Replying To Furlong1949:  "A couple points regarding our team

Regards Centre back, it has been a problem since Enda McManus. Players from other teams running up the middle of the defence has occurred over and over again . Power is a natural holding centee back. I would leave him there. Conlon is an option also. But I think we might need him in midfield. I think we need a more defensive holding centre back. And I think Power is that. Basically we need a Ger Brennan type center back not an attacking Cian Sullivan type.

At Midfield Flanagan has potential. But he has not found any decent form since doing his cruciate. Menton showed leadership and maturity last year. But his best position is wing back. But we need him in the middle.

Rooneys return is vital. With the mark and kickouts to 20 metres line next seaaon. Having a high fielding midfielder is now essential. We have not had a top class midfielder since McDermont. Gillespie was a great prospect and I think he could have become a top class midfielder. It's no coincidence the last good year we had was in 2013 when we had a strong midfield partnership with Gillespie and Meade at the center. So many of our defeats in recent times have been games where we have had trouble at centre field. Eg second half v Cork 07 second half v kildare 2010 and Westmeath in 2015. And many more games also. Until we have a strong partnership at center field and improve at breaking ball, we will be not be progressing. Rooney has potential and is a natural midfielder. And one of the reasons we lost v kildare last year was Feehily dominating the midfield sector. We had no one to compete with him in the high fielding department. Rooney would improve this area of the field for us.

Brian Conlon has been top class for his club in the last 2 seasons. In his cameos for the county, he has been excellent. He looks like he could be a big player for us in coming years. We need to find his best position. We will probaly play him at midfield until Rooney returns to full fitness. Wing back for me would be his best position.

Mckeever has been the best club forward in the county for the last 2 seasons. I think he could form a good partnership with Lenihan. I would also consider playing Sullivan in the full forward line. He is a top class act. But we need to get the best out of him. Eamon Wallace has had a good season for his club. If he can return to the form of 2013 that would be a massive plus. Bryan McMahon is one of the best natural inside forwards we have. He has shown some real good form in the championship already v Carlow in 2014 and Westmeath first half in 2015. He has been hampered by injuries. But I think he has potential.

Ben Brennan played well v Carlow. Was always looking for the ball. And was aggressive in the tackle. I think he could be a player to watch out for. Could be and should be a starter v Roscommon. Himself and Forde could be very useful on the half forward line. I like Forde. I think he is a player we have been crying out for. A Paul Galvin /Brian Dooher type player. Forde can score but he also can get back to defend and tackle . His return in the late Spring will be a massive addition.

G Reilly is a very talented footballer. Unlucky to be around at a low ebb for the footballers. He is apable of destroying an opposition team. But I do get the feeling he has maybe two seasons left as a first team regular. As good as an attacking wing forward in the last few years in div 4 div 3 or div 2. But yet has to do it v Dublin to be considered a Meath great. But we still rely on him. We need more players standing up in the forwards. Lenihan is. Brennan looks promising. Hopefully Mckeever hits the ground running.


I think we have the making of a good team with players like Keoghan McGill Conlon Menton Rooney Sullivan Lenihan Mckeever Forde J McEntee Reilly. We have one of the young teams in the country. And this has been a disadvantage recently. Sometimes I have seen us play games where in the half back line Midfield and half foward line, we only had player in the 20 to 22 age group. Most players peak at 27. Thr Galway team that won liam last year. The average age of the team was 27. Ww have allot of players around the 23 24 age group. These players will hittheir peak in 2020 2021 2022. I can see Meath making a bigger impact in the championship then. Also at the start of the next decade Dublin could be weaker with the retirement of all time greats like Brogan Cluxton Connolly Flynn and McMahon.

The key to sucess is keeping Andy McEntee in charge for 4 or 5 years at least. When these players peak( many of them from Andys minor team of 2011) , we need Andy in charge. This will take time. We need patience. Andy is the best manager we have had since Boylan. But there is no quick fix. We don't have the underage sucess other young teams have had like Galway Tyrone Roscommon Kildare and Cavan. Many of our players have had bad experiences at underage level and senior level in the Meath jersey. It will take time to build the players up mentally.

I thought there was improvements last year in the area of fitness and stopping the second half collapses. Leaving the kildare game to one side. We finished every game strongly. And the second half collapses stopped. We have had this problem of second half collapses since Boylan left. For example Cork 07 Wexford 08 Kildare 2010 Westmeath 2015 and many more games we had very poor second half's. We even had the first proper Meath comeback in a long time when we're losing by 9 to Cork in the league and drew the game.

