Meath Forum

The O'Byrne Cup

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Very disappointed today I know it was only the OByrne cup but we looked sadly as bad as ever .
I lost count of the amount of time we kicked frees backward , hand passed sideways and carried the ball into the tackle and lost it .
As for Alan Forde I see one person on this site praising him for striking and suggesting that's the way to improve Meath football .
Staying on the pitch improves football his actions today for a clear box was totally over the top and not acceptable . If that's the way he reacts to hand bag stuff in an OByrne cup semi final what would he do against the dubs .
In Andy McEntee we have the right man in charge , it is going to take 2 years to hopefully turn Meath football around but I think we are going to have to suffer a little again this year . I really hope I'm wrong .

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 267 - 22/01/2017 21:43:39    1947910

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Lads it's January, there's a lot of training and matches being played this time of year, not to mention that we have 50 lads on the panel and a different line up for each game. So the lads won't be properly rested and prepared as they will be in the league and summer. With a squad that big and the changes being made there won't be any game plan. Once the panel is reduced things will become more focused and we'll hopefully see an improvement. Not that worried. If the same thing happens in the summer I will be.

LoyalRoyal (None) - Posts: 452 - 22/01/2017 21:53:04    1947917

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Simply awful how have we gone so backwards. I was blaming it on fitness the last few years but clear to see now we are just very ordinary. Hard to see a promotion in the league maybe nearer the bottom id say and championship wel be lucky for a leinster semi appearence. Very sad but what can we do when the players are just not there

SheridansTry (Meath) - Posts: 180 - 22/01/2017 21:56:07    1947919

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Replying To LoyalRoyal:  "Lads it's January, there's a lot of training and matches being played this time of year, not to mention that we have 50 lads on the panel and a different line up for each game. So the lads won't be properly rested and prepared as they will be in the league and summer. With a squad that big and the changes being made there won't be any game plan. Once the panel is reduced things will become more focused and we'll hopefully see an improvement. Not that worried. If the same thing happens in the summer I will be."
Yeah I think there is a lack of perspective to be honest. Dublin lost this time last year by 7 points to Longford and they had a strong lineup..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 22/01/2017 22:07:13    1947920

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Replying To mmc:  "Very disappointed today I know it was only the OByrne cup but we looked sadly as bad as ever .
I lost count of the amount of time we kicked frees backward , hand passed sideways and carried the ball into the tackle and lost it .
As for Alan Forde I see one person on this site praising him for striking and suggesting that's the way to improve Meath football .
Staying on the pitch improves football his actions today for a clear box was totally over the top and not acceptable . If that's the way he reacts to hand bag stuff in an OByrne cup semi final what would he do against the dubs .
In Andy McEntee we have the right man in charge , it is going to take 2 years to hopefully turn Meath football around but I think we are going to have to suffer a little again this year . I really hope I'm wrong ."
if Alan Forde did what he did in a Dublin match nothing would have been done...Referees this time of year are like soccer Moms!

WhyTheLongFace (Meath) - Posts: 876 - 22/01/2017 22:19:15    1947922

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Replying To ziggy32001:  "Yeah I think there is a lack of perspective to be honest. Dublin lost this time last year by 7 points to Longford and they had a strong lineup.."
Agreed ,

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1174 - 22/01/2017 23:22:46    1947937

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Replying To ziggy32001:  "Yeah I think there is a lack of perspective to be honest. Dublin lost this time last year by 7 points to Longford and they had a strong lineup.."
Agreed, actually dubs started with 7 of all ire winning side.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/01/2017 07:59:30    1947947

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Whythelongface
I take it that you didn't see the punch Forde threw yesterday . The second it landed I said he was off , striking in any game deserves a red card .
Forde's actions yesterday cost Meath the game and no matter what competition a team is playing in when you are playing the team that hates you more than any other team you should beat them every chance you get .
If Forde wanted to retaliate against any player he would have had any amount of chances to do this in a way that he would not receive a red card .
I believe Meath have gone soft but there's a big difference in hard hitting and boxing and really we should not defend striking in any way

