gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 06/02/2018 16:40:25    2074616

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 06/02/2018 22:32:15    2074691

NuttyMeathMan (Meath) - Posts: 35 - 06/02/2018 23:26:58    2074701

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 07/02/2018 10:17:20    2074752

tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 07/02/2018 13:23:44    2074795

tipp11 (Tipperary) - Posts: 353 - 07/02/2018 15:41:40    2074824

thelongridge (Offaly) - Posts: 1741 - 07/02/2018 16:08:51    2074828

Northsidegaels (Meath) - Posts: 237 - 07/02/2018 17:44:14    2074843

OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 07/02/2018 18:12:59    2074856

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 07/02/2018 19:05:56    2074866

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 07/02/2018 19:07:16    2074867

The Meath v Cavan is a more 50 / 50 game then people think. Because its a local derby. For me when our neighbouring counties play us especially kildare and Cavan, they up their game and play like 15 men possessed when they see the green and gold of Meath. In my experience the teams that have played the best football v Meath have not been Kerry Dublin Tyrone Cork but been kildare Cavan Louth, our neighbours.

It doesnt matter if Meath are the best team in the land and Cavan and kildare are in division 4 . They will throw the kitchen sink at Meath and Meath always find it hard to beat these neighbours.
The stats back that up.

Kildare have the best v Meath after Dublin. While Cavan have only played Meath once in 50 years and that was in 2005 when Cavan ended the Boylan era. But we haved played in the league many times. Cavan have won the last two games between the counties in the league in Navan. And most of the games Meath have played Cavan in the league in the last 30 years have been titanic struggles,great battles where Cavan throw the kitchen sink at Meath. I remeber in the 90s when Meath where the reigning All Ireland champions and Cavan where in divsion 3 and the game ended in draw after a brillant match where Cavan played like 15 all stars. If you picked any 15 men from Cavan town on saturday night and placed them in Cavan jerseys they would throw the kitchen sink at Meath. Kildare and Cavan hate Meath football with a passion.

So this is a more 50 50 games then people outside both counties think. Its a proper rural local derby. When you have a local derby form goes out the window. Also Meath are a small fast pacy young team. This Meath team is built for dry ground in the summer. The Clare game was in perfect conditions on Sunday. Meaths fast pacy players cut loose in these conditions. This Meath team will do well over the next few years in Croker in the summer. I can see this young fast pacy skilful Meaths forwards destroying a top division 1 team in the next few years in Croker in the championship like we did v Tyrone in 2007 and Dublin in 2010. Young fast skilful forwards like Sullivan McEntee J Wallace E Wallace McMahon McKeever lenihan Thomas O Reilly and Rowe.

But as anyone who knows anything about football, in wet winter conditions a more physical team with biggger players suits the wet weather. Ulster teams like Cavan are big strong powerful teams. Meath have struggled recently against the above physical simply because Meath have had one of the smallest teams in the country with player in their early 20s, with little strenght and conditioning . However as this young Meath team develops with more strenght and conditioning training and the players reach the mid 20s they will be more able for the physical approach of big powerful teams. We are improving in this area all the time. But we are not fully there yet. So thats another reason if it is a wet wintery evening on saturday, it will suit the bigger physical players of Cavan.

Overall this game is very close contest. Im hoping for a Meath win. But its going to be very tough. If Meath did win it would be evidence that Meath are making strong progess under McEntee. We are going in the right direction. But I still think it wil take 12 or 24 months before you see Meath making the impact Galway are making now. Walsh is in his third year abd McEntee is in his second year in charge. And Meath and Galway both up their game v the top counties.

McEntee needs to be cut the slack. He has brought 12 new players onto the Meath panel that have never played for Meath before. And there will be probably 6 new players in first 15 when Meath play longford in the opening game in the championship that did not play v kildare last year. This is a completely new up and coming Meath team. Which is it early development as a team. There is huge potential in players like Conor McGill Seamus Lavin Andy Colgan Adam Flanagan Brian Conlon Padraig McKeever Cillian Sullivan Byran McMahon James McEntee Thomas Reilly Dan O Neill and Daire Rowe. These players are all 20 21 22 23. Mckeever the only player that is 26. They can only get better. Meath are not as bad as many want us or need us to be. We will be stronger in the next few years. I would be shocked if this group of young players dont win at least a leinster title in the next 3 to 4 to 5 years.

