I was at the match on Saturday - I was with two children aged 6 - I was sitting in front of a group of Westmeath men in their 50s/60s - they were an embarrassment. Initially I was embarrassed for the players on the pitch as they kept shouting at the three (black/coloured) players ...'you big idiot Sambo' whenever they made a mistake but the minute the Westmeatb player was sent off it was 'ah poor Issy' ..... There was lots of the n word used too - and not by Meath supporters!!!!! I think the ref was very very brave to send him off - he punched the Meath lad - and I think at this stage if someone from an ethnic minority is good enough to play for their county they need to roll with the big guns - there will be any number of dissenters on if we're not careful..tall ... Small ....fat .....Ginger .....Everyone will be looking for an excuse. Get on with it!!! Best of luck in the Leinster final! Best team on the day won!

Girlygaa (Meath) - Posts: 2 - 09/07/2013 20:26:20    1427866

look if meath won there would be not a word about this racism because westmeath would be out and would be in no leinster final and he didnt say anything to the ref on the pitch about being attached by racism so it didnt happen IMO this is just an accuse to get him in the leinster final

meathlad11 (Meath) - Posts: 54 - 09/07/2013 21:36:49    1427930

There was never any rascism before. . I think its a way out to say/ accuse players.... sport is sport it shouldnt be a label for anything else

Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 846 - 09/07/2013 21:45:16    1427938

Look lads - if you are good enough to be picked to play for your county team then you've beaten many obstacles to get there - if you want to get all soft about some very obvious aspect of who you are once you hit the pitch (colour, height, weight) - the playing field is not for you - accept who you are - get out there and play your heart out - don't listen to the opposition or the crowd - just play!!!

Girlygaa (Meath) - Posts: 2 - 09/07/2013 22:05:37    1427951

At the basic level , most coach's would have learned at any coaching seminar when the extra man tactics are discussed is that the most logical and effective way to use an extra man is to employ them out wide , give the team width , acting as a link player between Backs , Mid , and forwards . ( Meath Vs Westmeath ) The use of the extra man in defence ( as a sweeper) smells of fear of a attacking unit . try to stop them scoring ,worry about their game while stagnating your own ( works fine when your leading and you want to maintaining a lead , a bit useless when your behind) .I think this particular strategy back fired unfortunately . We never looked like threatening .When you see scoring talent like Wallace and Rowe ( and this is no exaggeration , Rowe has shown over the years at dev. level to have massive scoring ability ) reduced to the scrapings of the table then you have real issues . Also is it my mind playing games or have our minor teams in the last two years looked physically smaller and appear weaker in the tackle compared to the Dublin's , Westmeath's , and Offaly's and indeed the defeated semi-finalists last year . Maybe we need to look at what level here we in the county really start Strength and Conditioning work with our development squads . Starting at as I believe at U16 level with basic strength and conditioning is not good enough. The basics need to be addressed at U14 level with advanced work coming in at U16 level. Then by the time there at minor they can compete with the best of them out there , Dublin et al

Chaisleain_Abu (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 10/07/2013 09:40:25    1427993

meathlad11
County: Meath
Posts: 43

1427930 look if meath won there would be not a word about this racism because westmeath would be out and would be in no leinster final and he didnt say anything to the ref on the pitch about being attached by racism so it didnt happen IMO this is just an accuse to get him in the leinster final
09/07/2013 21:45:16
Royalio11
County: Meath
Posts: 190

1427938 There was never any rascism before. . I think its a way out to say/ accuse players.... sport is sport it shouldnt be a label for anything else

Would the two posters above care to rewrite because neither makes any sense?????

onthebench (None) - Posts: 35 - 10/07/2013 10:02:42    1428002

Guys ,the thread was on Meath Minors 2013 , not the Izzy thread . Time to cut that string ........

Chaisleain_Abu (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 10/07/2013 10:15:13    1428009

Plenty of people commenting on this thread when an incident occurs or when the minors have a bad game and are knocked out!! Where were all the comments praising the lads when they beat Longford and Laois ?? And all the comments praising the lads for getting this far ?? Absolute disgrace the way it takes something negative to get people commenting. Tells a lot about these so called 'Meath supporters' and 'The experts'

MeathMan66 (Meath) - Posts: 4 - 10/07/2013 13:39:26    1428209

To Chaislean Abu-would agree with some of your views but not all. The extra man situation is always a difficult one and does not always work to the advantage of the team with the extra man.The other team often lift their game and workload while the team with the extra man subconsciously leave it up to others to fill gaps.Most teams will prepare for both eventualities but its still difficult to put it into practice.On Saturday Westmeath were leading by 6 points when the full back was sent off.As you rightly mentioned Meath chose to leave the extra man at the back. Wasn't sure myself was it the best option but they got it back to a point with 5 minutes to go and missed some good opportunities after that too so you could argue that the tactic worked.The Westmeath sub who came in and scored 3 points was dangerous and could have caused even more damage if left one on one.
Your point on the strength and conditioning of the players is well made.We look small in comparison to most other teams and this was clear in Portlaoise as well even though it didn't affect the result.It looks like the best underage players in Meath tend to be small while the bigger stronger guys don't have the skills.Is the problem that we are behind other counties and not developing young lads at u -16 to compete with teams physically at minor?Are there better players out there who are not making county squads? I am told that this group were given the best preparation possible and yet we seem to be some way off as realistically Kildare should have too much for Westmeath in the final.
Overall I don't think its time for more change and another start with a new management team with new ideas but lessons have to be learned from this year.Maybe the schools situation needs working out as there seemed to be a power struggle going on between the county team and the school team in Navan with players caught in the middle.

noneutrals (Dublin) - Posts: 316 - 10/07/2013 14:33:12    1428267

One should not confuse football ability with strength and conditioning as some folk appear to do! If your team is beaten, lack of size and conditioning appears to be the problem -by some posters and if you win size does not then become a problem. Kildare are big and very well conditioned but it does not appear to have brought them much success at senior level. I watched the Kerry v Cork match on Sunday last and the best player on the field was not very physical or indeed you could say he was not very well conditioned. If you concentrate more of football and less on conditionig you may have better footballers.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 10/07/2013 16:11:42    1428367

rumours were confirmed to me through an inside source , joey wallace was down training with the seniors tuesday night.

Blue112 (Westmeath) - Posts: 24 - 11/07/2013 17:09:59    1429195

Could wallace have been brought in to take part in a v b games? This seems most likely as a few in panel have injury?

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 11/07/2013 18:10:18    1429300

just after hearing he is in the panel for sunday.

Johnjoe90 (Meath) - Posts: 104 - 11/07/2013 21:46:35    1429486

I really doubt that considering he was playing A league for Ratoath the other day?

Meathgaa5 (Meath) - Posts: 339 - 12/07/2013 11:01:37    1429612

Very disappointing last week. Serious work put into this Minor team by Andy McEntee and his selectors, His team last year and this have been the best prepared Meath Minor teams ever. It just did not work on the day and is close to a disaster that Meath are not in last 8 Minor teams left. I hope the County Board keeps with the type of work that McEntee brought to the set up wether he continues in the job or some one else takes it up.

glenny (Meath) - Posts: 1119 - 13/07/2013 09:44:47    1430271