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 267 - 23/01/2017 09:06:33    1947957

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Agreed, actually dubs started with 7 of all ire winning side."
Yeh but Dublin were in full bloom,and could win anytime they wanted to then.......we are looking for any green shoots now, so not a fair comparison. It is earlly days ,and with Andy the lads have every chance you would think. i have been at 3 matches this year,and i am seeing more of the same. Maybe better fitness levels, but play patterns painfully slow .no direct ball into forwards when needed..criss crossing and going nowhere instead. Forwards even appear afraid to shoot within range apart from Reilly who blows hot and cold. Yes we can find plenty of exuses... ...its early days....team building.... it will take time etc....... all true. You need the raw material to begin with,and we dont have it. If we have where are they? The team has a very weak spine down the centre . we have only one man who could get a place on any team in the top 8..Keoghan. the rest about 6 at intercounty standard. We need 7 or 8 players who could play intercounty in the next year. Where are they? i dont blame Andy . He has tried them all . Division 1 this year ? No ! I would love to be wrong on this one.!

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1224 - 23/01/2017 09:23:10    1947961

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Replying To mmc:  "Whythelongface
I take it that you didn't see the punch Forde threw yesterday . The second it landed I said he was off , striking in any game deserves a red card .
Forde's actions yesterday cost Meath the game and no matter what competition a team is playing in when you are playing the team that hates you more than any other team you should beat them every chance you get .
If Forde wanted to retaliate against any player he would have had any amount of chances to do this in a way that he would not receive a red card .
I believe Meath have gone soft but there's a big difference in hard hitting and boxing and really we should not defend striking in any way"
The likes of mcentee, gg , O'Rourke, Flynn, McDermott, Lyons +2 harnan, etc might not agree

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/01/2017 09:33:15    1947968

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Replying To mmc:  "Whythelongface
I take it that you didn't see the punch Forde threw yesterday . The second it landed I said he was off , striking in any game deserves a red card .
Forde's actions yesterday cost Meath the game and no matter what competition a team is playing in when you are playing the team that hates you more than any other team you should beat them every chance you get .
If Forde wanted to retaliate against any player he would have had any amount of chances to do this in a way that he would not receive a red card .
I believe Meath have gone soft but there's a big difference in hard hitting and boxing and really we should not defend striking in any way"
agree here to a certain extent, forde had to go clear strike no defending this. in regards to being soft maybe in certain sectors but there was some hard hits from our lads yesterday. one thing i did notice was that at around 45 mins in brian power looked out on his feet. now i dont think it would be from a lack of fitness more burnt out. but yesterday when we did have chances we werent clinical enough and the extra man killed us

srgt_slaughter (Meath) - Posts: 462 - 23/01/2017 09:36:53    1947969

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Replying To mmc:  "Whythelongface
I take it that you didn't see the punch Forde threw yesterday . The second it landed I said he was off , striking in any game deserves a red card .
Forde's actions yesterday cost Meath the game and no matter what competition a team is playing in when you are playing the team that hates you more than any other team you should beat them every chance you get .
If Forde wanted to retaliate against any player he would have had any amount of chances to do this in a way that he would not receive a red card .
I believe Meath have gone soft but there's a big difference in hard hitting and boxing and really we should not defend striking in any way"
What actually happened in the sending off incident was this. Paddy Reilly who was already on a yellow card for a cheap shot tried to take Graham Reilly out of it in front of the referee. There was some pushing , A Louth player started throwing punches at a Meath Player ( Not alan forde) who decked him.

Referee consulted officials. Decision made ,No cards to Paddy Reilly who started it, or the Louth Player who started punching or the Meath Player who retaliated. But a Red to Forde ( who was playing well).

