Battle of the Boyne - Meath Vs Louth - Leinster Final 11/7/2010

[Louth Exile]

Fair point Louth Exile, its very true and midfield also has been poor enough in terms of real contenders maybe bar last year for a while, but remember as well between them the All Ireland finalists will get 10 awards at least, the Stephen Cluxton All Star award for being Stephen Cluxton will probably go to the Dublin keeper, Stephen Cluxton, Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny) is surely due one in the football at some stage, so if Louth were to exit in the next round......possible if they get unlucky and get Cork...then i don't know if even the good early performances will swing it, cos your looking at semi-finalists then as well for a few places.

Anything I say carries the bias of seeing him play in all his championship outings. At this moment in time and giving that we made a provincial final I think that he is in there to be knocked out! We'll see.

[you take er!]

Right, I'm convinced now. Certain penalty.

absolutely not, cant agree mate. Sheridan dived for the line..he just launches himself. in normal time it may have seemed to the ref from where he was that there was a foul but there is no way he could be sure. I've seen it in slow mo a few times now (ref, i know doesnt have this) No foul took place.

[moysider]

Right, I'm convinced now. Certain penalty.

absolutely not, cant agree mate. Sheridan dived for the line..he just launches himself. in normal time it may have seemed to the ref from where he was that there was a foul but there is no way he could be sure. I've seen it in slow mo a few times now (ref, i know doesnt have this) No foul took place.

Forget about it. No way a penalty. He claimed he was pushed ffs. Must have been his guardian angel that pushed him, the lucky sod.But as will pan out it will be not be so lucky and probably the thing he will always be remembered for. I still dont understand how lads used to playing in Croke Park can think they can spin a situation where there are multible cameras. When he took off he did eventually fall the keepers knee. Oh ok maybe the keeper should have made sure he was n't in the way. Stupid keeper.

I mean what the f**k was anybody thinking trying to deny Meath their traditional never-say-die comeback. They are up there with Cork and Kerry when it comes to entitlement. However in time they will realise that this was no Kevin Foley goal. Meath people might claim that they were caught up in a situation that was not of their making but that is not convincing. They are the big guys and should have known before dark on Sunday night that there was a huge problem. They didn't need that cup and should have tried to put as much distance between themselves and the trophy as they could. I would hope that my own county against a team that had won nothing in 50 odd years that we would have handed the cup back and tell the Connacht Council to decide. I m fairly sure there would have been a groundswell of public opinion within the county for that to happen. Yet it's easy to see from the Meath attitude what it is that makes them winners. As O Rourke said in 89, nice guys win nothing. He s right of course. I have no doubt that Meath will cherish this one as much as any - and I would have serious misgivings about those that protest otherwise. The ones that are won against the head are the sweetest.

Look, the championship will continue and Louth will soon be forgotten about. Because that is their station and they have to accept it. The glory is only for the select few. There is only one loser in this and that is Louth. First time ever I remember that they really showed up and - splat. Back in the box. Leave it to the big boys.

[Declan]

The final word on 

Louth forward JP Rooney reacted to last night's decision not to replay Sunday's game by claiming it was the right one: "I'm delighted that there's no replay. It would have been an anti-climax. That's it, what's done is done and we will try to forget about it now. It will be hard to get it out of our heads but we were training this evening and there was a big group there again. We'll look forward to the next game and life goes on. When you see what happened in Donegal over the weekend, it puts everything into perspective. That was a real tragedy.

"What would we have gained from a replay? It was a lose-lose situation for Louth. If we went out and beat them, it would take away from the actual day that was in it last Sunday and if we lost, we would be in a worse situation. We'll get the heads down now and you don't want to be seen as babies, crying about it.

"But we can't blame Meath, they've done nothing wrong. Croke Park should have had a say in this; the Leinster Council or whoever makes the decisions but they were passing the buck and putting the pressure on Meath. They should have made the call."

[EagleLord]

Well said JP Rooney..

[omagh_gael]

Magnanamous words from JP, the right thing to do. Only part I'd slightly disagree with is that it wasn't up to Meath to offer a replay. I think it rested at their door as the GAA, Leinster Council or CCCC has no power to demand a replay. Still think the players will regret not offering a replay further down the line.

Horrible luck for Louth but need to push on and I for one hope they make the quarters (hopefully not meeting Tyrone if we're beat on Sunday!)

