royalpainter

Shane O'Rourke will be coming back,but Ward,Gillespie and Meade (especially the last two),are not good enough,but we struggle to win breaking ball.Still think we have forwards as good and better than most in the country,but they can go long spells without getting the ball

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 04/02/2012 21:23:32    1105577

graham9897

To be fair Meade wins very little around the middle,it's alright saying he is a workhorse,Reilly again proved he is better on the wing,Bray or Ward at 11,Ward played a peach of a pass tonight ,Bray hit the post,we need a good passer at 11..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 04/02/2012 21:35:09    1105585

Decent display but had Monaghan had their shooting boots on it may have been a different result. Thought midfield did OK in the first half but were completely overrun in the second half. Mark Ward can make some fantastic leaps in the air yet rarely catches a ball cleanly.
And again, our forwards showed glimpses of what they can do. The goal was an absolute sight to behold from when Biggie won the ball back inside our own half to Shane Mac's exquisite finish.

Was very disappointed with Monaghan's apparent dirty tactics when the game was gone from them. Their number 5 should have seen red in the same incident that Paddy Gilsenan (very harshly) got his second yellow as he threw a punch back at him before only getting a yellow for an elbow in a similar incident. Adding to that, there were a few niggly off the ball incidents in the last few incidents as well.

Nice to know we're 2/3 of the way to our final tally of last year. We simply have to end our terrible away record next week if we're to have any hope of challenging for promotion. Our last away win was in Wexford in 2009.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1466 - 04/02/2012 21:37:24    1105586

my apologies there jinx and ziggy, mis read the comment as i was on the i phone at the airport and just had a quick glance..

lads i didnt make the game but i see alot of yee are worried about midfield.. this issue has to be sorted out now!! when everyone fit i assume midfield would be shane o rourke and meade?? yes ward is there along time and on the big day isnt consistant enough.. he's too predictable!! this week i've noticed berrigan from dunboyne is midfield with moynooth and paddy o rourke and geroid rennicks are mid field with dundalk college.. all im trying to say is give other lads in the county a fair crack.. i know paddy played full forward last year but give other lads a chance in the county, have challenge matches now, see whats out there.. has to be worth a punt.. by the way, well done lads, sounds like a decent performance.. bigger tasks ahead!!

isTHIS4real (Meath) - Posts: 97 - 04/02/2012 21:47:25    1105591

Yep agreement again Ziggy and it was not long ago I was slated for saying some of our forwards are best in country and would make any team. I can guarantee kildare would love 2 of them at least especially after tonight. We lack it at midfield in particular but also felt our backs at times were better than of late. But lots of improvement needed

Onwards and upwards. Need to push for promotion.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 04/02/2012 21:52:49    1105595

are people serious about midfield?? were any of you actually at the game? Mark ward got his hand to every kick out. sure he wasnt catching them but he was breaking it to Meath players every time. We easily won that battle 70/30. As soon as he went off eoin lenihan caught 3 balls cleanly and as soon as meade went off monaghan started powering up the middle. Im not saying we dominated midfield but I think people are being far too over critical here. Are you basing your opinions on the 2 midfielders being taken off? I didnt understand that move by Banty and we started to lose our way when we switched things around.

Overall a win is a win - we did play well in parts but we were flattered by the scoreline (Monaghan need to work on shooting). Putting chris O connor in the forwards and then bringing him back as a sweeper suited monaghan more than us I think. We played our best football in the first half when we let good quick ball into the forward line but overdoing the hand passing will be our downfall.

