Hard luck lads great performance. Pace is electric a few things need tweaking. But hand on heart one of the few times I can say better lost

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 03/03/2012 21:59:10    1121980

"what lost us the game was swapping grahams"

What lost us the game was the lack of possession at midfield and the backs unable to cope with the runners coming though from the kildare half backs and fullback line, their free men were inevitably backs surging through, midfield was poor, ward was ok but meade never got near anything and got roasted numerous times, looked a lot better when changes were made imo, lacked any dynamism

Thejoeshow (Meath) - Posts: 687 - 03/03/2012 22:00:08    1121982

shameful stuff from certain meath players near the end, going to ground feiging fouls, sheridan got one but thank god the referee seen through the other attempts.

Gammy_Knee (USA) - Posts: 1482 - 03/03/2012 22:00:52    1121984

Many positives from many different players last night. This Meath team is building in the right direction over the last year. A fight and spirit returned to the team in the Galway and Kildare games last year and they've carried it through the winter with them. Fair played to all.

Specifically, it's nice to see consistent high scoring from Meath again. We've always had the forwards for this but seemed to lack fitness and subsequently our scoring rate in the second half of games would suffer. Personally I like the idea of Ward playing one half and Sheridan playing the other. I think either player can cause ferocious trouble to any defence for 35 minutes, but after that they seem to fade and end up being a liability with missed scores and giving away stupid frees (from tiredness).

Great to see the new faces over the last couple of years coming through and being counted too with lads like Gilsenan and Tobin leading the charge, Keep up the good work

BelieveinMeath (Meath) - Posts: 121 - 04/03/2012 08:35:34    1121993

what killed us in the first half was the lack of lads going for breaking ball in midfield and it left us overran at times.we shouldve put them away in the second half and its sickening that we didnt.we dont have the cool heads on the field to close out games anymore its was the same against kildare last summer in navan.on the plus side i thought a good few players done well and with a bit of tweaking we will get there.

stamullenman (Meath) - Posts: 392 - 04/03/2012 08:53:45    1121994

Good game but same result , Midfield still dreadful, I questioned last year naming Kenny as a half forward and playing him as a 4th halfback against a team like Kildare that have two good wing backs this tactic dosn't work it allows their wing backs way to much free room and they will punish you like they did last night and last year ,GG In my eyes was the best player I ever say playing for Meath this was his big chance last night for him to prove to himself that he still has something to offer I think he has, but as a selector , he got his chance when he was a good young footballer and took it I think he should give a young player a chance now and concentrate on the job as a selector he has nothing to prove to anyone and as any of us that are 40 or close to it know you cant turn back the clock no matter how much we would like too.

mmc (Meath) - Posts: 266 - 04/03/2012 09:58:39    1122007

Gammy knee ,thats a silly statement ,if we had been given the correct judgement by the ref we would of at least tied and u wouldnt be thinking along that line .e.g gg was pulled/held and got nothing. Any way gg should not of come on g reilly was playing well and it was a huge management mistake that cost us the game or at least a tie.

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 04/03/2012 10:03:46    1122010

While the game was close throughout, Kildare responded well to our two goals. And I feel no matter what we did, they could keep doing so. They were able to run through us all to easily and pick off points from the 40 quite comfortably, especially with the wind behind them second half. Good job they lack more adventurous forwards, because against a Kerry or Dublin, they would have worked the ball in closer for goal chances. It was there runners bombing forward that really hurt us, where were their opponents because at times they had acres of room. If we struggle to cope with that type of game at Pairc Tailteann (it was the same at Newbridge last season despite been close as well), well then at Croke Park it will be even worse.

We have to take action about our midfield, and stop selecting the same duo by default. It is no good them looking the part against weaker counties, to be found wanting against better sides. They were neither catching ball nor knocking it down in such a way to win our fair share of breaks or dirty ball. It was one way traffic for long spells in the first half. Tom Walsh certainly helped to address this with his introduction second half. He was far better as is athletic, powerful and mobile. He offers the best qualities of Ward and Meade, without their shortcomings, so is a more well-rounded midfielder.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 04/03/2012 10:10:53    1122012

Great game but to say that you's should of won is wrong Kildare were ontop for 80% of the game in fairness. Accept for your two goals bringing you's back into the game I think if Kildare had of lost would of being a unfair result of how the game went as I said you's played a great game and a great never give up attitude,maybe a draw would of being a fair result as your second half performance was a lot beter.but best of look for the rest of the league Meath look to be on the up but for now I think that's the last 6 games against kildare that you's lost.anyway hard look and we will meet again in the summer.

kildaredude (Kildare) - Posts: 15 - 04/03/2012 10:15:03    1122014

Positives-
Gilsenan--a class act, consistently performs for Meath. Would like to see him play further outfield.
Fairly consistent performance throughout the game- we never let Kildare pull away.
Players seem a little more pacey-great to see.
Big Joe works best as an impact sub.


