Replying To Furlong1949:  "If u dont like my style u better off stop reading now for this is a long long one covering problems and issues in Meath football.

I wouldnt give a prediction v Longford because as long as we can come out of Pearse Stadium with a victory I will be happy. Ever since the draw and watching team longford in Byrne Cup in Navan in the spring I always thought this game was a tough opener for Meath. And I havent changed my mind , I wouldnt be surprised if Longford won but of course Im hoping Meath win. Longford have had two big wins over Meath before which were very significant eg 1968, 1982. I hope on Sunday week we wouldnt have a third famous loss to the men from the Midlands.

What I will say if this game was in the qualifiers you would have to fancy longford big time. longford in the qualifiers in Peasre stadium.has been one of the toughest and trickiest place to go. With Mayo Derry Down and Monaghan all beaten in Pearse stadium. Like Sligo Wexford Tipperary and Fermanagh longford have shown outside the rigid proviencal championships, they can prosper as all these teams in the qualifiers have shown some great performances and victories.

In the leinster championship Longfords recent form had been poor. While Meath are having their worst decade since Independence people might be surprised to hear that after Dublin that Meath have been the second most successful county in leinster championship not kildare. kildare are fourth. In this decade Dublin are number 1 of course with 7 titles. Meath are second with 4 leinster final appearances and 1 leinster title, Westmeath are third with 2 leinster final appearances and kildare Wexford and louth are joint 4th with 1 leinster final appearance each .

Meath I always feel up their game come the championship . Meath are a great championship county and it would be very rare for Meath to lose their opening round of leinster championship. It usually happens in unusual circumstances eg losing to Offaly in 2000 . We were reigning All Ireland champions and had played in a national league division 1 final and replay a week or to before. And Offaly caught us in the first round. On 1992 laois defeated Meath in first round but that was the last game of that great 87 87 team , it was breaking up. Meath usually always play well in the first round. Theyre had been one or two bad performances recently V Carlow under Banty. And we had a game v Wicklow in first round in Navan under O Dowd where Wicklow caused a good few problems. But overall we usually start the championship well. Last two years we played well v louth in opening games. You would probaly have to back to 1982 when longford beat us in first round for a real bad defeat in leinster championship in first round.( I hope that is not a sign).As the game comes closer Im becoming quite anxious. I would love to have a crack at Dublin this year. I know people might laugh at that. I know Dublin will win. But still being from Meath playing Dublin in Croke Park is always the big one for us.But firstly we have to get over longford. Which will be a tough opener. Where both sides can win.

Meath I believe are not as bad as many people want or need us to be. We are not as good as we want to be eitheir. However I do believe there is potential with this young team and best management we have had since Boylan. But it will take time. Lots of it. I believe we are 24 months away from being were we want to be div 1 football team and reaching the super 8. When a traditional county is in the doldrums it takes years to turn things around. It took Boylan 4 years on 2 different occasion 86 96 to turn Meath around. It also took McGee 4 years to turn Offaly around in 1980 and it took Dywer 5 years in his second term to turn kildare around in 98. It took Pat Gilroy 3 years to turn Dublin around. While it took Jimmy Barry Murphy and Nicholas English years of bad defeats to turn their counties around in early 90s. It was not til the 4th year Kevin Walsh has turned Galway around. McEntee needs the same time.

I believed from the start of the year we wouldn't get promotion, the game with longford was a tough opener. If we won we would give Dublin a good rattle ( I know there is little evidence for that, just a gut feeling in that Meath are due performance v Dublin in the Meath v Dublin rivalry. Its a gut feeling based on no evidence other then also for me McEntee all year for me is setting a Meath team up to play Dublin tactically. ) Dublin of course will win and we will get knocked out of the championship in mid July.I believe next year we will see some sort of real progress next eg promotion to div 1 or defeat of top div 1 team in the championship)..And in year 4 I believe then we will see real progres eg div 1 football super 8 and pushing for leinster title. Thats only my opinion. I could be wrong. Its just my opinion. But I believe we are at least 24 months away from where we need to be. But u never know.

There are three massives issues for Meath in my opinion and of course underage needs to improve also.

1 The county the players are lacking serious belief in themselves that will take years of good management by good manager eg McEntee to turn around. We need to give this management time, we need lots of patience. As we will have many ups and downs to go yet.

2 Secondly a style of play that is modern and works. The way we won 7 Sams with traditional kick and catch long balls into forward line is not fit for purpose. Eitheir is the way other kick and catch counties won All Irelands not fit fot purpose eg Down and Galway. Football now is more possession based,more tactically driven and there must be more thought put into how a team must perform

Sean Boylans sucess was based on one tactic. That was organised choas. I know that makes no sense but let me try and explain. Every player fought for the ball like there life depended on it. There was no real tactic just get that ball into forward line as fast and as quick as you can and players like Geraghty and O Rourke had to fight tooth and nail to win possession. It was pretty basic tactically wise. But it was hugely sucessful and was actually very good to watch. Some of the football under Boylan was as good as kerry or Galway in 90s or 00s. There was great swashbuckling performances of brillant total football v Dublin 88 league final and 99 leinster final Offaly 98 99 Kerry 2015 and many more great games eg kildare 97 second game 2001 V Westmeath q final.

That system doesnt work anymore kicking long balls atop of your full forward line. Sweepers blanket defences kick out strategy are all changes since 2001..We have failed miserably to adapt. However I did actually think our performance v Westmeath on Sunday was a very modern style of play. I thought we played in an intelligent controlled and efficient way. We played like a modern team, like I would even say division 1 team. But that game is the only game I have seen that sort of efficent style for the full 70 mins. Before it was now and again. Its a start. But we now need to deliver it consistently. Against mid and then top div 2 teams. And then hopefully over a 2 to 3 year period we will see performances v div 1 teams. It will take time. But I thought Westmeath on Sunday was a real improvement even on wins we had v Down or louth or draw v Roscommon in the league. I have seen us hammer teams recently v Fermanagh Derry Clare. But this performance was more measured and more cleverer and well organised then I have seen. The next step is to see us perform like this consistently. I n the Longford game we could see a performance that is less impressive. We need to be patient.

3 Thirdly we have had three problem areas. First area in the half back line. We havent had a top class wing back since O Connell and an effective centre back since McManus. All the top teams have top class half backs eg Keegan Mcarthy McCaffrey Lacey. It is the most important area of the field in modern football. It where attacks start. If you have a strong half back line this is massive. We struggled at 5 6 and 7 all decade long. However I believe at the end of the league our half back line was improved compared to last year or even the start of this years league.

The moving of Donal keogham our best player a player who would walk onto 80s or 90s team from corner back to centre back is massive. He is wasted at 2. He always reminded me of Karl Lacey. And karl lacey was pivotal to Donegal sucess and the moving of him from the corner was a masterstroke by McGuiness.

Moving keoghan means for the first time in a long time, we have our best player in the half back line. He offers attacking threat which he showed on Sunday with a goal..But he offers leadership and football ability in this most important sector of the field.. He needs to learn how to hold the middle. But overall when he has played in the half back line v Second half Cork last year, louth this year and last year, Byrne cup campaign 2018, v Roscommon and Down 2018. When he played in the half back line in only those games recently we didnt lose any of them. Moving keoghan to 6 is massive plus. While two McEntees on wings have been effective and playing well.

Shane McEntee for me in the poor team performances v Tipp and Cavan was one of the few who kept trying to the very end. His performance last game v louth was very good. He is improving and needs to still to learn more defensive wing back play which will come with experience. But his atitude is top notch and we could at long last solve a problem position we had for years, the number 7 position.

James McEntee has been really impressive. He was wing forward. But could never find consistency in his play. He also suffered injuries. But the moving of James to wing back has been a great move. Any time he has played there we havent lost eg second half v Cork last year and Down louth and Westmeath game this year. He could become a really important player for us at 5. His performance v Westmeath on sunday was one of the best I have seen from Meath wing back in years.If he could keep playing well and be effective along with his cousin and keoghan we at long last could sort our this half back line problem which has bedevilled Meath football since 2001.

Conor McGill at full back is not well known but I view him as one if not the best young full back in the country. There are very few top class full backs in the country. He has been Meaths number 3 for 3 years since he was 20. And we have never felt the loss of Kevin Reilly..This is down to McGill. Irish Independent did a list of ten best players in this years 4 divisions in each division. The only Meath man in top 10 in division 2 was McGill. People havent seen him on the national stage but with Keoghan at 6 and McGill , Meath do have 2 top class defenders at centre of the defence. And with other defenders eg Conor Dempsey S Lavin Shane Glynn showing well and Mickey Burke now being used more as a sweeper . Meath defence since the Tipp and Cavan games has two positional changes and 1 new defender and 1 extra defender with Burke to come back and help. The defence has improved. But only till we play longford in championship and if we will play Dubs and play other teams in the qualifiers will we see the extent of improvement..The losses to Tipp and Cavan exposed the weakness in the team and McEntee had to go back to drawing board and change team selection. The moving of Keoghan and J McEntee to half back has been a massive positive.

The other problem Meath have had since 2001 is midfield. We havent had a top class midfielder since John McDermont. Gillespie S O Rourke and Nash all could have been quality midfielders. But we will never know. Last year we finished with Menton and a 19 year old half back in his first full game at midfield eg B Conlon. Menton has had 7 different partners in 1 year and half eg O Brien, Toher, Flanagan, Rooney, Jones, Conlon and Kennelly. This shows how much a problem midfield is. Menton himself his best position for me is wing back. But he does offer Atleticism at midfield. But you need a more traditional high fielding midfielder with Menton. Rooney would be the best we have here. But he had a poor league and after year travelling he needs to get match fitness and a years club football under him. Hes gone now so as impact sub he is a loss. But hopefully we see him next year.

