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Meath Vs Louth. Rd 3.

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Lucky lucky lucky. First half we were dire. Again some strange subs. That been said fair play to the lads they dug in. And ground out a win. Think div 2 is now safe as Kildare are in total meltdown and we will beat them. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 18/02/2024 17:57:57 2526731 Link
Replying To bert09: "Antrim going up to division 2 boss!" Doubt it. Particularly after today royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 18/02/2024 17:58:53 2526732 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "Lucky lucky lucky. First half we were dire. Again some strange subs. That been said fair play to the lads they dug in. And ground out a win. Think div 2 is now safe as Kildare are in total meltdown and we will beat them." Wondering what subs you found strange? I thought Danny Dixon should have replaced Ronan Jones who was very poor and not Daithi McGowan. Sheridan2010louth (Meath) - Posts: 182 - 18/02/2024 18:19:20 2526740 Link
Replying To royaldunne: "Lucky lucky lucky. First half we were dire. Again some strange subs. That been said fair play to the lads they dug in. And ground out a win. Think div 2 is now safe as Kildare are in total meltdown and we will beat them." Get the win against Kildare next week will more or less leave us safe , I think we will get a bit of a bounce from today in confidence , it's always good to win. It's interesting a Cavan lad came on here 3 weeks ago telling us that they beat the second best team in Leinster Kildare allegedly , fair play to Cavan …but then he got corrected Louth was the second best team in Leinster allegedly , hopefully if we get the win against Kildare next week we might be the 5th best team in after beating the joint 2nd best teams in Leinster ……………allegedly:) WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 934 - 18/02/2024 18:44:51 2526749 Link
There was good character on display today. This is a Meath team who lost to Louth last year in the same venue and game and could easily have gone away when 0-9 to 0-5 down. Indeed I think Louth went in on themselves after going 4 ahead around the 45 minute mark and tried to rope-a-dope the game a bit, but when Meath upped the physical intensity and upped their defensive movement, they seemed to claw the game back and there was an air of inevitability in the last 5/10. Costello's goal was a piece of individual brilliance, but we wont score goals like that against the big dogs. I would worry about the conceding of the late goal and the goalmouth scrambling at the final whistle but with age and experience those instances should become less. As always, games against Louth can be anomalous and hard to analyse as with all sporting rivalries. 3 points from 3 games isnt too bad and puts us in decent stead. Looking at Armagh today suggests they are a shoo-in for Division one and perhaps the loss to them wasnt as bad as I initially thought. Our points differential is quite dissapointing due to the Armagh loss but how and ever. Looking ahead to Kildare, Cork, Cavan and Donegal - I believe 4 points is attainable here, perhaps 6, but the last two home games now look like they are very winnable. As with Louth, Kildare will show up full of motivation against Meath any given day, and will provide a tough test. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 18/02/2024 19:18:31 2526762 Link
Replying To WhyTheLongFace: "Get the win against Kildare next week will more or less leave us safe , I think we will get a bit of a bounce from today in confidence , it's always good to win. It's interesting a Cavan lad came on here 3 weeks ago telling us that they beat the second best team in Leinster Kildare allegedly , fair play to Cavan …but then he got corrected Louth was the second best team in Leinster allegedly , hopefully if we get the win against Kildare next week we might be the 5th best team in after beating the joint 2nd best teams in Leinster ……………allegedly:)" Absolutely great to get win. A very dominant 2nd half with the late Louth goal making a more tense finish than it should have been. Louth are a tough outfit to play against while maybe not the best footballing team. A win against Kildare would be good and then expect us to compete hard and go for results in remaining games, Cavan, Cork and Donegal. Probably 3 more pts would definitely secure safety but I think we are finding out some things as this league campaign develops. First half was a little ropey but I can see that when they get going alot of these players have good potential. Keoghan, Adam O Neill, Shane Walsh and Darragh Campion showed good leadership. Will we see a better goal than Costello's this year? He has great ability but would be good to see him do it from start to finish. Like has been said many times before, a mid to upper table finish in div. 2 will be fine. Just go into Championship in good stead, be competitive in Leinster and aim for knockouts in qualifiers. Armagh and Donegal a good bit ahead of all the teams in Div.2. Looking forward to Cavan game, they are not as good as they think and we are not as bad as they think either. winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 587 - 18/02/2024 19:32:18 2526766 Link