I think we were the better team on the night but still not mad about the performance. like I said a win is a win

Rags_2_Royal (Meath) - Posts: 43 - 04/02/2012 22:03:41    1105601

well done to the lads last night ,great start to the year ,keep up the good work!

setantameath (Meath) - Posts: 53 - 05/02/2012 10:24:50    1105613

Division 1 hear we come. And also bring on the championship. Now I know I'm going over board. And I'm only half serious in what I'm saying and one swallow don't make a spring etc. But honestly if we can tighten up in a few areas we can certainly mix it with the best of them. And kildare should hold no worries for us they are clearly no better than us in actual fact may be a little behind us on this weeks form

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 05/02/2012 11:26:22    1105626

Calm down a bit Royaldunne we can easily lose to Westmeath,that game will be a huge test of our attitude.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/02/2012 12:14:06    1105648

Lads, don't get carried away. Meath were 2-3 points in front (no more) and then Monaghan kicked over a dozen wides in quick succession. The goal clinched the game (good interception by Graham Reilly to start the ball rolling) but without it and better finishing by the northerners, we would have been seriously tested. Had they nosed in front as any half decent team would, they would really have put it up to us. I'd like to think we could have stepped up a gear when the need arose and we probably could against Monaghan. But against a better team they could have put us away when Monaghan had their purple patch (possession wise) and been able to contain us for the remainder of the match.

So 7/10 for Meath last night. Good to see a few players look for the short kick out as well (mixing it up). Don't like Menton doing it at FB, when there is a lack of cover in case he is dispossessed, even though he made one great run/attack in the first half. A big improvement on the DCU game. A win against Westmeath and we should be better prepared for more difficult challenges ahead.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 05/02/2012 12:22:55    1105652

Good win. Apart from 15-20 minutes early in the second half I thought we dominated the game, its an aspect of our game which seriously needs to be addressed, better teams will punish us during these periods where we switch off.

Rags_2_Royal I dont know what planet you are living on, our midfield were terrible, we won a good few breaks in the 1st half but neither of them caught 1 ball throughout the game, we only started winning kickouts when gally started going short in the 2nd half. Once Kevin reilly is fit enough to start I would love to see menton and shane o'rourke in midfield, both are good under the high ball, o'rourke will get 2-3 points per game and mentons workrate is what we lack in midfield.

Our backs looked solid, they broke out well with the ball but gave away some very soft frees, which in part was down to some poor refereeing. At times when the backs broke with the ball the forwards gave them very few options and the ball was given away, again its something that needs to be worked on. Having said that I was impressed with Gilsenan, he looks a lot stronger this year, he was always looking for the ball and has the confidence to take on his man, hopefully he keeps it up.

For me meade and mcguinness (and M.Ward to a lesser extent) looked off the pace, but all in all a good start to the league and we should make 2 from 2 next week in mullingar.

On a side note, it was good to see Kildare brought back down to earth, they need to stop believing their own hype, no doubt they are a very good team but what have they done in the last 4 years? Sweet FA

jetser (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 05/02/2012 12:27:19    1105653

Yep phase one of 2 completewin in,mullingar next week for a perfect start.glas ur right if monaghan had tightened up there shots we were done .did anyone notice a lot of thetime cian ward was the lone ranger center half were stuck in midfield ,although the was a brillant score from play tally.how can we shore up the center and one final observation ,what really went on with gg ,his top was on then off then on and off again . Felt big joe look lean and ready for battle this season.

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 05/02/2012 12:33:41    1105657

What was the thinking of having Geraghty take his jumper off ready to come on with seconds remaining and Meath winning by 6 points.

Overall average performance . Kickouts are so far from the service Murphy and O'Rourke supplied (Too much air on the ball which takes away distance)
Burke is not a corner back, O'Brien,O'Connor,McAnarney were good. McGuinness im still not convinced. Midfield was terrible. Not one clear catch and Monaghan for some reason persisted with short kickouts. Half forward line were good, Kenny is an amazing man for his size, Reilly excellent but drifts in and out of the game too much. Tobin did nothing much wrong. I though the full forward line was excellent. Ward worked hard and got a few nice scores, Gilsenan is a terrier and Bray is still the best footballer in the county. Joe did well for his first outing chipped in with a real Joe type opportunist score. Lenihan,Walsh and Gillespie I cant really comment on.
I never had a problem with Banty becoming Manager, I felt sorry for him last year as we never got one break but he must forget about trying to get the biggest cheer by sending on Geraghty. Work out a formula that will see us take points and put in credible performances in the Kildare, Tyrone, Derry and Galway games and the county will sing his praises. A lot done and plenty more to do.

