Meath Forum

Meath v Donegal

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Ratoath Royal , going back Meath had Brian Stafford , and after a while we starting saying that we could put our houses on him scoring . But before he got to that level he had to be trained , and he got training a lot of it . Are our guys getting the training required to become a proficient Free ( score) takers , I'm not so sure , on any given day numerous players could be taken the frees , Lenihan , Biggy , Tobin , Toher , maybe its time that the focus on free taking is placed on the shoulders of 1 or 2 players and that they are trained to be accurate ....

Meath_True (Meath) - Posts: 285 - 05/07/2017 14:35:45    2011002

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Replying To grahamc9897:  "1.Paddy O'Rourke
2.Donal Keoghan
3.Conor McGill
4.Mickey Burke
5.P Harnan
6.Brian Power
7.Shane McEntee- Tobin if fit
8.Brian Menton
9.James Toher - Jones if fit
10.James McEntee
11.Cillian O'Sullivan
12.Graham Reilly
13.Ruari O'Coilean
14.Micheal Newman
15.Donal Lenihan"
Forgot about Conlan he starts for sure

grahamc9897 (Meath) - Posts: 1174 - 05/07/2017 15:17:28    2011027

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Replying To Meath_True:  "Ratoath Royal , going back Meath had Brian Stafford , and after a while we starting saying that we could put our houses on him scoring . But before he got to that level he had to be trained , and he got training a lot of it . Are our guys getting the training required to become a proficient Free ( score) takers , I'm not so sure , on any given day numerous players could be taken the frees , Lenihan , Biggy , Tobin , Toher , maybe its time that the focus on free taking is placed on the shoulders of 1 or 2 players and that they are trained to be accurate ...."
That's a very valid point

The Last day, Tobin started on frees, Toher came on and took one, even though Tobin was still there. Then it switched to Lenihan for two and then to Newman & I even think there could be another one used aswell.

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6342 - 05/07/2017 15:26:47    2011033

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Lads if we were in meath management shoes how would(we) set up to beat Donegal.tactics,players etc.

Reco (Meath) - Posts: 419 - 05/07/2017 15:29:39    2011035

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One thing going into this game a lot of Meath players are just not playing well COS Lenihan Biggie, Keoghan Haran these players can play alot better than they have so in the championship. l think if we could get these boys playing well. We could win it. It would actually disappointing if we went down with not playing to our full potential regardless of opposition. We are no world beaters but we are alot better than we has gone on it the championship so far I reckon.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 05/07/2017 16:15:15    2011056

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Replying To nobull456:  "Replying to Royaloptimist.........more power to you for your balanced views. Unfortunately i seem to have even more miles on the clock. I was at the all Ireland final when Meath beat Kerry by 6 points in 1954,there again in 55 when the prince of full backs Paddy "hands" O Brien was totally outplayed by the man who started all the tactics and "systems" Kevin Heffernan .Paddy walked off in frustration in the winter of his career. There again in 1967 Meath beat cork in the final. The era of the "red" COLLIER.. Another memory i have was the league final in 1975 .Meath won. The great jack Quinn gave an exhibition of full back play and outplayed none other than Jimmy Keaveney. Then we had the poor years travelling to matches . Then came Boylan the greatest man manager of them all.That golden era started when we beat Monaghan in the centenary cup in 1984.My one and only time sitting in the Nally stand . Then the disaster in 1986 when Mick Lyons and Joe Cassells both went for a high ball toghether with time nearly up. fumbled it and goal by Mickey Sheehy.That put paid to that year for Sam. 87 and 88 wins for one of the all time greats Colm O Rourke. Nobody deserved it more than himself ,Mick Lyons Joe Cassells and Gerry Mc entee. . Colm o Rourke scored a very important point with his RIGHT foot in the replay against Cork in 88 Meath won.. There for every match under Boylan 1990 the 4 in a row of 1991 and Foleys goal. There for the final against Down same year. Disaster o Rourke can play flue. half time Down 11 points ahead. on comes O Rourke and demonstrates what courage and sheer determination ,pride in the jersey can do. Himself ,and Flynn bring us back from the dead just 2 point down. O R ourke Stafford Flynn the great full forward line. On with Boylan to enjoy more greats like Fay, Giles, Gerathy .Ollie Murphy. M c Dermott
Ok the game has changed dramatically,and we have had to change with it..Meath football to me means pride in the jersey, never say die ,courage and determination, belief. I watched many training sessions under Boylan in Dealgan Park to see the wizard at work. As the dub would say DEM WERE THE DAYS . Yet the greatest all round footballer i ever saw was Jack O Shea of Kerry. I asked Jack Quinn that question and he said Sean O Neill from Down. So yes we want to see us back to the top...pride,true grit, never give up and if medals follow better still."
Good post, we have traveled a similar path, first match was late 50s in PT think it was against Louth. The period that means most to me was the mid eighties to late 90s, lived in Cork and was heavily involved in local GAA at the time and of course they were our biggest rivals then. They hated the very mention of Meath, loved every minute of it, especiall getting my two young lads to wear their Meath jerseys going to training. McEntee simply does not have that quality of player available to him at present, hopefully he will stay on and try to build a team to be feared once again.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2136 - 05/07/2017 17:13:09    2011083

