Guys, this is not just a Meath problem though we definitely do have our problems. However, I think that the county football scene has now become so lobsided that we are in danger of huge numbers in most counties just switching away or switching off.

I know that it was 'just' the league final but I would be very interested in the viewing figures for yesterday's final between the two (supposedly) best teams in the country. I know that I didn't watch it - watched some of the Leicester game instead. Dublin, and fair play to them, have managed to finally turn their massive population advantage into an on field advantage that could last for the next 10 years.

How can the GAA authorities sit and watch the issues highlighted in Gerry McEntees article below and do nothing about it?
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/only-one-winner-in-12m-campus-lottery-34633671.html

There is a juggernaut there and it is mostly being impacted on other leinster conties because all any other county will win for the forseeable future is some scraps whenever the Dubs implode. This will pretty well be the case at most levels of the game. We have stopped making arrangements, holidays around potential county championship games so if Meath do manage to pick it up a bit and beat the Dubs I wont be around to see it. From observation there are many others that have given up in this county and it's not just because of Meath being on a low. The Dubs are on a different level and the interest in our county is gone, personally I dont see it returning for a long time even if Andy McEntee etc comes in and even if we have an improvement in under age levels. We need to work hard, run hard, develop new players, improve systems JUST TO STOP THE GAP WIDENING EVEN MORE.

Of course i could be totally pessimistic but the little bit I saw of the end of yesterdays game and Meaths performances in the league as well as the Dubs domination in Leinster plus the funding points made by Gerry McEntee have left me really apathetic about the scene and I may well start to completely back off going to games and just pick up the club games as an interest.

oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 25/04/2016 15:56:17    1849284

just hope the dublin camp is struck down with a virus and that they have to play a 3rd or 4th choice team,meath have no choice of beating dublin this year along with the other 31 counties,this dublin team could win 5 in a row easily,meath are roughly about the 10th best team in ireland and that's been kind.tyrone,donegal,cavan,monaghan,dublin,kerry,cork,mayo,galway & roscommon all ahead of us and you could argue down,fermanagh,kildare etc etc are too.I am 41 years old and this is the worst meath set up in my memory.Going nowhere and IMO have gone backways since banty was voted out.We are depending on one club to make up 40% of our county team and that is not good considering this club was junior 4 years ago and that's no disrespect to Ratoath,they are a fantastic CLUB team but as i seen in limerick they were torn to shreds in all ireland semi final INTERMEDIATE GRADE and we are depending on 6-7 of their players to make our SENIOR COUNTY TEAM strong.Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !!!!!

Jesus change the bloody record, ratoath ratoath ratoath how many more times do you want to reference this, perhaps ask what the other senior clubs are doing that they haven't more players in the county squad, does McGill deserve to be dropped off the squad? does Cian O'Brien deserve to be dropped? does Eamonn Wallace deserve to be dropped? or young Power? McMahon and the younger Wallace are no longer on the panel right now. How many junior and intermediate players were on the '87 and '88 teams?? If your good enough for the county squad your can come from any grade the sad truth is many of the supposed big clubs are not producing players like they used to, maybe look into the reasons for that instead of referencing ratoaths players the whole time

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 25/04/2016 15:59:04    1849286

I wonder how many are secretly hoping we loose our first game and avoid Dublin altogether - problem solved ??

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 25/04/2016 16:06:24    1849292

Is there anything to be said for another mass??

begining (UK) - Posts: 300 - 25/04/2016 16:32:26    1849323

Problem is Dublin are improving consistently, Meath no better than four years ago, looks like we have fallen well behind chasing pack, bit optimistic to say we are a top ten team, somewhere between 15-20th. Time to start worrying about them if we get past Louth

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2151 - 25/04/2016 16:32:40    1849324

RP
Might be better off meeting them in September

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2151 - 25/04/2016 16:34:15    1849326

Richieq

why isn't McMahon on the panel?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 25/04/2016 17:01:08    1849359

Lutch makes a good point re we were better under banty in that we actually beat a higher rated team than us in Kildare in championship, we have failed to do this under mod, we have nit beat a team in championship rated higher than us, surely that would be progression?

