I would go for..

1. David Gallagher - Kick-outs far better against Kildare and this was key,it was the first game he didn't use the tee and this meant the ball wasn't lofting in the air as much,so fair play .

2.Donal Keoghan - A quick tigerish corner back,and If anyone on HS has been watching,I have pleading for us to play him for some time! Anyway Dublins forwards are bullish and this will be a serious test for the young man

3.Kevin Reilly - For me he is the best full-back in the country now,he is the leader of the team,and has grown more commanding,wrap him in cotton wool!!

4.Bryan Menton - I have thought about this and Menton best position is in the half-back line,but he was good at full-back against Kildare and as I said Dublins forwards are bullish. Could do a better job marking Brogan,and you can always move him out if needs must.

5.Donncha Tobin - Very honest player,works like a machine.Very good tackler does not foul,and does a lot of work around midfield,every team needs unsung heroes and players to do the dirty work,Tobin does that in spades.

6.Shane McAnarney - The captain of the team,he sometimes is to loose for my liking and makes too many forward runs leaving holes in the centre,but against Kildare he pretty much held his position,will need to do the same against Dublin

7.Mickey Burke - Similar to Tobin,in that he gets through a serious amount of work,likes to run with the ball and can wing breaking ball,depending on how the game is going ,he can swap with Menton

8.Conor Gillespie - This young man seems to be growing in confidence,his performance against Kildare was the best midfield display by any individual this year.He tracked back,he ran forward and played some lovely passes,but most of all he dominated the midfield are.Made some fine catches ,but against Dublin it will be tougher,they have a few hard men around the middle and Conor will need help..

9.Brian Meade - Last chance? Poor against Kildare,good in the other games,just doesn't use his physic against the better teams.Plus for the second game in a row,Gillespie moved up a level when Meade was taking off.. If Meade starts poorly,Peader could be on after 20 mins..

10.Alan Forde - This guy is 19,yes only 19,he has a huge future for Meath,he has electrifying pace,and for a small guy has amazing power.Tends to get tired late on,but is that a surprise?

11.Damien Carroll - It's amazing how he not no playing time in the league and the likes of Gillespie and Forde only got a few mins... Carroll is a proper number 11,great balance,vision,poise and work-rate,he is an outstanding talent.

12.Graham Reilly - Top scorer from play this year(from all counties),and he is a player that plays deep. When he gets a run on a defender either have to let him by or foul him,still 22/23,he is a top rate player

13.Brian Farrell - Very much a confidence player and has played well against Dublin,he is at peak confidence right now,can win his own ball and take a score,works well with Joe..

14.Joe Sheridan - His best position is full forward,but may find it difficult as I think Dublin will defend deep against us.But can win his own ball and link up with others,tends to score fantastic points,and id always a goal-threat

15.Stephen Bray - Gets the nod ahead of Ward as he works harder.Can score off either foot and is more of a threat nearer to goal

That leaves the likes of Harrington,Byrne,Ward,Queeney,Collins to come on when changes need to be made.

There has been a lot of media hype about the youngsters ,let's juts hope it doesn't go to their heads..

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 04/07/2012 10:52:10    1209138

Just to add,two years ago the Meath Under 21's beat Dublin(who were the All-Ireland Champs),a lot of these youngsters were on that Meath team.

Would love to see Newman back next year,and any chance Gilsenan can make the bench the next day?

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 04/07/2012 11:00:39    1209146

ziggy

agree with u ziggy but one thing in your set up i would change is bryne for meade. Peadar is simply a better player than meade and is on top form. Not playin peadar would be crazy, as the saying goes "never muzzle a good dog"

gaz772 (Meath) - Posts: 42 - 04/07/2012 11:34:25    1209185

I would go with ziggy and start brian meade,word from the panal is peader doesnt have 70 mins in him so better to leave him til half time at least

bobjaffacake (Meath) - Posts: 1400 - 04/07/2012 11:45:00    1209190

great post ziggy and i agree with your team, harsh on ward but we need bray against dublin. I was thinking if this is the team that lines up against dublin who will they most likely be marking from dublin and how they'll fair.



1. David Gallagher - .

2.Donal Keoghan - B Brogan- Best forward in the country at the moment i think any of our defenders would be in for a long day on him

3.Kevin Reilly - O' Gara- With connoly suspended o gara will most likely play in the full forward line with brogan, suits Reilly down to the ground.

4.Bryan Menton - McMenimin with no 14 on his back but plays out the pitch making runs from deep this will be a reall key battle .

5.Donncha Tobin - B Cullen. has the tenacity and pace to keep with him but will have to make sure he has cover when making the runs forward.