Players like McGill McKeever and Conlon have really added to tge team.

Particularly Mcgill looks like the real deal. McGill is only 22 or 23. But already his performances this season have been so strong that Meath supporters are now talking about him in terms of the next great Meath full back. Meath have a great tradition of full backs eg O Brien Quinn Lyons Fay. Most people have not seen McGill play on the national tv. But there is serious shortage of top class defenders in the country. Dublin and Mayo have the best defenders. In my view the blanket defence has destroyed defending. There are very few top class full backs in the country. McGill is now developing into one of the best full back in the country and at 22 the idea of him taking up the crown that other Meaths great had in the past eg The full back in Ireland is a possibility in the coming years.

The full back line has been a weak area for Meath for years. We havent had a top class one since Reilly Fay and Murphy in 1999. Meath have a long tradition at producing great full back lines. McGills development into top class full back. The emergence of young Lavin as tigerish young corner back is a great sign. Lavin probaly has been Meaths best player so far this year. And with Keoghan in the corner.( Keoghan would walk onto the Meaths teams of the 80s and 90s, another top class defender) The Meath full back line is a divsion 1 full back line and could be better then some teams full back lines in division 1. And seen as Lavin 23 McGill 22 and Keoghan 26 are still all young, it will only improve. Also with Colgan settling well into goalkeeper. This has also added solidity to Meaths defence.

Half back line has been a problem for Meath for 15 years. We have not produced a top class wing back since O Connell. Or an effective centre back since McManus. Brian Conlon has been a revelation so far this year at wing back. At 20 he bas become one of the leaders on the team. Only Lyons McEntee Cassells O Rourke Geraghty Giles and Fay where leaders on a Meath team at the age of 20. O Rourke said Conlon will play for Meath for years and is a future Meath captain. More importantly for me he could become a top class wing back. All the top teams have top class wing backs eg Keegan Boyle Mcarthy McCaffrey Jordan Tomas O Se. If Conlon continues to play so well in this position it will be massive plus for Meath. And with Brian Power at centre back, we now have a holding defensive centre back for the first time since McManus retired in 2000. Power could become Meaths Ger Brennan. He is only 23 and he along with Conlon 20 Dan O Neill 21 S McEntee 23 the Meath half back line( a problem area for years ) should become a strong area for the team.

While in midfield Flanagan has formed a good midfield partnership with Menton. The last time we had a strong midfield partnership was in 2013 with Gillespie and Meade. This was the year we put it up to Dublin last and Tyrone.

We have good skilful young forwards in the early 20s eg Sullivan 23 J McEntee 23 McMahon 24 Thomas Reilly 21 J Wallace 22 E Wallace 22. But it is Padraig McKeever 26 form that has been really been a huge positive. He has been the best club forward in Meath for years. But injuries has hampered his inter county career. And in only 1 game and in another game he played 15 mins as a sub this year, he has scored 11 points and looked like a very classy finisher. With him and lenihan , for the first since 2009 to 2010 when we had young S Bray Shane O Rourke C Ward J Sheridan forming a strong full forward line. We could have a strong full forward line. With Mckeever and lenihan for the first time in years, Meath could have a strong duo supported by young forwards like Sullivan Thomas Reilly all having a big impact in the full forward line.
Meath bench also looks strong witb Mickey Burke as an impact backs subs, Harry Rooney as an impact midfield sub and Sean Toibin and Eamon Wallace as impact subs upfront. McEntee has improved every line on the team with new players. While the bench and our fitness looks strong.

