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Meath Clubs In Leinster

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Replying To Ashrules:  "Look at the recording of the game and get someone who understands football to explain it to you.

Ratoath scored 17 pts to 12 but got caught for 2 goals against the run of play.
Referee allowed Downs to overcarry ridiculously and gave them frees when they needed them for absolutely no reason in my opinion. He would not have produced the second yellow if he was aware there was already one on the player, actually apologised to the player when having no choice.
Ratoaths performance was off the scale and the GPS will show that. Were further ahead of the Downs performance than either Summerhill or Rhode Matches."
Outrageously bitter and biased.

What has their GPS results got to do with the refs so called bias? Nobody is questioning Ratoaths performance or effort or ground they all covered at all. It was good performance but unfortunately just came up short against another good team that were smarter with the ball and without the ball.

Reality is Ratoath played to their potential for probably the last 5/6 minutes of the first half and the last 7/10 minutes of the 2nd half. Apart from that they were out played.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 22/11/2022 13:53:45    2448425

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Replying To Ashrules:  "Look at the recording of the game and get someone who understands football to explain it to you.

Ratoath scored 17 pts to 12 but got caught for 2 goals against the run of play.
Referee allowed Downs to overcarry ridiculously and gave them frees when they needed them for absolutely no reason in my opinion. He would not have produced the second yellow if he was aware there was already one on the player, actually apologised to the player when having no choice.
Ratoaths performance was off the scale and the GPS will show that. Were further ahead of the Downs performance than either Summerhill or Rhode Matches."
Ah come on. I've seen far far worse refereeing performances than Saturday's.
And goals win games, as the saying goes! Downs took two chances and could have easily had at least one or two more. We took none of ours and that's what lost us the game. That's three games in a row we've gone without a goal (having scored 16 in the previous 5) and it was bound to come back and bite us. Doesn't matter how far you run, if you can't take your scores, you're going to find it difficult.
Take the loss. We'll hopefully come back better and get another shot at Leinster in the not too distant future.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1362 - 22/11/2022 14:19:09    2448428

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "Outrageously bitter and biased.

What has their GPS results got to do with the refs so called bias? Nobody is questioning Ratoaths performance or effort or ground they all covered at all. It was good performance but unfortunately just came up short against another good team that were smarter with the ball and without the ball.

Reality is Ratoath played to their potential for probably the last 5/6 minutes of the first half and the last 7/10 minutes of the 2nd half. Apart from that they were out played."
The Statsman provided this data

Shots/Scores ratio from play The Down 70% (14/20)... Ratoath (17/28) 60%
Won own kick out The Downs (14/24) 58% ... Ratoath (14/17) 82%
Lost own kick out The Downs (10/24) 41% ... Ratoath (3/17) 17%
Scores from Frees The Downs (3/3)100% ... Ratoath (4/7)57%

ExiledCuCu (Cavan) - Posts: 228 - 22/11/2022 14:29:16    2448430

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Replying To Ratoath Royal:  "Ah come on. I've seen far far worse refereeing performances than Saturday's.
And goals win games, as the saying goes! Downs took two chances and could have easily had at least one or two more. We took none of ours and that's what lost us the game. That's three games in a row we've gone without a goal (having scored 16 in the previous 5) and it was bound to come back and bite us. Doesn't matter how far you run, if you can't take your scores, you're going to find it difficult.
Take the loss. We'll hopefully come back better and get another shot at Leinster in the not too distant future."
I agree. Ratoath will be hard stopped in Meath and the 2 games in Leinster will stand to them for next year . A very fair assessment of the game by yourself.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 22/11/2022 15:05:10    2448435

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Replying To ExiledCuCu:  "The Statsman provided this data

Shots/Scores ratio from play The Down 70% (14/20)... Ratoath (17/28) 60%
Won own kick out The Downs (14/24) 58% ... Ratoath (14/17) 82%
Lost own kick out The Downs (10/24) 41% ... Ratoath (3/17) 17%
Scores from Frees The Downs (3/3)100% ... Ratoath (4/7)57%"
Interesting reading thanks.

