Meath Forum

Mayo Vs Meath - All Ireland Round 3

(Oldest Posts First)

Thoughts on the draw? Feels like a pure 50 50 game to me. Think Meath will dominate midfield and overall have the better forwards. Ryan O'Donoghue, Kobe and Darragh Beirne will no doubt cause our struggling defence a lot of problems. Think Mayo have the better defenders, hoping the big pitch in Castlebar will suit meath and they will have had an extra day recovery on Mayo. Such a hard game to call, should be a cracker.

Sheridan2010louth (Meath) - Posts: 343 - 15/06/2026 12:18:07    2679837

Link

Would have preferred it in Croke Park but it's about as good as we could have gotten. Mayo are a good team, but also vulnerable and we are absolutely capable of beating them. Think both teams will be relatively happy with the draw

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 168 - 15/06/2026 13:04:43    2679869

Link

Probably not the worst draw we could have had. Need to get a fairer way of giving teams an opportunity of playing a home game. Meath on their 3rd away trip and will have covered just shy of 1400km following the boys in green. Glad to be able to do it but surely fairness has to come into the equation. Look at Monaghan, 3 home games, no travelling at all. I know it's the luck of the draw but some common sense has to prevail. Fuel prices are quite high at present. I think and I am open to contradiction but Meath are the only team who have not got a home draw in this series of games.

Diego (Meath) - Posts: 1212 - 15/06/2026 13:46:29    2679898

Link

Glad to have avoided Donegal & Armagh at this stage. Not easy being on the road again but think we'll match up well against them. Would hope / expect that the Derry game will have brought us on.

gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 194 - 15/06/2026 13:46:44    2679899

Link

Mayos defence as suspect as ours, we defo have the better midfield. They probably have the stars up front but they probably have that flakey Mayo DNA so happy to have ours

southmeathgael (Meath) - Posts: 1092 - 15/06/2026 14:02:44    2679911

Link

Replying To Sheridan2010louth:  "Thoughts on the draw? Feels like a pure 50 50 game to me. Think Meath will dominate midfield and overall have the better forwards. Ryan O'Donoghue, Kobe and Darragh Beirne will no doubt cause our struggling defence a lot of problems. Think Mayo have the better defenders, hoping the big pitch in Castlebar will suit meath and they will have had an extra day recovery on Mayo. Such a hard game to call, should be a cracker."
Yeah I'm happy with that, haven't been to MacHale Park before so looking forward to the trip over. The Mayo forwards you've mentioned are all dangerous so will definitely need to have our intensity up defensively, they'll struggle with our attacking players too so will be a shootout no doubt!

LowerHogan (Meath) - Posts: 102 - 15/06/2026 14:15:08    2679916

Link

Replying To Cabbagepatch1667:  "Would have preferred it in Croke Park but it's about as good as we could have gotten. Mayo are a good team, but also vulnerable and we are absolutely capable of beating them. Think both teams will be relatively happy with the draw"
Nail on the head here. Both teams going to feel like they can win this game. Not overly worried about it being an away game except for the travel for players and fans.

Armagh and Donegal avoided is a positive. Plus Mayo tired and down in the dumps after a game they thought they could've won yesterday.

NYRoyal (USA) - Posts: 158 - 15/06/2026 15:04:12    2679935

Link

Replying To Sheridan2010louth:  "Thoughts on the draw? Feels like a pure 50 50 game to me. Think Meath will dominate midfield and overall have the better forwards. Ryan O'Donoghue, Kobe and Darragh Beirne will no doubt cause our struggling defence a lot of problems. Think Mayo have the better defenders, hoping the big pitch in Castlebar will suit meath and they will have had an extra day recovery on Mayo. Such a hard game to call, should be a cracker."
Largely agree. Its probably 50-50 and both teams will be happy to get each other and will fancy their chances. So expect it to be close.

Meath have already comprehensively beat Mayo in challenges this season and while nothing can be read into such results, it would at least mean there is a familiarity amongst squad and potential set ups.

I would hope the short turn around will let the team carry the positive momentum of last weeks game to Castlebar.

Issues still remain but its all building for 2027.

Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 847 - 15/06/2026 16:42:59    2679974

Link

Three away games in a row is a complete failure of oversight. Nobody is earning home advantage anymore, neutral venues need to be seriously considered for the backdoor.

Personally, I'm gutted I can't make it on Saturday. I was hoping for a Sunday fixture, but you can't have it all. I've been lucky this year - the only game I couldn't travel to and wasn't televised either was cork in the league.

As for Mayo, they have the type of forwards who can cause problems for the way we defend. It'll be interesting to see the match-ups, but I'd be surprised if Brennan tinkers too much with a winning team. Smyth has certainly put his hand up, though I'd expect him to be used as an impact sub. This is the first div 1 side we will have faced this year.

The big positive is midfield. If they perform like they did on Saturday, we have a huge chance. They absolutely dominated kick-outs and won more than twice as many as the opposition.

We need more from Costello and Morris. Flynn, Menton and Keoghan stepped up brilliantly in Kinsella's absence and covered his usual scoring contribution, but we need another forward to chip in with 3-4 points. Conlon is flying, but you can't expect seven points every game.

I still have a quiet confidence someone is about to explode. O'Connor got into plenty of scoring positions but didn't finish, Frayne was quiet from play, and Morris feels like a coiled spring ready to go. One of them is due a big day.

Mayo have athletes to match us physically, so lads like Caufield(endurance) , Flynn (power), McBride (height) and Coffey(pace) may not enjoy the same edge they usually do.

I honestly am not sure about the result. While Derry had in the past been known for being tough to play against( it looks to be fully gone now) and this made me unsure about the game last week. Mayo have always played football, they are loose at times, they can score big, concede big, 2 point shooters and have big men. This gives me more us v cork vibes. We somewhat mirror each other.

