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It is sad as a Meath supporter to see it come to this. Horrendous reappointment of Micky o Dowd last year when he didn't even have a backup team in place. People were slagging off Banty and Eamonn o'Brien but both were well ahead of Mick. Nice guy but almost clueless on the sidelines and seems to have been unable to get a 70 minute performance out of the players.

Sad days but hopefully some good young players coming through. County board need to do the right thing finally and get a good management team in place, Andy McEntee probably the favourite at this stage.

As this is a GAA forum I just had to make a comment about a couple of things from the game in the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda.

1.  State of the Grounds / Pitch. We all know that Louth grounds have the smallest capacity in the country but I wasn't expecting a setup that would be embarrassing to a decent club team. The gates beside the stand were not open and everyone was channelled through one entrance.  Toilet facilities brough me back to the seventies. The so call terrace was a hill, similar to which is not even used in Navan.

2.  State of The Pitch: Unbelievable that  a NFL Div 2 game being played on a pitch not lined, flags useless as they were not upright and the grass too long. When this is coupled with a referee that couldn't keep up with the play it made for more dodgy decision making. I think that Meath should have refused to play on that pitch until it was lined.

3.  Stone Age Tactics: I hope that the few Louth supporters that were actually at the game were embarrassed at the tactics employed by Aidan O'Rourke in which a player was sent out to intimidate and obstruct Graham Reilly for the whole game and eventually kicked him to the extent that Graham Reilly was taken off injured. It was so pathetic that the guy (surname also Reilly) ran away from his teammates when they had the ball so that he could go over and stand in front of Reilly. He also stood on the water bottle sent in to Graham Reilly and didnt even stop his squaring up to him even after obviously injuring him and getting a yellow card.

If that is the philosophy of Louth football no wonder they are in Division 3 with the worst facilities in the country.

Let's hope that Meath can continue the upward trajectory and not have to play football low life like this in the coming years.

Getting this thread rolling.

Hard to see beyond a routine win for Donegal considering that they had too much for Monaghan who annihilated Meath in the 2nd round. Added to that Meath managed to lose against a beatable Armagh side in navan and have picked up a few injuries.

As they say in betting circles you could put your house on Donegal. In the past Meath have had poor performances in the league that were rescued by some of the big guns like Colm O'Rourke, Giles, Geraghty etc but we have no players on the team that could be regarded as a leader or a player other counties look up to.

Not sure whether I will go, have a season ticket but the last two games have tested the loyalty and have a few things on next weekend.

As I wrote on the other thread we have serious problems all over the field but I feel that Mick O'Dowd needs to supplement the backroom team and rapidly develop a defensive strategy or the perceived developments will be lost.

Regarding Donegal, a win here will power them further towards promotion exactly where they want to at this stage of the year.

Can anyone see beyond a home win by 5 plus points?

Another night in Navan. Another embarassing capitulation. Things have gotten so bad in Meath football that people are not surprised anymore. Cavan could and should have been ahead by 12 points at half time. We are a team without a spine with a management team that needs a serious kick up the arse.

If I didnt see mick O'Dowd on the pitch I would have thought that he was in the offices under the stand at Pairc Tailteann during that first half. A club side from the county would have at least tackled during the first half. Then they came out in the 2nd half and ran around like headless chickens for about 10 minutes working their socks off. Why oh why did they not start like that. It is not as if the same didnt happen in their most recent other games in Navan against Louth and Monaghan....First half performances in recent games in Navan have been mind boggingly bad.

It is not Mick O' Dowd's fault. However it is also not any other manager's fault including Banty or Eamonn O'Brien. I must admit that I qwas wrong in criticising O' Brien the way I did but I supported Banty and I am glad I did because it liooks now that our "in county" replacements are no better and are possibly half asleep during games. Banty would not have waited until half time to make a change and left a midfielder on for 70 minutes that was embarassingly out of his depth.

