Re: Meath.
Supporters sometimes get down regarding their team. But really Meath just missing one or two marquee players. Look what Sean Cavanagh Michael Murphy and Sean Quigley mean to their teams. These players also put in a great effort and offer that leadership quality . Meath had these players in abundance in the late 80s early 90s. Bernard Flynn, Brian Stafford, Colm O'Rourke to name just a few.
Brian Stafford won 2 All Irelands and 5 Leinster medals .
Meath also had a great manager back then as well.
Another difference now is other teams have caught up. Ulster teams have improved and Roscommon have improved. Might sound off the wall but this present Meath team would possibly scrape into Division 1 in the late 80s early 90s.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 14/03/2016 19:34:21    1834856

Redhand

It was indeed.I thought Cavanagh was in 2nd gear most of the game to be fair. We need a few more Mickey Burkes to be fair!

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 14/03/2016 19:55:00    1834869

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts:1039 - 14/03/2016 17:05:22 
Once teams get to Division 1 their supporters are happy. They just want Division 1 status. They usually quieten down and take in the view. Division 2 teams are like the neighbours little white dog barking all the time.

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 14/03/2016 21:08:24    1834919

After Sundays games and with a wee bit of luck Armagh would have been off the foot of the table, the other results went our way and with Tyrone on Saturday evening its going to be a tall order but I think Armagh will get a result in the next 2 games so Fermanagh, Meath and laois need to get results to stay in the Division

youngfella27 (Armagh) - Posts: 110 - 15/03/2016 09:16:50    1834952

People have been talking about Armagh,Meath and Laois,but Fermanagh could easily go down too.Could be some game in Laois on the final day,if they and Meath both have to win to stay up.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 15/03/2016 12:54:29    1835064

Meath are going through a difficult phase at present, yet it's only a matter of time before they rise again.... traditionally Meath would wipe the floor with the likes of Armagh, or Cavan... in fact they have far more senior All Ireland's than the much lauded Tyrone. It's only a matter of time before Meath football is back at the top

Mayoforever (Mayo) - Posts: 142 - 15/03/2016 18:59:48    1835229

Do i detect a Mayo bias against Ulster teams again?

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 15/03/2016 19:47:33    1835241

Meath are going through a difficult phase at present, yet it's only a matter of time before they rise again.... traditionally Meath would wipe the floor with the likes of Armagh, or Cavan... in fact they have far more senior All Ireland's than the much lauded Tyrone. It's only a matter of time before Meath football is back at the top

Mayoforever (Mayo) - Posts:105 - 15/03/2016 18:59:48

History: Pre-1987
Tradition : 1987 onwards apparently
Reality: Monday morning's paper.

We may get a chance to meet each other next year in Div.2.....ah......now that' s Nostalgia

ExiledCuCu (Cavan) - Posts: 226 - 15/03/2016 21:02:18    1835266

Meath are going through a difficult phase at present, yet it's only a matter of time before they rise again.... traditionally Meath would wipe the floor with the likes of Armagh, or Cavan... in fact they have far more senior All Ireland's than the much lauded Tyrone. It's only a matter of time before Meath football is back at the top

Mayoforever (Mayo) - Posts:105 - 15/03/2016 18:59:48 1

Our Southern Ui Neill cousins Meath will definitely return to Football's top table at some stage, but you may have the wrong line of thought regarding the Ulster sides. I mean your right in that Meath traditionally would be a stronger team that Armagh or maybe even Cavan since the 70's. But counting All Ireland's may not paint an accurate picture of the strength and potential of Gaelic Football counties.

Tyrone and Donegal in particular have evolved into quite strong Gaelic Football bases, and I would both have talent pool's that would rival most of the top sides. While they may not have as many All Ireland's on the board yet as Meath or Galway, we must keep in mind that they matured quite late as Footballing counties, but are really fulfilling their potential's ever since the 1990's and 2000's.

