Cavan in 1969 had 5 All Ireland's and 38 Ulsters. They have won 1 Ulster since. That is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the last 47 years. Meath after 2001 7 All Ireland's 20 Leinsters. In the 15 years since only 1 Leinster and that was dodgey to say the least. In the last 8 years we have won only 1 provincial title at either minor, 21's or senior and that was the Joe Sheridan try. Please tell me I'm overreacting but I am terrified. Will the dynasty ever come back or are we Cavan part 2 ?

LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1452 - 08/07/2016 01:01:37    1878270

Looking at short term, next five years or so, we seem to be in for very lean times, at best threading water and remaining in Div. 2, but could quite easily drop further down the pecking order. Posters say there is an improvement in developing squads, but lads coming through need experienced men alongside them to help development. Whatever present management is doing is simply not working, few if any players have progressed over last number of years. Hopefully this group will get a chance to prove themselves in coming years under a new management team, we have certain amount of talent and I don't think we are getting the best from them.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2134 - 08/07/2016 11:11:04    1878371

We finally have as good an underage structure now as anyone in the country, yes including the dubs. It will take time but I'm sure we'll begin to reap the rewards eventually.

BagglesMc (Meath) - Posts: 6 - 08/07/2016 11:19:35    1878377

Chaisleain_Abu (Meath) - Posts: 220 - 08/07/2016 11:37:42    1878387

Chaisleain_Abu,
In all fairness I would be much more familiar with urban clubs and teams in the top two divisions across all age groups than I would be of rural clubs (which is fair to say are usually in the lower divisions). I would say that the standard at club level seems to be mostly very high and competitive. looking at line ups from development squads, minor teams and 21s, there seems to be a good spread of players from different clubs from higher and lower divisions. The coaching in dunganny is getting better and better by the week, noticeably there are experienced players being brought in also to help out. Hopefully the high standards set here will be brought back to the player's clubs by the players and from there the standards of the club competitions will rise.
When speaking about teams amalgamating, I have always felt it's down to the clubs to get the numbers up to field a team, if they can't manage this I think they should be reprimanded by the county board in some way, again this is fair to say it's a bigger problem for rural clubs however the same should go for areas of higher populations where fielding two teams would be easily possible but they only bother with an 'a' team. Young lads should never be stopped from playing football as they all develop at different rates, and if that means their club has to join another in order for them to play, so be it

BagglesMc (Meath) - Posts: 6 - 08/07/2016 12:16:44    1878412

Only dynasty coming back maybe the TV programme

sob (Meath) - Posts: 492 - 10/07/2016 09:33:52    1879801

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 10/07/2016 09:39:25    1879805

There's a good chance if we make the right managerial appointment we could be back competing at the business end of the Championship in future. There is talent within the panel and outwith it, no doubt among those who made themselves unavailable for selection. Mick is a good man but repeated the same mistakes year in, year out. Should not have been reappointed as it's been a wasted year.

GlasgowRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 293 - 10/07/2016 09:58:34    1879825

Spoilt during Boylan era. Long barren spell before and after. Underage has not produced players of the calibre required for whatever reason. High dropout rates, poor coaching, lack of funding, Dunganny and Pairc Tailteann distraction but green shoots are maybe starting to appear. PT is still a headache but Dunganny is finished and the signs are that the Minors and Development squads are competing with the best around. Recently attended great Minor performances against Dublin and Kildare and have read recent good reports about U16 team in Gerry Reilly and about U15 team against Dublin. Unfortunately it will take 7 or 8 years for this renewed focus on player development to filter through to the Snr panel but we appear now to be competitive once again. Get the supply chain right, get the right manager in place. He may or may not be an AI winner. Its a different game now than when we last won an AI. Treat players with respect and build the desire to represent Meath and to win with Meath.

AnFearBan1234 (Meath) - Posts: 110 - 11/07/2016 12:18:12    1880844

in a word yes. we have two huge factors going for us- tradition and population plus no competition from soccer or rugby. navan are not a top 20 rugby club in ireland and no league of ireland socccer so thats huge. were on the doorstep of dublin and attracting huge numbers from other counties to get a great genetic mix ala dublin in the 1970s and early 80s, how many dublin payers are 100% dublin born parents,? few.

can u imagine how downhearted you would feel if we were in a position like offaly or monaghon ? i genuinly belive they will not win all irelands in the future. i would also worry for cavan even after all the underage success, im thinking they may be another Laois. winning just one provincial title over the next 15 years

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 685 - 11/07/2016 17:31:35    1881148

Dickie10, I'm sorry I'm not sure how to use the reply button, I don't even think I have one. I agree with your point on population but not about rival sports. It's fair to say that lads who are good footballers or hurlers will also usually make good soccer players. The best of these are brought to Dublin to play in the DDSL for soccer, and the best rugby players will be on the regional development squad for rugby, and later perhaps the Leinster team.
The DDSL has announced it plans to run through the summer which will obviously mean it will clash more with gaa and young fellas will have to choose one or the other. With the under 17 airtricity league being brought in many players go for trials and will sign for drogheda, Dundalk, bohs, shamrock rovers and some perhaps even Longford town. This is a very high standard and so the lads will most likely choose soccer as their priority if not only sport. They will also have no trouble traveling to play at this level. We need to ensure we can keep our best up and coming players playing football or hurling in order for us to truly benefit from our huge intake of population (mainly dubs)

BagglesMc (Meath) - Posts: 6 - 11/07/2016 22:24:25    1881438

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1333 - 12/07/2016 08:40:58    1881518

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1789 - 12/07/2016 22:55:06    1882233

bdbuddah- Agree with you comments and add that another problem is the lack of male interested teachers with football interest in primary schools as this is where it all starts. Another example of your point is Johnstown in Navan with 6-7k of a population and nobody playing GAA- it is by the way in the Walterstown parish. I go back to the basics again! you start by having good inputs into the primary schools and we are lacking significantly here- much more important than development squads.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 13/07/2016 00:59:45    1882281

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 13/07/2016 08:42:44    1882308

BarneysTie (Meath) - Posts: 258 - 13/07/2016 08:58:50    1882314

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 13/07/2016 09:33:50    1882327