Mcentee needs to be playing further out the field. He has a bit of drive in him and had more of an influence when his man came out. Its good him being the man at corner back to follow the corner forward out the field but if the corner forwards stay put then he needs to be moved out. Harry Rooney is exceptional in the air, he is also good when he makes line breaks, if we could use him as an attacking force where he rushes at defences and lays it off it could be an option.

PoppinPoints (Meath) - Posts: 225 - 14/06/2015 19:55:11    1736876

Looks like little has been learned since last year. Expecting to see some type of game plan, should have known better after last few years

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2142 - 14/06/2015 19:59:51    1736880

mmc

Well I think every manager needs time,but now I think there is serious question marks over him.I'm yet to see a gameplan or structure,and so many players get moved out of position.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 14/06/2015 20:04:50    1736884

Very poor all round,wicklow created 8 goal chances and only took 3,saying that meath never looked like losing the game at any stage,they will improve from this game but as a whole i dont see any progress since o dowd came in if anything we gone backways,will be a short year im afraid.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1047 - 14/06/2015 20:07:10    1736889

he did lose his man on a couple of occasions ziggy but i think he was the only man trying to pull a completely dis-jointed and unorganized defense together...look obviously theres a lot of work to be done on the evidence of what we seen today but i cant imagine the team will look anything like that in 2 weeks time. hopefully mcgill will be back to strengthen up the defense, id probably bring harnan back to half back and hopefully eammon wallace will be starting ahead of his brother.

HungryMeathMan (Meath) - Posts: 22 - 14/06/2015 20:13:54    1736893

I know we have many injuries but Joey Wallace for Gods sake, way too small and light for senior football.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2142 - 14/06/2015 20:16:06    1736898

I'm probably going to be the only one thinking this, but that was just what we needed today.
Last year we went at almost full strength v Carlos, hammered them and learned nothing.
Today, we tried new lads, weaker team, got a competitive game while NEVER I'm fear of actually losing and we seen a few lads who don't make the cut. Judge was very poor.
I'm much happier to have had a decent contest like that for the new lads before the next day rather than face westmeath complacent thinking they are all great young lads after hammering nobody.
One game at a time. Job done, next job in 2 weeks, no new injuries or suspensions. Onwards.

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6342 - 14/06/2015 20:29:15    1736912

HungryMeathMan

True,but even with the injuries,some of the team selection today was baffling.I mean Joey ahead of his brother??! Power at full back for much of the game.Keoghan is by far a better corner back.When McMahon was starting to get some joy,he got moved back! McEntee far too good a ball carrier to be playing corner back.But the thing is,these type of things and no apparent gameplan i a constant.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 14/06/2015 20:30:47    1736914

Jinxie

I see your point to a degree,but I don't think I have ever been a frutrated after a win than today.Its starting to look like Micko is not learning(his 3rd year) and as I said before,he continues to make some baffling selections,especially positionally.Do you see a structure or gameplan? How on earth i Joey Wallace being picked over his brother??

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 14/06/2015 20:34:46    1736916

It is very hard to see any sort of system developing, no disrespect to wicklow but there no giant killers and I know Mod probably thought it was the perfect game for experementing with players but it wasnt hes had months to do that its just very hard to see this teams direction. Maybe its too soon to be judging them but im not holding out much hope to be honest.

HungryMeathMan (Meath) - Posts: 22 - 14/06/2015 20:40:23    1736918

I know ziggy but I can only assume that he knows what Ramon and Burke and these lads will give him. He doesn't know exactly what he'll get from Joey, judge, mcentee and so on on a championship day.

Also, I thought before the game that the selection wasn't bad given the opposition, from the point of view that a guy making his debut can't be complacent. Remember carlow 2012.....

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6342 - 14/06/2015 20:41:22    1736919

Ziggy while we're not that keen on MOD, I think today he probably felt there was an opportunity to give certain players some/more championship action/experience than would normally be the case. And as the result was never in danger (or so it seemed), afforded some players more game time than would normally be the case. Yes, he was/is too slow to make changes for me (e.g. the league match vs. Laois).

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 14/06/2015 20:45:48    1736922

Some of yee been very hard on Nicky Judge,anyone could see he was very nervous and he made some mistakes when he got on the ball.However he was marking their number 10 who was a nice footballer and kept him scoreless in first half,he went on to score 3 points from play in the second half off micky burke.Nicky will be disappointed with his distribution of the ball but his tackling was very good and as i said held up their number 10 when in possession very well,with the exception of mc entee the whole back line where a mess.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 1047 - 14/06/2015 20:59:23    1736935

i think Joey is coming in for way too much stick from his own fans here too. The kid is 19 and starting his first championship match. I know you are entitled to voice your opinions but as Jinxie has mentioned it was a chance to give the new lads champo experience.... he tried hard, never gave up and you are completely overboard with what you are writing...

The blame isnt with the forwards lads. we scored 2-19!All forwards bar Harnan got on the scoresheet today!!(Harnan to be fair isnt a forward and should be in the defence) . Its what we conceded that is the worry. Need McGill Reilly and Menton back.