We will take time to click. And it will probaly take til 2019 2020 till you really see Meath making waves. But the potential is there. Many want and need Meath to be unsucessful. And it is noticeable on thid forum when Meath win or had a good performnce like we did v Clare Roscommon there is very little if any comments from our neighbours. But if Meath lose on saturday the Dubs kildare and our other neighbours will be out in force with great glee because Meath are defeated. The next few years should be difficult for the ABM brigade with an anti Meath bias Meath should be much stronger then they have been recently. Meath are not as bad as people want or need them to be. McEntee definitely seems to be putting in the foundations for a proper effective modern sucessful gaelic football team. For the first time since Boylan left it feels the old Meath is slowly coming back. In every
Game With the exception of the kildare games last year. (Meath last year and this has cont'd this year). Meath have finished every game like a train. In the last 15 minutes Meath get stronger and stronger . That was a trait associated with Boylans Meath. It is now resurfacing under McEntees Meath. Meath are not as far away from the top table as people want or need them to be. Interesting times ahead.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 07/02/2018 19:08:19    2074868

Cuckoosinging (Roscommon) - Posts: 992 - 07/02/2018 19:27:27    2074877

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 07/02/2018 19:30:22    2074879

Cavan would be along with Dublin and louth Meaths oldest rival. Meath and Cavan would be a traditional rivalry. Today there would be great rivalry up in the north of the county of Meath villages close to the Cavan border. But for the rest of the county of Meath, Cavan would be not seen as a rival. In Cavan it doesnt matter what part of the county you are from as the old saying goes love Cavan football , hate Meath football. Cavan love beating the Royals.

Meaths main rivalry is with Dublin. And vice versa Dublins greatest rivalry is with Meath. Even though it is one sided at the moment. But Just like Tipp and Kilkenny Cork and Kerry Galway and Mayo it is one of the top rivalries in gaa.

In the last 20 years Westmeath and kildare have developed a rivalry with Meath. Kildare particularly have developed a strong rivalry. However this rivalry between kildare and Westmeath are more modern rivalries. Before 97 ,while Meath always found it hard to beat kildare. Kildare for some unexplained reason disappeared from footballs top table from the 1930 40s 50s 60s 70s and 80s. So Meath v kildare rivalry would have been very weak in that period. It was not til the three extraordinary games in 97 ignited the rivalry that is probaly now Meaths second biggest rivalry after Dublin today.

The Westmeath rivalry again only developed from the season of 2001 with two cracking games and two great Meath comeback. Before 2000 the Meath and Westmesth would have been confined to border areas between the counties.

It was Cavan and Louth that where Meath biggest traditional rivals along with the Dubs. The modern Meath Dublin rivalry begins in the late 40s and early 50s, reaching highpoints in the 70s 80s and 90s where you had almost annual Meath v Dublin leinster finals that would capture the attention of the country.

But Meath first rivalry was Louth. Actually Meath v louth could be called the oldest rivalry in gaa. Susposedly the first gaelic football match in the 1700s was between a team from Meath and a team from louth which was played in Tara. But it was the games in the late 40s that brought the rivalry to the national attention. Meath v louth in 1947 3 game saga was similar to Meath v Dublin in 91. Both caught the attention of the country. The battles between Meath and louth at the time are legendary.

What added to everything was you had three of the best teams in Ireland on each others border eg Meath Cavan and Louth. Cavan were the gaelic football superpower at the time. Only kerry and Dublin had more sucess. Meath where the new upstarts beating and stopping Cavan winning the three in a row in 1949. In 1952 again the counties met. The drawn game ended in controversy when Meath scored a winning point that was disallowed even though nearly everyone agreed it was a point. (avan won the replay , the last time they lifted Sam. They still talk about those games in Cavan and Meath. That 1952 Meath v Cavan final was a very unique final. As it was one of the few times neighbouring counties played each other in finals. The only time it has happened was Meath v Cavan in 1952 Offaly v Galway in 1971 Tyrone v Armagh in 2003 and Cork v Kerry in 2009. The rivalry at the border at the time was suspondly unreal.

It was Meaths first rivalry that caught the countries attention. And it also signalled the end of Cavan as that North east/ mid Ulster/ midland gaelic football superpower. As Cavan disappeared from the top table and Meath became Cavans true heirs as a football power in that region of Ireland. Since the 50s the rivalry between Meath v Cavan has ceased on the Meath side of the border only for neighbouring villages on the border in North Meath. For Cavan beating Meath still matters. After Monaghan, Meath are still seen as Cavans main rivalry. And when both counties meet the battles that took place between both counties in the past our again ignited.

