Big mistake not playing Curran more often,as he should be in for Harro..

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 20/07/2014 20:32:42    1622296

Its not often I post here but people need to wake up and realize that this Dublin team is the best we team we have seen in the past 20 years. Cluxton has completely changed the game. If you look at their off the ball running its immense. Flynn MacCauley O'Sullivan Mccarthy and Mccaffrey ruled the middle third and no team in Ireland can compete with that pace and power. Fair play to the Gavin and the dubs theyre a machine at this stage and will win the All Ireland at a canter. Dont be fooled they were in first gear against Laois and Wexford and only turned on the style today.

Regarding our management disappointed in tactics especially not pressing enough at kickouts. In all fairness to him, not starting Meade was wise as Dublin's mobile midfield would have had even more of a field day. They could only select the best 15 and I'm sad to say that was our best available team today.

Individual performances were nearly all terrible. Keoghan Tobin and Bray were our best 3 by a mile. But bar Dublin we actually are on a similar level to the top teams. Thanks to all the lads for their efforts and i think we can bounce back and beat Armagh if we have the right mentality the next day.

eogan (Meath) - Posts: 36 - 20/07/2014 21:12:13    1622364

I thought the defence done ok. the first goal was unlucky. we ran out of legs and could not make the transition from defence to attack. Biggy didn't go well but at the same time he is a player who is capable of playing at that level. He doesn't look overly fit though. why was carrol taken off?? again a player who is comfortable at this level.
On the plus side we have a brand spanking new midfielder for next year. Newman is best option I have seen here for a while. good engine good stride and plenty of footballing ability. Newman and Gilespie could be a good combo. O'Rourke can go into full forward line where he belongs.

greenrow (Meath) - Posts: 44 - 20/07/2014 21:20:33    1622390

O'Rourke is not a good full forward

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 20/07/2014 21:32:41    1622416

O'Rourke is still good enough to make the team. He doesn't have enough to play a role where he has to get up and down the park. I like him though he is comfortable at this level. im not sure where else other than the full forward line you would play him.

greenrow (Meath) - Posts: 44 - 20/07/2014 21:38:44    1622430

greenrow

Perhaps CHF

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 20/07/2014 21:46:08    1622441

I've been a great admirer of Graham Reilly since he was on underage teams. But even I from a high up distance could see he is not fit. Menton is a number 6 nothing else carroll is a half forward keoghan is a 2 . if we all know this surely mod can see it.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 20/07/2014 21:55:08    1622455

Personally I felt that Meath played out a heartless performance that totally lacked any passion or pride. On big days like this big players , big men stand up regardless of the quality of opposition or the futile nature of the situation. The days when most would say that a Meath team never know when they're beaten at gone , Meath looked beaten from the first whistle. This was more than likely caused by clinging to a hope that we wouldn't lose the game by much and this coupled by a complete unwillingness to make a mistake resulted in a flood of Dublin attacks caused by a lack of concentration or coughing up possession again due to the unwillingness to take a risk. No Meath man really took the bull by the horns for an extended period and those that did were given no encouragement to continue by their teammates who looked on and wished them luck against the onslaught of the cavalry. Unfortunately we cannot even say Meath were unlucky as we never gave ourselves the chance to be. Meath never took a chance or showed any desire to win the game therefore we lost the ball and ultimately the game without a fight. I can only hope when this Meath team get to oz the wizard has more than one heart for the tin men in Meath jerseys

