Div 2 Final: Meath Vs Roscommon

[Jinxy]

I hope no one throws stones at us.

[magpie seanie]

Feck it I'd go only that we have a club match on at the same time. There are two lads form my club on the Sligo hurling panel (the Cadden brothers). They'll be up against it against the Rossies but a good achievement to get this far without a few of their top players (Severs only came back in time for the semi).

Meath's league form continues to baffle. They looked sooooo good against us and while we're not All-Ireland material we aint that bad either. Maybe they're just doing enough and producing when they need to. Think they'll take this one.

[Jinxy]

Feck it I'd go only that we have a club match on at the same time. There are two lads form my club on the Sligo hurling panel (the Cadden brothers). They'll be up against it against the Rossies but a good achievement to get this far without a few of their top players (Severs only came back in time for the semi).

Meath's league form continues to baffle. They looked sooooo good against us and while we're not All-Ireland material we aint that bad either. Maybe they're just doing enough and producing when they need to. Think they'll take this one.

What age is he now? He seems to have been around forever. As for Meaths league form, it's equally baffling to us. Hard to know from one game to the next how they'll play. Think we may have found something like our best formation against Monaghan though. Looking for a more intense performance against the sheepswipers. Hopefully it'll be a close game and be of some benefit to both teams heading into the championship.

[thejuice]

The look on Paul Finleys face is hilarious

[Jinxy]

Good player Paul Finlay, but he had a bad day at the office saturday. That picture pretty much sums it up!

[EugeneGeraghty]

A very bad day at the office for Finley, those two handy frees he missed in the first half lost the game for Monaghan I'm thinking. Think this Meath team has to score goals to win games.

[magpie seanie]

What age is he now? He seems to have been around forever.

Severs is about 38/39 I think and still very effective in senior club football too.

[Jinxy]

What age is he now? He seems to have been around forever.

Severs is about 38/39 I think and still very effective in senior club football too.

God he must look after himself fierce well. Mind you, I think if you can avoid knee or back trouble you can easily carry on playing into your late thirties. I suppose there's a lot of luck involved in it.

[SLIGONIAN]

Did someone Hynotise Finlay? He looks like hes daydreaming.

Meath were awesome against us I thought. But theyre other results did baffle me like Rossies aswell. Its all on the day. Tough call this one but Meath to shade it. 

[Jinxy]

I think if Meath are up for it they'll give anyone a game. The only game they were up for last year was the Laois game which they made a balls of in the last few minutes. In 2005 they were up for the Dublin game and only lost to 2 Mark Vaughan free kicks from the back of the Hill! (or so it seemed). The problem is that we haven't leaders with the same mental strength as we had a few years ago. The sort of fellas that dig in and grind out a result when the tide is turning against them. I'll be honest here, I wouldn't be surprised if Kildare bet us out the gate, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we bet them out the gate. Consistency is our problem.

[thejuice]

true jinxy. we've been hot or cold since 2001. perhaps more on the cold side. Was at the Laois game in Navan, we had the beating of them, just lost our grip on Munnelly for 2 attacks and suddenly we were behind by 5. But he's a class player you cant give him an inch. Perhaps wouldnt have happened if we had an O'Connell or O'Reilly in there.

Its hard to explain what caused the decline. One week we knocked shades of Kerry in the 2001 A-I semi, the next Galway walked all over us. After that we couldnt buy a win in Croke park. I think we've only won twice in championship football in Croker since the 2001 semi. thats the best part of a decade gone. I suppose John Mc Dermott left a big gap when he went. Not saying Crawfords bad, but you couldnt replace Big Mac. And Evan Kelly and Mark O'Reilly were big losses. And a lack of underage success except for 2002 and last year.

[IolarCoisCuain]

There's an interview with John Maughan in this morning's Irish Times. I've pasted it below, but I was surprised to see him say that he's never won a national title. Didn't he win the B Championship with Clare in 1991 or 1992?



http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2007/0426/1177280304342.html

Maughan targets elusive national title

Ian O'Riordan

Thu, Apr 26, 2007

"You know I've still never won a national title as manager." It's only when John Maughan volunteers this information that the full meaning of Sunday's National Football League Division Two final is appreciated.