Flanagan is more traditional midfielder. And I am a fan. His distribution lets him down at times..At 23 he can only improve. But Kennelly again is another player who appeared after Tipp and Cavan games. He was excellent v Louth Down and Westmeath before being sent off. Hopefully he can form a decent partnership with Menton. The last time Meath had a good season was 2012 2013 we had a strong partnership with Gillespie and Meade at center of midfield. My only worry with kennelly he is very inexperienced. Him and Menton have only played 1 full game together. We wouldnt know if Kennelly is a real option at midfield until he faces a quality midfielder like kildares Feehily. Maybe he is more a wing forward. But overall since last year and even start of the league kennellys impact along with Flanagan means midfield is improving. Breaking ball is still an issue we need to keep working at. We used to have breaking ball specialist in the past,, players who were exceptional at breaking ball eg Kevin Foley, Pat Reynold jnr and Seamus Kenny. I am a big fan of Kane from Simonstown. I think he is very good at breaking ball. But I think he was asked to join the panel last year but couldnt commit the time. I would definalty try and get him involved. Kane and Daire Rowe are the only players that I think r not on the panel or left the panel recently, in the county who could make a real difference, Rowe couldnt commit this year, hopefullly next year.

The one area that hasnt improved since last year is the forwards. The forwards will pretty much be the same as last year only for Brennan change. It could be weaker with Alan Forde out with his cruciate. He is a big player for us and when he comes back as wing forward he will be big addition.

We r relying on lenihan and then pacey players like Reilly Wallaces McMahon and Sullivan to cause problems. It has worked and big scores v Clare louth Derry Fermanagh prove that. But can it break down a blanket defence/sweepers. I have my doubts. We are playing more direct then we did v Tipp and Cavan. And Sullivan is stepping up to the plate with lenihan who was injured and lacking match fitness for much of the leagur. The loss of Mckeever is huge. For me Mckeever and lenihan both 26 27 , both at their peaks and both best forwards in the county. Mckeever for me is the best. I was looking forward to seen them play together this year. But they only played once v Down where we scored 4 -14 and they were very good. Lenihan was injured for the start of the league and Mckeever was played on the 40. Hopefully we will have Mckeever next year. Meath football sucess has always been based on duo in the full forward line eg 40s 50s McDermont Meegan 60s Curran Shanley 80s O Rourke Flynn, Stafford used to play a bit deep, 90s Ollie and Geraghty. The last time we had a good year in 2013 we had Newman and Wallace.

So a duo of in the full forward line of Mckeever and lenihan for me has huge potential with Sullivan playing a little deeper. A Sullivan Mckeever Lenihan full forward line would be a div 1 full forward line. But Mckeever loss is huge..I believe with him we could have had outside shot at Super 8. But with him gone I dont know if our forwards can break down stronger defences. This is a concern. And with Toibin gone as an impact sub. And other players like Conlon, the depth of our squad is effected and this could become a bigger issue later on in the summer.

The final issue for Meath and the one that shows we are so near yet so far is division 1 football..Everyone knows to be sucessful you need to play in div 1 and stay in div 1 you win titles eg Monaghan Tyrone and Donegal . Its always been the same. Meaths past sucess was based on div 1 football. After kerry and Dublin for 70 or 80 years Meath had one of the best records in division 1. Dublin always found Navan hard to win. So did many teams. When kildare won in Navan in 1999 or 2000 in the league it was their first win there in 70 years . Galway even to this day havent beaten us in Navan in over 30 years. Playing so much division 1 football helped us win 7 Sams in the past. Meath won national league division 1 titles in the 30s 40s 50s 70s 80s and 90s. And played in a national league div 1 final in the 00s. Meath played in senior all Ireland finals in 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s and 00s. Its linked. If Meath get into Division 1 and stay there you will see a big improvement. The same way you see how Monaghan have improved by playing divsion 1 in recent years.

Meath have been incredibly close to promotion to div 1. Even this year if we defeated Cavan we would have been promoted to div 1. In 4 of the 5 last seaons Meath were 1 win away from promotion to div 1. If we defeated Cavan this year, Down last year, Roscommon in 2015 and defeated not drew with Donegal in 2014 we would have been promoted to div 1 in each of those year. So we are very close , but yet so far.

If we could get promoted to divsion 1 , it would be a gamechanger for Meath football. The fact is Meath havent been in divsion 1 in 12 years ago the year we drew with Dublin defeated Galway and great Tyrone team of the 00s and reached All Ireland semi final. All in the year we played division 1 football. Its linked sucess = staying in divsion 1.

So in summary I think we have sorted out problems that surfaced in mid league. With a new half back line and new midfielder. But I still have worries with midfield and the forwards. In the forwards without Mckeever I don't see a difference since last year..If we could find consistency maybe we could go on a run in the qualifiers but for me its more likely we will see an improved Meath next year and the year affer. I must say also playing Mickey Burke at wing forward could also be a plus. He is a warrior and we have always played backs/leaders not just forwards in the forward line eg Cassells in 87 88, Reilly in 96, Curtis 99 and Moyles in 07. And when we played S Kenny in forwards in early decade it worked well. Playing a grafter, a hard worker in the half forward line who can come back and play sweeper also is something we havent done in a while. For the last few years we have usually always played 6 out and out forwards. Meath sucess is always based on a player/ a defender who turns into effective hard working forward eg Cassells 87 88 Moyles 07 S Kenny 2011 2012. Burke in the forwards could work.

Overall the longford game is a tough opener. If we play like we did on Sunday we will be hard to beat.If we play like we did v Tipp and Cavan longford will win pulling up..Which Meath will we see in Pearse stadium Sunday week..Time will tell.But whatever happens we need to give the current management and 2 years to keep improving. Anyone could see on sunday that McEntee is slowly but surely building a modern efficient proper gaelic football inter county team..But it will take time and many ups and downs before we really turn the corner. For the championship to be sucess..Alot of things would need to come together. For me its a long shot but not impossible. Next year and following year sucess will be attained eg division 1 football and Super 8 participants."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "If u dont like my style u better off stop reading now for this is a long long one covering problems and issues in Meath football.

I wouldnt give a prediction v Longford because as long as we can come out of Pearse Stadium with a victory I will be happy. Ever since the draw and watching team longford in Byrne Cup in Navan in the spring I always thought this game was a tough opener for Meath. And I havent changed my mind , I wouldnt be surprised if Longford won but of course Im hoping Meath win. Longford have had two big wins over Meath before which were very significant eg 1968, 1982. I hope on Sunday week we wouldnt have a third famous loss to the men from the Midlands.

What I will say if this game was in the qualifiers you would have to fancy longford big time. longford in the qualifiers in Peasre stadium.has been one of the toughest and trickiest place to go. With Mayo Derry Down and Monaghan all beaten in Pearse stadium. Like Sligo Wexford Tipperary and Fermanagh longford have shown outside the rigid proviencal championships, they can prosper as all these teams in the qualifiers have shown some great performances and victories.

In the leinster championship Longfords recent form had been poor. While Meath are having their worst decade since Independence people might be surprised to hear that after Dublin that Meath have been the second most successful county in leinster championship not kildare. kildare are fourth. In this decade Dublin are number 1 of course with 7 titles. Meath are second with 4 leinster final appearances and 1 leinster title, Westmeath are third with 2 leinster final appearances and kildare Wexford and louth are joint 4th with 1 leinster final appearance each .

Meath I always feel up their game come the championship . Meath are a great championship county and it would be very rare for Meath to lose their opening round of leinster championship. It usually happens in unusual circumstances eg losing to Offaly in 2000 . We were reigning All Ireland champions and had played in a national league division 1 final and replay a week or to before. And Offaly caught us in the first round. On 1992 laois defeated Meath in first round but that was the last game of that great 87 87 team , it was breaking up. Meath usually always play well in the first round. Theyre had been one or two bad performances recently V Carlow under Banty. And we had a game v Wicklow in first round in Navan under O Dowd where Wicklow caused a good few problems. But overall we usually start the championship well. Last two years we played well v louth in opening games. You would probaly have to back to 1982 when longford beat us in first round for a real bad defeat in leinster championship in first round.( I hope that is not a sign).As the game comes closer Im becoming quite anxious. I would love to have a crack at Dublin this year. I know people might laugh at that. I know Dublin will win. But still being from Meath playing Dublin in Croke Park is always the big one for us.But firstly we have to get over longford. Which will be a tough opener. Where both sides can win.

Meath I believe are not as bad as many people want or need us to be. We are not as good as we want to be eitheir. However I do believe there is potential with this young team and best management we have had since Boylan. But it will take time. Lots of it. I believe we are 24 months away from being were we want to be div 1 football team and reaching the super 8. When a traditional county is in the doldrums it takes years to turn things around. It took Boylan 4 years on 2 different occasion 86 96 to turn Meath around. It also took McGee 4 years to turn Offaly around in 1980 and it took Dywer 5 years in his second term to turn kildare around in 98. It took Pat Gilroy 3 years to turn Dublin around. While it took Jimmy Barry Murphy and Nicholas English years of bad defeats to turn their counties around in early 90s. It was not til the 4th year Kevin Walsh has turned Galway around. McEntee needs the same time.

I believed from the start of the year we wouldn't get promotion, the game with longford was a tough opener. If we won we would give Dublin a good rattle ( I know there is little evidence for that, just a gut feeling in that Meath are due performance v Dublin in the Meath v Dublin rivalry. Its a gut feeling based on no evidence other then also for me McEntee all year for me is setting a Meath team up to play Dublin tactically. ) Dublin of course will win and we will get knocked out of the championship in mid July.I believe next year we will see some sort of real progress next eg promotion to div 1 or defeat of top div 1 team in the championship)..And in year 4 I believe then we will see real progres eg div 1 football super 8 and pushing for leinster title. Thats only my opinion. I could be wrong. Its just my opinion. But I believe we are at least 24 months away from where we need to be. But u never know.

There are three massives issues for Meath in my opinion and of course underage needs to improve also.

1 The county the players are lacking serious belief in themselves that will take years of good management by good manager eg McEntee to turn around. We need to give this management time, we need lots of patience. As we will have many ups and downs to go yet.

2 Secondly a style of play that is modern and works. The way we won 7 Sams with traditional kick and catch long balls into forward line is not fit for purpose. Eitheir is the way other kick and catch counties won All Irelands not fit fot purpose eg Down and Galway. Football now is more possession based,more tactically driven and there must be more thought put into how a team must perform

Sean Boylans sucess was based on one tactic. That was organised choas. I know that makes no sense but let me try and explain. Every player fought for the ball like there life depended on it. There was no real tactic just get that ball into forward line as fast and as quick as you can and players like Geraghty and O Rourke had to fight tooth and nail to win possession. It was pretty basic tactically wise. But it was hugely sucessful and was actually very good to watch. Some of the football under Boylan was as good as kerry or Galway in 90s or 00s. There was great swashbuckling performances of brillant total football v Dublin 88 league final and 99 leinster final Offaly 98 99 Kerry 2015 and many more great games eg kildare 97 second game 2001 V Westmeath q final.