The kildare performances coloured many peoples opinion of the season. Kildare are a year ahead of us in development. While the result was a continuation of results, Kildare have had over Meath teams at minor and under 21 level. Kildare do have a tendency to up their game big time when they see the green and gold of Meath. Overall the gap between Kildare and Meath is not as big as people think. If the game was in Croke Park the game would have been much closer ( Croke Park is a nightmare for Kildare at the moment 5 loses in Croker in the last 2 year's. Followed beforehand by record defeats in Croker to Kerry and Dublin). And remeber Kildare played Gakway twice last year and lost on both accounts. You would expect Galway then to beat Meath. Instead Meath defeated Galway this year and drew last year v Galway and in the previous 5 or 6 meetings Meath have only been beaten once by Gakway.

The media have always upgraded Kildare and downgraded Meath. How come when Meath lose by 10 points to Dublin in 2016 it is a hammering. Yet when kildare lose to Dublin by 9 points, it's not. Kildare were not hammered by 9 points but their performance was celebrated in the media. Meaths performance in 2012 and 13 v Dublin where better then Kildares last year. Meath where ahead in 2013 at half time ( Kildare were never ahead). Meath lost by 3 points in 2012 . Yet the performance of Kildare . a 9 points defeat was more acclaimed in the media. The media always hype Kildare. The gap between us and Kildare is closer then people think.

Overall I think we will be much stronger in the coming years. Last year was always going to be tough. Nearly all manager's have a bad first year. For example Cian O Neill Kevin Walsh Donal Kingston Michael Donoghue Pat Gilroy Jimmy Barry Murphy Nicholas English Eugene McGee and many many more have had dreadful first years starts. It was not til the second year and sometimes in to the third year things turned and all the above managers turned things around. Remeber it took Sean Boylan 4 years to turn Martin O Connell liam Hayes Colm O Rourke Mick Lyons and Brian Stafford into winners.

It was highly unlikely that Andy would have made a massive impact last year. He was only getting to know the players. I think this year could be tough as well. We have Roscommon in the first match in the Hyde . A game Meath will be underdogs and a game we nearly have to win. The only way our team will develop is in Division 1.We have not been in divsion 1 since 2007. And have only played their once since 2001. That stat alone explains why we have had little sucess in the last while. Get promoted to div 1 and stay there and we will win a leinster title, it will happen.

So it so important we have the McEntees in charge in 2020 when our players mature. We have a very small team in stature. The last time we made a serious impact in the championship was 09 and 2010. We had a big powerful team then. When these players reached 26 27 28 they will be much better in the tackle and able to with the physicality of Dublin and Ulster teams. Our record v Ulster teams is shocking. In the last 15 years we have been knocked out of the championship 7 times by Ulster teams eg Cavan Fermanagh Armagh Derry Donegal Tyrone ( twice). We have found it hard to deal with the physicality of Ulster teams but also the sweeper and blanket defence. Even last night we seemed to have problems v Carlow defence. We seem you fall between two stools 1 Trying to play a possession game.2 Trying to play a traditional game. We end up playing neither. And our game suffers. Until we get structure to our game, we are going nowhere. Play the modern way like Dublin. But overall I am optimistic and looking forward to 2018."

Replying To ziggy320001:  "Just a question...

Why do people think dv2 is easier this year?"

Replying To seadog54:  "No easier than most years, will be very competitive with no easy games."

Replying To seadog54:  "No easier than most years, will be very competitive with no easy games."

Replying To pauk123:  "Last year was relatively easy D2 and I was disappointed we didn't make it out. Galway were the up and coming team, on the back of a good year in the Championship, but hardly world beaters. I thought Down were a cert to go down last year but we conspired to give them their first win in over a year by one of the most insipid performances from a Meath team I've seen in many years. This ultimately cost us promotion.
Tyrone were too good for everyone 2016. 2015 was similar standard to this year, we missed out by the skin of our teeth. 2014 Donegal were way ahead of everyone.
No stand out teams in D2 this year. With to focus being very much on the league this year I'd expect 2nd place at least."

Replying To seadog54:  "No easier than most years, will be very competitive with no easy games."