FG56 (Meath) - Posts: 7 - 21/07/2014 09:11:41    1622495

Where are we now? Had hoped we might reduce the gap beteween ourselves and Dublin. Instead the big gap has increased further. Must be very frustrating for all after their efforts.Cannot understand how Cluxton could continue to pick out his man repeatedly for kick outs. Our management were poor on that score alone. Seems our problems have multiplied themselves with the net result that we are going nowhere. Kevin Reilly as captain did his best to rally the troops,and clearly hopefully a man that stays aboard for the next couple of years. Tobin tried hard in half back line.All other defenders too slow to react and not smart enough on this evidence. Tormey will never be a midfielder, maybe chf is his position. Stay aboard nevertheless. Shane o Rourke is a full forward maybe ,and will never be a midfielder. Stephen Bray age is only a number, stay aboard we need you badly. Younger forwards brought in too light,and too soon for this type of assignment
So not very rosy picture. We simply don't have enough good players to go anywhere at this time.
Dublin a very good team, fair play to them!! Better still they seem to have a manager who does not tolerate " showboating" Yes it took them a while to get to where they are. A lot of time effort and resourses. If we want to match them we have to do the same. What is very clear now is that it will be a long haul to find players etc.If we want to compete at the top table we have no choice!!

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1227 - 21/07/2014 09:45:32    1622520

I posted the following after the Kildare game and was slated.. extremely poor day at the office for the management and also poor result for Dublin when they come up against Monaghan or Donegal.
Apart from Keogan, Tobin, Bray and Tormey the rest extremely poor.

MOD now has to put at least 2 men on Jamie Clarke and find 2-3 defenders to replace Menton, Harrignton for starters and give Harnan the no 6 jersey.


MOD tactics yesterday meant the backs would get destroyed, but even still Keogan shows class and really impressed with Tobin.
Surely Meath have better forwards than that, but I dont see anyone mentioning too many names. Agree with poster on Jamie Queeney, shocking decision to drop a man of his talent, big, fast and strong and going with players who started yesterday who would look small on a minor team.

04/07/2014 16:59:03
Northmeathman
County: Meath
Posts: 244

1613861 What are meath supporters on!! The Meath Kidlare game was a sham of game in my opinion, it was quite clear that Kildare players had no idea, no game plan and no faith in their management. First half was like a challenge match with no intensity or tight marking.

Apart from Bray we have no scoring treat, McDonagh and WaLLACE good runners, workers etc but i dont want this from my inside forward line.
Dublin have 6 -9 forwards who are faster, stronger and more accurate in my opionion. Would u play Bray our best forward ahead of Brogans, Connolly, Mannion, Flynn,Costello, o'Gara etc, tight call maybe but he's the only foward we have close to these guys.

I thought Flanagan was way off the pace when he came on, hopefully he will learn alot as I like the way he caught one ball.

The Dublin backs are marking players in training faster and stronger so i'm sure they will sleep sound, these guys had have serveral provincal medals, all-relands and all-stars so i think they can handle the pressure of a meath game.
A really poor Klidare performance still had enough chances to win the game in the final 10 minutes but like ourselves are short class forwards.

Also Kevin Reilly gave free and free in the first half and when the pressure was on went off injured, I'm sorry I have to be missing something here, eventually the ref gave him a yellow after his 6th foul was committed in the first half.
What I like about this Meath team is despite the weaknesses and lack of class in certain areas there is the old self belief back.
Really impressed with Carroll, Tormey, Tobin and for Meade to make such a return to inter co action in the short space of time tells u all you need to know about him, we fell apart after he went off.

If only MOD had more class to work with, I was delighted when he got the job, it's just a pity about his timing, imagine what he would do if he players like what Boylan worked with.
We need to start pushing more at minor and u21 level, to me McMahon, Wallace's, McDonagh all look really small and light..

We need to play like Cavan for the Leinster final which is not the Meath way but we cannot expect to go man for man and expect to win, I could see Meath trying the counter attack style against Klidare but still looked defensively weak.
Newman needs to be back and if not right I would play David Bray, the point he scored is something the guys who started ahead of him would never score.

All this nonsense talk about Dublin afraid of the meath jersey is rubbish, the best team wins on the day and that's it, for me Dublin have a better team and will need to under perform to give us a chance..