The talent just doesnt seem to be there at the moment, possibly a legacy to poor development systems over the last 10 years or so. owever Meath teams should not be going in at half time in division 3 games with home matches like this already over. I dont think I could stomach another league game after that and the Monaghan and Louth games earlier in the year.

Oh, and by the way. Well done Kevin Reilly who came on and looked as if he cared and I thought Graham Reilly did well out the field in the second half as well as occasional glimpses from Lenihan and Keoghan.

The time has come for the GAA to come down seriously heavy on clubs and individuals where players, subs and supporters get involved like this. I heard some of the reports from eye witnesses today and it is shocking. Our great sport that many of us give a lot of our spare time to is being blighted by this stuff. In towns anyway there are a lot of people turning away from the GAA - not just because of this type of stuff but other reasons as well.

The CCCC is expected to investigate the ugly scenes that marred yesterday's All-Ireland club JFC semi-final between Derrytresk and Dromid Pearses in Portlaoise.

Tyrone side Derrytresk prevailed on a 1-10 to 0-7 scoreline, but afterwards the main talking points were a first half brawl involving players and mentors which erupted under the O'Moore Park, and a bizarre incident that saw Dromid and Kerry star Declan O'Sullivan struck by a handbag. O'Sullivan isn't expected to press charges against his assailant.

Leitrim referee Francis Flynn issues a total of 11 cards, with Dromid Pearses finishing the game with 13 players following the dismissals of Denis O'Sullivan and Colm O'Connor.

Dromid manager Michael Anthony O'Connell claimed his players were 'provoked' by the opposition.
"I have to hold my hand up and say they were the better team. But I have to say our players were provoked. The tactics they had in beating us, I didn't agree with.

"There's an old trick of the trade where usually you'd bring on a sub to change the game but they brought the sideline on top of us before half-time. I've never before in my life witnessed what I saw there. I'm shocked.

"The linesman said fair play to ye and asked us to try to keep our selectors outside the barrier. He knew where the trouble had started. But that was not good enough."

I came on to the site fully expecting a thread about the retirement of Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin. Along with Michael O Hehir and  Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh he was synonomous with the GAA. I was always fascinated with his GAA results on a Sunday nigh and all the little parish and club names.

I am sure that his voice has been heard all around the world in recent years with RTE radion being online.

Sunday night GAA results will never be the same again.

I would be interested in knowing the costs of club membership of variou clubs.
What is an adult playing non playing? What is a family? Is there a reduction for unwaged? What are juveniles? Is there a difference between boy and girls due to the different levies within ladies GAA?

Thank in advance.

Finally the day is coming.....another legend departs the stage. I was wondering recently how long he would go on for. Though the suddeness is now a surprise in spite of his great age and longevity. A great great man.

If only he was a bit younger he would be a great option for President.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2010/0916/micheal_o_muircheartaigh.html

GAA legend Ó Muircheartaigh to retire

Mícheal Ó Muircheartaigh
Thursday, 16 September 2010 08:13
RTÉ GAA commentator Mícheal Ó Muircheartaigh has announced that he is to retire at the end of this year's GAA Championship.

I was wondering if posters could share their experiences and give some details in relation to their own clubs.

My question relates to how you go about identifying the best people to take over juvenile teams, persuading them to take the team on and also developing the coaching skills of such mentors.
Questions such as

1. Do you keep continuity as a particular group of players move up the ranks?
2. At what age group do you make a conscious effort to get the best mentors possible?
3. Is it always a parent of the particular age group that takes on the lead role?
4. How many mentors are associated with a team? Who does the training & who does the admin work, sending texts out etc.?
5. If mentors move with a team, do you have a team for each age (8,9,10,11,12 etc) or just keep it every 2 years as their games are generally u-12, u-14 etc. Would there be an issue of possibly losing a mentor that is not needed?
6. How do you go about attracting ex players to mentoring even though they may not have kids playing?
7.Have you ever organised events to attract parents that never show an interest? Does it ever work?

I probably have more queries but I would appreciate feedback on it.

