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Just when you think we can't get worse, we find a way.

O'Dowd resigning is very good news, but there are deeper problems in terms of county board and finance as well.
Whoever takes over from O'Dowd will probably find themselves having to do almost as much of a re-build as he did, considering they presumably won't follow his blueprint of a team "built for Croke Park", picked on speed alone.

Meath need a 5 year plan.
Incorporating underage

I was just looking at Galway there. We were in the same boat as Meath for a good while.
Since the loss to antrim in the qualifiers in 2012 there has been slow and steady progress.
Helped by u21 all Irelands.
It is going to take time to turn Meath around

Yes that's definitely the case. I think for quite a while, O'Dowd managed to get by because people gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was doing the behind the scenes work for long term gain. The problem with making steady progress is you have to leave a man with it for a relatively long time and more or less hope that he is putting the correct structures in place. But then again, it's not all the manager's fault either so you can only hold him to account to a limited degree. Underage, as you say, must be a key part of any plan to improve the county's senior performance. I doubt, unfortunately, that our county board has the organisation or ability to put that kind of plan in place. As an example of how badly things are being run at the minute (though this is not entirely the co. board's fault), earlier this year, club delegates passed motions changing the club championships and then appealed and overturned their own decisions because they realised it would result in more relegations. Farce.

O'Dowd resigning is very good news, but there are deeper problems in terms of county board and finance as well.
Whoever takes over from O'Dowd will probably find themselves having to do almost as much of a re-build as he did, considering they presumably won't follow his blueprint of a team "built for Croke Park", picked on speed alone.

O'Dowd is under massive pressure as a result of McEntee's success, but I doubt he will be able to get the team to perform when he hasn't up to now. Talking about being 'proud' and pleased with defeats might seem like backing the team to him, but it's just aggravating supporters even more. It reminds me of how pleased the Banty was with that draw with Carlow. It seems obvious that it's a question how soon he'll go now, and on that basis surely the sooner the better for all concerned.

To be honest this is probably our only real shot at silverware this year. I hope the lads take it. I'm somewhat dismayed by the way Louth came back into it on Sunday. The same thing happened against Westmeath in the championship last year and it cost us then. The same thing almost gapped the year before against Kildare and in the league.

This has been a feature of the MOD years where strong starts are followed up by an almost complete loss of control of the game. I don't think it is a fitness issue more likely a leadership or psychological thing that has set in. They just don't come out of the blocks like they need to when they have a good early lead.

Would Meath people not think promotion is a realistic goal for this year then? Meath were as good as any of the others in D2 last year and honestly Tyrone is the only one in D2 you'd put ahead of them this year.

I'd give us a bigger chance of being relegated than promoted.

@lynchbhoy - If you think that was a hissy fit you need your eyes tested. I just outlined the argument as it is being put forward.

As to whether O'Dowd could have done more, I personally think his game management was nothing short of appalling this year. If there's any stand-out reason to get rid of him it has to be the ineptitude displayed from the line in the games against Laois in the league and Westmeath in the championship. The fact that he doesn't know his team is also very worrying. I tend to favour opening the position to candidates again, simply on the basis that a fresh start is more likely to re-invigorate the team than limping on in the hope things get better. However, O'Dowd deserves credit for a progressive approach and his attempt to build a team that  could win playing positive open football. It's hardly an open & shut case anyway.

[A perceived lack of balance in the geographical and divisional spread of players on the panel partly responsible.]

The North Meath clubs seem set to vote against Mick O'Dowd from what I hear. A perceived lack of balance in the geographical and divisional spread of players on the panel partly responsible. There seems to be general feeling that he should step down amongst the supporters as well. Support for him has rallied somewhat since the Westmeath game, but personally I would be surprised if he survives. I don't even know which outcome is preferable though.  It might have helped him if Westmeath could have put up a decent show in the rest of the championship, but it wasn't to be.

Wha? Are you serious?
Not that I lie awake at night worrying about the state of football in your county but that is crazy.
The crazy thing though is 'the perceived lack of balance'. Who is perceiving what and why should there be a balance?

I'm not actually a supporter of the view, for the record, except in the very limited respect that I do think there are too many Ratoath players on the panel.

However, that being said, the case is somewhat understandable. For a start, the most obvious point is that Ratoath (a South Meath Intermediate club) have five representatives (Conor McGill, E Wallace, J Wallace, Brian McMahon & Brian Power). Without debating the individual merits of each, it's fairly obvious that some have been advanced before their time. I don't think that's really up for debate. Is there another comparable situation in any other county that you know of? Possibly so, and if there is I would like to know about it. In our experience however, the dominance of Ratoath players in the selection has been something of an anomaly.

Added to the Ratoath issue,  the vast majority of the panel are from South Meath (the line drawn generally is North or South of Navan, with Navan considered South). Of the defenders that started against Wicklow, five out of the six are from south of that line. Paddy O'Rourke from Skryne similarly, and of course Harry Rooney from the same club. Adam Flanagan is from Clonard which is barely inside the southern border and Conor Gillespie is from Summerhill, also south of that line. In the forwards, Tormey, Harnan and Bray all Navan or South of it. And of course it bears repeating, so too are Wallaces, McMahon etc. Graham Reilly is from Colmcille's which is on the eastern seaboard. You could call it either, mostly it seems to be considered South Meath though. In the panel that didn't start vs Wicklow the trend is repeated: Burke, Menton, K Reilly, O'Sullivan and Carroll are all from South Meath. It would be easier to list the exceptions, notably Newman and Keoghan. They are the only two players from North of Navan to start vs Westmeath. The substitute keeper, McHugh, who started against Tyrone is another that comes to mind.

