I dont know why I am answering these posts. People are bringing up ridiculous points without knowing the facts. Htaem, Wexford did not even meet let alone train before the Tommy Murphy cup final as they had a very long season including the Division 1 league final. In fact that year Wexford and Armagh were the only two teams to beat Tyrone in league and championship and lest you dont know Tyrone won the All Ireland. In short any time the present Wexford team was beaten it has been because the team was not good enough but NEVER because Mattie Forde was no good. I doubt if you have seen Mattie play many times - I ask you how many times have you seen him playing in the flesh. Amazingly Wexford beat Meath in the championship in 2006 and 2008. Can you explain how Meath were so good in 2007 and rubbish the other 2 years. As I said I dont know why I bother but I cant sit here and see the greatest footballer of the modern era being rubbished by people who do not know all the facts.

lochgarmanabu (Wexford) - Posts: 1022 - 26/08/2008 18:22:53    85659

Htaem This is what YOU wrote on the Meath site on 9th May 2008 under the thread Can we honestly win Leinster "I was in Croker 2 years ago when Forde absolutely destroyed us and we were beaten all over the park, the only way to stop Forde is to drop a piano on him from an advantageous position in the crowd because marking him is pointless". Your words not mine - at least you were correct then. i am sure if i searched a bit more i would find plenty of other statements telling us how good Meath and Armagh were before we beat them. Anyway I rest my case - enough said.

lochgarmanabu (Wexford) - Posts: 1022 - 26/08/2008 19:17:33    85679

We'll see on sunday, i do confess that he i thought he was over-rated, but i think he is good now. Heres hoping i'm wrong!

HokeyPokey (Tyrone) - Posts: 1744 - 26/08/2008 19:39:16    85688

Have seen mattie play on countless ocassions and he never fails to disapoint. Always worth the entrance fee. What makes him great is that even if he misses 5 or 6 chances you can be sure he'll keep going til one goes over and once it does there's no stopping him. Was sitting in the corner of the Cusack Stand/Canal End at the Armagh Wexford game and with around 2 minutes Francie and the Armagh goalkeeper were doing there usual caveman antics, pulling Forde. Forde turns around and points at the scoreboard under the at the Canal End and starts laughing. Then a ball is played in, Forde dummy solos leaving Bellew diving like a chump into the Canal End and then he calmly slots the ball over the bar. I stood up and applauded, best piece of football I've seen all year. Pure Class!!!!! Cant wait to see him play this weekend,

RobK (Meath) - Posts: 479 - 26/08/2008 22:49:13    85806

is mattey forde over rated?


NO.!!

mac11 (Mayo) - Posts: 463 - 26/08/2008 22:51:53    85807

Mattie Forde is a cracking player. When he flies so do Wexford, Mickey Harte knows this so you can bet he is planning to nullify him this weekend because when he gets going he can be unplayable. Tyrone have some great footballers but Mattie will feel their physical presence within seconds. Can see him being man marked, crowded out and harassed the whole match. Wexford will have to play at the top of their game for 70 minutes and stay in touch. They are a confidence team but if the opposition gets on top their heads can go down, as Dublin showed, and they can fall away quite quickly. It will be an interesting tie because Tyrone don't wear the favourites tag very well. If they are not up for this a repeat of the Wexford/ Armagh match wouldn't be out of the question.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 26/08/2008 22:55:46    85810

lochgarmanabu

Sorry PT109 im gonna have to put you on hold for a minute because i have a very angry wexfordman to deal with here. Firstly about the tommy murphy cup final, i don't care if those wexford lads had just met for the very first time they should have bin about to beat tipperary because tipp are/were a bad football team (no offence to tipp supporters but we all know your aces lie in hurling).

Secondly tyrone were beaten by armagh because armagh were still a top team then and beaten by weford because they probably didn't give it they're all, so what happened there after.....you said it tyrone won the all-ireland. But this is what you didn't say, wexford were beaten by monaghan on a scoreline of 0-17, 0-12 in the second round of the qualifiers (now theres knowledge from a man who apparently has none).

Thirdly you asked why were meath good in 07 and rubbish in 06 & 08 (in an attempt to have a dig at me) well il answer that question in any case, meath did in 07 exactly what wexford are doing in 08 = overachieving simple as that. So in an attempt to have a dig at me you've actually just helped prove my point by giving a very fitting example of a team who overachieved, cheers lochgarmanabu.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 27/08/2008 00:32:11    85883

lochgarmanabu

Now in relation to your second comment and continuation of my last one i have to deal with a comment i made 3 months ago (which quite frankly im flattered you remembered). What i meant by that comment was WE yes WE otherwise known as THE MEATH SENIOR FOOTBALL TEAM were going to have a torrid time holding him, which funny enough we didn't because the other wexford fowards Colfer, Lyng and Barry etc did more damage than Forde.

Forde may yet prove himself a match winner against top opposition (NOT MEATHS DEFENCE) but i just reckon that it hasn't happened to date but i am expecting it to happen because he is a marvelous talent. Hes not the greatest footballer of the modern era either not yet anyway, if he puts in a few more significant years then he probably will be but your canonizing far too early.

Finally i think that if you spend a couple more hours wasting your time looking over my previous comments you may find some stuff where i said meath are better than they proved to be but hey im a meath fan , what would you expect me to say? Also i think you've completely overlooked a recent comment of mine = I have nothing against wexford, as a matter of fact like most neutrals id love to see them winning the all-ireland. Forget to read that part???

