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[Goes to show how much some people know if they think Mark Carroll" is starting. Mark Collins is number 11, Damian Carroll is a substitute.]

Goes to show how much some people know if they think Mark Carroll" is starting. Mark Collins is number 11, Damian Carroll is a substitute.

Don't be such an arsehole. I made a mistake. I thought people would appreciate the team as soon as it came out. I'll put my knowledge of Meath football against anyone anyday, so forgive the mistake. 

D Gallagher
M Burke
K Reilly
S McAnarney
D Tobin
B Menton
S Kenny
C Gillespie
B Meade
A Forde
Mark Carroll
G Reilly
Brian Farrell
Big Joe
Cian Ward

Subs include Peadar Byrne, Juicy, C Lenehan, Harrington, Caoimhin King, Queeney,

4 debutants, some brave calls from Banty/Evans.

I think there's a big game in Brian Farrell, and at 11/1 for first goal, could be worth a score. Also Cian Ward to score first point at 6/1 seems generous.

An Royals Abu

Cork will beat Tyrone. I've no doubt about that one.

And were you as certain that Kerry would beat Tyrone in 2003, 2005 & 2008?

No I thought Tyrone would win the last 2 mentioned. I think Tyrone would beat Kerry or Meath in the Semi Final were they playing them, but have a feeling that the make up of this Cork team may prove a little too strong for them, as they are the type of challenge Tyrone won't have faced in a long time. big men, much taller, but also critically big characters (just like Tyrone have).

But that's for another thread. As for Kerry - Meath. Well we're happy to be the massive underdogs.

Looking forward to another classic Royal encounter between 2 teams that try to play football the way it should be played, hard, fast, fair and long!

Kerry will be mad favourites, but if we can dominate midfield like we did today (and have bar the Dublin game, all year), then the Gooch mightn't get the amount of ball he needs to do the damage he can do. Stephen Bray will be back thankfully so hopefully we will be competitive and not like our last AI SF when a confident Meath got their arses kicked by Cork.

TBH I think Cork will beat whoever comes through this semi final.

Cork will beat Tyrone. I've no doubt about that one.
jayas i thought cork had to play tyrone and the winners  ..... "ah maybe not".

Great to re-read this thread as a Meathman. Poor Mayo, lads ye're as bad as the Dubs. Ye should adopt 'don't believe the hype' as your county song.

Anyways no gloating from this side (Despite the killing on Paddy Power). The difference was scoring chance conversion. If Meath had the amount of ball in the first half that Mayo got into their forwards we would have been out of sight. Midfield was huge for us and we won that battle overall. Was scared before the match of Moyles being exposed at full back (he has no pace lads), but the Mayo tactics played into his hands. Thought he had a huge game, so despite the by-now traditional Meath cough-up of 2-3 unnecessary points from misplaced passes from the backs, and another soft goalie-fault goal we made it through.

Looking forward to another classic Royal encounter between 2 teams that try to play football the way it should be played, hard, fast, fair and long!

Kerry will be mad favourites, but if we can dominate midfield like we did today (and have bar the Dublin game, all year), then the Gooch mightn't get the amount of ball he needs to do the damage he can do. Stephen Bray will be back thankfully so hopefully we will be competitive and not like our last AI SF when a confident Meath got their arses kicked by Cork.

TBH I think Cork will beat whoever comes through this semi final.

From a Meath perspective, I would not be as critical. It must have been difficult to get really fired up for the game. The atmosphere was surreal, it was more like the opening of a pitch than a championship match, not to mention the lack of serious tackling (from both sides). The PA announcer giving the score of the Kildare game during the second half summed up the general lack of interest in the proceedings on the pitch.

Tohill summarised it well on the Sunday Game, first half excellent, second half they retreated into playing for themselves. I think this is a good Meath team that has the potential to go places. The forwards are dangerous and they will click some day and do some serious damage. However the problem is that the forwards are unbalanced, with 5 of the 6 forwards being suited to the full forward line.

I think we will win against Limerick. Harrington is a good marker and if Reilly is back our defence is playing quite well. Very impressed with our half back line, and it's been a while since I've been able to say that.

However the forwards need some tough choices, as I don't think the current 6 can gel as a unit. Although he didn't score, Stephen Bray is a class above the rest. He didn't misplace a pass on Saturday, and his tackling was exceptional. I'd persist with him at half forward, but would have Big Joe on the edge of the square with David Bray and Farrell on either side. Harsh on Cian Ward, but he doesn't do enough from general play to warrant a place.