That system doesnt work anymore kicking long balls atop of your full forward line. Sweepers blanket defences kick out strategy are all changes since 2001..We have failed miserably to adapt. However I did actually think our performance v Westmeath on Sunday was a very modern style of play. I thought we played in an intelligent controlled and efficient way. We played like a modern team, like I would even say division 1 team. But that game is the only game I have seen that sort of efficent style for the full 70 mins. Before it was now and again. Its a start. But we now need to deliver it consistently. Against mid and then top div 2 teams. And then hopefully over a 2 to 3 year period we will see performances v div 1 teams. It will take time. But I thought Westmeath on Sunday was a real improvement even on wins we had v Down or louth or draw v Roscommon in the league. I have seen us hammer teams recently v Fermanagh Derry Clare. But this performance was more measured and more cleverer and well organised then I have seen. The next step is to see us perform like this consistently. I n the Longford game we could see a performance that is less impressive. We need to be patient.

3 Thirdly we have had three problem areas. First area in the half back line. We havent had a top class wing back since O Connell and an effective centre back since McManus. All the top teams have top class half backs eg Keegan Mcarthy McCaffrey Lacey. It is the most important area of the field in modern football. It where attacks start. If you have a strong half back line this is massive. We struggled at 5 6 and 7 all decade long. However I believe at the end of the league our half back line was improved compared to last year or even the start of this years league.

The moving of Donal keogham our best player a player who would walk onto 80s or 90s team from corner back to centre back is massive. He is wasted at 2. He always reminded me of Karl Lacey. And karl lacey was pivotal to Donegal sucess and the moving of him from the corner was a masterstroke by McGuiness.

Moving keoghan means for the first time in a long time, we have our best player in the half back line. He offers attacking threat which he showed on Sunday with a goal..But he offers leadership and football ability in this most important sector of the field.. He needs to learn how to hold the middle. But overall when he has played in the half back line v Second half Cork last year, louth this year and last year, Byrne cup campaign 2018, v Roscommon and Down 2018. When he played in the half back line in only those games recently we didnt lose any of them. Moving keoghan to 6 is massive plus. While two McEntees on wings have been effective and playing well.

Shane McEntee for me in the poor team performances v Tipp and Cavan was one of the few who kept trying to the very end. His performance last game v louth was very good. He is improving and needs to still to learn more defensive wing back play which will come with experience. But his atitude is top notch and we could at long last solve a problem position we had for years, the number 7 position.

James McEntee has been really impressive. He was wing forward. But could never find consistency in his play. He also suffered injuries. But the moving of James to wing back has been a great move. Any time he has played there we havent lost eg second half v Cork last year and Down louth and Westmeath game this year. He could become a really important player for us at 5. His performance v Westmeath on sunday was one of the best I have seen from Meath wing back in years.If he could keep playing well and be effective along with his cousin and keoghan we at long last could sort our this half back line problem which has bedevilled Meath football since 2001.

Conor McGill at full back is not well known but I view him as one if not the best young full back in the country. There are very few top class full backs in the country. He has been Meaths number 3 for 3 years since he was 20. And we have never felt the loss of Kevin Reilly..This is down to McGill. Irish Independent did a list of ten best players in this years 4 divisions in each division. The only Meath man in top 10 in division 2 was McGill. People havent seen him on the national stage but with Keoghan at 6 and McGill , Meath do have 2 top class defenders at centre of the defence. And with other defenders eg Conor Dempsey S Lavin Shane Glynn showing well and Mickey Burke now being used more as a sweeper . Meath defence since the Tipp and Cavan games has two positional changes and 1 new defender and 1 extra defender with Burke to come back and help. The defence has improved. But only till we play longford in championship and if we will play Dubs and play other teams in the qualifiers will we see the extent of improvement..The losses to Tipp and Cavan exposed the weakness in the team and McEntee had to go back to drawing board and change team selection. The moving of Keoghan and J McEntee to half back has been a massive positive.

The other problem Meath have had since 2001 is midfield. We havent had a top class midfielder since John McDermont. Gillespie S O Rourke and Nash all could have been quality midfielders. But we will never know. Last year we finished with Menton and a 19 year old half back in his first full game at midfield eg B Conlon. Menton has had 7 different partners in 1 year and half eg O Brien, Toher, Flanagan, Rooney, Jones, Conlon and Kennelly. This shows how much a problem midfield is. Menton himself his best position for me is wing back. But he does offer Atleticism at midfield. But you need a more traditional high fielding midfielder with Menton. Rooney would be the best we have here. But he had a poor league and after year travelling he needs to get match fitness and a years club football under him. Hes gone now so as impact sub he is a loss. But hopefully we see him next year.

Flanagan is more traditional midfielder. And I am a fan. His distribution lets him down at times..At 23 he can only improve. But Kennelly again is another player who appeared after Tipp and Cavan games. He was excellent v Louth Down and Westmeath before being sent off. Hopefully he can form a decent partnership with Menton. The last time Meath had a good season was 2012 2013 we had a strong partnership with Gillespie and Meade at center of midfield. My only worry with kennelly he is very inexperienced. Him and Menton have only played 1 full game together. We wouldnt know if Kennelly is a real option at midfield until he faces a quality midfielder like kildares Feehily. Maybe he is more a wing forward. But overall since last year and even start of the league kennellys impact along with Flanagan means midfield is improving. Breaking ball is still an issue we need to keep working at. We used to have breaking ball specialist in the past,, players who were exceptional at breaking ball eg Kevin Foley, Pat Reynold jnr and Seamus Kenny. I am a big fan of Kane from Simonstown. I think he is very good at breaking ball. But I think he was asked to join the panel last year but couldnt commit the time. I would definalty try and get him involved. Kane and Daire Rowe are the only players that I think r not on the panel or left the panel recently, in the county who could make a real difference, Rowe couldnt commit this year, hopefullly next year.

The one area that hasnt improved since last year is the forwards. The forwards will pretty much be the same as last year only for Brennan change. It could be weaker with Alan Forde out with his cruciate. He is a big player for us and when he comes back as wing forward he will be big addition.

We r relying on lenihan and then pacey players like Reilly Wallaces McMahon and Sullivan to cause problems. It has worked and big scores v Clare louth Derry Fermanagh prove that. But can it break down a blanket defence/sweepers. I have my doubts. We are playing more direct then we did v Tipp and Cavan. And Sullivan is stepping up to the plate with lenihan who was injured and lacking match fitness for much of the leagur. The loss of Mckeever is huge. For me Mckeever and lenihan both 26 27 , both at their peaks and both best forwards in the county. Mckeever for me is the best. I was looking forward to seen them play together this year. But they only played once v Down where we scored 4 -14 and they were very good. Lenihan was injured for the start of the league and Mckeever was played on the 40. Hopefully we will have Mckeever next year. Meath football sucess has always been based on duo in the full forward line eg 40s 50s McDermont Meegan 60s Curran Shanley 80s O Rourke Flynn, Stafford used to play a bit deep, 90s Ollie and Geraghty. The last time we had a good year in 2013 we had Newman and Wallace.

So a duo of in the full forward line of Mckeever and lenihan for me has huge potential with Sullivan playing a little deeper. A Sullivan Mckeever Lenihan full forward line would be a div 1 full forward line. But Mckeever loss is huge..I believe with him we could have had outside shot at Super 8. But with him gone I dont know if our forwards can break down stronger defences. This is a concern. And with Toibin gone as an impact sub. And other players like Conlon, the depth of our squad is effected and this could become a bigger issue later on in the summer.

The final issue for Meath and the one that shows we are so near yet so far is division 1 football..Everyone knows to be sucessful you need to play in div 1 and stay in div 1 you win titles eg Monaghan Tyrone and Donegal . Its always been the same. Meaths past sucess was based on div 1 football. After kerry and Dublin for 70 or 80 years Meath had one of the best records in division 1. Dublin always found Navan hard to win. So did many teams. When kildare won in Navan in 1999 or 2000 in the league it was their first win there in 70 years . Galway even to this day havent beaten us in Navan in over 30 years. Playing so much division 1 football helped us win 7 Sams in the past. Meath won national league division 1 titles in the 30s 40s 50s 70s 80s and 90s. And played in a national league div 1 final in the 00s. Meath played in senior all Ireland finals in 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s and 00s. Its linked. If Meath get into Division 1 and stay there you will see a big improvement. The same way you see how Monaghan have improved by playing divsion 1 in recent years.

Meath have been incredibly close to promotion to div 1. Even this year if we defeated Cavan we would have been promoted to div 1. In 4 of the 5 last seaons Meath were 1 win away from promotion to div 1. If we defeated Cavan this year, Down last year, Roscommon in 2015 and defeated not drew with Donegal in 2014 we would have been promoted to div 1 in each of those year. So we are very close , but yet so far.

If we could get promoted to divsion 1 , it would be a gamechanger for Meath football. The fact is Meath havent been in divsion 1 in 12 years ago the year we drew with Dublin defeated Galway and great Tyrone team of the 00s and reached All Ireland semi final. All in the year we played division 1 football. Its linked sucess = staying in divsion 1.

So in summary I think we have sorted out problems that surfaced in mid league. With a new half back line and new midfielder. But I still have worries with midfield and the forwards. In the forwards without Mckeever I don't see a difference since last year..If we could find consistency maybe we could go on a run in the qualifiers but for me its more likely we will see an improved Meath next year and the year affer. I must say also playing Mickey Burke at wing forward could also be a plus. He is a warrior and we have always played backs/leaders not just forwards in the forward line eg Cassells in 87 88, Reilly in 96, Curtis 99 and Moyles in 07. And when we played S Kenny in forwards in early decade it worked well. Playing a grafter, a hard worker in the half forward line who can come back and play sweeper also is something we havent done in a while. For the last few years we have usually always played 6 out and out forwards. Meath sucess is always based on a player/ a defender who turns into effective hard working forward eg Cassells 87 88 Moyles 07 S Kenny 2011 2012. Burke in the forwards could work.