urizen (Meath) - Posts: 119 - 05/02/2012 12:37:27    1105658

Meant to say half a dozen wides in a short space of time.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 05/02/2012 12:38:24    1105659

Good performance overall without being spectacular. Our forwards in particular had a good game with regard to linking up with each other, their movement and taking chances once the opportunity was there. Our inside forward line looked good at times with Cian Ward showing glimpses of class without being exceptional which is fine due to the time of the year. Paddy Gilsenan had a good game, took a couple of sweet scores and linked up the play very well and was very unfortunate to have gotten sent off. Bray as usual roamed around the forward line, linked up play and took a couple of nice scores which is good to see.

Midfield was pretty dire as regards to winning clean possession. I thought bringing Meade back into the center was a good move because he's more useful and mobile in there than Gillespie. We're lucky Monaghan persisted with short kick outs as they could have exposed us around the middle third had they persevered. Despite the poor performance from midfield I thought the work rate from the half backs and the half forwards was much improved.

The full back line looked shaky at the start especially with Menton 1 on 1 with the Monaghan full forward, Hughes. However, I thought Menton got the measure of him in the second half but I'd still prefer to see Kevin Reilly holding the fort back there. Some people might disagree with me but I'd rather see Menton at center half back than McAnarney. McAnarney is a great trier and always give 100% but I'd like to see a bigger man cover up that area in front of the full back line. McAnarney is good going forward but he's no exception on the back foot. Possibly move him out to the wing.

Overall a good perfomance but there was a 10-15 minute period in the second half where Monaghan kicked an awful lot of wides. A better team would have punished us when we were only 2 points up so much improvement to be made.

RoyalClass (Meath) - Posts: 790 - 05/02/2012 13:25:28    1105680

We need to have about 9 forwards getting game time during the league. For me, the 9 I would have are:
G Reilly
S Kenny
S Bray
C Ward
J Sheridan
P Gilsenan
D Tobin
E Reilly
A Nestor

That 9 gives a good mix of pace, power, work rate and scoring ability.
Meade is a midfield option and no more.
It's Shane and AN Other this year.
Personally, I'd move Menton out to midfield when Kevin is back.
I think that gives us a very strong spine that pretty much picks itself except for centre forward (I'd favour Cian here).

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 05/02/2012 14:15:31    1105696

I'd have to agree that we still struggle to win kickouts and this is going to become a big problem for us. Monaghan had long spells of posession that started from winning breaking ball around midfield. Meade doesn't seem to even be an option. Ward is targeted everytime but Gallagher gets too much air under the ball and Monaghan's half-backs blitzed him. He got his hands on the ball alright but it rarely stuck. If your keeper is putting the kickouts down the middle you're better off driving it long, we've a half-forward line that can compete for dirty ball. That's what worked last year. Simple stuff.

Tom Walsh always makes an impact at midfield because he keeps it simple, breaks the ball down and he's confident enough to move for the short kickout.

Ollie99 (Meath) - Posts: 442 - 05/02/2012 14:30:38    1105707

How are we giving Meade so many chances?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 05/02/2012 18:25:48    1105903

Banty in his defence is trying to address the pace issue by bringing in a sprint coach.
But that will only ever make a small difference.
You can't turn a slow adult player into a speed-merchant no matter what training they do.
Dublin and Kerry have pace all over the field.
We need mobility at midfield and speed in the forward line.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 05/02/2012 20:15:32    1106074

I was quite happy leaving Navan last night, it wasn't a spectacular display but overall a solid one with some very good passages of play and passing. Midfield is an issue and was the stand out issue last night for me. Defensively at times we were good although the Monaghan goal and another couple of incidents need looking at, they were let in far too easy for that goal. Our forwards looked dangerous any time they got possession and overall I though we looked quite fit and moved somewhat quicker than we usually do at this time of year. An important win in terms of the league, two more points in mullingar next Sunday will put us in a decent position to mount a promotion challenge

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3772 - 05/02/2012 20:32:20    1106103