Now the answer to this is absurdly obvious - it must be that the players in South Meath are better than the players in North Meath generally. Otherwise the panel wouldn't be selected that way. That view is borne out by the dearth of North Meath clubs playing Senior in Meath. Only Balinlough, Gaeil Colmcille & Wolfe Tones currently, that I can think of. So, that explains that. Probably. But to (finally) answer your question it is the North Meath clubs that feel the panel selection is unfair and unrepresentative. The argument is that plenty of excellent players could be found in average teams and Meath are not putting enough resources into scouting new players. I personally don't believe this is entirely fair considering Mick O'Dowd give a great number of players a chance (maybe too many) since he took over. However, if I've heard it once I've heard it a hundred times and perceived slights tend to be strong motivators. It is also not entirely incorrect, with undue influence constantly exerted by whatever teams reach the finals of each competition. Players tend to be called up en masse from championship winning sides with little attention paid to games and performers in the earlier rounds.

The North Meath clubs seem set to vote against Mick O'Dowd from what I hear. A perceived lack of balance in the geographical and divisional spread of players on the panel partly responsible. There seems to be general feeling that he should step down amongst the supporters as well. Support for him has rallied somewhat since the Westmeath game, but personally I would be surprised if he survives. I don't even know which outcome is preferable though.  It might have helped him if Westmeath could have put up a decent show in the rest of the championship, but it wasn't to be.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
A tragic loss for his family and community, as well as the wider GAA community.

Based on Tyrone's underwhelming performance v Limerick, I have bet 20 on Meath to win 50 extra.

You've lost your money then. Just look at the shape of the Tyrone players and the shape of the Meath lads. Men against boys in a lot of cases, just like Armagh last year. Mick O'Dowd hasn't won a qualifier game with Meath & I don't believe he will. The writing is on the wall for him after three years and no significant success (unless you count losing Div 3 final) and the players know that too. In fact, other than beating Kildare, this Meath team has done nothing in the championship of any note whatsoever. In many ways he has been unlucky, especially with injuries. But in other ways, like his tactical awareness and game management he has been woefully inept. There is no plausible version of this year's All-Ireland series that saves Mick O'Dowd's job. 2013 will likely be looked at as his best year, running the Dubs reasonably close for 40 minutes and then losing to Tyrone Seán Cavanagh in R4 Qualifier.

Most of us can tell what happened here. The lad from Ballymun started it with the usual anti Northern stuff, the Armagh player hit a few digs and then there was a bit of a scurmish. It's unfortunate that it has resulted in nasty injuries but we need to sort out the mouthing in the game.

Do us a favour and shut up. 

It's more plausible than the original report

Right then, let's all sit around making up theories and defaming players already named in the media.
Nobody on this forum knows whether Davy Byrne said anything. Why then would anybody think it was okay to write that he did? Ridiculous.

Most of us can tell what happened here. The lad from Ballymun started it with the usual anti Northern stuff, the Armagh player hit a few digs and then there was a bit of a scurmish. It's unfortunate that it has resulted in nasty injuries but we need to sort out the mouthing in the game.

Do us a favour and shut up. 

Probably the biggest cliché in Meath football. "Mickey Burke works his socks off", "he gives 100%", and so on. He's not good enough. He's not the only one, I know. He is however the most obvious sacred cow of recent years in Meath football. Joey Wallace is another, though to a lesser extent. There's a cult of personality around Mickey Burke, and frankly it's damaging to Meath football. Today, you could look around the pitch and pick out almost any number of players who are just not good enough. Judge, Power, McEntee, the list goes on. It should be expected that you give 100% if you're playing for your county. It shouldn't distinguish you from everyone else that you are trying hard! Today's farce with the penalty is hardly even worthy of a mention compared to several years of sub par performances. And far from wanting to be critical, I'd much prefer if we were progressing and the boys were improving. Fair enough, we were missing a lot of players and that happens. Overall though, on the evidence of league and championship performances since 2012 very little progress is being made. For example, we don't have anything approaching an accepted starting XV. Our half back line is largely unknown from game to game, and today the defending was awful. I'm not laying the blame at Mickey Burke's door alone but there are fundamental issues with the team and in my opinion he is one of them.

We may well beat Westmeath, but it doesn't change anything and Westmeath have a very good chance of beating us too. Barring miraculous recoveries for our key players (and them being fit and ready to play) we will be marking 2015 down as another early exit from the championship.

It's hard to look at Meath at the minute. Westmeath could certainly beat us. A lot will depend on what team is available to us, and whether we play lads in position or not.
Mickey Burke! Don't get me started on Mickey Burke.

I don't recall Meath ever starting a weaker team in the championship. Much as Wicklow are not generally considered to be at our level, get this wrong and it will be a very short summer.

Patrick O'Rourke

James McEntee - Donncha Tobin - David Dalton

Nicky Judge - Donal Keogan - Brian Power

Harry Rooney - Adam Flanagan

Graham Reilly - Padraic Harnan - Andrew Tormey

Joseph Wallace - Stephen Bray - Brian McMahon.