to be a regular Div 1 team, tough for anyone to beat. I hope COR is the man to do it, but I just haven't seen any evidence he's embracing any modern thinking around defensive set up, attacking patterns, kickout strategy, outfield keepers etc."
I do Agree I had a great day at the TC Cup final with my Dad who had sadly passed away since so when I hear lads belittling the competition I find it even more annoying because of the memorys I have of that day .
My dad was at every Mearh All Ireland final since 49 and he enjoyed watching Meath win the TC so the lads on here belittling that win should maybe rethink what it meant to so players and supporters.
I'm not knocking any player that ever played for meath or Colm ORourke I admire their dedication to the Meath Jersey but as a country we are doing something wrong to be away from the top table for as long as we have with the talent we have in the county .
I admired Andy McEntees dedication to the job I do believe he stayed on too long but that's only my opinion and if I'm honest i believed Sean Boylan our greatest ever manager stayed on that little bit to long so I'm not just getting at Andy McEntee .
Coyle , O'brien , Banty , Barry , ODowd gave their time for the cause along with all the players down the years but for some unknown reason we have fallen way down the pecking order .
When I question our results over the last 20 years at club and county it's not a reaction to this group of plays it's more questioning why people on here believe we are better than we are and continue to blame the manage and coaches.
Football as it is has been destroyed by these coaches both at club and county at all grades the game as a specital is shocking .
I'm not surprised at the drop of levels from clubs to other sports because it must be toucher to play the game at this time . We have a massive amount of talent in Meath and but its not talent that wins anything now its a system and that system at the moment has the game destroyed.

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 280 - 05/02/2024 13:18:17    2524541

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Replying To mmc:  "3 of the biggest populated counties in the country and all struggling 3 counties that over the last number of years have lost their identity with the massive influx of people into all towns and villages especially Meath and kildare .
It definitely has had a negative impact on rivalries that clubs in Meath had back in the 80s and 90s and has definitely affected the Meath teams .
Navan omahonys , walsterstown , both with a massive pick now compared to the 80s are now intermediate, Dunderry now Junior Senchestown , Skreen, just hanging on in the senior Simonstown the same all these teams killed each other in the 80s and 90s and that carried through to the County team .
Summerhill have stayed competitive against the expanding towns bordering Dublin but the other traditional strong Meath clubs have faded badly yet their populations have increased massively and I say the same can be said with Kildare and Cork .
I could be wrong but I think until Meath sort out the senior club competition and put a bigger effort into integrating new people back into our traditional strong
Clubs and these clubs are back in the senior ranks we will continue to struggle ."
I agree with you. But the influx of people or the state of the senior club game is not the cause of not having a coherent strategy to defend, and a clear game plan, players buying Ito that system. To say that's cause of new people coming into county is nonsensical. not one person here is saying we should be winning all ire or Leinster we are miles off that even with the above been implemented. We lost eivers and garrigan. Eivers is now coaching Donegal. We have a problem the problem is evident , by making excuses for the problem won't help us. What will help us is a top modern day coach who is given free rein. Will we win all ire or Leinster ? No. Will we be competing in an average div 2. ? Yes.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 13:48:05    2524547

