I said 2 weeks ago on the u21 thread we would struggle against Galway and particularily their midfield partnership who have won 2 u21 all-irelands together.
Meath gaa fans have to be the worst around, deluded is not the word for it. Galway are streets ahead of us in terms of talent yet we think we should be beating them, added to this they now have a very good manager.
I was pro MOD at the start but now feel he should leave, I wanted him to shake up the backroom staff and remove Brady and Giles but he has presisted with them.

There is a serious lack of talent in the county, but does not exuse the individuals who continue to get game time.
When I saw the team I knew we would struggle for scores.. how are there 3 Ratoath and 4 if Wallace was fit on the team??
They cant even win a inter in the worse period of meath club football. We played 2 corner forwards yesterday who dont run up big scores for their clubs never mind county teams. I have no problem with size if you have class. Also Menton is not a wing back, how can any serious management team not see this.. He's a full back who needs protection/defensive system around him.

All the u21s should be with the u21 squad and if successful/playing well then get brought into the senior squad when the u21 is over.
Are we that bad we cant field a team with players 22 and up. Rooney and Flanagan playing ok against 3rd string Dublin team who were 11 points up and Meath fans think we have the next great things. I hope they learnt alot from yesterday, those 2 Galway boys have a bright future against very talented competition in Kerry, Dublin, Mayo, Donegal

Kildare's speed and phyiscality will wipe us apart Saturday night unless serveral changes are made.
I was a fan but have seen enough of MOD and co now, I was confident he would get the best out the resources available. Repeating the same mistakes year on year and expecting a different result.

Northmeathman (Meath) - Posts: 284 - 02/02/2015 14:06:18    1689210

I know that peader byrne got player of the year at intermediate level this year,am i right in saying niall mac at the age of 36 got senior ???

what does this tell us ????

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1047 - 02/02/2015 14:11:57    1689213

O'Dowd had months to reflect on the Dublin and Armagh defeats,and the display in Galway suggests that he has just continued to do what he has been doing..

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 02/02/2015 14:37:18    1689227

'Ziggy'

Nice summary - I think that 2 line statement sums up nicely the situation we are in !!

Royal_Rover (Meath) - Posts: 72 - 02/02/2015 14:46:03    1689232

With you 100 percent Northmeath man. Some very valid points.
I also highlighted why Ratoath have 4 players on senior team when they cant get out of intermediate (and I know theyve only been there a couple of years but so what, lots of clubs get out of intermediate in one year, O Mahonys, Blackhall etc)

What has Joey Wallace for eg ever done at club level to have his place? If you want a player of his stature and abilities, why not give Cathal O Dwyer a go? Or Mark Battersby? They have proven themselves time and time again at senior club level and have the medals to show for it.

The substituions made against both Dublin and Armagh when the game was in the melting point were frankly embarassing and for them alone, MOD and CO should have had to walk. Player who were clearly not ready yet were brought on. It was probably the lowest point in Meaths football in decades. At least against Limerick when we were slaughtered, it was the last battle of some great players.

Why cant we just play the best players regardless of age or alleged pace? In my opinion, the best forwards in Meath are S Bray, G Reilly, S O rourke, Cian Ward, Fiachra Ward, S Mattimoe, B Dardis, D Lenihan, D Geaney, M Battersby, B O Brien and Sean Whelan. Only two of these are on the Meath panel. Why is this? P Byrne by far the best player at Intermeidate and not on the panel? C Lenehan and N McLoughlin, some of our best defenders not on the panel - yet young Ferguson (decent potential but leave him with u21s) from Kells is?

If MOD wants to play u21s and not proper experienced senior players, maybe he should have gone for the u21 job.

Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1318 - 02/02/2015 15:04:56    1689240

Agree with you 'smallhouse' re. people either not being at the match yesterday or not paying attention. Either way, but I would assume that most on here weren't at the match. I was, and yes we were poor yesterday, but to say some players are x y and z, is ridiculous. Similarly regarding Mick O'Dowd and his back room. People need to wise up and try to get behind the team mad set up.

David (Meath) - Posts: 567 - 02/02/2015 15:15:17    1689248

one criticism of o'down i'd have is he should have made the subs before the floodgates opened. It was obvious that we were hanging in there and the floodgates were about to open. Get 3 fresh lads on before they scored 1:02 in a minute and it might not have happened. He then made the subs after that when it was too late.

I still have hope but I'm sick of our terrible away record in the league. Kildare at home is now a must win so hopefully we get the backlash needed. These players have been away from their clubs training with meath 3 nights a week for a good while now. Results need to be had or else you cannot continue to justify the loss the club scene is seeing.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 02/02/2015 15:36:20    1689257

As someone who supported MODs appointment initially,and subsequently highly critical of him particularly last year, i HOPED for clear evidence of a major improvement in management this year.Learn from mistakes etc.but not looking good after yesterday.Some people here make the point that we are limited talent wise.
That was evident yesterday to anyone.Even Newman fumbling was surprising until you remember he was short of match practice..so we will allow for that for now.He will improve ! To me Paddy o R, Donal K. and Stephen Bray [just about] did themselves justice yesterday. Unfortunately when people say this or that player should not play at all or in a different position, What are the options?? We have to accept selectors are best placed to decide, Even if serious doubts exist about managements ability also. After yesterday not looking good ,but i do believe players will give it everything on saturday. A lot of those lads are young and do need good management and leadership. Serious doubts remain on that score. H