A word on the short passing game. The problem is that the lads are static when they are getting the ball, rather than gathering it at pace. I too remember the Boylan era, and other people seem to forget the aimless balls that were kicked from the half back line (mcManus, Foley, Harnan, O'Connell were all cuprits) directly into the arms of the opposing half back line. Lads you need to have the ball in the right position to deliver it into the full forward line, and I think they are trying the right tactics, but just not pulling it off.

In the good old National League days (mid November, freezing, only reason to go was to abuse the other team / ref / your own team / the supporters), a local accordion band (I kid you not) was there to entertain the crowd.

Those of you who remember those brass monkey games will remember that it was too cold for a warm up, certainly I remember Mick Lyons waiting until the first 5 minutes had gone before leaving the dressing room.

Anyway the genius at the mic had decided that the accordion band would get their day in the sun, so announces that there's to be a pre-match parade. Cue groans from the crowd.

A minute passes and he says over the PA 'will the teams please line up behind the band for the pre-match parade'.

No-one moves.

A minute later, with a little more emphasis in his voice he repeats 'will the teams PLEASE line up behind the band for the pre-match parade'

A few players start to saunter over, but stop when they realise no-one is following, and go back to kicking balls aimlessly over the bar in a vain attempt to keep warm.

The man on the PA returns 'Feck yes so, we'll have no parade.'

Thought I'd make my return now that the physical sickness I felt about 5:00 on Sunday has abated.

First half, I thought Meath were shoo-ins for the All Ireland. Every part of their game was fantastic, not least the defensive lines they played. MacGill had a stormer on Forde, I remember Fay dispossessing him with ease, Ward and Meade were lording it and every Meath man was beating their man physically. The only Wexford player to have any credit in the first half was their goalie, for a particularly good (and overlooked save) from big Joe in the first minute, who did everything right, kept it low, but the goalie kept it out.

The difference in the second half was down to Wexford suddenly starting to play like they are capable of, aided by poor decisions on the Meath sideline. Nobody has commented yet on Alan Nestor's substitution, but to me that's where the rot set in.

I'm not sure why Nestor was taking off, he had had a good first half, had grown into the game and scored 2 spectacular points. Brian Farrell was obviously not fit and bringing him on disrupted two forward lines - Bray moved back to the half back line to leave Big Joe and Brian up front. So a 1- point winning attack had its two lines disrupted for no? reason.

Next, Moyles was brought on - if anything it should have been to play a roving role in defence where hopefully his experience should help him pick up a few balls, but I'm not even sure where he was meant to play as he ended up everywhere. It was quite clear that Cian Ward was struggling and everyone around me assumed Ward would be replaced by Moyles, but Ward stayed on - I guess this was why he handed over 'that' free to Farrell. Jesus wept.

I don't know about us now. It could be the end of us for this year, unless we get a handy touch in the first qualifier round and get to build a bit of confidence, but I certainly wouldn't like to draw the likes of Monaghan or Donegal.

Lads ye may think that Tyrone will be motivated by the 96 game. Don't forget that the same game is likely to be an equally strong motivator for the Meath boys, who were sickened by the prolonged, nasty and vicious campaign of intimidation that a great footballer was subjected to by some Tyrone boot-boys. Now I know that these are very much the minority, but whatever your opinion on what happened - whether it was an accident or fully intentional - nothing justified an amateur player and a great great servant of the game having threats made to himself and his family. Memories run deep in Meath too.

Hardy I think we're saying mostly the same thing - FF line of Bray, GG and Farrell - Farrell and GG can interchange between corner and full positions.

GG doesn't have the legs anymore to do anything other than stay close to goal, win breaking ball and stick it away when he gets the chances. Joe at half forward doesn't necessarily fill me with glee, but presuming Farrell takes the frees Curran can be left on the bench.

Agree with Eugene, great option from the bench with young O'Rourke. Interesting to see what the forward line up will be. I would expect Farrell will come back at FF with maybe Joe dropping back to half-forward to replace Curran?

Thanks for the great report O'Neill.

Having been despondent at Meath's showing against An Cabhán, interested to know was there any discernible pattern to their play, or was it Staunton-esque?

Yes Murphy was a sub, and many were surprised he wasn't brought on. Perhaps with Joe Sheridan in the full forward line they thought they had enough excess weight on display?