At this early point it seems roughly the same as last year. Injuries to key players certainly have had an impact up to now. However in terms of resources at our disposal,and use thereof, we are way short of what would be required to play at top 8 level.To this poster a Meath inter county player is at the required standard when he can deliver when playing against Dublin in say a Leinster final for example.Playing well against weaker opposition is a step on the way to becoming inter county standard in that context. I think we have maybe 6 or 7 at this point where i would be reasonably confident they would compete. An injury free Kevin Reilly would lead that pack for definite. You ever see him not fully committed? Stephen Bray ,easily our best forward would have to start. Will last for 70 mins?? Why is he the best forward? because he is always out in front,uses empty spaces to make himself available etc. Yes he is showing some lack of confidence in shooting etc.now in his advancing years.Mickey Burke would be on my team [not as a corner back though] simply because of his work rate alone. Donal K. of course[ ideally at 2 with Kevin at 6] Paddy o R yes think he should be relieved of the 45s if at all possible. Graham Reilly has the ability, but problems around his attitude and temperament when the chips are down . After that we have players who may reach inter county standard soon, or maybe never. Mc Gill looks promising ,as does Rooney and Flanagan maybe. All other players seem to lack conviction and concentration for the full match. Gillespie? Teamwork and team spirit at half what it needs to be at best..Micko Dowd very difficult task with players available to him.

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 20/06/2015 10:25:42    1739719

I have to say,you are spot on with everything you say to be fair...

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 20/06/2015 15:23:00    1739833

An injury free Kevin Reilly is a contradiction in terms.

SmoothRoad (Meath) - Posts: 19 - 20/06/2015 17:13:32    1739886

Nobull not sure about a couple, Stephen brays best days are behind him i feel, and probably have been for awhile, biggy is our main score getter and when he has a off day it really hits us bad. Injury free and Kevin Reilly just don't seem to go hand in hand. Id be hoping the likes of menton tormey amf McGill will prove this year to be top class.
But we will win nothing if our forwards don't score, take biggy out of it can anyone put their hand on their heart and say bray,Newman, Wallace McMahon will get 5 points from play?? Actually it might be combined, and that i feel is our problem, all any Westmeath man woman or whoever speak of is curtailing graham Reilly and they will win. Actually id bet my last euro on him been double marked, they have marked him out as our best player, actually most counties outside of Meath would have him as our main player, if you don't score more than opposition you wont win , no matter what any Donegal lad will tell you.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 20/06/2015 18:46:28    1739920

RD YOU KNOW WHEN YOU READ MY POST AND YOURS WE ARE NEARLY SAYING THE SAME THING..Yes i have HOPES also for some players this year to prove they are up to it.But HOPE rather than CONVICTION. I would really love to have to eat my words at the end of the year. We will live in HOPE. Perhaps the Westmeath match may give us a bit more CONFIDENCE. Who knows no certainties in football as Donegal demonstrated last year.

nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1211 - 20/06/2015 19:07:52    1739934

Meath will not win an all Ireland in the next 10 years. anyone who thinks otherwise is mistaken. also there will be no leinster title unless Dublin slip up. the only thing we can aim for is to stay in division 2 football for as long as possible.
the team that started against Wicklow was the weakest team in 35 years in my honest opinion.

I hate negativity towards our lads but we need to be realistic and try and look at our underage structures.

overthehill72 (Meath) - Posts: 334 - 20/06/2015 19:52:28    1739959

Overthehill I'd be a little bit more optimistic about our future but I agree underage is the key to success . I only wish the powers that be within Meath football was see that too. My son is involved with a development panel so I've first hand experience in what is being done and from what I see Seamus Kenny seems to have made an impact with good coaches and strength and conditioning, nutrition now being done by all development teams. What really concerns me is that funding is a major issue. If we are to bring through the next stars of Meath football and keep them playing we need our county board to see that money spent at underage will bring in far more in the future. For to long have we neglected underage yet we wonder why we can't perform against below average senior inter county teams. The teams of the 90's that won and competed in all Ireland's had underage success at minor and u-21. Instead of putting all our resources into the seniors put some into the youth I'd bet with anyone we'd compete in these grades. If only the men in the county board would see sense

username.if (Meath) - Posts: 67 - 20/06/2015 21:25:15    1740045

if we make the quarter finals we are doing well... As for the chap who said Meath won't win an All Ireland in 10 years...10 years is a long time and things change quickly enough in GAA.Im reminded of a conversation I had with a miserable Dublin fan the day after we hammered them in 2010..I said the same things to him, that things can turn around very quickly, and they did. I wouldn't be surprised if Meath returned to the top table well within that time. Remember 95' and what happened after it!.