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Replying To meathforsam09:  "well then I'd be expecting Biggy to step up and kick 3-4 points and lead throughout as that's what great forwards would do"
Id be expecting same, absolutely, but i want to see the others step it up too.
I'm confident they all will.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/07/2017 19:29:01    2011137

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Replying To bobkarlgees:  "One thing going into this game a lot of Meath players are just not playing well COS Lenihan Biggie, Keoghan Haran these players can play alot better than they have so in the championship. l think if we could get these boys playing well. We could win it. It would actually disappointing if we went down with not playing to our full potential regardless of opposition. We are no world beaters but we are alot better than we has gone on it the championship so far I reckon."
Honestly? We will have to mirror Donegal, 15 behind ball , breaking at pace with runners off the shoulder . Defend like men possessed when we dont have the ball. Frees will be extremely vital , 90% of those 45 line in MUST be converted.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/07/2017 19:38:09    2011142

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Honestly? We will have to mirror Donegal, 15 behind ball , breaking at pace with runners off the shoulder . Defend like men possessed when we dont have the ball. Frees will be extremely vital , 90% of those 45 line in MUST be converted."
I would agree RD. Two problems with that though, we didn't look dangerous at all on the counter attack against Sligo and for me on Saturday we had a lot of men behind the ball but it seemed to that some players didn't know what there job was, just standing there won't be good enough against Donegal.

Barney123 (Meath) - Posts: 676 - 05/07/2017 19:48:48    2011146

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Honestly? We will have to mirror Donegal, 15 behind ball , breaking at pace with runners off the shoulder . Defend like men possessed when we dont have the ball. Frees will be extremely vital , 90% of those 45 line in MUST be converted."
would agree with all of this. i would fear that we may give donegal too much respect though. go with the same system,but we need to move the ball much faster than we did the last day. tackle a bit faster and harder too. just worry that we seem to have too many lads off form. you would still think donegal should win here.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/07/2017 20:37:14    2011187

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Replying To Barney123:  "I would agree RD. Two problems with that though, we didn't look dangerous at all on the counter attack against Sligo and for me on Saturday we had a lot of men behind the ball but it seemed to that some players didn't know what there job was, just standing there won't be good enough against Donegal."
ya agree with that too

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/07/2017 20:37:59    2011188

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Replying To ziggy32001:  "would agree with all of this. i would fear that we may give donegal too much respect though. go with the same system,but we need to move the ball much faster than we did the last day. tackle a bit faster and harder too. just worry that we seem to have too many lads off form. you would still think donegal should win here."
I dont know. Even taking off the green and gold glasses I think its 50/50.
Now look you are 100% right that the system needs to be improved significantly on Saturday, but we have the runners and the ability to do exactly that.
I do think navan will help, and I am slightly optimistic, only slightly, but hey.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/07/2017 21:47:32    2011229

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i have not seen much of Donegal this year, but reading some comments from their posters on the main thread it would seem there is not a lot of confidence behind them so it looks like two teams struggling to find some form.
As I said previously though, I do think the winners will have a great chance to qualify for the last 8 so the prize for winning could be big. A change I would like to see being considered to the championship format concerns the final qualifier round of games. Presently the losing provincial finalists are drawn against the 4 winning qualifiers and I do not think that is fair. I would prefer to see the 4 qualifiers to go into a draw together meaning that 2 qualifiers go straight into the last 8, whilst the 4 losing provincial finalists would be in a separate draw meaning two of them would also go into the last 8.
We hear a lot of people stress the importance of the provincial system but it seems to me that it would be fairer if the system was changed as it would mean that instead of playing a team that has had a chance to regroup through the qualifiers, the losing finalists would at least be playing another team who were in the same position, i.e lost their previous match.
It also means that the route through the qualifiers is harder as only two teams can qualify for the last 8 instead of all 4 having a chance and this can only be good. It would also give a small reward to a team that has battled through to their provincial final in that two of them are guaranteed a last 8 spot.

ROYALOPTIMIST (Meath) - Posts: 179 - 05/07/2017 22:23:26    2011249

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Is Ronan Jones fit to start?

LoyalRoyal (None) - Posts: 452 - 06/07/2017 06:24:45    2011280

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Regarding Donnacha Tobin I think he can find himself rather unlucky to be benched as he can offer this team a lot around the half back line middle third area. He did get a roasting at corner back against Louth and Kildare in the corner but he is not a corner back. He has been one of Meath's most consistent performers in the past 4 years. We will need his physicality against a big Donegal side. On the match up side of things I would expect Keogan to pick up Paddy McBrearty, Menton to mark Michael Murphy (Menton got man of the match in a sigerson cup final a couple of years ago after man marking Michael Murphy, he was full forward that day)

BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 932 - 06/07/2017 07:22:15    2011290

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Would have preferred the game to be an early throw in. For some reason we were completely flat in two evening fixtures this year (Down in the league, and Kildare in championship).