Really, really good last 25 minutes from us today. When we run at teams we find so much more joy than kicking it, sick of seeing Matt Costello in full forward, his best attribute is running at teams from deep as shown in his goal. Thought Shane walsh was excellent and looked a lot sharper than previous games. Keoghie was good, but I thought adam o neill was outrageously good today, absolutely bullied Sam Mulroy from start to finish. Subs made a brilliant impact, cathay hickey carried well and Brian O' Halloran brought so much energy to our play. Louth did have around 3/4 goal opportunities (better teams will score them), but the main thing is that we won and I think we can all be relatively confident going into the Kildare game. contributingtoamelee (Meath) - Posts: 55 - 18/02/2024 19:36:23 2526769 Link
Replying To NYRoyal: "Didn't see second half performance coming at all either. Work rate doubled. I think you seen that running game teams have to break down mass defenses was more effective as both teams played better against wind when running the ball. Been a lot of talk about centre back position on here, but I thought Campion was very good with excellent distribution. O'Neill looks to be developing into a big player for us. Frayne and Walsh stood up when scores were badly needed which showed they've character. Consistency is what's needed now and have them racking up 3/4 points from play every game." Thought it was curtains when we went 4 down so I was pleased with the response. Have been quietly impressed by aspects of Campion at 6, despite the noise around the position. Frankly, I'm more worried about those either side of him and in front of him. So so much to work on, but I think that's exciting because it shows there's scope for improvement. We seem to lack smarts on the ball. I'm watching the same fellas running into tackles and being dispossessed time and time again, not just today. Coaches try to eradicate this from underage club players not to mention senior intercounty footballers! Without getting too technical, our tackling technique and body positioning going into tackles could be improved. I'm not saying we have to turn over possession, rather, slow down the opposition instead of letting them waltz past us by throwing out a flailing arm. Again, very basic stuff this. I'm encouraged by the attitude today though, a major step up from Fermanagh/Armagh and I'm looking forward to the next few games with more optimism than I had going into today. MarkMyWords (Meath) - Posts: 515 - 18/02/2024 19:36:34 2526770 Link
Replying To Sheridan2010louth: "Wondering what subs you found strange? I thought Danny Dixon should have replaced Ronan Jones who was very poor and not Daithi McGowan." More who came off than who went on. McGowan was doing well. Personally I would have taken off jones. Or Mcbride instead of him. I'm hugely impressed with Dixon if you look back I had him included in my starting team. This guy has the physical attributes as well as a football brain. Frayne was marked out of it in first half and got no ball. Walsh had a quiet first half even when in possession. But improved as game went on. O'Neil did very well and keoghan had a fantastic game. Also campion but in an awful amount of yards. Sometimes without support. A win is a win. And we can probably count ourselves fortunate that of the 4 relegation sides. We have drawn with one and beat the other. Kildare would get beat by New York at this stage. And cork aren't much better. Think louth and Fermanagh might be safe. Also think we are after today. Can't see us loosing to cork in navan. And if there was ever a dead cert we win next week as Kildare are atrocious. Hopefully they keep Ryan until after that game but he could be gone by then. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 18/02/2024 20:05:31 2526781 Link