Ratoath certainly did not dominate like some people are claiming . Considering the downs went long on most kick outs 58% is not bad. Not surprised Ratoath were at 82% as they went short mostly and The Downs let them go short but then aggressively pressed them once the ratoath player had received the ball and got plenty of joy out of it in terms of turn overs.

So ratoath being at 82% is slightly misleading because some of those successful kick outs that they completed short they were turned over in the very next play.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 22/11/2022 15:17:27    2448437

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Wasn't at the game but those stats state clearly that Ratoath were better disciplined and done better on the Downs kickout but could not score frees which might have been the deciding factor.

UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 355 - 22/11/2022 18:30:53    2448461

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Replying To Ashrules:  "Look at the recording of the game and get someone who understands football to explain it to you.

Ratoath scored 17 pts to 12 but got caught for 2 goals against the run of play.
Referee allowed Downs to overcarry ridiculously and gave them frees when they needed them for absolutely no reason in my opinion. He would not have produced the second yellow if he was aware there was already one on the player, actually apologised to the player when having no choice.
Ratoaths performance was off the scale and the GPS will show that. Were further ahead of the Downs performance than either Summerhill or Rhode Matches."
If the ref was so eager for The Downs to win surely giving Luke Loughlin a penalty when he went down in the square would have been an obvious move.

Jack_Sparrow (Westmeath) - Posts: 1018 - 22/11/2022 20:02:58    2448465

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Replying To UsernameInvalid:  "Wasn't at the game but those stats state clearly that Ratoath were better disciplined and done better on the Downs kickout but could not score frees which might have been the deciding factor."
They did better on the downs kick outs than the downs did on theirs because the downs went long mostly therefore they were more contested kick outs.

Ratoaths kicks were majority short and uncontested because the downs chose to let them have it initially and press them hard when they got it.

Stats don't always tell the full story .

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 22/11/2022 21:34:56    2448470

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I see both Dunshaughlin and Castletown are away in a double header in Wexford Park for their finals. Surely Leinster finals should be in a neutral venue no??

boeder (Meath) - Posts: 59 - 23/11/2022 07:52:20    2448476

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Some of this is quite amusing. As a Ratoath man who was at the game (and fully puts the loss down to a mixture of our own short comings and the Downs more clinical nature) I don't see how people can think the ref didn't have a poor game. The fact he didn't give a penalty to Loughlan for what was clearly not a foul doesn't mean anything. I don't think he was overly biased to be fair, but on top of the fact that I would say most 50/50 calls went the way of the Downs, there were a number of calls that to me didn't make much sense:
1. 2 yellow cards to a player and was going to allow him stay on the pitch until it was pointed out he had just received a second yellow. This is poor refereeing, there can be no argument on tis at all.
2. Appeared to be a blatant connection to the head of Gavin McGowan on the dugout side of the pitch, right in front of the ref and linesman and no even free given. Whether accidental or not, its a head injury and the ref still allowed play to carry on. Ratoath being in possession or not, this is again poor refereeing.
3. This one slightly down to interpretation, and didn't impact the games result, but the trip on McMahon at the end out on the sideline seemed as obvious a black card as there is. The player slip in and tripped him with his foot and McMahon was about to run away from him. As I said, it made no difference to the play as it was the last action of the game, but I don't see how its a yellow and not a black??? Again, a poor decision.

As I said, I think he had a poor game, but the The Downs were full credit for the win over the 60mins. They looked far more dangerous in attack over the whole of the game and completely squeezed the Ratoath kickout once it went short. Ratoath only played for the last 10 mins or so of each half and when they did The Downs had no answer to them, but its a 60 minute game and the Downs when they had the dominant spell at the beginning of the second half made it count, taking goal chances when Ratoath didn't. I don't thinks anyone can say that the better team on the day won the game, but also anyone saying the ref wasn't great needs to re-watch it

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 23/11/2022 09:44:06    2448481

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Did the Ratoath GPS record the scoreline by any chance?