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1224 - 02/02/2015 16:10:35    1689282

As someone who supported MODs appointment initially,and subsequently highly critical of him particularly last year, i HOPED for clear evidence of a major improvement in management this year.Learn from mistakes etc.but not looking good after yesterday.Some people here make the point that we are limited talent wise.
That was evident yesterday to anyone.Even Newman fumbling was surprising until you remember he was short of match practice..so we will allow for that for now.He will improve ! To me Paddy o R, Donal K. and Stephen Bray [just about] did themselves justice yesterday. Unfortunately when people say this or that player should not play at all or in a different position, What are the options?? We have to accept selectors are best placed to decide, Even if serious doubts exist about managements ability also. After yesterday not looking good ,but i do believe players will give it everything on saturday. A lot of those lads are young and do need good management and leadership. Serious doubts remain on that score. However here is hoping for a major backlash on Saturday when us critics will eat humble pie with relish.

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1224 - 02/02/2015 16:13:29    1689285

I agree with Northmeathman. Most comments being made make little sense and tells more about the contributors! Crinigan, most of those players you have mentioned are not county standard and that can be seen by how easily the are marked out matches in club games (indeed that goes for some of the players on Sunday as well). Guys are posting about size-some of our 'larger' players were no better than the 'smaller' ones last Sunday. It will be a difficult task to beat Kildare and I do not go with the popular opinion that we would be better in Div 1. Our present standard is Div 2 at best.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 02/02/2015 16:18:55    1689287

nobull

You gotta play players in their best positions.. the conerns I had about the team selection proved correct and If I can see that,why can't management??

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 02/02/2015 16:24:19    1689288

browncows

Correct,my complaints would be more to do with what are we learning,and why we still don't look like a team unit? What are the roles of certain players in the team,my complaints are mainly over time,and it seems nothing is learnt,that is very disappointing.At least play players were they are more comfortable,that has got to be a starting point..

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 02/02/2015 16:26:46    1689290

nobull

yes I would not be too conerned about Newman,he is a very good footballer who had a bad game,but at the sametime,you gotta get players in positions were they may benefit from spills etc.

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 02/02/2015 16:29:54    1689291

From a tactical point of view Meath got it all wrong yesterday. During that 20 minute spell when they didn't score all the forwards bar Newman dropped back and kicked ball into Newman (who didn't look fully fit) who was surrounded by 3 Galway players. Galway broke and got a score on most occasions. On the other hand Galway moved their full forward out the field and left 2 speedy forwards Cummins and Varley inside against 2 defenders and played the ball into the space. None of Meath's forwards scored from play for the first 50 mins. That is a terrible ststistic.

kingofclubs (Meath) - Posts: 321 - 02/02/2015 16:43:16    1689298

ziggy "their best positions " ideally yes of course ok in theory! We have not got a ready made full back for example other than Kevin. Menton was used as a utility man at his cost. Probably he is an attacking half back ,and should be left there ideally. Corner backs .Donal is one of the best around no doubt. Who then CHB ? ETC. ETC. Somehow i can understand ,and try to accept the problem having to play men out of position to some extent. We have a limited pool of talent at present. So if management have to think outside the box positions wise ok ! What is not ok is the possibility that other glaring deficiences in management may still be present even after last year... Have they learned ? Not looking good !!

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1224 - 02/02/2015 16:45:52    1689301

nobull

Our best options at corner back are Keoghan,Dalton and Curran.Curran left the panel and will not be part of it under this management team.Best options for the half back line are,Menton,Tobin,Harnan.I do accept that we are struggling for good elusive corner forwards who can work off the likes of Newman..

ziggy320001 (Meath) - Posts: 2432 - 02/02/2015 17:10:35    1689321

yesterday there seemed to be no plan ,no style ,one minute we are hand pasing in the middle of the pitch ,the in that section of play the ball is driven into the forwards,so why not forget the hand passing sh*$e if the result is kicking it into the forwards anyway .we really looked less than ordinary,should the lads have got the bus at 9 in the morning ? i made it there in two hours ,on a straight motorway very different if its 3 hours on a bumpy road

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 02/02/2015 17:31:06    1689335

There seems to be plenty of panic buttons being pushed here, we're some of the most deluded fans in the country, there's a serious lack of talent, management don't know what they're doing etc etc. Lads it was a poor day at the office, but today still came and so will tomorrow so calm down, last year we had a nightmare start to the league and we still only just missed out on promotion thanks to a very late equalizing point by Michael Murphy so don't write off the whole year just yet for jaysus sake.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 02/02/2015 17:40:18    1689343

Therightstuff i think it is widely accepted that Donegal were the poorest individual players to win all ire in last half century. No one is having a go, quite the opposite, in saying that if Donegal can do it with average players why can't Meath???

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 02/02/2015 18:42:45    1689370

It was fairly obvious who worked hard and who didnt. A lot of players seem to turn on and off like a light. I cant understand it. Trevor Giles shouldnt need to be on the pitch shouting at the players to work harder as often as he is. Also think people are being way too harsh on Joey Wallace, He did a lot more than Newman, Reilly, Tormey? They looked too casual. No excuses.

ClassApart (Meath) - Posts: 1200 - 02/02/2015 18:51:15    1689372