Lads any reports on the game today? Who impressed?

jaffacake (Meath) - Posts: 720 - 20/02/2011 19:50:34    872030

Good performance today against a very poor Sligo team.
Credit where it's due to midfield. They've taken fair slack, but today Mark ward caught some great ball, especially in the first half.
As a team the turned over possession quite a lot and broke up the field well.
Another improvement from two weeks ago was the amount of frees the gave away. Very little compared to the Laois game.
Thought Graham really didn't have his best day but tried hard as did Morgan and mcanarny. Thought Farrell looked a little lost on the 40 and would be more dangerous closer to goal.

All in all it was a good result a good to get the ball rolling.

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6347 - 20/02/2011 19:57:21    872038

Nice to see the Nordie stamp being put on the team already. Banty is just going to make Meath harder to beat but is prepared to sacrifice all the football in the county for it. The Meath team will be sent out with strict instructions to concede less, and it's up to the opposition to worry about scoring more. Past Meath teams opted to stick with tradition and go for the more aristocratic approach but outside manager, brings with him outside tactics, I should have guessed. My eyes were hurt watching the fare on offer today.

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 20/02/2011 20:15:42    872059

Wasn't a day for good football Loyal.
Just look at the highlights of the other games.
Conditions were bad everywhere.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 20/02/2011 20:32:25    872088

oyal2TheRoyal
County: Meath
Posts: 3915

872059
Nice to see the Nordie stamp being put on the team already. Banty is just going to make Meath harder to beat but is prepared to sacrifice all the football in the county for it.

Lose against Sligo today and we weren't going to be in contention for promotion, simple as that. Had to shore up and stop conceding stupid frees. As a unit this Meath squad hasn't defended or tackled well in the past, not under O'Brien or Coyle so that had to be one of Banty's priorities.

Bit of common sense is needed though, I would share your reservations about Meath abandoning our traditional style of play but look, if he's picking O'Rourke and Joe Sheridan up front that's obviously an outlet for the long ball. As soon as the ground hardens a bit I think we'll see the best of Shane O'Rourke.

Ollie99 (Meath) - Posts: 442 - 20/02/2011 20:34:26    872093

Ah Loyal - I'm actually not sure if you're taking the mick or not with that post.

I thought today was one of the better attacking performances from us in a long time. There was a period in the second half where admittedly the whole team seemed to lose it's way a bit - but for most of the 1st half and also the end of the game we played aggressive over lapping football with intelligent diagonal passing into the inside forward line.

This is a marked improvement from the hit and hope "hail mary" long balls that we had to put up with over the past couple of years. In fact the one time we struggled today was in the second half when we did resort to long balls in for period of time.

Shane McAnarney's point in the first half which was worked up from our own full back line was actually one of the better points I've seen in Navan for a long time.


The other thing I notcied today was how much fitter than Sligo our lads were. This is a good sign at this time of year and hopefully - they will continue to push on even further..

Now am I going mad here by saying what I'm fairly sure I saw today?

Or did everybody else hurt their eyes watching our 7 point victory today???

BRING_ON_GURTY! (Meath) - Posts: 712 - 20/02/2011 20:38:13    872098

And just to balance my earlier post - it should be noted that Sligo could have scored 3 goals themselves today - so we still have a lot of improving to do ourselves.

But I do think it looks like we're going in the right direction.

BRING_ON_GURTY! (Meath) - Posts: 712 - 20/02/2011 20:46:12    872111

A better defensive performance from the backs and forwards alirght but as someone mentioned, Sligo could have had 3 goals. This more tenacious apsect of our game did bring a good few bookings which we will need to curb.

And credit where credit is due....well played Mark Ward and Conor Gillespie.

DowdtoFoleyGoal (Meath) - Posts: 292 - 20/02/2011 21:28:12    872160

I thought it was very good performance today, I thought the defence played very well.
This is the ratings I would give

Brendan Murphy - 7
Gary O'Brien - 7
Kevin Reilly - 8
Caomhin King - 7
Seamus Kenny - 7
Brian Meade - 6
Cormac McGuiness - 6
Mark Ward - 8
Conor Gilispie - 7
Shane McEnarney - 9
Shane O'Rourke - 8
Graham Reilly - 6
David Morgan - 6
Joe Sheridan - 6
Brian Farrell - 6

12Royal (Meath) - Posts: 987 - 20/02/2011 21:28:43    872161

An improved performance but ref ruined it for both sides,ridiculous ammount of stoppages,frees handed out for nothing,game needs to be let flow.Sligo were very poor but with a bit of luck could have had three goals.We tried to walk the ball in at times,where were the 40 yard points that Sheridan,O Rourke,Reilly are well capable of.We need to take the scores from further out at times,keep it simple.