Money definitely plays a big role in success these days, preparing teams and creating the best training conditions for them and ensuring diets and everything is just right. I also believe intelligent management plays a massive role, as training and preparation means nothing if the direction is dodgy.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 16/03/2016 11:17:34    1835327

mayoforever and garyMac...
just to clear things up a little for ye...
if you mean over the course of 132 years of intercouty GAA ...then Meath were probably stronger than cavan for 30 years ( 1975 to 2005)
otherwise it is more misinformed drivel


Meath supporters seem to be finding it hard to accept their position ( not this year as this is where they are for most of 10 years now). They seem to thing the Manager is mis-managing a talented bunch

whereas Cavan, Roscommon, Armagh etc should not be near them.....

the truth is ... Meath underage is at nothing.... U21 and Minor...the right player dont suddenly appear at 23 years of age

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts: 130 - 16/03/2016 11:54:43    1835343

Meath are going through a difficult phase at present, yet it's only a matter of time before they rise again.... traditionally Meath would wipe the floor with the likes of Armagh, or Cavan... in fact they have far more senior All Ireland's than the much lauded Tyrone. It's only a matter of time before Meath football is back at the top

Mayoforever (Mayo) - Posts:105 - 15/03/2016 18:59:48


Depends on when your tradition began or ended. With my wife being from Armagh I attended a good few of their games. I know that from 2000 onwards, Armagh would have wiped the floor with Meath. I was in Croke Park a couple of years ago where they hammered Meath out the door. As for Cavan - you're opening a tin of worms talking about tradition there - google their tradition!!!

Brolly (Monaghan) - Posts: 4472 - 16/03/2016 12:27:24    1835354

mayoforever and garyMac...
just to clear things up a little for ye...
if you mean over the course of 132 years of intercouty GAA ...then Meath were probably stronger than cavan for 30 years ( 1975 to 2005)
otherwise it is more misinformed drivel


Meath supporters seem to be finding it hard to accept their position ( not this year as this is where they are for most of 10 years now). They seem to thing the Manager is mis-managing a talented bunch

whereas Cavan, Roscommon, Armagh etc should not be near them.....

the truth is ... Meath underage is at nothing.... U21 and Minor...the right player dont suddenly appear at 23 years of age

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts:115 - 16/03/2016 11:54:43

Rather than clear things up, you probably meant you will provide the finer details. I had clearly said "Cavan since maybe the 70's".

All things being equal, and all Counties having the same underage structures and development setup's and funding, who then would be the top 10 strongest sides in Ireland? Or who are the genuine Top 10 or 12 power bases of Gaelic Football in Ireland?

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 16/03/2016 12:42:17    1835358

Speaking with a few Meath Gael friends here in Galway while many people mirror Meath football with us in terms of when both were last successful at senior (we both agree on this) the genesis of same is different. As rightly pointed out earlier in this thread Meath's underage record (in fairness certainly not the only yardstick for senior success) is poor unlike Galway. Also Galway, albeit dominated by Corofin in recent years, would apparently have a stronger club scene than the Royals. We have other issues in Galway such as the relatively equal and sometimes divisive dual issue in terms of resources being made available by the Co. Board. Galway may have a big population but there are large tracts of the city who are indifferent about GAA and this sometimes is missed when you compare the huge interest in hurling for example in Waterford or Kilkenny city. Moving aside from the Meath Galway thing I am not surprised by the rise of the Rossies and to a lesser extent Cavan with a lot of provincial u21 success behind them. Cavan is even a bit more remarkable as some Breffini posters rightly or wrongly were calling for the manager's head only a year ago and yet seem to be flying so far this season. Incidentally Meath like Cavan kept faith with their manager with very different results. Many posters are not really rating Galway as promotion hopefuls now and may be correct but the last two games have definitely indicated a never say die attitude with the Galway footballers that seemed to be missing in recent years. Whether or which Connacht will be closer this year as league form tends to fall into championship form going by the majority of recent years experience.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1946 - 16/03/2016 13:00:27    1835370