If we were to add another layer of hard work to the team, I think you can outwork this mayo team. We can go toe to toe in a shoot out and maybe it's 50:50 but I think we have the capacity to be more prgamatic than them.

royalcounty1 (Meath) - Posts: 102 - 15/06/2026 19:38:40    2680031

Link

Replying To royalcounty1:  "Three away games in a row is a complete failure of oversight. Nobody is earning home advantage anymore, neutral venues need to be seriously considered for the backdoor.

Personally, I'm gutted I can't make it on Saturday. I was hoping for a Sunday fixture, but you can't have it all. I've been lucky this year - the only game I couldn't travel to and wasn't televised either was cork in the league.

As for Mayo, they have the type of forwards who can cause problems for the way we defend. It'll be interesting to see the match-ups, but I'd be surprised if Brennan tinkers too much with a winning team. Smyth has certainly put his hand up, though I'd expect him to be used as an impact sub. This is the first div 1 side we will have faced this year.

The big positive is midfield. If they perform like they did on Saturday, we have a huge chance. They absolutely dominated kick-outs and won more than twice as many as the opposition.

We need more from Costello and Morris. Flynn, Menton and Keoghan stepped up brilliantly in Kinsella's absence and covered his usual scoring contribution, but we need another forward to chip in with 3-4 points. Conlon is flying, but you can't expect seven points every game.

I still have a quiet confidence someone is about to explode. O'Connor got into plenty of scoring positions but didn't finish, Frayne was quiet from play, and Morris feels like a coiled spring ready to go. One of them is due a big day.

Mayo have athletes to match us physically, so lads like Caufield(endurance) , Flynn (power), McBride (height) and Coffey(pace) may not enjoy the same edge they usually do.

I honestly am not sure about the result. While Derry had in the past been known for being tough to play against( it looks to be fully gone now) and this made me unsure about the game last week. Mayo have always played football, they are loose at times, they can score big, concede big, 2 point shooters and have big men. This gives me more us v cork vibes. We somewhat mirror each other.

If we were to add another layer of hard work to the team, I think you can outwork this mayo team. We can go toe to toe in a shoot out and maybe it's 50:50 but I think we have the capacity to be more prgamatic than them."
I agree, it's a flaw in the system that in round 3 one team can have home advantage. It's not fair for a team's fate to be potentially decided by a flip of the coin at this stage of the season. Armagh - win Ulster, lose with last kick of the ball against Louth and then straight down to play Kerry in Killarney - that's not right. GAA and the TV execs delighted with the big crowds at home venues but it's not fair on the teams and their management. Also not fair sending supporters all around the country. Meath supporters will have travelled 1400km in the All Ireland series. That's a joke.

In terms of the game, agree that we will need a bit more from our forwards as a collective. While our midfield might have the edge we're unlikely to win as much ball as we did against Derry so our forwards will need to more efficient and incisive. Have to say though I liked the way they played in the second half the last day - kept working the opportunities and chipping over points. We don't need to rely on 2 point heroics but would be nice if we could find a few. Match ups in the backs will be crucial - can't give Kobe room because he will shoot and score from anywhere. I feel if we shackle him we might silence the crowd.

gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 194 - 16/06/2026 09:54:39    2680093

Link

Replying To gwanyagudthing:  "I agree, it's a flaw in the system that in round 3 one team can have home advantage. It's not fair for a team's fate to be potentially decided by a flip of the coin at this stage of the season. Armagh - win Ulster, lose with last kick of the ball against Louth and then straight down to play Kerry in Killarney - that's not right. GAA and the TV execs delighted with the big crowds at home venues but it's not fair on the teams and their management. Also not fair sending supporters all around the country. Meath supporters will have travelled 1400km in the All Ireland series. That's a joke.

In terms of the game, agree that we will need a bit more from our forwards as a collective. While our midfield might have the edge we're unlikely to win as much ball as we did against Derry so our forwards will need to more efficient and incisive. Have to say though I liked the way they played in the second half the last day - kept working the opportunities and chipping over points. We don't need to rely on 2 point heroics but would be nice if we could find a few. Match ups in the backs will be crucial - can't give Kobe room because he will shoot and score from anywhere. I feel if we shackle him we might silence the crowd."
Who marks Kobe? Worried we don't have anyone to shackle him, I think Sean Coffey takes Ryan O'Donoghue.

Sheridan2010louth (Meath) - Posts: 343 - 16/06/2026 10:18:30    2680099

Link

Replying To Sheridan2010louth:  "Who marks Kobe? Worried we don't have anyone to shackle him, I think Sean Coffey takes Ryan O'Donoghue."
There's no obvious candidate and it is the one type of player we are currently missing. The good news is that they played Mayo in two challenges already and assuming he played in at least one of them they might have a decent sense of what worked and what didn't. Realistically, keeping him to 0:5 or less would be a very good outcome.

gwanyagudthing (Meath) - Posts: 194 - 16/06/2026 11:53:39    2680133

Link

Replying To Sheridan2010louth:  "Who marks Kobe? Worried we don't have anyone to shackle him, I think Sean Coffey takes Ryan O'Donoghue."
We played them in a challenge in Ashbourne about 6 weeks ago and won, Kobe played too so would imagine we have a good idea of what the match ups will be.

Probably need someone younger and with legs to pick him up. Mayo have a lot of good forwards though so you can't just focus on one. My worry is that we stand off too much and invite 2 point attempts - did it against Cork and Sherlock destroyed us. Cannot stand off Kobe, Ryan O'Donoghue or Tommy Conroy who is coming back to full fitness.

Cabbagepatch1667 (Meath) - Posts: 168 - 16/06/2026 14:15:54    2680181

Link