God you'd have to laugh at some one here. Talk bull about Colm and the team all through 2023, belittle them and their efforts, suggest they don't play for a manager, down play their achievements in embracing a competition they clearly didn't want to be in but embraced it and won it and to then say they only beat poor opposition including Down twice (who beat Donegal in the championship) … you can't win with some here regardless of what you do.. imagine what they'd have said if we hadn't won it….
Talks all off season about older players who aren't on the panel as saviours… I think and I am open to correction those players were asked to be involved this year and they said no, so it's time to move on… that the coaches who departed (who they also didn't want in the first place) were responsible for all last year, thrashing the new appointees as unproven and not up to it
It's laughable
Then turning round and saying our aim is promotion… and looking to game 7 rather than game 1… and also to suggest we needn't bother about Leinster
Talk of speaking out of both sides of their mouths
This and previous Meath teams are where they are and at the standard they have been for approaching 20 years. An also ran with some brief interludes. Setting targets of promotion and all Ireland quarter finals in 2024 (somewhere we haven't been since 2009) and saying we need to be playing better teams to improve (How did that work out for the great Andy McEntee, I don't remember any victories of note) is not close to our current ability.
We as a county need to accept where we are and work on gains each year. Last year wasn't what many of us hoped but finished on a high. Year 2 needs to be about doing better in the league and championship than we did last year. To me that would be success. Being in the top 4 given the teams in Division 2 this year would be a great achievement. Donegal, Cork, Louth, Kildare and Armagh all played Sam maguire last year, those teams are all ahead of us right now.
Our new players from 2023 and new players coming in this year or returning from injury will need to hit the ground running and all up their game 10-15% more to be competitive in Division two. If they can do that and I think they can then I believe that's success.
Call me crazy or say I'm setting a low bar but I'm not setting up the team to fail already. Incremental gains are where it's all at for me. The league is a huge chance to grow and develop and bring the team on further. Those lads all got into the habit of winning in green last summer. When's the last time we won 6 championship games in a row. Regardless of quality of opposition as the great Andy McEntee said winning is a habit as much as losing is. Let's hope they can keep that winning habit up.
There'll be some bad days coming up but let's hope there's more good ones than bad ones this year.
Best of luck to Colm, his back room team, Ronan, Matthew and the players. One game at a time lads.
brian (Meath) - Posts: 1969 - 19/01/2024 15:23:28
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Replying To winatallcost: "One step at a time I'd say with first round of league against Fermanagh the only thought at the moment. Nobody worrying about Donegal away at this stage at all and will be meaningless to Meath unless everything is in place beforehand. Win first round and build on that. Squad will be needed giving fast turnaround of games so let's hope every member of squad are up to the level!" While I'd agree. The thread is based on the entire year. And that is what I was referring to. We have a separate thread for the Fermanagh game
royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 19/01/2024 16:03:31
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Replying To brian: "God you'd have to laugh at some one here. Talk bull about Colm and the team all through 2023, belittle them and their efforts, suggest they don't play for a manager, down play their achievements in embracing a competition they clearly didn't want to be in but embraced it and won it and to then say they only beat poor opposition including Down twice (who beat Donegal in the championship) … you can't win with some here regardless of what you do.. imagine what they'd have said if we hadn't won it….
Talks all off season about older players who aren't on the panel as saviours… I think and I am open to correction those players were asked to be involved this year and they said no, so it's time to move on… that the coaches who departed (who they also didn't want in the first place) were responsible for all last year, thrashing the new appointees as unproven and not up to it
It's laughable
Then turning round and saying our aim is promotion… and looking to game 7 rather than game 1… and also to suggest we needn't bother about Leinster
Talk of speaking out of both sides of their mouths
This and previous Meath teams are where they are and at the standard they have been for approaching 20 years. An also ran with some brief interludes. Setting targets of promotion and all Ireland quarter finals in 2024 (somewhere we haven't been since 2009) and saying we need to be playing better teams to improve (How did that work out for the great Andy McEntee, I don't remember any victories of note) is not close to our current ability.