Replying To pauk123:  "Last year was relatively easy D2 and I was disappointed we didn't make it out. Galway were the up and coming team, on the back of a good year in the Championship, but hardly world beaters. I thought Down were a cert to go down last year but we conspired to give them their first win in over a year by one of the most insipid performances from a Meath team I've seen in many years. This ultimately cost us promotion.
Tyrone were too good for everyone 2016. 2015 was similar standard to this year, we missed out by the skin of our teeth. 2014 Donegal were way ahead of everyone.
No stand out teams in D2 this year. With to focus being very much on the league this year I'd expect 2nd place at least."

Replying To anfearbeag:  "The bookies are not giving us much of a chance in Division 2. These are the latest odds from one well known chain:

Cork 9/4
Roscommon 10/3
Cavan 11/2
Down 11/2
Tipperary 13/2
Meath 7/1
Clare 8/1
Louth 50/1

I think that we are definitely the value bet in that. We were close to promotion several times over the past few years, and should have improved a bit from last year. While I am not convinced that we will win it, I think we are over priced at that.
Worth sticking a few quid on it I reckon, with maybe an e.w. saver to finish 1/2 at 1/3 the odds."

Replying To anfearbeag:  "The bookies are not giving us much of a chance in Division 2. These are the latest odds from one well known chain:

Cork 9/4
Roscommon 10/3
Cavan 11/2
Down 11/2
Tipperary 13/2
Meath 7/1
Clare 8/1
Louth 50/1

I think that we are definitely the value bet in that. We were close to promotion several times over the past few years, and should have improved a bit from last year. While I am not convinced that we will win it, I think we are over priced at that.
Worth sticking a few quid on it I reckon, with maybe an e.w. saver to finish 1/2 at 1/3 the odds."

Replying To anfearbeag:  "The bookies are not giving us much of a chance in Division 2. These are the latest odds from one well known chain:

Cork 9/4
Roscommon 10/3
Cavan 11/2
Down 11/2
Tipperary 13/2
Meath 7/1
Clare 8/1
Louth 50/1

I think that we are definitely the value bet in that. We were close to promotion several times over the past few years, and should have improved a bit from last year. While I am not convinced that we will win it, I think we are over priced at that.
Worth sticking a few quid on it I reckon, with maybe an e.w. saver to finish 1/2 at 1/3 the odds."

Replying To ziggy320001:  "Not sure how we can EXPECT 2nd place. This is only McEntees 2nd year. The current crop have had no underage success.
Unlike Rossies,Cavan,Cork and Tipp.
We will see serious moves next season imo. If we get up it's a bonus, plus the fixtures are not kind. Having to go to Rossies and Cavan"

Replying To anfearbeag:  "The bookies are not giving us much of a chance in Division 2. These are the latest odds from one well known chain:

Cork 9/4
Roscommon 10/3
Cavan 11/2
Down 11/2
Tipperary 13/2
Meath 7/1
Clare 8/1
Louth 50/1

I think that we are definitely the value bet in that. We were close to promotion several times over the past few years, and should have improved a bit from last year. While I am not convinced that we will win it, I think we are over priced at that.
Worth sticking a few quid on it I reckon, with maybe an e.w. saver to finish 1/2 at 1/3 the odds."

Replying To seadog54:  "Should have included Down in that list"

Replying To pauk123:  "From what I've heard and what we've seen in the OBC, admittedly the opposition have been poor, the lads are flying fit and way ahead of previous years. Andy wants to play a very intense game with everyone wroking hard to pressurized the opposition. I think we're lucky to get Roscommon so early. I think we'll overwhelmed them and our superior fitness and intensity will win the day.

I agree Cavan in Breffni will be tough. Nothing else very concerning in the division so yes I expect to be 2nd at worst."

Replying To pauk123:  "From what I've heard and what we've seen in the OBC, admittedly the opposition have been poor, the lads are flying fit and way ahead of previous years. Andy wants to play a very intense game with everyone wroking hard to pressurized the opposition. I think we're lucky to get Roscommon so early. I think we'll overwhelmed them and our superior fitness and intensity will win the day.

I agree Cavan in Breffni will be tough. Nothing else very concerning in the division so yes I expect to be 2nd at worst."

Replying To OhtobeARossie:  "Overwhelm us ur having a laugh mc stay has focused on league this year we don't have championship match till end of may after the league and that's against leitrim or new york"

Replying To OhtobeARossie:  "Overwhelm us ur having a laugh mc stay has focused on league this year we don't have championship match till end of may after the league and that's against leitrim or new york"

Replying To royaldunne:  "We have beaten mcstay enough for him to know not to take us lightly."