Solid win yesterday, can't read much into it, given Carlow's state of disarray and Meath having one eye on Offaly after half-time. Disappointed RB didn't give any further context on coaching departures. Jason Plunkett sitting beside him in press conference was unusual and shows they had no intention of giving any more than a vague line or two about thanking the lads and moving on. Don't think the impact will be felt now, it's all rest and recovery/prep sessions from now. But whenever we do exit Leinster we'll have anywhere between 2 (lol) and 6 weeks to prepare for the AI Series. That's when having a tiny coaching staff will be felt. You need more voices to keep sessions interesting and varied. But RB said no plans to bring in replacements. Hope they do get some coaches coming in for some one-off sessions; it's always good for keeping things fresh.
With an optimistic hat on, I hope the departures have created a bonding siege mentality in the camp. And that RB and Conor Gillespie are delivering a straightforward, consistent message about playing style. After years of wishing Meath teams took a more sophisticated tactical approach, this season ironically feels like a team is best keeping things simple in the face of the new rules. Offaly match is massive now. A win and we're still on the up and contemplating a strong showing against the Dubs and taking a scalp in AI Series. A loss and it's hard to argue we're any further down the road than the TC season. Maybe unfair to have such contrasting takeaways from a single match, but that's championship football.

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 149 - 07/04/2025 09:22:03    2600900

They did what they had to yesterday, it was over at half time. I'd be worried about the way they defend the 2 point line, been a trend all league sitting off an letting teams fire over 2 pointers.

The goal in Leinster is obviously to get over Offaly and have a good crack at Dublin. Be foolish to think we can beat them at this stage, especially with the injuries but they're not invincible and the new rules certainly make it more of a contest.

Offaly will be a tough challenge next week, they're riding high after winning Division 3, they had a couple of good wins over Kildare, and will be eyeing this game up as one where they can cause an upset. But if we can't beat Offaly, you can forget about Dublin, so hopefully we get it done next Sunday with a big home crowd.

hyperache (Meath) - Posts: 271 - 07/04/2025 14:09:37    2600970

Racked up good score yesterday. Team never got out of second gear.

After 2 games of handing teams the wind advantage in first half we finally took it on ourselves.

We were never in bother yesterday and truth be told, Carlow got a lot of their scores off our own silly, sloppy errors. If done against a team of better quality we'd have been punished.

In old money, the score would have been something like 1-20 to 0-14 so I'd have considered anything from 12-15 point of a victory margin.

Concerns from the game? Too many lazy build ups, a lot of over and back predictable play, little incisive ball running (especially in 2nd half against wind), midfield not playing for 70 mins, lack of defence around 40 metre Arc. Squad getting thin on ground now with tricky injuries especially in half forward line.

Offaly will be a tough test but only because of this up and down form. It shouldn't be a matter for discussion - Meath owe them one and that should be motivation enough. A loss would be an extremely poor result.

Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 787 - 07/04/2025 17:03:16    2600998

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 967 - 07/04/2025 21:36:54    2601027

Offaly 3/1-7/2 with bookies to beat us on Sunday. Can't get over those relatively long odds, even with the match in Navan.

MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 149 - 08/04/2025 11:39:11    2601075

Yes Offaly's odds are crazy. This is a 50-50 game and they are going to cause us problems without a doubt. The one advantage is our size but Offaly's strength is speed and we cannot cope with that, example being when O'Hanlon tore us to shreds. And it's something we don't seem to have without the likes of Coffey and Jones, we don't have an incisive runner to break the lines. Another poster mentioned it, the last couple games we've gone back to lateral, slow ponderous build up which will not beat any half decent team with good defensive set up and organization which Offaly have. Costello back is a massive plus though and it was good for him to get minutes in the legs.

NYRoyal (USA) - Posts: 38 - 08/04/2025 14:39:31    2601107

Agree

I think its going to be a very close contest.

Offaly in a very good place and moving forward which brings massive confidence. No disrespect to Carlow but we cant judge anything on that game, its the one against Louth id be looking at and there was very little positives, remember we were playing for promotion to division 1 and really got out played by a Louth team missing probably its best 3 players.

I would be targeting their full back line as I think they are venerable to the long high ball.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1091 - 08/04/2025 15:01:12    2601115