Why criticise a young lad who happens to get caught up in this instead of calling it what it is. It is typical of what we see in matches organised by the Leinster Council, A weak link in the sports organisation. Centered in the midlands and appointing to big games (as well as this) poor quality officials from the midlands instead of sourcing the best available.

Ashrules (Dublin) - Posts: 518 - 23/01/2017 09:37:54    1947971

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I honestly glad we are not playing next week it gives us time to prepare for the league. Not not lose sight of what really counts and its the league. Having said that I am very disappointed in the amount of 1 on 1 battles we lost all over the pitch yesterday.
The negatives
Poor decision to play Biggy,
He never looked interested. I understand he playing next week, But he showed no leadership at any stage. At one stage someone went to pass the ball to Biggy and he had his hands on his hips. I am not a big supporter of Biggy and I think he should have made more of a effort. But having said that I think it was bad call by management. I think by naming Biggy as captain this year. Andy is saying to Biggy you need to play for 70/75 mins not just in patches. Because struggle as he might he wasn't been taking off.
Full forward line poor
the full forward line was very poor we are really struggling this year.
Midfield
Again struggling there big time we the loss of Harry Rooney this year I cant really see that changing. unless he comes back :)

Positives/ what did we learn.
I think there was Positives, even tough we where pure awfully yesterday. I think we could and probably would have beat Louth we played the strong enough team we had out against Wicklow. But that's not going to improves us we need guys been tried in different positions etc.
Managers are always saying you learn more from defeats rather than wins most of the time. What did we learn.
1) Paddy Kennelly plays better as Half forward
2) Sean Curran played better as half back. And is not going to make the team at all playing like he did yesterday.
3) Kevin Ross has a lot to do make the panel.
4) Connor Downey for is playing stuff and came on and got 2 excellent points against a 13 men defense.
5) Sean Tobin didn't do himself any favors, I left sorry for him as at least he trys his heart out.

Over all very bad day at the office yesterday. We hopefully can only improve. But am thinking the road to real improvement is going to long and winding one. I dont think we going to be able to take any short cuts.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 23/01/2017 09:58:31    1947979

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Royaldunne
As a Meath supporter that grew up following all the players you named I would like to remind you that they all played 30 years ago . This was a time when hitting of the ball was rampant in the Gaa and sadly that Meath team will never get the recognition they deserve as a football team because of this .
As I said above I have no problem with hard hitting no team will win without it but the stupitidy of striking as was yesterday's case has no place in the game .

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 267 - 23/01/2017 10:02:12    1947983

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Replying To mmc:  "Very disappointed today I know it was only the OByrne cup but we looked sadly as bad as ever .
I lost count of the amount of time we kicked frees backward , hand passed sideways and carried the ball into the tackle and lost it .
As for Alan Forde I see one person on this site praising him for striking and suggesting that's the way to improve Meath football .
Staying on the pitch improves football his actions today for a clear box was totally over the top and not acceptable . If that's the way he reacts to hand bag stuff in an OByrne cup semi final what would he do against the dubs .
In Andy McEntee we have the right man in charge , it is going to take 2 years to hopefully turn Meath football around but I think we are going to have to suffer a little again this year . I really hope I'm wrong ."
Sorry but I find it hard to agree with this. We knew in advance that Louth would target Reilly. I know it is treading a fine line but our other players need to be able to help an assist our player when this is happening. Now, i didnt see the strike but I was told that the guys on the radio reckoned that the ref was about to give Forde a yellow when the linesman pointed out that he had struck the Louth player.