We as a county need to accept where we are and work on gains each year. Last year wasn't what many of us hoped but finished on a high. Year 2 needs to be about doing better in the league and championship than we did last year. To me that would be success. Being in the top 4 given the teams in Division 2 this year would be a great achievement. Donegal, Cork, Louth, Kildare and Armagh all played Sam maguire last year, those teams are all ahead of us right now.
Our new players from 2023 and new players coming in this year or returning from injury will need to hit the ground running and all up their game 10-15% more to be competitive in Division two. If they can do that and I think they can then I believe that's success.
Call me crazy or say I'm setting a low bar but I'm not setting up the team to fail already. Incremental gains are where it's all at for me. The league is a huge chance to grow and develop and bring the team on further. Those lads all got into the habit of winning in green last summer. When's the last time we won 6 championship games in a row. Regardless of quality of opposition as the great Andy McEntee said winning is a habit as much as losing is. Let's hope they can keep that winning habit up.
There'll be some bad days coming up but let's hope there's more good ones than bad ones this year.
Best of luck to Colm, his back room team, Ronan, Matthew and the players. One game at a time lads." Well there's a lot in this, but comparing 6 championship wins to previous managers is pointless. It was 6 wins in a competition that didn't exist under previous managers if you'd won 6 games in a row under the old competition you'd have likely won the all Ireland. People say the opposition was poor in division 2 because it was really poor. Also you say setting the aim of promotion and a quarter final which we haven't done since 2009. We done both of these things in 2019 (and didn't have a backdoor after losing to the Dubs in 2020 and 2021). So I don't think it's a completely unrealistic target. And as for saying we shouldn't aim for division 1. Yeah we didn't win a game in the 2020 league, but we got to play the best teams. Bar 1 game we were really competitive in all them. I'd much rather play division 1 than 2 next year that's for sure. Also you say they didn't want Garrigan or Eivers, when O'Rourke got the job he said as a manager he wanted to be the least smart person in the room and delegate. Did that change over the course of last year?
Anyway, looking forward rather than backwards personally I would be happy with finishing top 4 in division 2 and making it out of our group to the preliminary quarter final. Establishing ourselves as a top 12 team and showing progress having earned a top 16 status by winning the Tailteann last year. But I can see why some people would say it's promotion or nothing as that's the position we were in 2019-2021
LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1518 - 19/01/2024 16:33:56
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Replying To brian: "God you'd have to laugh at some one here. Talk bull about Colm and the team all through 2023, belittle them and their efforts, suggest they don't play for a manager, down play their achievements in embracing a competition they clearly didn't want to be in but embraced it and won it and to then say they only beat poor opposition including Down twice (who beat Donegal in the championship) … you can't win with some here regardless of what you do.. imagine what they'd have said if we hadn't won it….
Talks all off season about older players who aren't on the panel as saviours… I think and I am open to correction those players were asked to be involved this year and they said no, so it's time to move on… that the coaches who departed (who they also didn't want in the first place) were responsible for all last year, thrashing the new appointees as unproven and not up to it
It's laughable
Then turning round and saying our aim is promotion… and looking to game 7 rather than game 1… and also to suggest we needn't bother about Leinster
Talk of speaking out of both sides of their mouths
This and previous Meath teams are where they are and at the standard they have been for approaching 20 years. An also ran with some brief interludes. Setting targets of promotion and all Ireland quarter finals in 2024 (somewhere we haven't been since 2009) and saying we need to be playing better teams to improve (How did that work out for the great Andy McEntee, I don't remember any victories of note) is not close to our current ability.
We as a county need to accept where we are and work on gains each year. Last year wasn't what many of us hoped but finished on a high. Year 2 needs to be about doing better in the league and championship than we did last year. To me that would be success. Being in the top 4 given the teams in Division 2 this year would be a great achievement. Donegal, Cork, Louth, Kildare and Armagh all played Sam maguire last year, those teams are all ahead of us right now.
Our new players from 2023 and new players coming in this year or returning from injury will need to hit the ground running and all up their game 10-15% more to be competitive in Division two. If they can do that and I think they can then I believe that's success.
Call me crazy or say I'm setting a low bar but I'm not setting up the team to fail already. Incremental gains are where it's all at for me. The league is a huge chance to grow and develop and bring the team on further. Those lads all got into the habit of winning in green last summer. When's the last time we won 6 championship games in a row. Regardless of quality of opposition as the great Andy McEntee said winning is a habit as much as losing is. Let's hope they can keep that winning habit up.