Overall the longford game is a tough opener. If we play like we did on Sunday we will be hard to beat.If we play like we did v Tipp and Cavan longford will win pulling up..Which Meath will we see in Pearse stadium Sunday week..Time will tell.But whatever happens we need to give the current management and 2 years to keep improving. Anyone could see on sunday that McEntee is slowly but surely building a modern efficient proper gaelic football inter county team..But it will take time and many ups and downs before we really turn the corner. For the championship to be sucess..Alot of things would need to come together. For me its a long shot but not impossible. Next year and following year sucess will be attained eg division 1 football and Super 8 participants."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "If u dont like my style u better off stop reading now for this is a long long one covering problems and issues in Meath football.

I wouldnt give a prediction v Longford because as long as we can come out of Pearse Stadium with a victory I will be happy. Ever since the draw and watching team longford in Byrne Cup in Navan in the spring I always thought this game was a tough opener for Meath. And I havent changed my mind , I wouldnt be surprised if Longford won but of course Im hoping Meath win. Longford have had two big wins over Meath before which were very significant eg 1968, 1982. I hope on Sunday week we wouldnt have a third famous loss to the men from the Midlands.

What I will say if this game was in the qualifiers you would have to fancy longford big time. longford in the qualifiers in Peasre stadium.has been one of the toughest and trickiest place to go. With Mayo Derry Down and Monaghan all beaten in Pearse stadium. Like Sligo Wexford Tipperary and Fermanagh longford have shown outside the rigid proviencal championships, they can prosper as all these teams in the qualifiers have shown some great performances and victories.

In the leinster championship Longfords recent form had been poor. While Meath are having their worst decade since Independence people might be surprised to hear that after Dublin that Meath have been the second most successful county in leinster championship not kildare. kildare are fourth. In this decade Dublin are number 1 of course with 7 titles. Meath are second with 4 leinster final appearances and 1 leinster title, Westmeath are third with 2 leinster final appearances and kildare Wexford and louth are joint 4th with 1 leinster final appearance each .

Meath I always feel up their game come the championship . Meath are a great championship county and it would be very rare for Meath to lose their opening round of leinster championship. It usually happens in unusual circumstances eg losing to Offaly in 2000 . We were reigning All Ireland champions and had played in a national league division 1 final and replay a week or to before. And Offaly caught us in the first round. On 1992 laois defeated Meath in first round but that was the last game of that great 87 87 team , it was breaking up. Meath usually always play well in the first round. Theyre had been one or two bad performances recently V Carlow under Banty. And we had a game v Wicklow in first round in Navan under O Dowd where Wicklow caused a good few problems. But overall we usually start the championship well. Last two years we played well v louth in opening games. You would probaly have to back to 1982 when longford beat us in first round for a real bad defeat in leinster championship in first round.( I hope that is not a sign).As the game comes closer Im becoming quite anxious. I would love to have a crack at Dublin this year. I know people might laugh at that. I know Dublin will win. But still being from Meath playing Dublin in Croke Park is always the big one for us.But firstly we have to get over longford. Which will be a tough opener. Where both sides can win.

Meath I believe are not as bad as many people want or need us to be. We are not as good as we want to be eitheir. However I do believe there is potential with this young team and best management we have had since Boylan. But it will take time. Lots of it. I believe we are 24 months away from being were we want to be div 1 football team and reaching the super 8. When a traditional county is in the doldrums it takes years to turn things around. It took Boylan 4 years on 2 different occasion 86 96 to turn Meath around. It also took McGee 4 years to turn Offaly around in 1980 and it took Dywer 5 years in his second term to turn kildare around in 98. It took Pat Gilroy 3 years to turn Dublin around. While it took Jimmy Barry Murphy and Nicholas English years of bad defeats to turn their counties around in early 90s. It was not til the 4th year Kevin Walsh has turned Galway around. McEntee needs the same time.

I believed from the start of the year we wouldn't get promotion, the game with longford was a tough opener. If we won we would give Dublin a good rattle ( I know there is little evidence for that, just a gut feeling in that Meath are due performance v Dublin in the Meath v Dublin rivalry. Its a gut feeling based on no evidence other then also for me McEntee all year for me is setting a Meath team up to play Dublin tactically. ) Dublin of course will win and we will get knocked out of the championship in mid July.I believe next year we will see some sort of real progress next eg promotion to div 1 or defeat of top div 1 team in the championship)..And in year 4 I believe then we will see real progres eg div 1 football super 8 and pushing for leinster title. Thats only my opinion. I could be wrong. Its just my opinion. But I believe we are at least 24 months away from where we need to be. But u never know.

There are three massives issues for Meath in my opinion and of course underage needs to improve also.

1 The county the players are lacking serious belief in themselves that will take years of good management by good manager eg McEntee to turn around. We need to give this management time, we need lots of patience. As we will have many ups and downs to go yet.

2 Secondly a style of play that is modern and works. The way we won 7 Sams with traditional kick and catch long balls into forward line is not fit for purpose. Eitheir is the way other kick and catch counties won All Irelands not fit fot purpose eg Down and Galway. Football now is more possession based,more tactically driven and there must be more thought put into how a team must perform

Sean Boylans sucess was based on one tactic. That was organised choas. I know that makes no sense but let me try and explain. Every player fought for the ball like there life depended on it. There was no real tactic just get that ball into forward line as fast and as quick as you can and players like Geraghty and O Rourke had to fight tooth and nail to win possession. It was pretty basic tactically wise. But it was hugely sucessful and was actually very good to watch. Some of the football under Boylan was as good as kerry or Galway in 90s or 00s. There was great swashbuckling performances of brillant total football v Dublin 88 league final and 99 leinster final Offaly 98 99 Kerry 2015 and many more great games eg kildare 97 second game 2001 V Westmeath q final.

That system doesnt work anymore kicking long balls atop of your full forward line. Sweepers blanket defences kick out strategy are all changes since 2001..We have failed miserably to adapt. However I did actually think our performance v Westmeath on Sunday was a very modern style of play. I thought we played in an intelligent controlled and efficient way. We played like a modern team, like I would even say division 1 team. But that game is the only game I have seen that sort of efficent style for the full 70 mins. Before it was now and again. Its a start. But we now need to deliver it consistently. Against mid and then top div 2 teams. And then hopefully over a 2 to 3 year period we will see performances v div 1 teams. It will take time. But I thought Westmeath on Sunday was a real improvement even on wins we had v Down or louth or draw v Roscommon in the league. I have seen us hammer teams recently v Fermanagh Derry Clare. But this performance was more measured and more cleverer and well organised then I have seen. The next step is to see us perform like this consistently. I n the Longford game we could see a performance that is less impressive. We need to be patient.

3 Thirdly we have had three problem areas. First area in the half back line. We havent had a top class wing back since O Connell and an effective centre back since McManus. All the top teams have top class half backs eg Keegan Mcarthy McCaffrey Lacey. It is the most important area of the field in modern football. It where attacks start. If you have a strong half back line this is massive. We struggled at 5 6 and 7 all decade long. However I believe at the end of the league our half back line was improved compared to last year or even the start of this years league.

The moving of Donal keogham our best player a player who would walk onto 80s or 90s team from corner back to centre back is massive. He is wasted at 2. He always reminded me of Karl Lacey. And karl lacey was pivotal to Donegal sucess and the moving of him from the corner was a masterstroke by McGuiness.

Moving keoghan means for the first time in a long time, we have our best player in the half back line. He offers attacking threat which he showed on Sunday with a goal..But he offers leadership and football ability in this most important sector of the field.. He needs to learn how to hold the middle. But overall when he has played in the half back line v Second half Cork last year, louth this year and last year, Byrne cup campaign 2018, v Roscommon and Down 2018. When he played in the half back line in only those games recently we didnt lose any of them. Moving keoghan to 6 is massive plus. While two McEntees on wings have been effective and playing well.

Shane McEntee for me in the poor team performances v Tipp and Cavan was one of the few who kept trying to the very end. His performance last game v louth was very good. He is improving and needs to still to learn more defensive wing back play which will come with experience. But his atitude is top notch and we could at long last solve a problem position we had for years, the number 7 position.

James McEntee has been really impressive. He was wing forward. But could never find consistency in his play. He also suffered injuries. But the moving of James to wing back has been a great move. Any time he has played there we havent lost eg second half v Cork last year and Down louth and Westmeath game this year. He could become a really important player for us at 5. His performance v Westmeath on sunday was one of the best I have seen from Meath wing back in years.If he could keep playing well and be effective along with his cousin and keoghan we at long last could sort our this half back line problem which has bedevilled Meath football since 2001.

Conor McGill at full back is not well known but I view him as one if not the best young full back in the country. There are very few top class full backs in the country. He has been Meaths number 3 for 3 years since he was 20. And we have never felt the loss of Kevin Reilly..This is down to McGill. Irish Independent did a list of ten best players in this years 4 divisions in each division. The only Meath man in top 10 in division 2 was McGill. People havent seen him on the national stage but with Keoghan at 6 and McGill , Meath do have 2 top class defenders at centre of the defence. And with other defenders eg Conor Dempsey S Lavin Shane Glynn showing well and Mickey Burke now being used more as a sweeper . Meath defence since the Tipp and Cavan games has two positional changes and 1 new defender and 1 extra defender with Burke to come back and help. The defence has improved. But only till we play longford in championship and if we will play Dubs and play other teams in the qualifiers will we see the extent of improvement..The losses to Tipp and Cavan exposed the weakness in the team and McEntee had to go back to drawing board and change team selection. The moving of Keoghan and J McEntee to half back has been a massive positive.

The other problem Meath have had since 2001 is midfield. We havent had a top class midfielder since John McDermont. Gillespie S O Rourke and Nash all could have been quality midfielders. But we will never know. Last year we finished with Menton and a 19 year old half back in his first full game at midfield eg B Conlon. Menton has had 7 different partners in 1 year and half eg O Brien, Toher, Flanagan, Rooney, Jones, Conlon and Kennelly. This shows how much a problem midfield is. Menton himself his best position for me is wing back. But he does offer Atleticism at midfield. But you need a more traditional high fielding midfielder with Menton. Rooney would be the best we have here. But he had a poor league and after year travelling he needs to get match fitness and a years club football under him. Hes gone now so as impact sub he is a loss. But hopefully we see him next year.