Look I got slated for this last year saying I was a bitter so and so cause we were in same division as Meath.
But this is my honest opinion on Meath were in fact I lived for a number of years in the early noughties year are lunatic supporters and we're blessed in the nineties and early noughties to have top top quality players and a good underage system I actually watched ye lose to Cavan in a u21 semi in the Hyde one year and marvelled at Giles.
But following from a distance now I just believe yes haven't got the talent year haven't been within a asses roar of producing a good underage team never mind consistently good ones were you would hope to pick up 2 to 3 players a year
Plus your club championship doesn't seem to be competitive or of high quality when you see the same club inevitably winning out and then going out when they meet a half assed team in Leinster.
Now reading meath s home pages last year these underage and club failures didn't seem to bother most fan's it was all about the seniors tradition etc turn up at ros and Cavan and Tyrone and westmeath and beat them cause we are the royal county.
Well that day Is gone for now lads never mind yer management I don't think any top management would touch ye at moment till yet stabilize and improve underage and club scene.
Thats honestly were I see Meath.

OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 16/03/2016 13:07:52    1835374

Off the top of my head last year's 4 u21 semi finalists Tyrone, ros, tipp, dubs
The year before ros cork dubs Cavan
The year before Galway cork Cavan dubs
The year before ros dubs Cavan cork

The 3 most consistent teams dubs ros Cavan cork.
3 are division 1, one has a chance of been division 1 and Tyrone are blossoming from last year's all Ireland victory with up to 5 or 6 on the seniors panel
Your team doesn't just suddenly produce good 22 23 year olds for the senior if they weren't there underage.

OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 16/03/2016 13:17:46    1835377

Off the top of my head last year's 4 u21 semi finalists Tyrone, ros, tipp, dubs
The year before ros cork dubs Cavan
The year before Galway cork Cavan dubs
The year before ros dubs Cavan cork

The 4 most consistent teams dubs ros Cavan cork.
3 are division 1, one has a chance of been division 1 and Tyrone are blossoming from last year's all Ireland victory with up to 5 or 6 on the seniors panel
Your team doesn't just suddenly produce good 22 23 year olds for the senior if they weren't there underage.

OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 16/03/2016 13:18:26    1835378

amazing....all of a sudden a stream of posts - in my view- nailing why Meath are where they are

and not one post from a Meath contributor

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts: 130 - 16/03/2016 13:41:16    1835382

Ohtobearossie I would add that Galway and Ros have been as consistent as each other in u21. Ye have won 4 of the last 6 provincial titles in Connacht while we won 2 all Irelands in the 2 years we won Connacht titles within those 6 years. If you look at the provincial final last season it was an unreal game in Tuam with only 3 points separating the sides. Even as recent as last Friday night only 3 points separated the sides in a close affair. Your general point though is well noted that on the law of averages good underage has more currency at senior level than the reverse. Meath football needs a root and branch which is not something that can be changed overnight.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1946 - 16/03/2016 13:44:15    1835386

I get what you're saying

Meath have been relatively poor at underage

But as mentioned that's not going to change overnight

Meath in the here and now are close to going back down into Div 3

This Meath panel have to pull out all the stops.. there has to be a major motivational factor there in the panel to stop that from happening.

If Meath drop back down into Div 3 it will be a hugely negative blow to this current setup

It's up to him and the players now to save their bacon, if they fail to do so, it would speak volumes about this current setup

MOD should resign if that happens

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 16/03/2016 14:05:05    1835390

jimboddub..... just replace the word Meath with Armagh or Laois

then what's the difference ...whomever goes down should be in Div 3 as they are not good enough to be any higher including and primarily so -the quality of their players

DD10 (Cavan) - Posts: 130 - 16/03/2016 15:09:04    1835405