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We're 7/1 to win on Sunday, which, given our recent record against the Dubs, is fair enough. Dubs were poor against Wicklow, but that was likely a wake-up call, and they'll have more first-teamers coming back. We've had a Jekyll & Hyde season so far. I honestly don't know where we are. Are we the team that beat Roscommon, never stopped fighting against Westmeath, and had a 17-point turnaround against a good Offaly side? Or are we the team that never turned up against Monaghan and Louth and were awful for the opening half last time out?
I still think there are grounds for cautious optimism. There have been years in the recent past where Meath giving an all-time great performance still wouldn't have got us within an ass's roar of Dublin. This year, Dublin are the fourth favourites for the AI, one of arguably 7 teams with a shot at winning. They're a solid Div 1 team, no more. And they're mainly thinking of how to peak at the quarter final stage. This match is not concerning them.
Meanwhile, Sunday is all RB and the lads will have thought about for the past fortnight, coming off the back of a great second-half performance. Div 1 teams can be caught out in these stages of the championship. Look at Galway being pushed all the way by Sligo last year. Cork giving Kerry a scare this year and last. Cork surprising Donegal last year. Westmeath pushing a few Div 1 teams all the way, Roscommon drawing with the Dubs. None of those shocks or close-run games would happen at the knockout stages. But earlier in the season, there's an opportunity.
We'd need to be at our best. Playing to a straightforward plan. Midfield getting on top. Some great man-marking at the back. And the likes of Costello and Frayne shooting the lights out. But it can be done. It's not an outlandish suggestion, whereas it has been pure pie-in-the-sky for over a decade.
The new rules will play a part too. The last time the championship got disrupted - by Covid - Tipp and Cavan won provincial titles. This year, a tier 2 side has the chance to close the gap by gambling everything on two-pointers and a semi-interested opponent.
I'm not arguing Meath are anywhere close to the top. We've a long, long way to go. But the lads are clearly still playing for management. The coaching mess will probably never be adequately explained, but that kind of thing can bring a group together. And we can treat this match as the biggest of the year in a way that the Dubs understandably won't. A win, or a close match, wouldn't mean we're suddenly contenders, but it would encourage players and supporters that we're on the right track. That's important for keeping lads pushing hard through the long winter months.
Can't wait for Sunday. It could be another sobering day. But for this week I'm going to enjoy dreaming that things could finally change. I don't think that's naive, it's just being a supporter.
MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 151 - 21/04/2025 09:55:30
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Expect us to have a right good go against a Dublin team who have slipped to about the 5th/6th best team in the country.
We will have to be very disciplined in defence as the Dubs half forward line are very experienced and patient in possession, definitely have to go plus one on O Callaghan , Our first aim must be to stop Dublin scoring goals, they are not blessed with players to kick 2 pointers.
Think we can target their kick outs too, their midfield pairing are not contributing to the scoreboard at all.
With the exception of my favourites for Sam ( Galway ) who won comfortably the other games are definitely not as one sided as before so new rules have definitely margined the gap in winning score lines. Donegal my second favourites had to hold off a late flourish from Monaghan to win by 2. Cork should have turned over Kerry ? As we all know championship and league football are completely different competitions.
Saying that I am just hopeful of a good performance , not expecting a win but am expecting a battle, that's the least we should be getting from our lads on Sunday, defend as a unit and try hit them on the counters and from our own kick outs/set plays.0
If RB is as good as what people think, he should have a very good plan in place for the weekend and try frustrate the dubs by keeping 12 inside our 45 when not in position. Get the match ups right and just give it a go. Will need 20 players going full tilt over the 70 minutes. Be in the game with ten minutes to go. That should be our aim.
thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1092 - 21/04/2025 18:20:31
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I'd be a lot more confident of giving Dublin a run for their money if it weren't for the injury list we have. Nonetheless, I still think we will give a better showing than last year's outing (which wouldn't be hard). We've seen Cork give Kerry a monumental game and being dreadfully unlucky not to have won. We've seen Leitrim put it up to Mayo for more than half as well as Sligo running them close in the quarter final. Even Wicklow gave Dublin a half decent run out in their quarter final. So we can certainly cause them issues. I'm not expecting us to win, but please god let us not roll over for them yet again. 2021 is the only game in the last 10 years against them that we've shown any sort of fight to make a game of it. Every other meeting in that time, we've just made it a procession for them. If we can keep it mildly competitive for the duration, I'd be relatively satisfied.
Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1380 - 22/04/2025 08:19:19
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Replying To MeathAbroad: "We're 7/1 to win on Sunday, which, given our recent record against the Dubs, is fair enough. Dubs were poor against Wicklow, but that was likely a wake-up call, and they'll have more first-teamers coming back. We've had a Jekyll & Hyde season so far. I honestly don't know where we are. Are we the team that beat Roscommon, never stopped fighting against Westmeath, and had a 17-point turnaround against a good Offaly side? Or are we the team that never turned up against Monaghan and Louth and were awful for the opening half last time out?
I still think there are grounds for cautious optimism. There have been years in the recent past where Meath giving an all-time great performance still wouldn't have got us within an ass's roar of Dublin. This year, Dublin are the fourth favourites for the AI, one of arguably 7 teams with a shot at winning. They're a solid Div 1 team, no more. And they're mainly thinking of how to peak at the quarter final stage. This match is not concerning them.
Meanwhile, Sunday is all RB and the lads will have thought about for the past fortnight, coming off the back of a great second-half performance. Div 1 teams can be caught out in these stages of the championship. Look at Galway being pushed all the way by Sligo last year. Cork giving Kerry a scare this year and last. Cork surprising Donegal last year. Westmeath pushing a few Div 1 teams all the way, Roscommon drawing with the Dubs. None of those shocks or close-run games would happen at the knockout stages. But earlier in the season, there's an opportunity.