Flanagan is more traditional midfielder. And I am a fan. His distribution lets him down at times..At 23 he can only improve. But Kennelly again is another player who appeared after Tipp and Cavan games. He was excellent v Louth Down and Westmeath before being sent off. Hopefully he can form a decent partnership with Menton. The last time Meath had a good season was 2012 2013 we had a strong partnership with Gillespie and Meade at center of midfield. My only worry with kennelly he is very inexperienced. Him and Menton have only played 1 full game together. We wouldnt know if Kennelly is a real option at midfield until he faces a quality midfielder like kildares Feehily. Maybe he is more a wing forward. But overall since last year and even start of the league kennellys impact along with Flanagan means midfield is improving. Breaking ball is still an issue we need to keep working at. We used to have breaking ball specialist in the past,, players who were exceptional at breaking ball eg Kevin Foley, Pat Reynold jnr and Seamus Kenny. I am a big fan of Kane from Simonstown. I think he is very good at breaking ball. But I think he was asked to join the panel last year but couldnt commit the time. I would definalty try and get him involved. Kane and Daire Rowe are the only players that I think r not on the panel or left the panel recently, in the county who could make a real difference, Rowe couldnt commit this year, hopefullly next year.

The one area that hasnt improved since last year is the forwards. The forwards will pretty much be the same as last year only for Brennan change. It could be weaker with Alan Forde out with his cruciate. He is a big player for us and when he comes back as wing forward he will be big addition.

We r relying on lenihan and then pacey players like Reilly Wallaces McMahon and Sullivan to cause problems. It has worked and big scores v Clare louth Derry Fermanagh prove that. But can it break down a blanket defence/sweepers. I have my doubts. We are playing more direct then we did v Tipp and Cavan. And Sullivan is stepping up to the plate with lenihan who was injured and lacking match fitness for much of the leagur. The loss of Mckeever is huge. For me Mckeever and lenihan both 26 27 , both at their peaks and both best forwards in the county. Mckeever for me is the best. I was looking forward to seen them play together this year. But they only played once v Down where we scored 4 -14 and they were very good. Lenihan was injured for the start of the league and Mckeever was played on the 40. Hopefully we will have Mckeever next year. Meath football sucess has always been based on duo in the full forward line eg 40s 50s McDermont Meegan 60s Curran Shanley 80s O Rourke Flynn, Stafford used to play a bit deep, 90s Ollie and Geraghty. The last time we had a good year in 2013 we had Newman and Wallace.

So a duo of in the full forward line of Mckeever and lenihan for me has huge potential with Sullivan playing a little deeper. A Sullivan Mckeever Lenihan full forward line would be a div 1 full forward line. But Mckeever loss is huge..I believe with him we could have had outside shot at Super 8. But with him gone I dont know if our forwards can break down stronger defences. This is a concern. And with Toibin gone as an impact sub. And other players like Conlon, the depth of our squad is effected and this could become a bigger issue later on in the summer.

The final issue for Meath and the one that shows we are so near yet so far is division 1 football..Everyone knows to be sucessful you need to play in div 1 and stay in div 1 you win titles eg Monaghan Tyrone and Donegal . Its always been the same. Meaths past sucess was based on div 1 football. After kerry and Dublin for 70 or 80 years Meath had one of the best records in division 1. Dublin always found Navan hard to win. So did many teams. When kildare won in Navan in 1999 or 2000 in the league it was their first win there in 70 years . Galway even to this day havent beaten us in Navan in over 30 years. Playing so much division 1 football helped us win 7 Sams in the past. Meath won national league division 1 titles in the 30s 40s 50s 70s 80s and 90s. And played in a national league div 1 final in the 00s. Meath played in senior all Ireland finals in 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s and 00s. Its linked. If Meath get into Division 1 and stay there you will see a big improvement. The same way you see how Monaghan have improved by playing divsion 1 in recent years.

Meath have been incredibly close to promotion to div 1. Even this year if we defeated Cavan we would have been promoted to div 1. In 4 of the 5 last seaons Meath were 1 win away from promotion to div 1. If we defeated Cavan this year, Down last year, Roscommon in 2015 and defeated not drew with Donegal in 2014 we would have been promoted to div 1 in each of those year. So we are very close , but yet so far.

If we could get promoted to divsion 1 , it would be a gamechanger for Meath football. The fact is Meath havent been in divsion 1 in 12 years ago the year we drew with Dublin defeated Galway and great Tyrone team of the 00s and reached All Ireland semi final. All in the year we played division 1 football. Its linked sucess = staying in divsion 1.

So in summary I think we have sorted out problems that surfaced in mid league. With a new half back line and new midfielder. But I still have worries with midfield and the forwards. In the forwards without Mckeever I don't see a difference since last year..If we could find consistency maybe we could go on a run in the qualifiers but for me its more likely we will see an improved Meath next year and the year affer. I must say also playing Mickey Burke at wing forward could also be a plus. He is a warrior and we have always played backs/leaders not just forwards in the forward line eg Cassells in 87 88, Reilly in 96, Curtis 99 and Moyles in 07. And when we played S Kenny in forwards in early decade it worked well. Playing a grafter, a hard worker in the half forward line who can come back and play sweeper also is something we havent done in a while. For the last few years we have usually always played 6 out and out forwards. Meath sucess is always based on a player/ a defender who turns into effective hard working forward eg Cassells 87 88 Moyles 07 S Kenny 2011 2012. Burke in the forwards could work.

Overall the longford game is a tough opener. If we play like we did on Sunday we will be hard to beat.If we play like we did v Tipp and Cavan longford will win pulling up..Which Meath will we see in Pearse stadium Sunday week..Time will tell.But whatever happens we need to give the current management and 2 years to keep improving. Anyone could see on sunday that McEntee is slowly but surely building a modern efficient proper gaelic football inter county team..But it will take time and many ups and downs before we really turn the corner. For the championship to be sucess..Alot of things would need to come together. For me its a long shot but not impossible. Next year and following year sucess will be attained eg division 1 football and Super 8 participants."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "If u dont like my style u better off stop reading now for this is a long long one covering problems and issues in Meath football.

I wouldnt give a prediction v Longford because as long as we can come out of Pearse Stadium with a victory I will be happy. Ever since the draw and watching team longford in Byrne Cup in Navan in the spring I always thought this game was a tough opener for Meath. And I havent changed my mind , I wouldnt be surprised if Longford won but of course Im hoping Meath win. Longford have had two big wins over Meath before which were very significant eg 1968, 1982. I hope on Sunday week we wouldnt have a third famous loss to the men from the Midlands.

What I will say if this game was in the qualifiers you would have to fancy longford big time. longford in the qualifiers in Peasre stadium.has been one of the toughest and trickiest place to go. With Mayo Derry Down and Monaghan all beaten in Pearse stadium. Like Sligo Wexford Tipperary and Fermanagh longford have shown outside the rigid proviencal championships, they can prosper as all these teams in the qualifiers have shown some great performances and victories.

In the leinster championship Longfords recent form had been poor. While Meath are having their worst decade since Independence people might be surprised to hear that after Dublin that Meath have been the second most successful county in leinster championship not kildare. kildare are fourth. In this decade Dublin are number 1 of course with 7 titles. Meath are second with 4 leinster final appearances and 1 leinster title, Westmeath are third with 2 leinster final appearances and kildare Wexford and louth are joint 4th with 1 leinster final appearance each .

Meath I always feel up their game come the championship . Meath are a great championship county and it would be very rare for Meath to lose their opening round of leinster championship. It usually happens in unusual circumstances eg losing to Offaly in 2000 . We were reigning All Ireland champions and had played in a national league division 1 final and replay a week or to before. And Offaly caught us in the first round. On 1992 laois defeated Meath in first round but that was the last game of that great 87 87 team , it was breaking up. Meath usually always play well in the first round. Theyre had been one or two bad performances recently V Carlow under Banty. And we had a game v Wicklow in first round in Navan under O Dowd where Wicklow caused a good few problems. But overall we usually start the championship well. Last two years we played well v louth in opening games. You would probaly have to back to 1982 when longford beat us in first round for a real bad defeat in leinster championship in first round.( I hope that is not a sign).As the game comes closer Im becoming quite anxious. I would love to have a crack at Dublin this year. I know people might laugh at that. I know Dublin will win. But still being from Meath playing Dublin in Croke Park is always the big one for us.But firstly we have to get over longford. Which will be a tough opener. Where both sides can win.

Meath I believe are not as bad as many people want or need us to be. We are not as good as we want to be eitheir. However I do believe there is potential with this young team and best management we have had since Boylan. But it will take time. Lots of it. I believe we are 24 months away from being were we want to be div 1 football team and reaching the super 8. When a traditional county is in the doldrums it takes years to turn things around. It took Boylan 4 years on 2 different occasion 86 96 to turn Meath around. It also took McGee 4 years to turn Offaly around in 1980 and it took Dywer 5 years in his second term to turn kildare around in 98. It took Pat Gilroy 3 years to turn Dublin around. While it took Jimmy Barry Murphy and Nicholas English years of bad defeats to turn their counties around in early 90s. It was not til the 4th year Kevin Walsh has turned Galway around. McEntee needs the same time.

I believed from the start of the year we wouldn't get promotion, the game with longford was a tough opener. If we won we would give Dublin a good rattle ( I know there is little evidence for that, just a gut feeling in that Meath are due performance v Dublin in the Meath v Dublin rivalry. Its a gut feeling based on no evidence other then also for me McEntee all year for me is setting a Meath team up to play Dublin tactically. ) Dublin of course will win and we will get knocked out of the championship in mid July.I believe next year we will see some sort of real progress next eg promotion to div 1 or defeat of top div 1 team in the championship)..And in year 4 I believe then we will see real progres eg div 1 football super 8 and pushing for leinster title. Thats only my opinion. I could be wrong. Its just my opinion. But I believe we are at least 24 months away from where we need to be. But u never know.

There are three massives issues for Meath in my opinion and of course underage needs to improve also.

1 The county the players are lacking serious belief in themselves that will take years of good management by good manager eg McEntee to turn around. We need to give this management time, we need lots of patience. As we will have many ups and downs to go yet.