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 25/04/2016 17:01:45    1849360

this is a stupid topic, anybody with two eyes in their head can see the Dubs are millions of miles ahead of Meath , end of

duelplayer1 (Meath) - Posts: 97 - 25/04/2016 17:25:14    1849377

Richieq

why isn't McMahon on the panel?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts:5070 - 25/04/2016 17:01:08 1849359

Injured hadn't played for Ratoath for some time either, I haven't heard a return date yet

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 25/04/2016 18:34:59    1849409

Lutch makes a good point re we were better under banty in that we actually beat a higher rated team than us in Kildare in championship, we have failed to do this under mod, we have nit beat a team in championship rated higher than us, surely that would be progression?

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts:8701 - 25/04/2016 17:01:45 1849360


In all fairness RD Banty saw us relegated to division 3, lose to Louth in embarrassing fashion in Navan which in my opinion was equal to losing to Westmeath last year, tried to resurrect our prospects by bringing back a 39 year old Graham Geraghty and we beat a Kildare team that 1) I never rated highly and 2) were at the height of the Seanie Johnson debacle, if you recall the evening before we played them Seanie came on as a sub in a club hurling game to make him eligable so I don't think Kildare were in too good a place and we capitalised. I know MOD has made plenty of errors but anyone who thinks or says we were better under Banty is allowing their personal views cloud their judgement, the man was a disaster and his term in charge coupled with the Eamon O'Brien debacle I estimate put us back a good 10 years and that's conservative

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 25/04/2016 19:02:45    1849421

RD

Kildare really rated higher than us at the time?? We were also hammered by Louth under Banty and relegated to dv3.Although I don't think MOD has done a good job,we were no better under Banty either..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 25/04/2016 19:09:16    1849425

What will beat the dubs is belief. And when it happens I'll be there.

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1792 - 25/04/2016 19:09:33    1849427

Richie

Thats a real pity,was hoping he would kick on from last year.

Also you are right a lot of senior. clubs have to ask themselves why they don't have more any players on the county panel.Maybe if they put in the work like Ratoath have done we might be getting somewhere..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 25/04/2016 19:15:51    1849432

Maybe I'm a bit slow to catch up but if we play Dublin in the summer, it will be the first time ever that I would give Meath no chance, none whatsoever, I was always optimistic that Meath could topple Dublin, but we just look so bad at the minute that I can't build up any confidence. Not to mention the fact that this is surely one of the greatest Dublin team's of all time of course.........that's a factor.

But anyway, nevermind talk of beating Dublin, we're more than likely playing Louth first and I'd give us no more than a 50/50 of beating them, in fact if I wasn't from Meath I'd probably throw a few quid on Louth, but I've never backed against Meath and I'm not starting now.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 25/04/2016 19:46:42    1849445

@ Richieq....i'm not having a go at ratoath players,great time for all those young lads,my point was we are depending too much on them and they are still very young and still learning.I don't care what anyone says,when MOD stands down we will have more players coming available most notably Bryan Menton,he will not play under him again.For the record lads we were very very lucky to stay in division 2 this year.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1049 - 25/04/2016 20:07:29    1849457

thelutch

How do you know that Menton will not play under MOD again?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 25/04/2016 20:17:24    1849464

Trevor Giles won an all Ireland and player of the year when he was 21. If a player is good enough it doesn't matter what age he or she is

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1792 - 25/04/2016 20:27:23    1849468

Lucky to stay in division 2, unlucky to not get promoted- such are the margins

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1792 - 25/04/2016 20:36:50    1849477

duelplayer1 - the next time you comment, say something constructive. The stupidity is on you. Dublin are miles ahead of teams that are naive. What do you propose we do come summer time (assuming we beat Louth/Carlow of course)....give Dublin a walk over?

Some dismiss the league, but I enjoyed it this year. It shows the standard counties are really at and it's competitive, unlike most provincial championships.

Next year there'll be 3 teams in Div 1 with fewer resources (players/money) than Meath (Cavan, Roscommon and Monaghan). You could say Donegal & Tyrone are on par with Meath. We should be a Div 1 team and our current mgt. team needs to be over thrown.

Dublin are beatable....looking at this years league:
Monaghan lost by a point (and should have won...they blew their opportunity)
Roscommon lost by a point (fair enough the game was in a bog and the dubs probably weren't used to the harsh conditions)
Cork lost by 4 points (now a Div 2 team!)

Basically 3 average teams who are reasonably organised on the pitch....if Meath are any way organised with some belief and a bit of luck anything can happen....

DeJaMo (Meath) - Posts: 5 - 25/04/2016 20:39:32    1849479