We'd need to be at our best. Playing to a straightforward plan. Midfield getting on top. Some great man-marking at the back. And the likes of Costello and Frayne shooting the lights out. But it can be done. It's not an outlandish suggestion, whereas it has been pure pie-in-the-sky for over a decade.
The new rules will play a part too. The last time the championship got disrupted - by Covid - Tipp and Cavan won provincial titles. This year, a tier 2 side has the chance to close the gap by gambling everything on two-pointers and a semi-interested opponent.
I'm not arguing Meath are anywhere close to the top. We've a long, long way to go. But the lads are clearly still playing for management. The coaching mess will probably never be adequately explained, but that kind of thing can bring a group together. And we can treat this match as the biggest of the year in a way that the Dubs understandably won't. A win, or a close match, wouldn't mean we're suddenly contenders, but it would encourage players and supporters that we're on the right track. That's important for keeping lads pushing hard through the long winter months.
Can't wait for Sunday. It could be another sobering day. But for this week I'm going to enjoy dreaming that things could finally change. I don't think that's naive, it's just being a supporter." Well said, looking forward to the game Sunday hopefully we can get a good crowd down and get behind the lads. RB will know these Dublin players well so hopefully have some plans to counteract their forwards.
LowerHogan (Meath) - Posts: 63 - 22/04/2025 10:08:36
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Replying To Ratoath Royal: "I'd be a lot more confident of giving Dublin a run for their money if it weren't for the injury list we have. Nonetheless, I still think we will give a better showing than last year's outing (which wouldn't be hard). We've seen Cork give Kerry a monumental game and being dreadfully unlucky not to have won. We've seen Leitrim put it up to Mayo for more than half as well as Sligo running them close in the quarter final. Even Wicklow gave Dublin a half decent run out in their quarter final. So we can certainly cause them issues. I'm not expecting us to win, but please god let us not roll over for them yet again. 2021 is the only game in the last 10 years against them that we've shown any sort of fight to make a game of it. Every other meeting in that time, we've just made it a procession for them. If we can keep it mildly competitive for the duration, I'd be relatively satisfied." Any news on the injuries particularly Rafferty, Lavin and Jones? Is Grey available? Hopefully he will be and back to the form of a few years ago. Probably needed to come in for Menton.
Also did Morris get an actual diagnosis on his knee and is there a possibility of a return at some stage this year?
winatallcost (Meath) - Posts: 626 - 22/04/2025 13:14:48
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Replying To winatallcost: "Any news on the injuries particularly Rafferty, Lavin and Jones? Is Grey available? Hopefully he will be and back to the form of a few years ago. Probably needed to come in for Menton.
Also did Morris get an actual diagnosis on his knee and is there a possibility of a return at some stage this year?" The lads on the We Are Meath podcast might shed some light on the injury statuses this week. Heard Jordan did his ACL & PCL which could be 6-12 months
LowerHogan (Meath) - Posts: 63 - 22/04/2025 13:55:34
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Replying To winatallcost: "Any news on the injuries particularly Rafferty, Lavin and Jones? Is Grey available? Hopefully he will be and back to the form of a few years ago. Probably needed to come in for Menton.
Also did Morris get an actual diagnosis on his knee and is there a possibility of a return at some stage this year?" Haven't heard anything in relation to any of the lads at the top but you'd imagine with Gray at least he hasn't gotten back to pre-pneumonia fitness levels and that could take some time.
Re Morris, was confirmed he did the ACL and PCL. So no chance this year.
RebelAlliance (Cork) - Posts: 30 - 22/04/2025 14:11:05
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Replying To RebelAlliance: "Haven't heard anything in relation to any of the lads at the top but you'd imagine with Gray at least he hasn't gotten back to pre-pneumonia fitness levels and that could take some time.
Re Morris, was confirmed he did the ACL and PCL. So no chance this year." Not what I heard, some have told me he's back running atm
Royal.1 (Meath) - Posts: 36 - 22/04/2025 14:25:30
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Replying To winatallcost: "Any news on the injuries particularly Rafferty, Lavin and Jones? Is Grey available? Hopefully he will be and back to the form of a few years ago. Probably needed to come in for Menton.
Also did Morris get an actual diagnosis on his knee and is there a possibility of a return at some stage this year?" Could do with Jones. Won a lot of ball around the midfield area before he got injured and took pressure off the other midfielders. Not sure if you could throw in Grey even if fit. He has not played for Meath for 2 years and that was mainly against division 3 and 4 opposition. Anyway RB and Co. will be looking at all these players in training and we have to trust them to put the best available 15 on the pitch.
kingofclubs (Meath) - Posts: 342 - 22/04/2025 15:12:11
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Replying To Royal.1: "Not what I heard, some have told me he's back running atm" Could be wrong (hope I am) but saw a well known local editor state the above on Twitter after he was pictured in a full leg brace at the Higher Education GAA Awards.
RebelAlliance (Cork) - Posts: 30 - 22/04/2025 15:28:38
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Replying To RebelAlliance: "Could be wrong (hope I am) but saw a well known local editor state the above on Twitter after he was pictured in a full leg brace at the Higher Education GAA Awards." Yeah Fergal Lynch tweeted that both Morris and Jack Kinlough were out with ACL injuries. Haven't heard on other possible injuries. Jones back would be huge. But Kinlough is a big blow.
MeathAbroad (Meath) - Posts: 151 - 22/04/2025 16:36:54
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