2 Secondly a style of play that is modern and works. The way we won 7 Sams with traditional kick and catch long balls into forward line is not fit for purpose. Eitheir is the way other kick and catch counties won All Irelands not fit fot purpose eg Down and Galway. Football now is more possession based,more tactically driven and there must be more thought put into how a team must perform

Sean Boylans sucess was based on one tactic. That was organised choas. I know that makes no sense but let me try and explain. Every player fought for the ball like there life depended on it. There was no real tactic just get that ball into forward line as fast and as quick as you can and players like Geraghty and O Rourke had to fight tooth and nail to win possession. It was pretty basic tactically wise. But it was hugely sucessful and was actually very good to watch. Some of the football under Boylan was as good as kerry or Galway in 90s or 00s. There was great swashbuckling performances of brillant total football v Dublin 88 league final and 99 leinster final Offaly 98 99 Kerry 2015 and many more great games eg kildare 97 second game 2001 V Westmeath q final.

That system doesnt work anymore kicking long balls atop of your full forward line. Sweepers blanket defences kick out strategy are all changes since 2001..We have failed miserably to adapt. However I did actually think our performance v Westmeath on Sunday was a very modern style of play. I thought we played in an intelligent controlled and efficient way. We played like a modern team, like I would even say division 1 team. But that game is the only game I have seen that sort of efficent style for the full 70 mins. Before it was now and again. Its a start. But we now need to deliver it consistently. Against mid and then top div 2 teams. And then hopefully over a 2 to 3 year period we will see performances v div 1 teams. It will take time. But I thought Westmeath on Sunday was a real improvement even on wins we had v Down or louth or draw v Roscommon in the league. I have seen us hammer teams recently v Fermanagh Derry Clare. But this performance was more measured and more cleverer and well organised then I have seen. The next step is to see us perform like this consistently. I n the Longford game we could see a performance that is less impressive. We need to be patient.

3 Thirdly we have had three problem areas. First area in the half back line. We havent had a top class wing back since O Connell and an effective centre back since McManus. All the top teams have top class half backs eg Keegan Mcarthy McCaffrey Lacey. It is the most important area of the field in modern football. It where attacks start. If you have a strong half back line this is massive. We struggled at 5 6 and 7 all decade long. However I believe at the end of the league our half back line was improved compared to last year or even the start of this years league.

The moving of Donal keogham our best player a player who would walk onto 80s or 90s team from corner back to centre back is massive. He is wasted at 2. He always reminded me of Karl Lacey. And karl lacey was pivotal to Donegal sucess and the moving of him from the corner was a masterstroke by McGuiness.

Moving keoghan means for the first time in a long time, we have our best player in the half back line. He offers attacking threat which he showed on Sunday with a goal..But he offers leadership and football ability in this most important sector of the field.. He needs to learn how to hold the middle. But overall when he has played in the half back line v Second half Cork last year, louth this year and last year, Byrne cup campaign 2018, v Roscommon and Down 2018. When he played in the half back line in only those games recently we didnt lose any of them. Moving keoghan to 6 is massive plus. While two McEntees on wings have been effective and playing well.

Shane McEntee for me in the poor team performances v Tipp and Cavan was one of the few who kept trying to the very end. His performance last game v louth was very good. He is improving and needs to still to learn more defensive wing back play which will come with experience. But his atitude is top notch and we could at long last solve a problem position we had for years, the number 7 position.

James McEntee has been really impressive. He was wing forward. But could never find consistency in his play. He also suffered injuries. But the moving of James to wing back has been a great move. Any time he has played there we havent lost eg second half v Cork last year and Down louth and Westmeath game this year. He could become a really important player for us at 5. His performance v Westmeath on sunday was one of the best I have seen from Meath wing back in years.If he could keep playing well and be effective along with his cousin and keoghan we at long last could sort our this half back line problem which has bedevilled Meath football since 2001.

Conor McGill at full back is not well known but I view him as one if not the best young full back in the country. There are very few top class full backs in the country. He has been Meaths number 3 for 3 years since he was 20. And we have never felt the loss of Kevin Reilly..This is down to McGill. Irish Independent did a list of ten best players in this years 4 divisions in each division. The only Meath man in top 10 in division 2 was McGill. People havent seen him on the national stage but with Keoghan at 6 and McGill , Meath do have 2 top class defenders at centre of the defence. And with other defenders eg Conor Dempsey S Lavin Shane Glynn showing well and Mickey Burke now being used more as a sweeper . Meath defence since the Tipp and Cavan games has two positional changes and 1 new defender and 1 extra defender with Burke to come back and help. The defence has improved. But only till we play longford in championship and if we will play Dubs and play other teams in the qualifiers will we see the extent of improvement..The losses to Tipp and Cavan exposed the weakness in the team and McEntee had to go back to drawing board and change team selection. The moving of Keoghan and J McEntee to half back has been a massive positive.

The other problem Meath have had since 2001 is midfield. We havent had a top class midfielder since John McDermont. Gillespie S O Rourke and Nash all could have been quality midfielders. But we will never know. Last year we finished with Menton and a 19 year old half back in his first full game at midfield eg B Conlon. Menton has had 7 different partners in 1 year and half eg O Brien, Toher, Flanagan, Rooney, Jones, Conlon and Kennelly. This shows how much a problem midfield is. Menton himself his best position for me is wing back. But he does offer Atleticism at midfield. But you need a more traditional high fielding midfielder with Menton. Rooney would be the best we have here. But he had a poor league and after year travelling he needs to get match fitness and a years club football under him. Hes gone now so as impact sub he is a loss. But hopefully we see him next year.

Flanagan is more traditional midfielder. And I am a fan. His distribution lets him down at times..At 23 he can only improve. But Kennelly again is another player who appeared after Tipp and Cavan games. He was excellent v Louth Down and Westmeath before being sent off. Hopefully he can form a decent partnership with Menton. The last time Meath had a good season was 2012 2013 we had a strong partnership with Gillespie and Meade at center of midfield. My only worry with kennelly he is very inexperienced. Him and Menton have only played 1 full game together. We wouldnt know if Kennelly is a real option at midfield until he faces a quality midfielder like kildares Feehily. Maybe he is more a wing forward. But overall since last year and even start of the league kennellys impact along with Flanagan means midfield is improving. Breaking ball is still an issue we need to keep working at. We used to have breaking ball specialist in the past,, players who were exceptional at breaking ball eg Kevin Foley, Pat Reynold jnr and Seamus Kenny. I am a big fan of Kane from Simonstown. I think he is very good at breaking ball. But I think he was asked to join the panel last year but couldnt commit the time. I would definalty try and get him involved. Kane and Daire Rowe are the only players that I think r not on the panel or left the panel recently, in the county who could make a real difference, Rowe couldnt commit this year, hopefullly next year.

The one area that hasnt improved since last year is the forwards. The forwards will pretty much be the same as last year only for Brennan change. It could be weaker with Alan Forde out with his cruciate. He is a big player for us and when he comes back as wing forward he will be big addition.

We r relying on lenihan and then pacey players like Reilly Wallaces McMahon and Sullivan to cause problems. It has worked and big scores v Clare louth Derry Fermanagh prove that. But can it break down a blanket defence/sweepers. I have my doubts. We are playing more direct then we did v Tipp and Cavan. And Sullivan is stepping up to the plate with lenihan who was injured and lacking match fitness for much of the leagur. The loss of Mckeever is huge. For me Mckeever and lenihan both 26 27 , both at their peaks and both best forwards in the county. Mckeever for me is the best. I was looking forward to seen them play together this year. But they only played once v Down where we scored 4 -14 and they were very good. Lenihan was injured for the start of the league and Mckeever was played on the 40. Hopefully we will have Mckeever next year. Meath football sucess has always been based on duo in the full forward line eg 40s 50s McDermont Meegan 60s Curran Shanley 80s O Rourke Flynn, Stafford used to play a bit deep, 90s Ollie and Geraghty. The last time we had a good year in 2013 we had Newman and Wallace.

So a duo of in the full forward line of Mckeever and lenihan for me has huge potential with Sullivan playing a little deeper. A Sullivan Mckeever Lenihan full forward line would be a div 1 full forward line. But Mckeever loss is huge..I believe with him we could have had outside shot at Super 8. But with him gone I dont know if our forwards can break down stronger defences. This is a concern. And with Toibin gone as an impact sub. And other players like Conlon, the depth of our squad is effected and this could become a bigger issue later on in the summer.

The final issue for Meath and the one that shows we are so near yet so far is division 1 football..Everyone knows to be sucessful you need to play in div 1 and stay in div 1 you win titles eg Monaghan Tyrone and Donegal . Its always been the same. Meaths past sucess was based on div 1 football. After kerry and Dublin for 70 or 80 years Meath had one of the best records in division 1. Dublin always found Navan hard to win. So did many teams. When kildare won in Navan in 1999 or 2000 in the league it was their first win there in 70 years . Galway even to this day havent beaten us in Navan in over 30 years. Playing so much division 1 football helped us win 7 Sams in the past. Meath won national league division 1 titles in the 30s 40s 50s 70s 80s and 90s. And played in a national league div 1 final in the 00s. Meath played in senior all Ireland finals in 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s and 00s. Its linked. If Meath get into Division 1 and stay there you will see a big improvement. The same way you see how Monaghan have improved by playing divsion 1 in recent years.

Meath have been incredibly close to promotion to div 1. Even this year if we defeated Cavan we would have been promoted to div 1. In 4 of the 5 last seaons Meath were 1 win away from promotion to div 1. If we defeated Cavan this year, Down last year, Roscommon in 2015 and defeated not drew with Donegal in 2014 we would have been promoted to div 1 in each of those year. So we are very close , but yet so far.

If we could get promoted to divsion 1 , it would be a gamechanger for Meath football. The fact is Meath havent been in divsion 1 in 12 years ago the year we drew with Dublin defeated Galway and great Tyrone team of the 00s and reached All Ireland semi final. All in the year we played division 1 football. Its linked sucess = staying in divsion 1.