JD1677 (Meath) - Posts: 68 - 20/02/2011 21:42:28    872181

Any subs used???

qprmeath (None) - Posts: 434 - 20/02/2011 21:51:18    872196

sigo were very poor and meath did't even play that well. the ref did his best to ruin the game.
however we have 2 points on the board and that is all that matters.
does anyone know when we can expect the 2 brays back?

BettystownRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 3353 - 20/02/2011 21:56:59    872215

Davy Dalton was a blood sub for Kenny and then replaced King in the last minute.

Crawford came on for Mark Ward

Cian Ward came on for Brian Farrell I think

And Tom Walsh came on for Eoin Morgan and scored a point

BRING_ON_GURTY! (Meath) - Posts: 712 - 20/02/2011 21:59:26    872222

What is the point in bringing Davy Dalton on for half a minute, i always found this kind of thing pointless
and a bit humiliating for the player involved

atta (Meath) - Posts: 711 - 21/02/2011 10:11:48    872269

Good defensive display from meath and that includes the defending by the forwards. Ward and Gillespie were very good in the Midfield, McGuiness was very good untill dismissed. Kevin Reilly was strong on the square, dont like when he is taken away from it. Great workrate by McAnarney, Farrell, and Joe in the forwards. Kept chasing and putting pressure on the backs all day. Sligo was poor so we wont judge to much from that game. Tougher Assignments ahead.

upmeath (Meath) - Posts: 92 - 21/02/2011 10:54:15    872303

Yes we were good in the middle of the park particularily on the Sligo kick-out but Murphy is poor when it comes to the kick-out. Best shot stopper in Meath, on a par with Davy Lyons but kick outs are his downfall. Any truth in the rumour that Lyons is in Banty's bad books because he turned out for DIT in the O'Byrne cup. Heard Banty wanted him for the O'Byrne games but DIT registered him even though he had expressed a wish to DIT management that he wanted to play for the county. The colleges have first pick on eligible intercounty players but it seems to me a little harsh on Davy if the story eminating from the camp is correct

Diego (Meath) - Posts: 1210 - 21/02/2011 13:27:58    872483

Agree with some of the comments from yesterday's game.Biggest difference from the Laois game was the work rate and not conceding frees close to goal.Mark Ward to be fair played well as did Shane Mc Anarney who works very hard for the team.Still not sure about what looks like a tactic of the full back line moving up the field when in possession.Dangerous way to play against better opposition.Kevin Reilly especially is better off close to goal.Seems to be a lot of men behind the ball when possession is lost and attempts made to slow the game down.Big improvement fron the last day but bigger tests ahead.Hope the u21s get good support on Wednesday night.

noneutrals (Dublin) - Posts: 316 - 21/02/2011 17:22:54    872833

Can only beat whats put in front of you and Sligo were muck, but good to see them put teams like that away. Was over by half time but we've seen them in recent years letting teams back into it. A lot of emphasis put on getting the ball to Joe and hoping he does something magic which isnt sustainable. Having said that the way he turned and left the full backs for dead was terrific. Was also impressed with Morgans work rate. Bring on Antrim.

trimmer (Meath) - Posts: 578 - 21/02/2011 18:54:22    872981

Happy enough to get the win yesterday even if Sligo weren't really firing on all cylinders, just the sort of result Banty needed to lift moral a bit after a couple of defeats. Wasn't at the game yesterday but I listened to it on the radio (well whatever tiny segments they actually played) and I have to say I'm surprised at McEnarney, I sort of had him written off as a starter come summer but if he can keep that sort of form up he's a shoe in.

Now the only real problems I have with the selections so far is Banty continuously picking Mark Ward, even though he played well I think he's is tried and failed at this level end of story and not picking Cian Ward. Ok Cian can be a tad lazy and often fades out of games but the thing is he's worth 4 or 5 points per match in frees and unfortunately he's the only freetaker who's even close to being reliable in the squad.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 21/02/2011 19:07:47    873005

who was that tom morgan lad?? is he any use??

edd (Meath) - Posts: 49 - 21/02/2011 19:27:02    873043