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Replying To Proudroyal:  "Having been at both games this year it's very frustrating to say the least.We could've won v Fermanagh but could easily have lost it as well as strange as that sounds.Started well (alright)v Armagh and after 28mins it was 5 a piece and then conceded a goal right before half time a sucker punch just like the Fermanagh match.Come out second half 2 mins bang another goal game over.From then on Armagh could relax and pick us off at will as we had to try close the gap and left ourselves open to the counter attack.I didn't expect to win up there but thought we'd run them close but the second goal killed the game and we were never going to get back into it then.While I agree with people blaming the manager (he has to take some of the blame)the players cant hide behind him.In both games we have giving the ball away so many times most under little pressure,even simple hand passes going astray,then there's our shooting?We're taking ridiculous shots on from either too far out or from near impossible angles and when we should be shooting we are passing the ball back or sideways.We are getting men behind the ball but we aren't tackling we are standing off marking space and an off the shoulder run by the opposition cuts right through us.I watched Donegal yesterday and the intensity in their tackling was impressive three or four men surrounding the man on the ball but only one tackling and the rest hunting in packs.We cant keep giving away so many kickable frees either how many points did Armagh get from frees and Fermanagh missed a good lot the first day as well.If we do that the next day Sam Mullroy will have a field day.An honest question here who is the right coach everyone is asking for?I remember when we went ultra defensive v Dublin a few years back and held them to 5 points in the first half some people on here were given out saying that's not the way to go so negative just damage limitation and then we go 15V15 a few years later and same people are saying that's crazy.If we want a defensive style game you need to attack quick and hard and give the ball to forwards who can take men on and score.I think unfortunately we dont have the standard of forwards (at the minute)to do that. We dont have a Clifford,o callaghan,conor macmaus,a walsh(Galway one)a mac gugian from Derry type players to do that.Id like us as I said to be tackling better actually tackle the ball not standing around blocking space that wont cut it v better teams.Having said all that still give us a good chance at home to Louth and Kildare. If we can get Gray,Ryan back that would certainly give us a lift.Im not happy with our position at the minute but will wait and see how the table looks after our next 2 home games before I'll properly judge them"
Very good assessment. Doesn't matter how young the players are, you expect the basics to be decent and be well drilled. Certainly tackling, a basic of the game, is terrible. Some of the easy frees we gave to Armagh in the first half were unforgivable. Look lazy At tackling. We scored some excellent points early on with direct play, with 2 in particular showing how Gaelic football can be played by kicking the ball. The. All of a sudden we started short kicking out and slowing the game down. Game Over. We don't look match fit and lack real pace in general. In the regional championship which COR speaks very high off I would have like to seen Senior club players involved. The Sigerson excuse doesn't wash with me. Canavan from Tyrone can play Wed - Sunday - Wed and star for.college and county. Anyway, it's Louth up next and it will be interesting to see what team starts. Cathal Hickey got dropped for a poor performance against Fermanagh, if the same applies from Saturday's game there should be wholesale changes.

Diego (Meath) - Posts: 1205 - 05/02/2024 14:02:21    2524549

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Replying To royaldunne:  "You sir are 100% right. I travel the country cost a lot of money in this day and age. All I ask is that we at least show something"
The biggest question from the weekend is, what songs ended up on your Spotify list ?

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 937 - 05/02/2024 14:21:48    2524555

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A good coach is an essential to modern football , a good coach should be pick on stats and not emotions !

Leo Cullen the Leinster coach (rugby) is not a on field coach , and he has no problem admitting it , what Leo does brilliantly is he always gets a world class on field coach that will improve the players game and the overall team.

Colm should do what he does best and administrate the full Meath system and have the best people around him.

Meath people are not expecting all Irelands , if Meath lost every game this year by a point but made it tough for the opposition to win by that one point I would say 80% of Meath fans would be happy with that.

Rome wasn't build in a day I get it , but also remember it fell in one …looking forward to the Louth game

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 934 - 05/02/2024 14:35:45    2524564