So in summary I think we have sorted out problems that surfaced in mid league. With a new half back line and new midfielder. But I still have worries with midfield and the forwards. In the forwards without Mckeever I don't see a difference since last year..If we could find consistency maybe we could go on a run in the qualifiers but for me its more likely we will see an improved Meath next year and the year affer. I must say also playing Mickey Burke at wing forward could also be a plus. He is a warrior and we have always played backs/leaders not just forwards in the forward line eg Cassells in 87 88, Reilly in 96, Curtis 99 and Moyles in 07. And when we played S Kenny in forwards in early decade it worked well. Playing a grafter, a hard worker in the half forward line who can come back and play sweeper also is something we havent done in a while. For the last few years we have usually always played 6 out and out forwards. Meath sucess is always based on a player/ a defender who turns into effective hard working forward eg Cassells 87 88 Moyles 07 S Kenny 2011 2012. Burke in the forwards could work.

Overall the longford game is a tough opener. If we play like we did on Sunday we will be hard to beat.If we play like we did v Tipp and Cavan longford will win pulling up..Which Meath will we see in Pearse stadium Sunday week..Time will tell.But whatever happens we need to give the current management and 2 years to keep improving. Anyone could see on sunday that McEntee is slowly but surely building a modern efficient proper gaelic football inter county team..But it will take time and many ups and downs before we really turn the corner. For the championship to be sucess..Alot of things would need to come together. For me its a long shot but not impossible. Next year and following year sucess will be attained eg division 1 football and Super 8 participants."

Replying To BigJoe14:  "The depth of the Meath squad is a problem at the minute but I genuinely believe that next season we will have a stronger squad with a couple of players from this years U20's coming up and one or two returning possibly that were not involved this year i.e. Padraig Harnan, Ruari O'Coileann, Brian Conlon, Sean Tobin and Padraig McKeever and retaining the bulk of this years championship panel. We need a positive championship campaign this year, which for me would be beating Longford, putting in a competitive never say die performance against Dublin and get believe out of that game, and as long a run as possible in the Qualifiers which this team needs. I hear people talking up Roscommon to get to the super 8's and it gives me hope for us as I believe we are on there level if not a bit better and are capable of beating them."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "If u dont like my style u better off stop reading now for this is a long long one covering problems and issues in Meath football.

I wouldnt give a prediction v Longford because as long as we can come out of Pearse Stadium with a victory I will be happy. Ever since the draw and watching team longford in Byrne Cup in Navan in the spring I always thought this game was a tough opener for Meath. And I havent changed my mind , I wouldnt be surprised if Longford won but of course Im hoping Meath win. Longford have had two big wins over Meath before which were very significant eg 1968, 1982. I hope on Sunday week we wouldnt have a third famous loss to the men from the Midlands.

What I will say if this game was in the qualifiers you would have to fancy longford big time. longford in the qualifiers in Peasre stadium.has been one of the toughest and trickiest place to go. With Mayo Derry Down and Monaghan all beaten in Pearse stadium. Like Sligo Wexford Tipperary and Fermanagh longford have shown outside the rigid proviencal championships, they can prosper as all these teams in the qualifiers have shown some great performances and victories.

In the leinster championship Longfords recent form had been poor. While Meath are having their worst decade since Independence people might be surprised to hear that after Dublin that Meath have been the second most successful county in leinster championship not kildare. kildare are fourth. In this decade Dublin are number 1 of course with 7 titles. Meath are second with 4 leinster final appearances and 1 leinster title, Westmeath are third with 2 leinster final appearances and kildare Wexford and louth are joint 4th with 1 leinster final appearance each .

Meath I always feel up their game come the championship . Meath are a great championship county and it would be very rare for Meath to lose their opening round of leinster championship. It usually happens in unusual circumstances eg losing to Offaly in 2000 . We were reigning All Ireland champions and had played in a national league division 1 final and replay a week or to before. And Offaly caught us in the first round. On 1992 laois defeated Meath in first round but that was the last game of that great 87 87 team , it was breaking up. Meath usually always play well in the first round. Theyre had been one or two bad performances recently V Carlow under Banty. And we had a game v Wicklow in first round in Navan under O Dowd where Wicklow caused a good few problems. But overall we usually start the championship well. Last two years we played well v louth in opening games. You would probaly have to back to 1982 when longford beat us in first round for a real bad defeat in leinster championship in first round.( I hope that is not a sign).As the game comes closer Im becoming quite anxious. I would love to have a crack at Dublin this year. I know people might laugh at that. I know Dublin will win. But still being from Meath playing Dublin in Croke Park is always the big one for us.But firstly we have to get over longford. Which will be a tough opener. Where both sides can win.

Meath I believe are not as bad as many people want or need us to be. We are not as good as we want to be eitheir. However I do believe there is potential with this young team and best management we have had since Boylan. But it will take time. Lots of it. I believe we are 24 months away from being were we want to be div 1 football team and reaching the super 8. When a traditional county is in the doldrums it takes years to turn things around. It took Boylan 4 years on 2 different occasion 86 96 to turn Meath around. It also took McGee 4 years to turn Offaly around in 1980 and it took Dywer 5 years in his second term to turn kildare around in 98. It took Pat Gilroy 3 years to turn Dublin around. While it took Jimmy Barry Murphy and Nicholas English years of bad defeats to turn their counties around in early 90s. It was not til the 4th year Kevin Walsh has turned Galway around. McEntee needs the same time.

I believed from the start of the year we wouldn't get promotion, the game with longford was a tough opener. If we won we would give Dublin a good rattle ( I know there is little evidence for that, just a gut feeling in that Meath are due performance v Dublin in the Meath v Dublin rivalry. Its a gut feeling based on no evidence other then also for me McEntee all year for me is setting a Meath team up to play Dublin tactically. ) Dublin of course will win and we will get knocked out of the championship in mid July.I believe next year we will see some sort of real progress next eg promotion to div 1 or defeat of top div 1 team in the championship)..And in year 4 I believe then we will see real progres eg div 1 football super 8 and pushing for leinster title. Thats only my opinion. I could be wrong. Its just my opinion. But I believe we are at least 24 months away from where we need to be. But u never know.

There are three massives issues for Meath in my opinion and of course underage needs to improve also.

1 The county the players are lacking serious belief in themselves that will take years of good management by good manager eg McEntee to turn around. We need to give this management time, we need lots of patience. As we will have many ups and downs to go yet.

2 Secondly a style of play that is modern and works. The way we won 7 Sams with traditional kick and catch long balls into forward line is not fit for purpose. Eitheir is the way other kick and catch counties won All Irelands not fit fot purpose eg Down and Galway. Football now is more possession based,more tactically driven and there must be more thought put into how a team must perform

Sean Boylans sucess was based on one tactic. That was organised choas. I know that makes no sense but let me try and explain. Every player fought for the ball like there life depended on it. There was no real tactic just get that ball into forward line as fast and as quick as you can and players like Geraghty and O Rourke had to fight tooth and nail to win possession. It was pretty basic tactically wise. But it was hugely sucessful and was actually very good to watch. Some of the football under Boylan was as good as kerry or Galway in 90s or 00s. There was great swashbuckling performances of brillant total football v Dublin 88 league final and 99 leinster final Offaly 98 99 Kerry 2015 and many more great games eg kildare 97 second game 2001 V Westmeath q final.

That system doesnt work anymore kicking long balls atop of your full forward line. Sweepers blanket defences kick out strategy are all changes since 2001..We have failed miserably to adapt. However I did actually think our performance v Westmeath on Sunday was a very modern style of play. I thought we played in an intelligent controlled and efficient way. We played like a modern team, like I would even say division 1 team. But that game is the only game I have seen that sort of efficent style for the full 70 mins. Before it was now and again. Its a start. But we now need to deliver it consistently. Against mid and then top div 2 teams. And then hopefully over a 2 to 3 year period we will see performances v div 1 teams. It will take time. But I thought Westmeath on Sunday was a real improvement even on wins we had v Down or louth or draw v Roscommon in the league. I have seen us hammer teams recently v Fermanagh Derry Clare. But this performance was more measured and more cleverer and well organised then I have seen. The next step is to see us perform like this consistently. I n the Longford game we could see a performance that is less impressive. We need to be patient.

3 Thirdly we have had three problem areas. First area in the half back line. We havent had a top class wing back since O Connell and an effective centre back since McManus. All the top teams have top class half backs eg Keegan Mcarthy McCaffrey Lacey. It is the most important area of the field in modern football. It where attacks start. If you have a strong half back line this is massive. We struggled at 5 6 and 7 all decade long. However I believe at the end of the league our half back line was improved compared to last year or even the start of this years league.

The moving of Donal keogham our best player a player who would walk onto 80s or 90s team from corner back to centre back is massive. He is wasted at 2. He always reminded me of Karl Lacey. And karl lacey was pivotal to Donegal sucess and the moving of him from the corner was a masterstroke by McGuiness.

Moving keoghan means for the first time in a long time, we have our best player in the half back line. He offers attacking threat which he showed on Sunday with a goal..But he offers leadership and football ability in this most important sector of the field.. He needs to learn how to hold the middle. But overall when he has played in the half back line v Second half Cork last year, louth this year and last year, Byrne cup campaign 2018, v Roscommon and Down 2018. When he played in the half back line in only those games recently we didnt lose any of them. Moving keoghan to 6 is massive plus. While two McEntees on wings have been effective and playing well.

Shane McEntee for me in the poor team performances v Tipp and Cavan was one of the few who kept trying to the very end. His performance last game v louth was very good. He is improving and needs to still to learn more defensive wing back play which will come with experience. But his atitude is top notch and we could at long last solve a problem position we had for years, the number 7 position.

James McEntee has been really impressive. He was wing forward. But could never find consistency in his play. He also suffered injuries. But the moving of James to wing back has been a great move. Any time he has played there we havent lost eg second half v Cork last year and Down louth and Westmeath game this year. He could become a really important player for us at 5. His performance v Westmeath on sunday was one of the best I have seen from Meath wing back in years.If he could keep playing well and be effective along with his cousin and keoghan we at long last could sort our this half back line problem which has bedevilled Meath football since 2001.

