An Mhi Vs Ceatharlach

[INDIANA]

meath's apparent demise has been overstated, can't see wexford beating them. may get close but they won't beat them. carlow are missing about 8-9 of their best players. unless carlow get the first 15 out, they haven't a prayer.

[Jinxy]

Dunno if there's any point analysing that. I suppose at least a few of the younger lads got a game at HQ under their belts. Other than that a completely facile victory. The place was like a morgue from about 15 mins onward.

[agorm]

No atmoshere during the game. The Kildare crowd didnt hang around at all and most of the Wicklow crew left at half time in our game. Games like this should be free for kids when it is known in advance that the ground will be less than a quarter full. Might be tricky logistically but would be certainly possible.

Regarding the game, Meath got a better runout against a seemingly tired Mayo last weekend in a challenge in Dunderry. Once Carlow missed three times whn getting good possession in the first 10 minutes then the game was over in my mind. Very little can be gauged from the game as the players were not under pressure. The challenge for Coyle is to assimilate the injured players back and possibly the suspended players also. We have a number of weak areas that were exposed by Cork last year. I didnt see too much today to make me over-confident that we have the solutions but we are improving and I think that a good team spirit has developed.

[johnpower]

I expected Meath to win as easy and have money on them to get to a leinster final on the basis they (especially Colm Coyle ) will have learned a lot from last year . They did what they had to do today and will face a sterner test against Wexford .still i think they will get that far

[Jinxy]

Meade played well (albeit against a very poor midfield pairing). He gets around the pitch and has good hands. I'd still be very worried about who we have to mark Mattie Forde. I think we've loads of options up front. If Moyles was back fit and playing centre back for the Wexford game I'd be quite happy with our lot even with the suspensions we have. But he more than likely won't be.

[magpie seanie]

Hard to know what to make of that. Carlow were so poor it was untrue. That said, it looks to me like Meath have a few more options which could mean they are going to be better than last year. Cian Ward looks to be  a lot better shape too so his undoubted class might be more in evidence.

[thejuice]

I didnt think the gulf in teams would be so vast. OK Carlow were missing a few but it looked like they werent even trying at times. Wexford game will be a better test of our mettle. If there was a good thing about it was at least we didnt make hard work of Carlow or kicked 100 wides. But in all honesty both Coyle and his players (and probably the Carlow team too) would be better off wiping that game from memory as we wont play a game as easy as that for another 10 years.

Was impressed by Brian Meade and Damian Sheridan when he came on. Good to see Brian Farrell taking the field again.

[AZOffaly]

That's two years in a row now that Carlow have been blown away in the first round. They are better than that. There must be something seriously rotten in the state of Denmark. Clubs like Eire óg, Hanrahans, the Blues etc mean that Carlow should be punching to a far higher standard than they showed against Offaly last year or MEath yesterday.

Seems like Cian Ward went well yesterday, and I thought his point up along the Hogan stand side when he carried the pall past a couple of tackles, and dummied another lad before swinging it over with his left was class.

[Shamrock Shore]

Wonder how Carlow will do in the 2008 Cooper Cup?

Didn't they lose 8-20 to 0-07 against the mighty Waterford last year 

[AZOffaly]

They did, or something like it, but they were a rabble at that stage. I think it was nearly at the point of driving around the towns looking for lads with boots. Seemingly they are going to have a lash at it this year, according to Bealin, so it'll be interesting to see how they get on.

[Jinxy]

One think that struck me about Carlow yesterday was that they looked physically very weak. They were brushed aside time and again and the Meath forwards could afford to just hang onto the ball and trot around until there was an opening for a shot. If I was Coyle I'd have the lads sowing into each other at the first opportunity in training as I'd say their jerseys hardly needed to be washed after yesterday.

[stevecw]

That's two years in a row now that Carlow have been blown away in the first round. They are better than that. There must be something seriously rotten in the state of Denmark. Clubs like Eire óg, Hanrahans, the Blues etc mean that Carlow should be punching to a far higher standard than they showed against Offaly last year or MEath yesterday.

Thats the sad part about it, Eire Og would have easily beaten the Carlow side that went out on Sunday. O'Hanrahans despite not being very strong these days probably would too. Club football will always be number 1 in Carlow. Lads just won't commit to the county. Im sure there were many club players that should have been on the Carlow side having a laugh in the pubs on Sunday night feeling justified at not having been part of the debacle in Croker. Thats sadly the attitude of too many, and no manager can seem to change it.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Steve

i only seen highlights as id just got back from Belfast, but what Jinxy said looks true, Carwlow looked a far too light and physically weak team,
Was there any weights done there aswell?
i read the Carlow Hoganstand messageboard and its clear with all the names up, That alot of Carlows better players werent playing.
Its a sad state of affairs alright.