[Hound]

Fair point Louth Exile, its very true and midfield also has been poor enough in terms of real contenders maybe bar last year for a while, but remember as well between them the All Ireland finalists will get 10 awards at least, the Stephen Cluxton All Star award for being Stephen Cluxton will probably go to the Dublin keeper, Stephen Cluxton, Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny) is surely due one in the football at some stage, so if Louth were to exit in the next round......possible if they get unlucky and get Cork...then i don't know if even the good early performances will swing it, cos your looking at semi-finalists then as well for a few places.

Who won this award in 2008?
Who won this award in 2009?
Clue: It wasn't Stephen Cluxton 

Watch it again then, before the initial ball from Reilly came, Sheridan was clearly standing the square and backing it out of it, before the smallest man on the field rises to field wonderfully, evade the first challenge only to have his shot brilliantly blocked down by Captain fantastic Keenan.

That was an incredible block alright.

[tyroneboi]

Gift Grub on Today FM was very funny this morning.

[small white mayoman]

Gift Grub on Today FM was very funny this morning.

it was  , "louth aid " the song was called seeing its the 25th anniversary of live aid

[Bud Wiser]

Just had another look, fair call for a penalty right enough.

Good man.  That didnt take you long to see, only three days and nights,  considering that the match was on last Sunday 11th July 2010.

Keep looking at the replays, you might arrive at the conclusion that they should have got two, maybe three penalties by the time you are finished.

[Rocky Mc Guigan]

Joe Sheridan should take up acting-how he kept a straight face whilst describing his goal is worthy of an oscar- any truth in word that his team mates have nicknamed him 'giraffe'

[Jinxy]

Don't think so but I'll look into it and get back to you.

[Bud Wiser]

I hears the boys down on the Louth County Board are filling in the blanks on one of these.
http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/library3.nsf/(WebFiles)/88532A53F2C0C4F080257427003CFD0D/$FILE/O.1%20r.2%20-%20Plenary%20Summons.doc

[Lar Naparka]

Just had another look, fair call for a penalty right enough.

I don't question your integrity one bit, HS; I will accept that you go against the vast majority who watched replays of that incident and saw no cause whatever for the ref to award Meath a penalty.
When I say this, I'm going by what I've heard on phone in radio shows, read in the papers and from what I've been hearing from people I've met in the interim- most of whom have little or no interest in the proceedings.
Personally, I go with those who saw no cause for a penalty award but I don't think it matters one way or another-it had no bearing on what actually happened.
The fact is that Martin Sludden adjudged that a goal had been scored and duly awarded a goal to Meath.
The following day after he had a chance to review the incident, he stated that he had got it wrong and should not have allowed this 'goal' to stand. He undoubtedly made an honest error of judgement but in so doing, he denied Louth a Leinster title they had won on the field of play and handed Meath a victory they had not earned.
That is the inescapable conclusion I draw from the proceeding and, IMO, it's the only one that counts.

[Bud Wiser]

Just had another look, fair call for a penalty right enough.

I don't question your integrity one bit, HS; I will accept that you go against the vast majority who watched replays of that incident and saw no cause whatever for the ref to award Meath a penalty.
When I say this, I'm going by what I've heard on phone in radio shows, read in the papers and from what I've been hearing from people I've met in the interim- most of whom have little or no interest in the proceedings.
Personally, I go with those who saw no cause for a penalty award but I don't think it matters one way or another-it had no bearing on what actually happened.
The fact is that Martin Sludden adjudged that a goal had been scored and duly awarded a goal to Meath.
The following day after he had a chance to review the incident, he stated that he had got it wrong and should not have allowed this 'goal' to stand. He undoubtedly made an honest error of judgement but in so doing, he denied Louth a Leinster title they had won on the field of play and handed Meath a victory they had not earned.
That is the inescapable conclusion I draw from the proceeding and, IMO, it's the only one that counts.

Dead right LNP but what the ref should have said, but his continued arrogance would not allow him to say was that "I made a mistake, I gave a goal that I should not have given to Meath and the final score confirms that Louth are Leinster Champions for 2010.   This has to go to the High Court because if it doesn't it will mean that the same thing can happen over and over again.  Since Peter McKenna is so concerned about having supporters arrested by the Gardai he should remember that a long standing tradition of the GAA where supporters mingle for a bit of craic can be transformed into fights like socccer thuigs not because of pitch invasions but because of the inefficiencies in Jones Road to have procedures in place to cover events like what happened last Sunday - BEFORE they happen.