First game I've been to since Antrim in the tail team cup semi final last year so had been a while. Where are all the big players from last year? Jordan Morris, Conor Gray, Padraic Harnon, Jack Lynch? That said good Meath win, Costello made the goal all on his own and was the winning of the game. Shout out to Sean Coffey for clearing it off the line when we had gotten back to 9 points each. I think if he hadn't done that, the would have had the wind back in their sails and I think we would have lost it. One more win from any of Kildare cavan or cork and we will be safe in Div 2. Can't see us getting anything in Donegal. So this was really a must win and the team did it. My MOTM - Adam o Neill. Keoghan also a close second. He is just so consistently excellent that I just expect it from him though. cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 18/02/2024 20:13:57 2526788 Link
Well done to all concerned, a very important but well deserved win today. A few individual mistakes in first half let Louth knock over handy points and provided goal chances. However, when chips were down in was great to see our response, special mention for a much malignied Darrah Campion, defended well, linked play and accurate with his passing. Subs in general made a positive impact, still plenty to work on, but imagine things will seem a bit brighter Tuesday night. Ignore the talk of basket case, Kildare next week will be fighting for their future so expect a tough test. seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2195 - 18/02/2024 20:15:57 2526791 Link
Replying To cabbage: "First game I've been to since Antrim in the tail team cup semi final last year so had been a while. Where are all the big players from last year? Jordan Morris, Conor Gray, Padraic Harnon, Jack Lynch? That said good Meath win, Costello made the goal all on his own and was the winning of the game. Shout out to Sean Coffey for clearing it off the line when we had gotten back to 9 points each. I think if he hadn't done that, the would have had the wind back in their sails and I think we would have lost it. One more win from any of Kildare cavan or cork and we will be safe in Div 2. Can't see us getting anything in Donegal. So this was really a must win and the team did it. My MOTM - Adam o Neill. Keoghan also a close second. He is just so consistently excellent that I just expect it from him though." Jordan Morris had a knee surgery in the off-season but I think he should be back by championship, Conor Gray had a hamstring injury and apparently now has bad pneumonia so hopefully he isn't knocked back too badly but again seems like championship, Harnan isn't on the panel this year. And Jack Lynch the former Taoiseach and Cork hurling legend passed away in 99 :). Presume you meant Jack Flynn, he walked from the panel in the past week LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 18/02/2024 20:29:10 2526796 Link
Nice to come away from PT with the win. I thought we were in big trouble when 4 down but fair play to the lads getting the result. First half was worrying - as well as the last few periods of play (Brennan kicking the ball away twice when we needed to hold possession). How and ever the result is the most important. A win next week will be enough to keep us up. Hopefully the talk of unrest in the camp will cease and we can start to gain momentum as we go towards championship. Who knows, we may end up in a situation where a win away in Donegal would send us up? Have a great week folks. TownlandGael (Meath) - Posts: 9 - 18/02/2024 20:40:17 2526805 Link
Replying To NYRoyal: "Didn't see second half performance coming at all either. Work rate doubled. I think you seen that running game teams have to break down mass defenses was more effective as both teams played better against wind when running the ball. Been a lot of talk about centre back position on here, but I thought Campion was very good with excellent distribution. O'Neill looks to be developing into a big player for us. Frayne and Walsh stood up when scores were badly needed which showed they've character. Consistency is what's needed now and have them racking up 3/4 points from play every game." Through 3 games the scores from play in the forwards have come from the below: Eoghan Frayne 0-9 Daithi McGowan 0-5 Shane walsh 0-4 Jack O'connor 0-3 Matt Costello 1-0 Aaron Lynch 0-1 Diarmuid moriarty 0-1 We desperately need more consistent scoring from the forwards. There is absolutely no reason why Shane Walsh can't have similar consistency to Frayne. The other one for me is Moriarty but he keeps picking up knocks, hopefully with sigerson over now he can break into the team. He has all the attributes. Jordan Morris is a big loss too and doesn't sound like he's close to returning. Sheridan2010louth (Meath) - Posts: 182 - 18/02/2024 20:49:48 2526810 Link
Replying To LeitrimRoyal99: "Jordan Morris had a knee surgery in the off-season but I think he should be back by championship, Conor Gray had a hamstring injury and apparently now has bad pneumonia so hopefully he isn't knocked back too badly but again seems like championship, Harnan isn't on the panel this year. And Jack Lynch the former Taoiseach and Cork hurling legend passed away in 99 :). Presume you meant Jack Flynn, he walked from the panel in the past week" Yes meant jack Flynn! Thanks for those updates that's great info cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 18/02/2024 21:14:00 2526818 Link