Conor McGill at full back is not well known but I view him as one if not the best young full back in the country. There are very few top class full backs in the country. He has been Meaths number 3 for 3 years since he was 20. And we have never felt the loss of Kevin Reilly..This is down to McGill. Irish Independent did a list of ten best players in this years 4 divisions in each division. The only Meath man in top 10 in division 2 was McGill. People havent seen him on the national stage but with Keoghan at 6 and McGill , Meath do have 2 top class defenders at centre of the defence. And with other defenders eg Conor Dempsey S Lavin Shane Glynn showing well and Mickey Burke now being used more as a sweeper . Meath defence since the Tipp and Cavan games has two positional changes and 1 new defender and 1 extra defender with Burke to come back and help. The defence has improved. But only till we play longford in championship and if we will play Dubs and play other teams in the qualifiers will we see the extent of improvement..The losses to Tipp and Cavan exposed the weakness in the team and McEntee had to go back to drawing board and change team selection. The moving of Keoghan and J McEntee to half back has been a massive positive.

The other problem Meath have had since 2001 is midfield. We havent had a top class midfielder since John McDermont. Gillespie S O Rourke and Nash all could have been quality midfielders. But we will never know. Last year we finished with Menton and a 19 year old half back in his first full game at midfield eg B Conlon. Menton has had 7 different partners in 1 year and half eg O Brien, Toher, Flanagan, Rooney, Jones, Conlon and Kennelly. This shows how much a problem midfield is. Menton himself his best position for me is wing back. But he does offer Atleticism at midfield. But you need a more traditional high fielding midfielder with Menton. Rooney would be the best we have here. But he had a poor league and after year travelling he needs to get match fitness and a years club football under him. Hes gone now so as impact sub he is a loss. But hopefully we see him next year.

Flanagan is more traditional midfielder. And I am a fan. His distribution lets him down at times..At 23 he can only improve. But Kennelly again is another player who appeared after Tipp and Cavan games. He was excellent v Louth Down and Westmeath before being sent off. Hopefully he can form a decent partnership with Menton. The last time Meath had a good season was 2012 2013 we had a strong partnership with Gillespie and Meade at center of midfield. My only worry with kennelly he is very inexperienced. Him and Menton have only played 1 full game together. We wouldnt know if Kennelly is a real option at midfield until he faces a quality midfielder like kildares Feehily. Maybe he is more a wing forward. But overall since last year and even start of the league kennellys impact along with Flanagan means midfield is improving. Breaking ball is still an issue we need to keep working at. We used to have breaking ball specialist in the past,, players who were exceptional at breaking ball eg Kevin Foley, Pat Reynold jnr and Seamus Kenny. I am a big fan of Kane from Simonstown. I think he is very good at breaking ball. But I think he was asked to join the panel last year but couldnt commit the time. I would definalty try and get him involved. Kane and Daire Rowe are the only players that I think r not on the panel or left the panel recently, in the county who could make a real difference, Rowe couldnt commit this year, hopefullly next year.

The one area that hasnt improved since last year is the forwards. The forwards will pretty much be the same as last year only for Brennan change. It could be weaker with Alan Forde out with his cruciate. He is a big player for us and when he comes back as wing forward he will be big addition.

We r relying on lenihan and then pacey players like Reilly Wallaces McMahon and Sullivan to cause problems. It has worked and big scores v Clare louth Derry Fermanagh prove that. But can it break down a blanket defence/sweepers. I have my doubts. We are playing more direct then we did v Tipp and Cavan. And Sullivan is stepping up to the plate with lenihan who was injured and lacking match fitness for much of the leagur. The loss of Mckeever is huge. For me Mckeever and lenihan both 26 27 , both at their peaks and both best forwards in the county. Mckeever for me is the best. I was looking forward to seen them play together this year. But they only played once v Down where we scored 4 -14 and they were very good. Lenihan was injured for the start of the league and Mckeever was played on the 40. Hopefully we will have Mckeever next year. Meath football sucess has always been based on duo in the full forward line eg 40s 50s McDermont Meegan 60s Curran Shanley 80s O Rourke Flynn, Stafford used to play a bit deep, 90s Ollie and Geraghty. The last time we had a good year in 2013 we had Newman and Wallace.

So a duo of in the full forward line of Mckeever and lenihan for me has huge potential with Sullivan playing a little deeper. A Sullivan Mckeever Lenihan full forward line would be a div 1 full forward line. But Mckeever loss is huge..I believe with him we could have had outside shot at Super 8. But with him gone I dont know if our forwards can break down stronger defences. This is a concern. And with Toibin gone as an impact sub. And other players like Conlon, the depth of our squad is effected and this could become a bigger issue later on in the summer.

The final issue for Meath and the one that shows we are so near yet so far is division 1 football..Everyone knows to be sucessful you need to play in div 1 and stay in div 1 you win titles eg Monaghan Tyrone and Donegal . Its always been the same. Meaths past sucess was based on div 1 football. After kerry and Dublin for 70 or 80 years Meath had one of the best records in division 1. Dublin always found Navan hard to win. So did many teams. When kildare won in Navan in 1999 or 2000 in the league it was their first win there in 70 years . Galway even to this day havent beaten us in Navan in over 30 years. Playing so much division 1 football helped us win 7 Sams in the past. Meath won national league division 1 titles in the 30s 40s 50s 70s 80s and 90s. And played in a national league div 1 final in the 00s. Meath played in senior all Ireland finals in 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s and 00s. Its linked. If Meath get into Division 1 and stay there you will see a big improvement. The same way you see how Monaghan have improved by playing divsion 1 in recent years.

Meath have been incredibly close to promotion to div 1. Even this year if we defeated Cavan we would have been promoted to div 1. In 4 of the 5 last seaons Meath were 1 win away from promotion to div 1. If we defeated Cavan this year, Down last year, Roscommon in 2015 and defeated not drew with Donegal in 2014 we would have been promoted to div 1 in each of those year. So we are very close , but yet so far.

If we could get promoted to divsion 1 , it would be a gamechanger for Meath football. The fact is Meath havent been in divsion 1 in 12 years ago the year we drew with Dublin defeated Galway and great Tyrone team of the 00s and reached All Ireland semi final. All in the year we played division 1 football. Its linked sucess = staying in divsion 1.

So in summary I think we have sorted out problems that surfaced in mid league. With a new half back line and new midfielder. But I still have worries with midfield and the forwards. In the forwards without Mckeever I don't see a difference since last year..If we could find consistency maybe we could go on a run in the qualifiers but for me its more likely we will see an improved Meath next year and the year affer. I must say also playing Mickey Burke at wing forward could also be a plus. He is a warrior and we have always played backs/leaders not just forwards in the forward line eg Cassells in 87 88, Reilly in 96, Curtis 99 and Moyles in 07. And when we played S Kenny in forwards in early decade it worked well. Playing a grafter, a hard worker in the half forward line who can come back and play sweeper also is something we havent done in a while. For the last few years we have usually always played 6 out and out forwards. Meath sucess is always based on a player/ a defender who turns into effective hard working forward eg Cassells 87 88 Moyles 07 S Kenny 2011 2012. Burke in the forwards could work.

Overall the longford game is a tough opener. If we play like we did on Sunday we will be hard to beat.If we play like we did v Tipp and Cavan longford will win pulling up..Which Meath will we see in Pearse stadium Sunday week..Time will tell.But whatever happens we need to give the current management and 2 years to keep improving. Anyone could see on sunday that McEntee is slowly but surely building a modern efficient proper gaelic football inter county team..But it will take time and many ups and downs before we really turn the corner. For the championship to be sucess..Alot of things would need to come together. For me its a long shot but not impossible. Next year and following year sucess will be attained eg division 1 football and Super 8 participants."

Replying To MillerX:  "I hate to be bitchy here but I think your statement "Longford have had two big wins over Meath before.... i.e. 1968 and 1982" well I am 99.9% certain that Longford also beat Meath in 1965 in the Leinster s/Final, which was even a bigger disappointment as we had made the breakthrough after a ten year drought in 1964 by capturing the Leinster title and that loss to Longford I believe set back the team's development somewhat and we had to wait a further two years to capture Sam. Longford of course spoiled the party again in 1968 ironically after beating Westmeath in the previous round, so let's hope there is not an omen here."

Replying To GlasgowRoyal:  "Excellent read, thanks!"

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Thanks for your nice comments Royaldunne, Loyalroyal 17, Brownepat and Glasgowroyal, your all gentlemen."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Thanks for your nice comments Royaldunne, Loyalroyal 17, Brownepat and Glasgowroyal, your all gentlemen."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Sorry about that. I forgot 1965. That longford team was a very good team defeating Meath twice Dublin and the three in a row Galway team. I dont know if we have beaten Galway in 1965. In 1965 and 66 Galway were at their peak. In 64 we should have beaten Galway but in 65 and 66 they were the best team in the land. We built nicely over a couple of years . Beating the Dubs All Ireland Champions in 64 leinster final was best leinster final performance ever. In 66 hammered great Down team in semi final and got experience of a final in 66. And we were building since 63 and by 1967 we peaked and were the best team in the country. In 68 I still believe we were very strong. If got out of leinster I believe we could have beaten kerry and even Down . But its all ifs and buts. That Longford team of 60s was very good one. And yes as you said I hope 68 and 82 are not omen here. Pearse Park is going to be tough opener."

Replying To royaldunne:  "Ahh now don't go ruining my rep by calling me a gentleman lol.
I honestly enjoy reading your posts. Keep up the great work."

Replying To seadog54:  "Agree with majority of your previous post but think Nigel Crawford was a very effective midfielder and to a lesser extent Brian Meade who always gave 100% to jersey. May take extra time on the 27th, but think we will get there in the end."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Thanks for your nice comments Royaldunne, Loyalroyal 17, Brownepat and Glasgowroyal, your all gentlemen."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Your a gentleman and a legend Royaldunne.
Sorry to hear about health issue a while back.
I hope everything healthwise has improved. We need all are great Meath supporters to be fit and ready for the start of the championship. Pearse Park is going to be a tough opener but heres hoping its a positive result for us Royals. An Mhi Abu."

Replying To Furlong1949:  "Your a gentleman and a legend Royaldunne.
Sorry to hear about health issue a while back.
I hope everything healthwise has improved. We need all are great Meath supporters to be fit and ready for the start of the championship. Pearse Park is going to be a tough opener but heres hoping its a positive result for us Royals. An Mhi Abu."

Replying To royaldunne:  "Ahh I'm grand now, knocked me for six, thought I had a bad flu, but just kept getting worse ended up I had pneumonia. My first day out was on Sunday. Couldn't shout too much. But back in full flow now"