Negatives-
Inability to tackle-has been a problem for a while.
Very poor scoring-13 scores is a poor return at home.
Midfield-needs to be addressed urgently.
Kildare could have had a couple of goals early on which could have killed us. Backs have improved of late so dont think this should be major problem in future.
We need to kill off teams. Kildare missed a bunch of chances early on--Meath should have capitalised.

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1790 - 04/03/2012 11:18:28    1122043

anyone know where we can purchase a few decent midfielders???

sob (Meath) - Posts: 492 - 04/03/2012 11:44:11    1122051

Very disappointed to lose last night but all credit to Kildare, they performed that bit better than we did and got their win. As for us, I think midfield has been an issue since McDermott retired 11 long years ago and we just don't have anybody good enough for inter county level at the moment. But anyway listen lads, keep the chins up, we weren't too bad last night and if the lads can keep up the good performances we could have a decent year ahead of us.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 04/03/2012 12:43:04    1122084

everyones giving out about our midfield,when in truth apart from some poor decisions mark ward was fairly decent,the man works extremely hard and is involved in everything in the middle of the field,u will seldom see clean posession won against him,its a pity he doesnt do the simple thing and give it off after doing the hard work in winning the ball.brian meade was poor I thought,tom walshe looked to freshen things up when introduced.in my opinion our problem is the way the team is been set up,can anyone tell me what advantage it is having chris o connor sit in front of the full back line espeically against the likes of kildare who as everyone knows love to run at u from the half back line,so instead of going man. to man with them and giving them a job to do,meath apply this ridiculous game plan of playing chris o connor or seamus kenny in front of the full back line even if the opposition dosent play the long ball in.chris o connor was lost last night I thought while his man ran amok and was involved in every attack that kildare built from the back,the sooner meath revert back to an attack minded half forward line the better.over all a good game of ball with lots to look forward to big big improvement on last year,roll on galway next weekend !

royalwarrior (Meath) - Posts: 33 - 04/03/2012 12:43:33    1122085

So disappointed with the result. Some fantastic performances and I'd agree with everyone that Gilsenan is really becoming a star player for us. I think if we could put his attitude and passion for the jersey into every other player we'd have won it last night.
Unfortunately, there were a few players (won't name names) who didn't seem to care at times and simply let players stroll past them while making no effort to track back. We never closed players down outside our own 45 and Kildare got a few scores from this lack of pressure. Also, Kildare always seemed to have a free man in both attack and defence. So many times, our defenders chased the ball like schoolboys leaving a Kildare player under no pressure to take a point. Equally as many times, our attackers were surrounded by 3 or 4 Kildare players which obviously meant there were 2 or 3 free Meath players free but we never found them.

Hopefully we can (and we definitely can) bounce back against Galway next weekend. We can still win promotion but we'll have to win next week.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1362 - 04/03/2012 12:45:00    1122086

I'm still huritng after last night, but there are some positives to take from the performance.
1. The fowards worked well together.
2. The backs seemed to have improved since last year and I thought Micky Burke and Chris O'Connor in particular had good games
3. We are getting closer to beating Kildare. We probably would have won if Shane Mc's effort not hit the post in the last minute. Kildare won the rebound and went straight up the pitch to score the winner.
4. Kevin Reilly got 70 minutes under the belt.
It's not all good though ...
1. Midfield was awful again
2. WE LOST

seamusmac (Meath) - Posts: 379 - 04/03/2012 12:51:15    1122091

Brian Meade had a shocker and I hope Menton or Walsh is given a chance next week

seamusmac (Meath) - Posts: 379 - 04/03/2012 13:02:53    1122100

The next two games (weekends) are the very ones that will decide our destiny. We must target them now as the two games that will define our FL2 season. We will have to beat Galway away and Derry at home to be in with a very good chance of promotion. They are two fairly big asks but the players must focus on one at a time and give it their all. That means approaching these games with a championship type mentality and determination. If we can manage that a loss to Tyrone would still leave things in our own hands for the final game v the wee county. Imagine if that game was a promotion relegation battle. It's that simple folks.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 04/03/2012 13:11:19    1122105

Why was one of the biggest men we have playing corner back,Time to give Menton a shot at midfield.Juicy O connor played well,best performance i have seen from bray in a while,Gilsenan never stopped working...backs need to tighten up,time and again Kildare seemed to have men loose with no meath man within 10 yards of them,overall though it was a good performance considering no shane o rourke and Joe didnt start.Great game to watch,best game of football in the League this year so far.

ClonardLad (Meath) - Posts: 57 - 04/03/2012 13:42:54    1122123

some very tough games to come up.. at least we wont be fighting to stay up!

sob (Meath) - Posts: 492 - 04/03/2012 13:56:54    1122133

Yeh marking wasnt great ,a huge thing for me was the lack of support this needs attention ,and also why dont forwards follow balls after they have been kicked ,at least 3 fall short and can be scooped up and finally why was bray takening frees ,how many did he miss 2/3 and that was our winner.he was much better in mullingar ,whats the story with cian ward and the frees ?

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 04/03/2012 14:02:31    1122138