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1790 - 06/07/2017 07:53:20    2011304

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Replying To Reco:  "We no Kerry either so in my mind both Meath and Donegal should throw off the shackles to an extent and go for it.skillful players on both sides with pace but we trying new system in the middle of the season is silly and not showing any trust in your players.we now have no confidence in our management and ourselves. Andy needs grow a pair and let them play to there strengths he has 3/years to get system right. now is to leave it on the field and not die wondering."
Replying to Reco.............Yes i agree throw off the shackles. I say free ourselves from FEAR. O ver emphasis on systems at this point in the season is too limiting.... Donegal will be defensive end of. Up to now we are mentally fragile....We accept we are victims....they are too defensive.....our top players will be smothered etc..........always some excuse. I 100% agree with you go for it. We take charge.We believe we can win no question.. We have to make it happen as opposed to our mental state of something always happens to us to prevent us. Then HOW can we make it happen ? counter attacking stategy up to now proves my point.....too slow....FEAR too negative .we make it up to midfield then TOO MUCH lateral passing FEAR. no support for the runner...FEAR god i think i should stay back there...Dont shoot from 40 or 50 yards out if its feasable FEAR i might miss. Most importantly forwards not using open space to make themselves available even FEAR maybe i should be marking the defender etc etc. FEAR DOMINATES OUR PLAY UP TO NOW. Why god only knows. We have to believe we can do the job. Donegal have their own problems and are no world beaters either.We have the runners.We have men that can score. f... the FEAR. We have the man markers in defence for their POTENTIALLY dangerous forwards. Even that word potentially makes a difference to mental state. Dangerous if you give them too much room .We take charge here again. We are not victims just because they may have good players......To help us theiy may play too deep anyway .PRIDE...We are MEATH f... the underdog tag We relish the challenge. We love wearing the jersey like all the great men before us. Football is part of our DNA FINALLY .....Go for it lads ..... you have nothing to fear but fear itself !!!!

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 06/07/2017 08:39:33    2011330

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Replying To LoyalRoyal:  "Is Ronan Jones fit to start?"
Not sure just heard Andy speaking after the game and he wasn't to concerned at the time. So it doesn't seems to serious not sure though.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2017 13:04:24    2011472

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Replying To bert09:  "Would have preferred the game to be an early throw in. For some reason we were completely flat in two evening fixtures this year (Down in the league, and Kildare in championship)."
Yeah we a going aim for 6am start, them Donegal lads won't know what hit them.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2017 13:07:52    2011477

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Replying To nobull456:  "Replying to Reco.............Yes i agree throw off the shackles. I say free ourselves from FEAR. O ver emphasis on systems at this point in the season is too limiting.... Donegal will be defensive end of. Up to now we are mentally fragile....We accept we are victims....they are too defensive.....our top players will be smothered etc..........always some excuse. I 100% agree with you go for it. We take charge.We believe we can win no question.. We have to make it happen as opposed to our mental state of something always happens to us to prevent us. Then HOW can we make it happen ? counter attacking stategy up to now proves my point.....too slow....FEAR too negative .we make it up to midfield then TOO MUCH lateral passing FEAR. no support for the runner...FEAR god i think i should stay back there...Dont shoot from 40 or 50 yards out if its feasable FEAR i might miss. Most importantly forwards not using open space to make themselves available even FEAR maybe i should be marking the defender etc etc. FEAR DOMINATES OUR PLAY UP TO NOW. Why god only knows. We have to believe we can do the job. Donegal have their own problems and are no world beaters either.We have the runners.We have men that can score. f... the FEAR. We have the man markers in defence for their POTENTIALLY dangerous forwards. Even that word potentially makes a difference to mental state. Dangerous if you give them too much room .We take charge here again. We are not victims just because they may have good players......To help us theiy may play too deep anyway .PRIDE...We are MEATH f... the underdog tag We relish the challenge. We love wearing the jersey like all the great men before us. Football is part of our DNA FINALLY .....Go for it lads ..... you have nothing to fear but fear itself !!!!"
I totally agree with having pride etc. But modern football can be a lot be about tactics and systems You need a system, but you also need to adapt to others team especially when you are weaker team. Donegal had move away from the totally defensive stuff they started out with 2010/11. Also Dublin where exposed badly at the back in 2014 against Donegal and had to change there system to a more defensive one. So teams adapt all the time. We got destroyed at the back by Kildare so we are naturally going to try to prevent this. I dont think its time throwing any shackles of. If we are down 6 points a half time then yeah got for it by all means.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 06/07/2017 13:22:33    2011491

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