When introduced eight years ago it was seen as a sort of bonus prize on top of promotion, and yet the title has become a respectable honour in itself. When Louth won it in 2000 it was hailed as a major breakthrough, and similarly with Westmeath in 2001 and Monaghan in 2005.

Now Roscommon are in a position to win their first such honour, and for Maughan that would be some consolation for all the other national titles he missed out on when managing Mayo. And if recent finals are anything to go by Sunday's game against Meath, set for Breffni Park, Cavan, will be as hard fought as any competition final this year.

"This is definitely a title well worth chasing," adds Maughan, now in his second year as Roscommon manager, "We'll certainly be going all out to win on Sunday. We've nothing to lose by going all out. Hopefully we can pull it off but of course Meath are going to be very difficult opposition . . . "

Roscommon looked the slightly more impressive team in their semi-final win over Cavan at Croke Park last Saturday, whereas Meath relied on two early goals to get past Monaghan. However, Roscommon's win came with a price as star midfielder Seamus O'Neill went over on his ankle in the final minutes, and is ruled out of Sunday's game.

"That is a big blow for us," admits Maughan, "and a big, strapping player like that is not easily replaced. You always regret not taking him off in that situation, when the game was effectively won, but the important thing now is getting him right for the championship. Thankfully we're not out until June 17th (against either Sligo or New York) so there should be sufficient time for him to make a full recovery.

"It the meantime it looks like we'll also be without centre-half back John Nolan, who has picked up a chest infection. He's actually the third player we'll have lost in that position, but other than that we're not badly off with injuries."

Meath have contested the Division Two final once before, losing to Monaghan in a classic finish two years ago. Trailing by two points going into injury time, Paul Finlay's 35-metre free was somehow directed into the Meath net by their own defender Mark Ward, thus securing a Monaghan victory.

All previous editions of the Division Two final have been extremely close contests: Louth's inaugural win in 2000 was only decided by Simon Gerard's goal, giving them a first national title since the B final three years previous.

Westmeath had only a point to spare over Cork when winning in 2001, and it was only Kerry's four-point win over Laois in 2002 that bucked the trend. When Westmeath won it again in 2003 they also had just the single point to spare over Limerick, and in 2004 Offaly secured a two-point win over Down, allowing Ciarán McManus to collect some winning silverware on the Hogan Stand podium as captain.

After Monaghan's win two years ago, Louth repeated their success with yet another hard-fought win over Donegal, which went to a replay before Louth prevailed by three points.

Division Two success, however, hasn't been easily transferred to the championship. Louth were promptly brought back down to earth last year when losing to Meath in the opening round of the Leinster championship, and similarly with Monaghan, well beaten by Derry in their first Ulster championship march, and also Offaly the year before, losing to Westmeath just a few weeks after collecting their Division Two title.

Meath, meanwhile, are set to include Graham Geraghty in their starting line-up for Sunday's game. Geraghty has been carrying a leg injury in recent weeks but appeared as a second-half substitute in the win over Monaghan, hitting a typically classy point.

Armagh manager Joe Kernan could be dealt another blow in advance of his team's Ulster championship tie against newly-crowned National League champions Donegal on May 27th.

Full back Francie Bellew sustained a knee injury while assisting Crossmaglen Rangers in their opening Armagh League against Clan na Gael. Bellew has undergone a scan and is considered doubtful. Armagh are already without long-term injury victims Ronan Clarke and Brian Mallon.
© 2007 The Irish Times

[Jinxy]

He was in the Indo today as well telling us how brilliant he thinks Meath are.   Sure they haven't a hope.

[Cllr Willie Power]

It'll be interesting to see if Maughan can win that elusive national title - in Croker and against Meath. Memories eh? 

Ros seem to have a few injury problems though while Meath are full strength(?) so I presume they are favourites. Any word on the odds? Here's hoping for a good game but I think I speak for most Mayo people when I say that we wouldn't know who to support. 

[Rossfan]

It'll be interesting to see if Maughan can win that elusive national title - in Croker and against Meath.

Ahem  Match is in Breffni Park. An earlier post had Maughan saying the game was in Clones
Mayo bucks mustnt be too good at the Geography.