I am not sure if this topic has been discussed elsewhere and I saw it referred to in the Laois thread. I had intended raising the issue of admission prices for the championship and the point that the GAA should consider a 25% reduction across the board.

It has been done by several English Premiership clubs. It would be a goodwill gesture and would probably make financial sense in that it may encourage people to come if they think that they are getting good value. It also would be recognising the finnancial circustances people are in.

Let's hope that the GAA dont say that theyt cannot afford to - after all they are now getting the money in from the FAI & IRFU that was never factored in when building Croker.

I note that the thuggery exhibited at the end of the Tyrone county final was not even mentioned on the RTE Sports News. I can just imagine if it was the Meath or Dublin finals it would be top of the Sportsnews just like Parnell Park earlier in the year.

With 3 Leinster teams occupying the 8 quarter final places a case can surely be made for Leinster to have regained its status as the premier footballing province. When you add to the achievements of Dublin, Wexford and Kildare is getting this far to the fact that Meath made the All-Ireland semis last year and Westmeath winning Division 2 things are certainly on the up for the province. That said I would say that Munster are the premier Hurling province and that both Ulster and Munster would have been football kingpins at varying times earlier in the current decade.

I am interesetd in knowing what different people's clubs charge for membership. Is there a different charge for playing and non-playing membership? Also, does any of your clubs have a gym that has a additional cost for use of it and how is that handled. Do you have a family membership?

I dont think he would, he would find it difficult to avoid publicity to the probable detriment of his objectives.

Kelly to apply for GAA DG role?
Friday, 17 August 2007 14:44
Former GAA President Seán Kelly has not ruled out throwing his hat into the ring for the position of Director General of the GAA when Liam Mulvihill steps down early next year.

Speaking on An Saol ó Dheas on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Kelly said he would consider applying, but the fact that the job is based at GAA Headquarters in Croke Park would be a factor in his decision.

'It's nice to hear that some people think I would be suitable for the position of Director General and I will certainly look at the job and think about it, because it is definitely the biggest job in sport in this country, and because I have been involved in the GAA all my life I would consider applying for the position,' said Kelly.

'Of course if the job was based in Killarney I would have no doubts about applying but I suppose if you get the job you would have to go to Dublin full-time because it's a seven-days-a-week job, and you have to be constantly available because urgent matters can arise at any time.'

'At the same time I will be thinking of it, but a lot of people will be thinking of applying for the position.'

Once again an absolute thriller served up by these two fantastic teams.

I could not believe how Eoin McGrath did not take his point at the end. It could have been very very costly for Waterford. After all Donal Og saved Cork last year.  Whatever the merits of the awarding of the free (and it was correct technically) Waterford were very lucky to get a point after Donal Og made the save. Considering what was at stake McGrath made a serious error not taking the point and is blessed that they had a reprieve.

I believe that we need to approach the qualifiers with one eye on next years Leinster Championship. We have precious little chance of lifting Sam this year and need to make changes in the areas that we have been exposed in during the games against Kildare and Dublin. There is no point in playing safe in the qualifiers.

The following is some of the things I would do.

1. Leave Sheridan off – perhaps use him as a sub.
2. Give Cian Ward a longer run in the team.
3. Play Shane O' Rourke at CHF
4. Try Charles McCarthy and Donegan out at midfield along with Ward.
5. Bring in Shane McKeigue if fit into panel.

Any other suggestions?

Going back in time a bit here. Are any of you able to name the Centenary Cup winning team of 1984?

Thanks

I am surprised that this has not been disussed. This brawl was pretty serious stuff. There needs to be an investigation into how the teams came out at the same time. But more importantly the culprits need to be identified and the appropriate suspensions handed down. After all a players get suspended for way less than this for striking and rough play DURING games. The suspensions from the Meath Mayo 1996 final should set the precedent for the suspensions.

Does anyone know if family tickets for tomorrows games are available outside Croker tomorrow? I have my tickets but I was trying to get them for someone else.