After Costello's second half performance today, how did management look at him standing in full forward doing nothing for the first two games when it is clear to anybody who has seen him play that his best position is around the middle of the field and coming onto the play from deep at pace. If they could just play the players in their best positions they would save themselves a lot of bother. BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 997 - 18/02/2024 22:44:01 2526829 Link
Replying To Young_gael: "There was good character on display today. This is a Meath team who lost to Louth last year in the same venue and game and could easily have gone away when 0-9 to 0-5 down. Indeed I think Louth went in on themselves after going 4 ahead around the 45 minute mark and tried to rope-a-dope the game a bit, but when Meath upped the physical intensity and upped their defensive movement, they seemed to claw the game back and there was an air of inevitability in the last 5/10. Costello's goal was a piece of individual brilliance, but we wont score goals like that against the big dogs. I would worry about the conceding of the late goal and the goalmouth scrambling at the final whistle but with age and experience those instances should become less. As always, games against Louth can be anomalous and hard to analyse as with all sporting rivalries. 3 points from 3 games isnt too bad and puts us in decent stead. Looking at Armagh today suggests they are a shoo-in for Division one and perhaps the loss to them wasnt as bad as I initially thought. Our points differential is quite dissapointing due to the Armagh loss but how and ever. Looking ahead to Kildare, Cork, Cavan and Donegal - I believe 4 points is attainable here, perhaps 6, but the last two home games now look like they are very winnable. As with Louth, Kildare will show up full of motivation against Meath any given day, and will provide a tough test." Costello very capable of scoring them goals against the big teams southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 937 - 19/02/2024 01:11:14 2526840 Link
Replying To southmeathgael: "Costello very capable of scoring them goals against the big teams" He needs to be playing much further out the field in my view: a very powerful and deceptive runner. I love his workrate and attitude. There isn't a hope in hell against a Division one team that he gets the ball on the 40, his marker slips, he then outpaces the cover, runs for 10/15 yards in open space, rounds another defender and shirks off another before side footing the keeper, not happening. Not in this world. Young_gael (Meath) - Posts: 596 - 19/02/2024 06:31:41 2526845 Link
It's great to have a league win, had been over a year since we beat a division 2 team so it's a great relief. The performance was far from perfect with lots of mistakes. But after going 0-9 to 0-5 down we showed good grit and workrate. Got some big turnovers from O'Neill, Keoghan, McBride and Costello and we started converting some chances then which we were missing early in the game. On the negatives we missed 2 frees early in the first half that I really think Eoghan Frayne should be taking as he's our most accurate shooter. And we nearly lost the game improbably being 5 points up with the ball with only 90 seconds left. I think we need to be looking at Billy Hogan, I thought Brennan really struggled yesterday in terms of his kickouts and distribution. He was missing his intended target on a lot of them and also the free at the end was a rush of blood to the head and gave Louth another chance. LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1523 - 19/02/2024 08:15:54 2526851 Link
Very happy with the manner of this win, we looked like we were going to be hammered when Louth went 4 up but then took over and well deserved win. Team showed great heart and very much out fought Louth after going 4 down. We seemed to make better decisions in this part of the game, didn't think we were capable of doing this before I saw it yesterday. Kickouts were a problem, this needs to be looked at. Beat Kildare and we probably will be safe in division 2 this year. We need not to get too ahead of ourselves thinking Kildare are in a bad place so expect an easy game next week, we thought the same about ourselves before yesterday's game. Kildare and Meath always have a good rivalry going, Kildare will be up for this game. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1400 - 19/02/2024 09:49:11 2526876 Link