We're up and running at least

dubsout (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 14/06/2015 21:04:18    1736941

I would have to disagree with you Ziggy about Keoghan. Considering that he was getting absolutely no support from either of the wing half backs, I think he did as well as he could.
Nicky Judge looked way,way out of his depth today - I was surprised he lasted until half time. Davy Dalton wasn't much better on the other wing and was also lucky to last as long as he did.Time and time again he lost his man and just loitered around the defence, doing very little. I am not sure what Keoghan was supposed to do, given the fact that he was effectively a one man half back-line at times. I actually thought he was one of our better performers today - only for him, god only knows what Wicklow would have scored.
I thought Brian Power was terrible at full back, a little better at wing half. I know he is not a natural full back, and is young and inexperienced, so he needs to be cut some slack. But since he is supposed to be a centre half back, I would have thought that moving him to full back should not have been as big a disaster as it was.
I was also really disappointed with Donnacha Tobin. This was the sort of game where he should be standing up and making a name for himself, but he didn't do much to impress me at corner back, and was awful at full-back. James McEntee did well enough but he is not a corner back -I would like to see more of him as an attacking wing half back, or defensive wing half forward.
What I found really hard to take though was that yet again we did not seem to have any defensive plan. I can accept the fact that we were missing three first choice defenders through injury (and Mickey Burke inexplicable left off, although to be fair he didn't exactly set the place alight either when he came on). I can also understand that some of the players there are relatively young and inexperienced. I can also accept the fact that on any given day, a lad can have a stinker. But surely at this stage, we should have some sort of a defensive system in place. Surely if the replacements are training with the first choice players, they should know the system and be able to slot into it. But I can't say that I saw any trace of a defensive system out there today. We are just as vulnerable to runners from the half-back line and midfield as we were two or three of five years ago. How many times do we have to watch 3 or 4 lads tearing through the heart of our defence, before someone realises that something has to change?

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 14/06/2015 21:14:53    1736946

First of all, fair play to Wicklow. We had them totally written off and they probably deserved to draw that game today.

Our defence was shocking as stated above, especially or half bak line and even our half forwards struggled a bit defensively. Tormey hasd a good game on frees but his man set up a lot in the first half.

With all the injuries I would give us the benefit of the doubt but the centre of our defence allowed attack after attack through. Wicklow should have got a goal in the first few minutes and wouldnt have been flattered had they scored 3 more goals today.

Our forwards took some nice scores but we have no killer instinct. Early 2nd half I think we were 8 points up and should have closed it out, however Wicklow came back into it and got within 2 points and could have levelled it. That is poor from a meath point of view.

However, we are through and lets hope lessons are learned and injuries mended for the Westies game.

trim1 (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 14/06/2015 21:15:05    1736947

There were positives though. Rooney was good in midfield and is great in the air. I am not sure how effective he will be against a team that doesn't drive the kick-outs down the middle, but for know he looks the part. Adam Flanagan was pretty solid along side him and between the two, we dominated midfield.The forwards did pretty well, albeit against a fairly poor Wicklow defence. Stephen Bray was immense as he usually is when championship comes around and we need him most. Brian McMahon did well, and proved a lot of doubters wrong today. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Joey Wallace, who looked like a boy among men. I still can't for the life of me understand why he was picked ahead of Eamonn.
Graham Reilly was excellent as he usually is against the weaker teams. I would just like to see it consistently against the better sides. Padraic Harnan was good and solid, but I would have moved him back into defence in the first half, given the carnage that was happening there. I would still prefer to see him as a half back than a half forward. Andrew Tormey looked good from the frees even if some of them barely scraped over. Hopefully that will see the end of Paddy O'Rourke being brought up to take lone range frees. I could understand that if he was good at them, but he isn't. He might stick 1 in 3 or 4 over the bar. Tormey can match that.
I am really torn on Paddy O'Rourke. On the one hand, he appears to be comfortably the best keeper we have. On the other hand, he does so many stupid things, that its hard not to wish that we had an alternative to try. Putting a kick-out over the side-line is poor. Doing it twice in a game is crazy. Doing it once or twice every game is just unforgivable. Just take whatever time he is currently spending on practising frees/45s and spend it practising kick-outs instead.

That's my tuppence worth. Roll on Croker in a fortnight. We would want to up our defensive performance by about 200% though, because if a poor Wicklow team could do that to us, a half decent Westmeath forward line would destroy us.

anfearbeag (Meath) - Posts: 1134 - 14/06/2015 21:15:12    1736949

Also, anyone else think that Paddy O'Rourke should have received a straight red for that foul that lead to his black card?

trim1 (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 14/06/2015 21:41:45    1736972

Meath supporters are the worst for giving their own players abuse. Slating lads right left and centre. Terrible stuff.

ClassApart (Meath) - Posts: 1200 - 15/06/2015 08:36:42    1736993

Ok first off the positives biggy , Rooney and tormey, after that its hard . Keoghan is not a six and had his worst game in a Meath shirt, bray is no longer a full match man, if Wicklow hadn't fouled him for penalty they would have been alot closer. He just cant score anymore and appears to prefer to off load rather than go for his own scores if O'Rourke is fit for next game id start. McMahon was actually ok, joey Wallace shouldn't be singled out, neither should judge they are two young lads making championship debuts yes they both had mares of games but they should not have started , that's management fault, Dalton once again flattered to deceive can you imagine what anyone of the dubs would do to him? Flanagan was ok but id go with Rooney any day of the week to partner Gillespie, harnan was very poor too, look fair play to Wicklow they put it upto us 100%. But imagine what would happen if we lost Reilly and tormey? We font have guys apart from those two that can trouble backs, Wallace (Eamon) runs gret but like his brother runs into blind areas and cant seem to do the basic stuff right. One last thing por should have been red carded.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 15/06/2015 08:52:53    1737002