All I am saying is that we need a bit more agression especially when our top players are being targeted. Of course we dont want to see key players like Forde being sent off. Equally we dont want to be a soft touch and known to be a soft touch. The ref did meath no favours yesterday, very little defence of Reilly and then gave forde only a red when a row broke out following a hot on Reilly.

oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 23/01/2017 10:13:27    1947989

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Replying To royaldunne:  "The likes of mcentee, gg , O'Rourke, Flynn, McDermott, Lyons +2 harnan, etc might not agree"
RD I was at the game yesterday and it was clear from the outset that Biggy was been singled out for special attention by Louth. For the life of me I cannot see why he was picked to play yesterday. Surely it was a huge gamble as he risked injury and worse maybe a straight red for retaliation and who could blame him. Were his club not within their rights to not release him with their AI semi coming up? Also cannot understand why posters on here praising Hannigan yesterday thought he had a poor game culminating in a silly black card. Keoghan still head and shoulders above the rest which is a worry even at this early stage of the year. Lot of work ahead for Andy.

Greenwood (Meath) - Posts: 210 - 23/01/2017 10:14:02    1947990

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Disappointing result yesterday. Huge gsme versus Kildare on Sunday, it's vital we start the league off on a positive note. A couple of things we learned from yesterday - forwards were very poor. We seem to be struggling at midfield also.

RoylerKing (Meath) - Posts: 809 - 23/01/2017 10:23:58    1947992

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Replying To mmc:  "Royaldunne
As a Meath supporter that grew up following all the players you named I would like to remind you that they all played 30 years ago . This was a time when hitting of the ball was rampant in the Gaa and sadly that Meath team will never get the recognition they deserve as a football team because of this .
As I said above I have no problem with hard hitting no team will win without it but the stupitidy of striking as was yesterday's case has no place in the game ."
Yesterday was a prime example of a team who continually fouled synically. The ref didnt take hold of the proceedings from the outset this had been boiling since the opening exchanges with late fouls. It's a pity we lost the man to a striking action yet it was apparent that he wasn't the only one guilty. I felt for him because he looks to be the real deal if we can keep him on the pitch. This time two weeks this will be forgotten about after we hopefully beat Kildare but major improvement needed.

Ketchup (Meath) - Posts: 22 - 23/01/2017 10:24:46    1947993

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Replying To Greenwood:  "RD I was at the game yesterday and it was clear from the outset that Biggy was been singled out for special attention by Louth. For the life of me I cannot see why he was picked to play yesterday. Surely it was a huge gamble as he risked injury and worse maybe a straight red for retaliation and who could blame him. Were his club not within their rights to not release him with their AI semi coming up? Also cannot understand why posters on here praising Hannigan yesterday thought he had a poor game culminating in a silly black card. Keoghan still head and shoulders above the rest which is a worry even at this early stage of the year. Lot of work ahead for Andy."
Well it shows that Andy is not infallible like everyone else. At the very least Graham should have been replaced at half time. Cillian O'Sullivan should have been brought on much earlier than he was.

regarding hannigan, I though that he did very well on shot stopping duties and quite decent on his deliveries especially seeing as his two midfielders were not playing well.

oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 23/01/2017 10:32:40    1947998

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Replying To Greenwood:  "RD I was at the game yesterday and it was clear from the outset that Biggy was been singled out for special attention by Louth. For the life of me I cannot see why he was picked to play yesterday. Surely it was a huge gamble as he risked injury and worse maybe a straight red for retaliation and who could blame him. Were his club not within their rights to not release him with their AI semi coming up? Also cannot understand why posters on here praising Hannigan yesterday thought he had a poor game culminating in a silly black card. Keoghan still head and shoulders above the rest which is a worry even at this early stage of the year. Lot of work ahead for Andy."
The club had no problems with him playing, it wasn't a manament call or even a player call (every player wants to play every game) he had gone to club told them his desire to play as he is captain, and could as easily get injured In training as in plating for Meath. Club had no problems with request, he then went to Andy, Andy then went to ciles to ensure they ok with it, . lots of consultantion . of course hindsight is 2020 vison and probably shouldn't have played with the way he was targeted. But you would hope refs would not allow that , but there you go.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/01/2017 10:59:17    1948012

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