Northmeathman (Meath) - Posts: 284 - 21/07/2014 09:56:01    1622527

Could not believe the changes made at half time. Menton was doing well on Connolly in the first half and they moved him to full back. Kevin Reilly does not contribute anything at midfield and is our most natural full back. Harro and Harnan were poor. The backs were always going to be up against it as we were destroyed at midfield. Cian O Sullivan picked up most of Cluxtons short kick outs and the Dublin attacks built from there.The management have done too much switching of lads all year rather than let them settle into their best positions.

kingofclubs (Meath) - Posts: 321 - 21/07/2014 10:08:35    1622545

Firstly,
Meath were beaten by a far superior opposition, as we all suspected. A lot of talk about Meath lasting until the 50 minute mark, unfortunately we never came out of the traps as a unit and were steam rolled by a hungrier opponent on the day.
I would however argue that tactically we werent spot on and were quite naive to the Dublin set up.
The primary reason we played so well against Dublin previously was because we put pressure on Cluxtons kick outs. I didnt see any of this at all yesterday. He found any man at his ease and I stand corrected, but cannot remember a single occasion when he had no option but to go long. This was extremely dissappointing for me.
By doing this, Shane O Rourke and Graham Reilly would have spent more time on the pitch.
I really was surprised by firstly the inclusion of Dalton McDonagh, who in my opinion was wasteful in the first game with his finishing. Joey Wallace also, was very wasteful against Kildare and again yesterday.
Where I thought Brian McMahon tried Very hard, and team playing Dublin in a Leinster final cannot carry 2 or 3 guys with this physique.
I dont think the result would have been affected but I think moving forward the above need to be either replaced with finishers or the shooting will need to improve.

tackleberry (Meath) - Posts: 324 - 21/07/2014 11:56:59    1622715

The tactics, or lack of them yesterday, was the biggest disappointment yesterday. Graham Reilly is not a midfielder, then he was withdrawn early, Shane O Rourke ditto. How can MOD and co think that Joey Wallace, Dalton McDonagh and McMahon are ready for intercounty football? Young McMahon, in fairness, to him threw himself into everything. Padraic Harnan was left struggling on McMananmon for almost the whole game when it was obvious that he was getting cleaned out. I have been impressed by MOD so far but yesterday widespread panic seemed to set in. OK we were never going to win but you at least a bit of fight and a bit of tactical awareness can be expected.

DaveW (Meath) - Posts: 75 - 21/07/2014 12:14:28    1622744

This was a poor performance in which the scoreboard done no justice to the gulf between both teams yeasterday. Dublin pulled up with 10 minutes to go when they scored their third goal. Other than that the margin of victory would have been 20 points plus. This must have been the biggest winning margin in a leinster final for many a year.

Jack L (None) - Posts: 3101 - 21/07/2014 12:22:31    1622758

Harnan took a terrible roasting yesterday.. his man scored 1-5 from play, was MOM and set upa lot of Dublin scores.
Harrington was anonymous
Menton left at sea. All said the defence conceeded 3-20..and should have been 6-30


I agree with all other posters.. I felt sorry for Joey Wallace out of his depth yesterday and kicked away a lot of silly wides.
McMahon was very nifty and to be fair, I dont see what else he could have done? Very light and was battered around in contact.

Shane O Rourke coming in for criticism - the guy is back from a long lay off and with our midfield pairing gone he really is the only option.

it was a disaster...it will never be forgotten. But has to be put behind us as something to reflect on fornthe future

Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 757 - 21/07/2014 12:34:22    1622784

This beating is coming for years we are miles away from the top teams, our undreage structure is a shambles but nobody will listen to this. The county board are not interested in promoting the development of gaelic games in the county. They are only interested in keeping the county committee a closed club with no new blood or ideas allowed in.

latouche25 (Meath) - Posts: 520 - 21/07/2014 12:53:08    1622818

People keep saying we don't have enough good players,yes maybe to beat Dublin,but we have enough to compete better.Our EFFORT was very poor yesterday and as a fan,my pride took a serious battering.One thing I thought we would do,is give it a good effort,instead we had a cowardly display,and that is not good enough..