RoyoftheRoyals (Meath) - Posts: 36 - 23/11/2022 09:46:09    2448482

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Replying To ratlag:  "Some of this is quite amusing. As a Ratoath man who was at the game (and fully puts the loss down to a mixture of our own short comings and the Downs more clinical nature) I don't see how people can think the ref didn't have a poor game. The fact he didn't give a penalty to Loughlan for what was clearly not a foul doesn't mean anything. I don't think he was overly biased to be fair, but on top of the fact that I would say most 50/50 calls went the way of the Downs, there were a number of calls that to me didn't make much sense:
1. 2 yellow cards to a player and was going to allow him stay on the pitch until it was pointed out he had just received a second yellow. This is poor refereeing, there can be no argument on tis at all.
2. Appeared to be a blatant connection to the head of Gavin McGowan on the dugout side of the pitch, right in front of the ref and linesman and no even free given. Whether accidental or not, its a head injury and the ref still allowed play to carry on. Ratoath being in possession or not, this is again poor refereeing.
3. This one slightly down to interpretation, and didn't impact the games result, but the trip on McMahon at the end out on the sideline seemed as obvious a black card as there is. The player slip in and tripped him with his foot and McMahon was about to run away from him. As I said, it made no difference to the play as it was the last action of the game, but I don't see how its a yellow and not a black??? Again, a poor decision.

As I said, I think he had a poor game, but the The Downs were full credit for the win over the 60mins. They looked far more dangerous in attack over the whole of the game and completely squeezed the Ratoath kickout once it went short. Ratoath only played for the last 10 mins or so of each half and when they did The Downs had no answer to them, but its a 60 minute game and the Downs when they had the dominant spell at the beginning of the second half made it count, taking goal chances when Ratoath didn't. I don't thinks anyone can say that the better team on the day won the game, but also anyone saying the ref wasn't great needs to re-watch it"
You are on about point 3 having no impact on the result or the play. Neither did point 1. Yes it was poor refereeing by not realizing it was a 2nd yellow but the main point here is the red was eventually given and it was before the game had restarted so had no impact on the play or result either .

I certainly don't think the ref had a good game but just like the few examples you set out there of ones he missed for Ratoath I think of 2 or 3 which they got away with that should have been Downs frees so overall you I would say he was 50/50 although this is subjective and you could maybe argue the downs got the decisions 55/45 or at most 60/40 but we all know that's football and that's the way it goes so the other posters extreme opinion that ref was just biased and robbed Ratoath and that were miles and miles the better team is just nonsense.

I think one posters example of the possible penalty for Loughlin is actually a great example. It was a fantastic tackle by Ben Wyer when you see it on the replay and certainly not a penalty but from the where the ref was and the angle he had if he was "biased" towards the downs it would have been so easy for him to give that as a pen.

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 23/11/2022 10:11:51    2448487

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "
Replying To ExiledCuCu:  "The Statsman provided this data

Shots/Scores ratio from play The Down 70% (14/20)... Ratoath (17/28) 60%
Won own kick out The Downs (14/24) 58% ... Ratoath (14/17) 82%
Lost own kick out The Downs (10/24) 41% ... Ratoath (3/17) 17%
Scores from Frees The Downs (3/3)100% ... Ratoath (4/7)57%"
Interesting reading thanks.

Ratoath certainly did not dominate like some people are claiming . Considering the downs went long on most kick outs 58% is not bad. Not surprised Ratoath were at 82% as they went short mostly and The Downs let them go short but then aggressively pressed them once the ratoath player had received the ball and got plenty of joy out of it in terms of turn overs.

So ratoath being at 82% is slightly misleading because some of those successful kick outs that they completed short they were turned over in the very next play."
Very well said. The execution of the short kickouts wasn't the issue - it's what happened immediately afterwards.

Astute coaching from Lar Wall who has to be high on the list of candidates for any pending County vacancy next year. And seems like an all round top guy.