TobinsBeard (Meath) - Posts: 125 - 20/06/2015 21:31:08    1740050

username

But aren't they putting money into underage? How much is Dunganny costing for example?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 20/06/2015 21:51:15    1740070

agree,you cannot say a team will not win an All-Ireland in the next 10 years!

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 20/06/2015 21:52:57    1740072

Ziggy

Your a long time poster hear so i assume you know that dunganny is for all Meath football that includes underage, seniors, girls and county board New home the latter being the most'important'. And about time because what is in navan is nothing short of a joke. And if you think ploughing 2 million into a building is going to solve our problems your mistaken. It will certainly help in having the facility but will our seniors use it? I doubt it they'll not give up the lavish trim hotels facilities. Which im sure cost a fortune that money would suit and boot the future stars. I've gone to blitz and every other county supply their teams with sock,shorts,tops,bags, food etc. What do we give our lads socks and shorts and that's it. We as a county should have no complaints about our senior team when we treat our underage with such disrespect. Ask the coaches they'll tell you what's wrong

username.if (Meath) - Posts: 67 - 21/06/2015 11:22:48    1740131

Nobull apologies, i misread your post. Absolutely spot on

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/06/2015 11:25:12    1740133

Username

I have an uncle who is a coach with the U14 team. He has very little complaints..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 21/06/2015 11:57:16    1740147

Ziggy

You clearly haven't a clue about underage structures or your a county board official. Why else would think everything's ok, if it was all so good as you think it is why aren't we competing in these grades? Does your uncle think everything is great now? Well some very good people in the development panels have fought very hard to get these things in place now. So your uncle hasn't seen the struggles he's come into a close to professional set up. It's people like you that think that these young players should be privileged to play for Meath? Why should they? Other sports are doing more to keep their players like rugby. Again I'll repeat we'll have no success unless we invest in the youth.

username.if (Meath) - Posts: 67 - 21/06/2015 13:08:44    1740184

Royal - In the past your man has only performed very well against the weaker teams-- that may change in the future of course and I hope that is the case. The guy who generates scores is as important as the guys who scores and he generates few scores. I do agree that he can be very good on occasions.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 21/06/2015 13:09:16    1740185

Username

He is only part of it this year,so maybe things are improving? I agree with your points 100% on the past and recent past.We will know in roughly 5 years when some of these players are minor and U21 if things are improving.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 21/06/2015 13:37:59    1740195

Browncows he did excellent against dubs in 10 same against Kildare and Louth same year. 11 dogged with injuries, 12 played out of skin v Kildare when they were on a high, has only had two real bad games both against dubs for past two years when they double marked him, if he had started v Armagh we might have won. I don't buy the not performing on big days, plenty of lads went missing v dubs last year. And apart from himself and keoghan they were same against Armagh. At the end of the day, a inside forward job is to score , if you cant do that then i get very frustrated. Maybe im old fashioned, looking at the likes of O'Rourke, Stafford Flynn, if any of them went a few games only getting one or two points theyd have been dropped mighty quickly no matter what balls they caught, also if they kept missing shots change would happen. I guess the game has moved on. But as a Meath man i want them all to have great games. Nothing would please me more.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/06/2015 17:11:47    1740297

RD

We would not have beaten Armagh last year had Reilly started,it was the correct decision to drop him for that game too.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 21/06/2015 17:14:10    1740299

I actually looked at the Meath/Dublin game for 2010. Looking at it again,Dublin were very naive that day,but they learnt a lot.Tha same could be said of Meath last year in the Leinster Final,can we learn from that? Time will tell.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 21/06/2015 17:16:41    1740300

Ahh ziggy would you cop on, did you see the points he got. Apart from dropping Chris O'Connor from panel and playing codology in Leinster final mods worst mistake.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/06/2015 17:26:47    1740308