Both counties are standing on the shoulders of gaints of the great Meath teams and Cavan teams of the 40s and 50s. Gaa legends like Paddy O Brien Peter McDermont of Meath and Kevin Higgins O Reilly of Cavan. Meath and Cavan is one of gaas oldest and greatest traditional rivals. When they meet its like two tribes , one from leinster and one from ulster going to battle in the North east of the country. On Saturday night, the next chapter in the Meath v Cavan rivalry will be written as two of the youngest teams in the country play in one of gaelic footballs finest traditional rivalries.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 07/02/2018 20:50:14    2074899

cuttothebone (Kildare) - Posts: 163 - 07/02/2018 21:12:18    2074908

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 07/02/2018 22:26:33    2074930

Anyway getting involved in a Meath v kildare arguement is a waste of time. The fact is for the sake of provience we need a strong Meath and kildare in the next few years. If Dublin win the next 10 or 15 leinsters. You will have 2000 or 3000 at the finals and no one will be interested. Leinster needs a strong Meath and kildare. Meath beating kildare or kildare beating Meath is not important. Its beaten and always has been Dublin is the key to sucess in leinster. I think both counties will be stronger in the coming years. I can see both winning leinster titles at the start of the next decade. Lets hope so..even for Dublin sake. A competitive leinster would bring great excitement and crowds to Croker. When you had 35000 Meath and 35000 kildare 35000 Dublin supporters marching to Croker in the 90s the atmosphere was unreal.

The late 90s was a golden age for leinster football. You had 4 top divsion 1 teams in the provience in late 90s. Meath had two All Irelands Dublin had 1 All Ireland. Kildare where All Ireland finalist and two times leinster winners and Offaly won leinster once and national leagur div 1 title once in 98. Dublin have not had to face divsion 1 opposition in leinster consistently since early 00s. So forget Meath v kildare. Its to early in the year for hat rivalry.

Regards Saturday its a 6 pointer for Meath and Cavan. Because whoever wins more then likely will be top of the table over the break ( Roscommon could be second as Meath and Cavan could have better score difference).
Whoever wins also will be in a great position for promotion. Whoever loses could be dragged into relegation battle . Its a big 6 pointer on Saturday. Week 3 is always the week things really shake up in terms of relegation and promotion.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 07/02/2018 22:54:09    2074938

cuttothebone (Kildare) - Posts: 163 - 07/02/2018 22:55:07    2074939

Just to leave kildare and Meath to one side. Last comment on Meath and kildare. As I said its to early in the year to have Meath v kildare fighting across the border. It is a very close rivarly. I think kildare have won 18 times and Meath have won 18 times. In the last 10 years there has been tussle between both counties for being the second best team in leinster. Between 2007 to 2009 early 2010 Meath where the second best in leinster. Between 2010 to 2011 Kildare were second best ahead of Meath. From 2012 to 2014 Meath where second best ahead of kildare. 2015 2016 Westmeath deserved the title of second best. 2017 to 2018 Kildare are again second best.

But I dont think the gap between Meath and kildare is as big as people think. Kildare are ahead of Meath on terms of team development eg O Neill is in his third year McEntee his second year. The two results last year where a continuation of some of the victories kildare have had recently at under 21 and minor level. But also again the two performances are again example of kildare playing like men possessed against Meath.

Kildare are in div 1 and are a bigger team.then the smaller Meath team. But if you look at the results since the leinster semi final it would seem kildare have gone a bit backwards, while Meath have improved. Since kildare defeated Meath in leinster semi final kildare have not won a match. They have played 6 matchs and had 6 loses. And two of the loses where to divsion 3 teams eg longford Armagh and 1 defeat to Division 2 team eg louth. Since the leinster semi final loss to kildare Meath have only lost once and had 5 victories and 1 draw. Meaths only loss was to division 1 team eg Donegal and no loses to any div 2 or 3 team. (Now that could change on Saturday v Cavan )But I think the above stats would indicate that the gap between Meath and kildare is not as big as people think. Meaths victory over Galway last year and kildares two loses to Galway last year would have indicated that.

Furlong1949 (Meath) - Posts: 1067 - 07/02/2018 23:40:48    2074943