If you've rested your case, you've done so on quicksand!!!

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 27/08/2008 00:51:08    85892

RobK, you say matty forde pointed to the scoreboard and laughed? Where have we seen that behaviour before, I'm sure it was more of a big deal then?!!

mid-mon man (Monaghan) - Posts: 1680 - 27/08/2008 10:23:10    86013

Htaem, dont be flattered I did not remember that you made the statement re the piano. I just looked back over your previous posts and it did not take me long to find something. As regards the Monaghan match all you had to do was click on the results section in HS. Again the score of that match only tells part of the story and obviously you were not there. You did not seem to be aware of his 4-5 against Galway and you ask when it was and in the same sentence you say Galway were not as good then as now - think about it!!!!!!!!!!! You say "if he puts in a few more significant years" - are you a new recruit??? - he has been playing senior for Wexford for 9 or 10 seasons now. Perhaps you did not know about him until recently. However the knowledgeable footballing public and those playing the game have been aware of his ability for many many years - even when he was a teenager. He played six matches in division 1 of the National league in 2004 and scored 8-36 - just an example. Answer me two questions; how many times have you seen him playing and how did he manage to get player of the year when his county did not even reach the Leinster final? As I said before I dont know why I bother. Anyway good luck Htaem and keep up the good work. At least you are not bitter like O'Rourke and Hayes.

lochgarmanabu (Wexford) - Posts: 1022 - 27/08/2008 11:08:08    86110

lochgarmanabu, You see statistics are like short skirts, they give you good ideas but they hide the really important stuff. Now im sure you've heard that one before and im afraid it does apply to mattie forde because he has a great scoring record over poor opposition and thats all im trying to say.

Im not saying hes a bad footballer hes a great footballer, i know hes on the wexford panel for about 9 years, ive seen him play in the flesh 5 times (don't see how that makes a difference) and he was very impressive but of those 5 times 3 were against meath and 1 against carlow and louth respectively, hardly top opposition!!!

Ps i didn't use HS to dig out that monaghan result, infact i didn't even know you could do that on HS cause i never tried.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 27/08/2008 13:08:52    86287

Forde is class. Hasn't been reaching his usual heights in this years championship, but his performance v Armagh was outstanding, and he was injured and all.

eddieros (Roscommon) - Posts: 43 - 27/08/2008 14:04:25    86368

mid-mon man
Don't know what you mean. The point I was making was that Forde's retaliation was pointing up at the scoreboard to let Bellew know he let's his football do the talking and to add insult to injury the next ball that came in, Forde used it to make Bellew look like a chump.

RobK (Meath) - Posts: 479 - 27/08/2008 14:06:57    86375

Only messing RobK, didn't see that myself but was just going by what you said, it just reminded me of all the uproar last year with a similar incident in the leinster championship! Not saying forde was doing the same thing but as I said I was only messing with ya!

mid-mon man (Monaghan) - Posts: 1680 - 27/08/2008 14:29:21    86413

bellew had been at forde all game.taunting him and digging him.goading him and anything he could do to distract him.forde made an absolute show of him in the last 15 and showed that francie is well finished.when forde put over the last point he turned to belllew and basically told him to stick his tactics by pointing at the scoreboard.

daytona11 (Kildare) - Posts: 4012 - 27/08/2008 14:32:18    86423

Htaem you are entitled to your opinion the same as everyone else and I wish you the best for the future - Meath and all. There are 9 years results available on this site with a couple of clicks of the mouse. Those who care to check will see that 14 days after scoring the 4-5 against Galway Mattie scored 2-10 in another league match. Anyway you will be all delighted to hear that these are my final words on a pure football genius.

lochgarmanabu (Wexford) - Posts: 1022 - 27/08/2008 14:40:42    86441

Ok lochgarmanabu, il let you have the last word.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 27/08/2008 15:18:57    86506

firstly daytona francie bellew is not a dirty player-hes a bit of a horse alrite-but not dirty.mattie forde can give as good as gets-like all footballers.saying bellew was at him all game taunting etc as if its all one sides is a load of bluff!mattie fordes no angel! and true forde got the better of francie and as Robk says made him look like a chump is ture-towards the end only.where was mattie forde before the goal??there was no sign of him. this is a funny one because when mattie forde plays well-he plays very well and when he plays bad-hes woeful.it seems that when wexford are down and out,he doesnt appear but yet any sniff they might win he suddenley pops up for some mighty scores.i htink this was very evident in the armagh game-did nothing worth talking about until the last 10 mins-once wexford got the goal that was them on their way and then i think he hit (2) quality points. he is a quality player but i think sometimes he does be slightly overrated as wexford unitil recently-(in particlaur this year) have not been up there with the best and its great to see..both himself and wexford showing what they can do

unlucky13 (Armagh) - Posts: 87 - 28/08/2008 16:59:20    87805

5 pages later & your still talking about mattie, warms the cockles of my heart : )

wexford_abu (Wexford) - Posts: 3 - 28/08/2008 23:01:18    88005

I think this whole thread is more of a disrespect that Meath pople have for pure talent comin out of their province. They are annoyed that they didn't stand on Mattie Ford's head (or maybe they were afraid of him doing it to them!), cut him in half, or whatever their latest method of assault on talent is, during their championship game this year. They thought that they could actually play footballl and beat another team, no chance of that lads

omaghjoe (Tyrone) - Posts: 1191 - 29/08/2008 01:38:56    88044