6.Shane McAnarney - Alan brogan- This is were we could lose it,mcanarney is too loose and brogan pulls all the strings for dublin

7.Mickey Burke - Paul Flynn- two work horses could cancel eachother out. Mickey needs to win the breaking ball as flynn is excellent at it

8.Conor Gillespie - Fennel- On gillespies last performance this should be a great battle and one we need to win

9.Brian Meade - Bastic/Michael daragh macCauley- we'll loose this if its MDC but bastic gives us a chance

10.Alan Forde - K Nolan- A reall test for Ford nolan will have the pace to stick with him and will be attacking himself

11.Damien Carroll - Ger brennan- If caroll uses his pace and keeps runnning at Brennan we could win this battle

12.Graham Reilly - McCarthy- I fancy Reilly on anyone at the moment

13.Brian Farrell - Fitzimons- tight sticky back farell will be doing well to get much time to settle on the ball-cian wards strenght could cause him problems do if brought on.

14.Joe Sheridan - O'Caroll- Joe should have him in the air and strengt wise the right ball has to be put into joe and we could win this battle

BlackKettle (Meath) - Posts: 66 - 04/07/2012 11:46:54    1209192

yeh it could well be 14 a side by the end of it!!

wideasagate (Meath) - Posts: 140 - 04/07/2012 12:04:54    1209218

Lads - I'm afraid it is a 20 man squad game now, especially the way Meath played v Kildare ie physical, running at them off the wings
eg Forde was (dare I say) like a young Paddy Reynolds, Menton strong at no.3, Gillespie catching crows, etc

The question is - who is the starting 15 ? that depends on:
> Injuries in training - Evans will minimise this after letting fly at McElkennon for the harsh "warm-up" in Stamullen a couple of weeks ago
> Who starts for Dublin
> Banty's well known disregard for who is named on the programme (it'll keep Pat Gilroy guessing)

So my starting 15 (first down on my page are the half forwards)

1. D Gallagher
2. D Keoghan 3. K Reilly (depends on fitness) 4. E. Harrington
5. D Tobin 6. B Menton (or SMcA if Kev not fit) 7. M Burke
8. C Gillespie 9 B Meade
10. A Forde 11. D Carroll 12. Biggy
13. B. Farrell 14. Big Joe 15. C Ward (he HAS to have a big one, with respect to Peader)

We are lucky to have Peader, Stephen Bray, Chris OConnor, Brian Sheridan, Jamie Queeney on standby.
Hate to be looking for that number 10 jersey!

RoyalSt.Pat (Meath) - Posts: 333 - 04/07/2012 13:01:09    1209276

Yeh agree with that team Ziggy. Good descriptions of the players!

I think the biggest thing about this game is we are looking for a second very good performance in Croke Park, whether we win or not. When this current team (excluding the new players) have won a big game in Croke Park for the last 4/5 years they never seemed to play as well in their next game. You only have to look at 2010 v Dublin and then they played poor v Louth. And then the AI quarter finals we won they came out not looking prepared for the semi's against Kerry and Cork. So hopefully this won't happen this time. The attitude of the younger players seems different to the older ones in general. Keoghan, Carroll, Tobin they have a real never say die attitude and you can see it filtering through to the older players and it is keeping them on their toes. So lets hope they come out firing on all cylinders again.

ClassApart (Meath) - Posts: 1200 - 04/07/2012 13:04:48    1209282

Whats the story with tom walsh,he was probable our best midfielder in the league before he got hurt but hes not getting a look in since hes been fit

bobjaffacake (Meath) - Posts: 1400 - 04/07/2012 13:29:01    1209312

meath have to start stephen bray, he terrorised the dublin defence in 2010 scoring 2-1, cian ward also has great memories of dublin in 2010 after scoring 1-4 so i would not replace bray with ward, it might seem a bit harsh but i would bring bray in for alan forde, forde has been playing well but bray is a way big threat than forde.

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 415 - 04/07/2012 13:30:06    1209317

Spot on there, bray in for forde, byrne in for meade and reilly for lenehan with menton to 6 and shane mc to 4. Queeny superb impact sub

Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1508 - 04/07/2012 13:48:43    1209352

ah i think it would be very harsh to not have forde starting he played really well and was probly our fastest forward against kildare, anytime he went on a run they had to foul him to stop him which gave us easy enough frees. the only way i think it will work with bray coming back is to start him instead of ward or maybe do the same as the last day with bray coming on, but id prefer bray to start.

meathalltheway (Meath) - Posts: 789 - 04/07/2012 13:57:10    1209363

i wouldnt like shane mc at 4 at all hes far too loose to have on one of the dublin forwards, i think harrington would be better here but then where do you fit menton in is the question because hes too good to drop.

meathalltheway (Meath) - Posts: 789 - 04/07/2012 14:00:20    1209366

I don't think Shane Mc should be starting, as people are saying he is too loose, but the reality is he is not going to be on the bench because he is captain. The management need to get the guts not to start him but can't see it happening. It would be for the good of the team and whatever about Kildare we cannot have ANY passengers against Dublin. Its not that he's that bad but there is better on the bench.