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 21/07/2014 13:01:07    1622839

Kingofclubs

Agree,even in this game management kept switching positions! Mento is getting slagged off,but forgod sake play him at 6! If he performs poorly there,then drop him!

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 21/07/2014 13:04:24    1622845

I really think yesterday is a huge wake up call for meath. There was a huge amount of delusion in the meath ranks for the last few weeks. I said it on previous threads that dublin would need to drop their performance rate by at least 10% and meath up their's by 20%, Frankly it went the other way. Meath were shocking and the harsh reality of it is that they are a long way of the top 4-6 teams in ireland never mind where you compare them to Dublin. I think the game was over after 15 minutes as Dublin ripped the meath defence to shreds. I couldn't understand what all the talk was about counteracting Cluxton's kickouts when ye had neither the mobility or strength to compete. The midfield and in particular shane o' rourke were shocking. When Cian O' Sullivan caught two balls over his head in the first half that said it all. He is way too old fashioned in style to play the modern midfield role and the excuse about him being out of football a long time whilst true does not stand up for a guy who couldn't raise a gallop from the first minute. Is he worth his place on the meath team? Bray tried manfully but was way too isolated. Young McMahon is a tidy footballer who always should be placed closer to goals. Graham Reilly is Graham Reilly, as a good meath friend of mine that sees all games during the year has said when the chips are down he never produces. The defence with the exception of Kevin Reilly were beaten in every position. Gave Dublin too much space and were crucified and in the end were lucky that the beating wasn't doubled as Dublin became careless and I would say bored. Where do meath go from here, short term obviously they play armagh which they have a chance of winning but long term the whole set up needs a real cold and hard look at. Dublin had to take a couple of serious beatings a few years back to really see what was wrong and if any good can come out of yesterday's debacle meath have to do likewise. It is all well and good talking the talk and there was a considerable amount of it but it has to be backed up. I am not saying you could beat this Dublin team but surely the god be able to compete for at least 3/4s of the game. Finally in over 30 years watching these great old rivals, the aftermath on the alleged biting incident is not what meath and dublin were ever about. Mick O' Dowd was quick to bring Dublin into his argument when Kildare threw allegations about Kevin Reilly. How Dublin and Meath would never resort to that once the game was over and what does he do the exact opposite yesterday evening. Obviously biting has no place in our game and the powers to be should deal with it but again neither does hypocrisy. Watching it last night it was hard to see any bite as at least 3-4 meath players thumped the head of O' Gara and it was all a waste of time as Tomas O' Shea and Eoin Mulligan said. Where was the fight when it was needed????

Adamski (Dublin) - Posts: 339 - 21/07/2014 13:10:16    1622860

Yesterday was awful. I've only missed one Meath V Dublin championship game since 1989 and that was by far the worst experienced in all those years.

Dublin were never on the backfoot once the ball was thrown in. We had no zip, no incision, no intensity and were sloppy in possesion.

We also had no luck and decisions went against us. This was very far from changing the result but it also compounded the awful game.

In saying all that it saddens me to read "supporters" knee jerk reactions to what happened yesterday.

I don't think the team or management gave a fair reflection of what they are capable of. It was one of those days where both the things inside and outside of your control go against you. When this happens when playing dublin then you are in big trouble

Doubting players heart or committment is foolish. When a game against dublin goes away from you in front of 62000 spectators in Croke Park, I'm sure its very hard to look good or think straight.

Lets get behind the team and show some belief in them.

A few years ago Wexford were decimated by Dublin in a leinster final and then almost beat dublin in an all ireland semi.

Lets stop whinging about finger bites,our own players and our management. Lets just focus on beating armagh and rolling onwards

CobraVengeance (Meath) - Posts: 46 - 21/07/2014 13:14:11    1622867