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Replying To mmc:  "I do Agree I had a great day at the TC Cup final with my Dad who had sadly passed away since so when I hear lads belittling the competition I find it even more annoying because of the memorys I have of that day .
My dad was at every Mearh All Ireland final since 49 and he enjoyed watching Meath win the TC so the lads on here belittling that win should maybe rethink what it meant to so players and supporters.
I'm not knocking any player that ever played for meath or Colm ORourke I admire their dedication to the Meath Jersey but as a country we are doing something wrong to be away from the top table for as long as we have with the talent we have in the county .
I admired Andy McEntees dedication to the job I do believe he stayed on too long but that's only my opinion and if I'm honest i believed Sean Boylan our greatest ever manager stayed on that little bit to long so I'm not just getting at Andy McEntee .
Coyle , O'brien , Banty , Barry , ODowd gave their time for the cause along with all the players down the years but for some unknown reason we have fallen way down the pecking order .
When I question our results over the last 20 years at club and county it's not a reaction to this group of plays it's more questioning why people on here believe we are better than we are and continue to blame the manage and coaches.
Football as it is has been destroyed by these coaches both at club and county at all grades the game as a specital is shocking .
I'm not surprised at the drop of levels from clubs to other sports because it must be toucher to play the game at this time . We have a massive amount of talent in Meath and but its not talent that wins anything now its a system and that system at the moment has the game destroyed."
First off condolences on the passing of ur dad rip. Never an easy thing and you have that memory forever, mine is bringing my elderly farther to 1999 all Ireland final. He was very immobile at the time and I remembered back to him lifting me over the styles in the 70s. Thankfully he saw graham lift Sam as he passed away the following year.
Naturally you are going to hold the TC victory close. And while I did enjoy winning it did it mean as much to me as an all ire Leinster or a league ? No. But it was still nice to win and guarantee all ire football this year. My fear was beating teams who would not compete with us anyway that when we met better set up and better coached teams we would get torn apart. I never in my wildest dreams thought Fermanagh would school us. I also don't think Armagh are at
The level of dubs , Kerry , mayo, Derry Monaghan etc. particularly missing their 2 best players. We were beat by more than double scores. That is worrying. We didn't go down fighting. Now the players can't and shouldn't escape been pulled up on the way they played. Is it that they don't have confidence in sideline? If so they should make those views knows to them. It's not too late to rectify this year. Unfortunately promotion is looking way out of our reach. But a solid. Mid and finish to league can leave us with optimism. A loss to louth at home (who even with harte gone look like a well managed outfit) and I think we gone to division 3. Surely we remember Colm saying last year that we would be much better in this years league , now he's saying 2,3 years. What will it be next ? Colm is an all time great player. That does not mean he can manage a county team. I had my worry's when he got it. As I remembered the u21s. He doesn't like modern football that's fair enough. Then come up with a new system that defeats it or at least counter it. To go back to hitting long balls when forward is surrounded is poor. I also agree mcentee stayed a year longer than should have. But at least we had a system of play that we could see. We don't have that now. Colm will not stay if we get relegated.regardless of if he wants to or not.
Again sorry for ur loss

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 14:46:10    2524567

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Replying To royaldunne:  "I agree with you. But the influx of people or the state of the senior club game is not the cause of not having a coherent strategy to defend, and a clear game plan, players buying Ito that system. To say that's cause of new people coming into county is nonsensical. not one person here is saying we should be winning all ire or Leinster we are miles off that even with the above been implemented. We lost eivers and garrigan. Eivers is now coaching Donegal. We have a problem the problem is evident , by making excuses for the problem won't help us. What will help us is a top modern day coach who is given free rein. Will we win all ire or Leinster ? No. Will we be competing in an average div 2. ? Yes."
I don't believe its as simple as that .
Do I think we should be competing for All Irelands without a doubt I was brought up following the Meath teams of the 80s and 90s so I cant accept that been competitive in div 2 is enough.
In saying that I won't knock the achievement of this team in winning the Tailtean Cup because we have been in the doldrums for so long people have to be realistic it's about all we are entitled to win with out results over the last number of years
ORourke won't hang around if Meath don't succeed this year but hopefully the panel of players he has assembled together will but looking at how young most of them are we will loose a lot of them .
I hare the modern day football but I so agree to succeed we need to master it but we haven't been able to master it before now that's why I believe there's a lot more wrong in Meath than just a modern day coach.
Thats only my opinion as I have always said I admire managers and players that give their time to the Meath Jersey and the supporters that follow them around the country it hasn't been easy the last few years bit we'll live in hope it could be worse we could be from Westmeath

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 280 - 05/02/2024 14:53:20    2524569

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Replying To southmeathgael:  "The biggest question from the weekend is, what songs ended up on your Spotify list ?"
Oh dear lord Taylor swift, jonas brothers and others I never heard of. , Harry styles was the worst though. Let's just say it was a bad day all around :).

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2024 14:59:03    2524572

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