ClassApart (Meath) - Posts: 1200 - 04/07/2012 14:12:25    1209383

What about graham reilly in midfield for meade and start bray at 12.

Forde has been great but we're not getting enough end product out of him yet, against Dublin we need to take every scoring opportunity we can get and Cian ward is excellent at that look at last year he was playing poorly then he banged all them goals past louth.

Someone told me Sunday Forde used to play in defence and is only recently a forward is this true or was someone winding me up??

BlackKettle (Meath) - Posts: 66 - 04/07/2012 14:13:09    1209385

My 15

1. Gallagher
2. Keoghan
3. Reilly
4. Menton
5. Tobin
6. McAnarney
7. Burke
8. Gillespie
9. Meade
10. Forde
11. Carroll
12. Reilly (playing midfield and breaking forward)
13. Farrell
14. Joe
15. Ward

People putting McAnarney in the corner back position I would disagree with. Not only will they get goalside of him there but he is a great worker and gets up and down the field very well. Put him in the corner and you lose that.

Anyone thinking of taking Forde off must be mad, sure he is driving at the defenses with great pace, getting a few points himself but winning very scorable frees (plus a throw up which led to the goal on sunday).

Leave Ward on I would say, no one is working as hard as he is or tracking back as much in the last few games. Keep Bray and Peader as impact subs. Keep Queeney till the last 10 minutes, he'll still manage to pop over one or two!

cabbage (Meath) - Posts: 171 - 04/07/2012 15:21:08    1209476

1. Gallagher
2. keoghan
3. reilly
4. tobin
5. mcanarney
6. menton
7. m.burke
8. Gillespie
9. G.reilly
10. bray
11. carroll
12. p.byrne
13. farrell
14. sheridan
15. ward

that would be my team but i cant see banty starting peadar byrne, he will start meade instead midfield and biggy wing forward

redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 415 - 04/07/2012 15:21:17    1209477

Well i know banty put him on right half back against derry in the league,graham reilly was left half back .our half forward line that day was kenny tobin and mcanarney.is it any wonder we got relegated

bobjaffacake (Meath) - Posts: 1400 - 04/07/2012 15:22:06    1209479

If you take Forde out of the starting line up, the team will regress back to old ways. Our problems in previous years was a serious lack of pace and mobility especially among our forwards (apart from Graham Reilly of course). We were one dimensional and predictable as a result. Leave Forde in there and he will cause problems and win frees. It also mixes up our attacking options. It will also limit at least one opposition wing back bombing forward so much. Forde doesn't really kick many scores and he is slow or reluctant to deliver a kick pass inside, so tends to run and run and without other players in or showing support can get bottled up. But if this area of his game can be worked on then he is better in the starting line up. Anyway it is a twenty man game now, so playing him for 50-60 minutes should be part of the overall gameplan. At the moment Stephen Bray should also be in the starting team, with Farrell, Reilly and Carroll. For me I think we should only have one slow (immobile) player at most in the full forward line. So between Joe and Cian, you start one and introduce the other later on. 2010 v Dublin was a freak result and thinking because something worked then, that it will work again is unrealistic. What I would say is that Cian Ward is a much better finisher than Joe where goal chances are concerned. Joe will kick (and create) more scores from play but in front of goal, he isn't as ruthless anymore. He has had at least one goal chance in every game thus far and nothing to show for it. Instead of kicking a shot in a hurry every time, he needs to keep a cool head in the moment. Sometimes that means settling/fisting over for a point rather than just shooting on sight for the sake of it.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 04/07/2012 16:02:02    1209517

There is a lot to recommend your team Ziggy. My only concerns with Menton at No.4 would be his mobility against a quick corner forward. O'Connor suited him down to the ground, but would not be too sure against the Brogans. If anything, I could see Kevin Reilly doing at a better job at No. 4 and leaving Menton at full-back. I also think that I would have Meade on the bench, Graham Reilly at No.9, and Stephen Bray at No. 12. I thought Bray was superb in every respect last week, and while Cian Ward is not setting the world alight, there has been a very noticeable improvement in his work rate, especially in preventing Kildare backs break forward.

So I would go with
1. Gallagher
2. Keoghan
3. Menton
4. K. Reilly
5. Tobin
6. McAnarney
7. Burke
8. Gillespie
9. G. Reilly
10. Forde
11. Carroll
12. Bray
13. Ward
14. Sheridan
15. Farrell.

Meath1986 (Dublin) - Posts: 247 - 04/07/2012 16:49:01    1209582