There'll be some bad days coming up but let's hope there's more good ones than bad ones this year.
Best of luck to Colm, his back room team, Ronan, Matthew and the players. One game at a time lads." Do you manage U8s teams by any chance?
JonnieG (Meath) - Posts: 246 - 19/01/2024 17:07:34
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Replying To JonnieG: "Do you manage U8s teams by any chance?" Just a quick thought on this 'we improved by not playing the top teams in tc and winning' , it breeds confidence. Wonder why cor skipped a obc cup game (probable win)to play a stronger team in galway and lose...suggest to me playing the top teams is better prep so... It seems the narrative is switched to suit on here...
Ed2010 (Meath) - Posts: 109 - 20/01/2024 08:42:58
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Replying To JonnieG: "Do you manage U8s teams by any chance?" Are you demeaning people who manage u8 teams or u8s themselves or what is the context here?
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 576 - 20/01/2024 17:00:18
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Replying To winatallcost: "Are you demeaning people who manage u8 teams or u8s themselves or what is the context here?" It's the usual JonnieG nonsensical drivel. I wouldn't worry about it!
Selwyn (Meath) - Posts: 382 - 20/01/2024 18:20:49
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Replying To JonnieG: "Do you manage U8s teams by any chance?" FYI the people who coach u8s in the clubs around the county are at least as important as the people who coach the Meath senior teams. Bizarre insult.
Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1352 - 20/01/2024 21:02:59
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Replying To Sheridan2010louth: "Maybe if Brian O'Halloran and Jack Kinlough have a great 20s campaign they could be involved come championship but I don't see it, the best players on this 20s panel still have 2 years of 20s to play. Cian Commons and Eamon Armstrong are only 18 and probably the best prospects.
Regarding the goalkeeper situation I would be disappointed if its not Billy Hogan, Sean Brennan is steady but Billy Hogan is a little better in every aspect of Goalkeeping, especially going long with kickouts." Heard reports from u20 game against Galway today o halloran and Kinlough were the standouts. Good to hear the developing well in with the seniors
Mmmeath (Meath) - Posts: 15 - 21/01/2024 00:03:25
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Replying To Crinigan: "FYI the people who coach u8s in the clubs around the county are at least as important as the people who coach the Meath senior teams. Bizarre insult." Im merely saying there is no winning or losing at U8s level. Its all about taking part and having fun and trying to develop and improve the kids skill level. Going on Brians last post, he seems to have a similar outlook for the Meath Senior mens team :) All Im saying!!
JonnieG (Meath) - Posts: 246 - 22/01/2024 16:00:25
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Replying To redracoon: "Galway won by 4 points. Galway had a decent outfit playing. Introduced Shane Walsh and Paul Conroy at Half time. Comar and Sean Kelly absent from the game. Meath up by 1 point at half time and played great football but just ran out of steam a bit in second half. Overall a good result and good showing" Hi did you recognise any of the other Galway players? Peter Cooke?
Flemenstar200 (Galway) - Posts: 59 - 26/01/2024 08:54:28
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Who is on/off the panel? Lots of names flying about.
BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 990 - 29/10/2024 15:57:16
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Replying To BigJoe14: "Who else is on/off the panel? Lots of names flying about." Menton Harnan Jack Flynn are back
Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 991 - 29/10/2024 16:01:11
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Replying To BigJoe14: "Who else is on/off the panel? Lots of names flying about." Padraic Harnan is back too I believe.
kingofclubs (Meath) - Posts: 327 - 29/10/2024 16:01:15
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Replying To Blackspot09: "Menton Harnan Jack Flynn are back" Surprised about Menton. He is gone a few years and aging. Flynn will be crucial, Harnan had a great year in Tailteann Cup success but is also getting on.
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 576 - 30/10/2024 09:51:06
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Replying To winatallcost: "Surprised about Menton. He is gone a few years and aging. Flynn will be crucial, Harnan had a great year in Tailteann Cup success but is also getting on." Yes I would agree. Perhaps looking to bulk up the squad with some experience to maybe spring from the bench.
Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 991 - 30/10/2024 10:36:29
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