GenderNeutral (Meath) - Posts: 112 - 23/11/2022 10:37:19    2448492

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Replying To Blackspot09:  "You are on about point 3 having no impact on the result or the play. Neither did point 1. Yes it was poor refereeing by not realizing it was a 2nd yellow but the main point here is the red was eventually given and it was before the game had restarted so had no impact on the play or result either .

I certainly don't think the ref had a good game but just like the few examples you set out there of ones he missed for Ratoath I think of 2 or 3 which they got away with that should have been Downs frees so overall you I would say he was 50/50 although this is subjective and you could maybe argue the downs got the decisions 55/45 or at most 60/40 but we all know that's football and that's the way it goes so the other posters extreme opinion that ref was just biased and robbed Ratoath and that were miles and miles the better team is just nonsense.

I think one posters example of the possible penalty for Loughlin is actually a great example. It was a fantastic tackle by Ben Wyer when you see it on the replay and certainly not a penalty but from the where the ref was and the angle he had if he was "biased" towards the downs it would have been so easy for him to give that as a pen."
I never said point 1 did have an impact on the game, nor did I say the ref was biased, in fact I specifically said I didn't think he was biased. A ref can be poor and not biased which as I said, I thought was the case in this game. My point was that he had a poor game, nothing more or less. I credited The Downs for being the better team on the day and were deserving of the win.

Would the result have been any different with a better ref???? Who knows, maybe, maybe not as there was only a point in it in the end. Ratoath may have won with a better ref, The Downs may have won by more, we won't ever know.............it still doesn't mean this ref wasn't poor.

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 23/11/2022 11:38:19    2448503

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Replying To boeder:  "I see both Dunshaughlin and Castletown are away in a double header in Wexford Park for their finals. Surely Leinster finals should be in a neutral venue no??"
Was Trim's Leinster final not in Navan a year ago?

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1646 - 23/11/2022 11:48:46    2448507

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Replying To ratlag:  "I never said point 1 did have an impact on the game, nor did I say the ref was biased, in fact I specifically said I didn't think he was biased. A ref can be poor and not biased which as I said, I thought was the case in this game. My point was that he had a poor game, nothing more or less. I credited The Downs for being the better team on the day and were deserving of the win.

Would the result have been any different with a better ref???? Who knows, maybe, maybe not as there was only a point in it in the end. Ratoath may have won with a better ref, The Downs may have won by more, we won't ever know.............it still doesn't mean this ref wasn't poor."
If you read my post again you will see I said that the other poster was on about the ref being biased. I never said or implied that you felt the ref was biased .

Blackspot09 (Meath) - Posts: 870 - 23/11/2022 13:18:40    2448519

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Replying To boeder:  "I see both Dunshaughlin and Castletown are away in a double header in Wexford Park for their finals. Surely Leinster finals should be in a neutral venue no??"
All Leinster finals below senior level are played in one team's county ground. We played our intermediate final against Athlone in Mullingar, Cilles and Trim played their finals in Navan. Ballinlough lost their final to the Louth champions in Drogheda.

Ratoath Royal (Meath) - Posts: 1362 - 23/11/2022 18:12:25    2448559

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Trim V Tullamore, what do we reckon?

countyman123 (Meath) - Posts: 34 - 24/11/2022 15:06:47    2448623

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Replying To countyman123:  "Trim V Tullamore, what do we reckon?"
I think I could see trim winning if all goes to plan, 5/6 points. Reason being tullamore don't seem to be a strong outfit only relying on Dooley at 11. I could be wrong , only thing is weather is meant to be terrible so could be in for a slow sloppy game. Be an interesting one.

Joe_soap1 (Meath) - Posts: 80 - 24/11/2022 20:41:15    2448655

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Hard luck to Ratoath, fought well and nearly got there. Hope either our lads or Castletown, hopefully both, can get another step further.

aghref (Meath) - Posts: 148 - 24/11/2022 20:58:48    2448657

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