Meath Vs Dublin, 7th June 2009

[magpie seanie]

Dire game, but Dublin should be through to another Leinster Final and probably won't know their true abilities until then.

What the hell has gone so wrong with Meath football. That is one of the most diabolical Meath teams that I have seen take the field.

Mr Duffy of course was played a blinder at ruining any chance of a good game. The more matches you watch the clearer it is that the referees are dominating too much - not because of the rules, but their own inability to control the game properly. Duffy of course was on his best behaviour and was lauded in Croke Park in February when Dublin played Tyrone - their could be no yellow cards unless patently justified as part one of a great plan to bring in new rules without much criticism. Today in a game lacking any real contact (but a huge amount of diving  - young Davoren played a blinder here) there were yellow cards flying around all over the place. Now imagine if Congress had passed the new laws....

As for the stoppage time - ridiculous. The funny thing is the Meath crowd will be giving out about this, with the Dubs laughing. If Meath had scored a last minute goal could you imagine the craic!

You posted exactly my thoughts on the ref, rules, stoppage time etc. This guy will probably get the All-Ireland final this year. He almost got it the last two years. He's one of the best at what they are trained to do. This implies to me that there is a serious disconnect between what refs are taught to do and what 99% of gaelic football fans think.

[mckieran]

Meaths forwards were absolutely awful today. Terrible terrible movement off the ball and for me that was the main reason Dublin won. Also, Cluxton being able to take a short kickout accurately was another big factor.

[agorm]

First of all - well done to the dubs, as they said on the TV they stumbled over the line but they did win.

I am not going to dwell on the injury time - of course there should have been at least 5 minutes but that is not going to get us anywhere making any issue of that now.

My focus is on Meath and to a lesser extent Dublin. This was the worst and least exciting  Meath Dublin game I remember and I have been at them all since the early eighties and listened to every one since the early seventies. Very little atmosphere, I wasnt even bricking it in the last few minutes and dont know how we would have reacted if we snatched it with a goal at the end. Reason being that a win today may not have been a guarantee of anything not even a provincial final position such was the standard of performance. We have gotten used to high standards but I reckon most Meath teams of the seventies were closer to their rivals who in turn were closer to the top of the pile.

My main gripe is with our team management and consequently with our County Board Management that presided over the shambles that brought O'Brien on board. Make no mistake about it, this was the worst selected meath team that took to the field against their greatest rivals in memory. Does anyone know of situations wher the Centre Half Back, Centre Half Forward and Full Forward are all selected out of position? I had actually considered not going if Caoimhin King was selected at full forward following the failed experiment in the league but could not countenance missing it.  Spillane was almost laughing at Meath at half time such was the lack of anything happening in the middle third of the field, they said that Dublin got possession on 13 kick outs in a row. I thought that he would make changes at half time but in that aspect he copied Sean Boylan and didnt make changes when it was blatantly obvious that they were needed. Now I know that the talent is not there to really challenge at the very top but that is no excuse for making crazy conversions of half backs to full forward and, worse still, persisting with it.

I then watched O' Brien on the Sunday Game and he was fairly blazee about the performance pointing out that Dublin were a good team, Hello Eamonn! Dublin were rubbish in front of the posts today and otherwise would have beaten us by at least 15 points and their failure in front of the posts was mostly of their own making!! Hearing jack O'Connor on later put it in perspective for me- he had no hesitation in saying that Kerry were poor. Jack sets standards and knows where he is going.

They say if you dont know where you are going then any road will get you there and, unfortunately, this seems to be the case for Meath at the moment.

[Canalman]

Will go against the grain here and say that I was happy with Dublin's display today. A major improvement in our problem areas..... the half back line, Full back and midfield consistency, winning breaks.
THe core of Dublin's problems imo on today's display anyway have been improved...... whether enough remains to be seen.

Very worried about Davoren's injury..... he seemed to be settling well into the pace of the game and he looked in alot of pain. THe forward didn't click today and I wouldn't be too worried about that unless they misfire again in the SF.

Very muted crowd today....... possibly because of the back door and the opinion of many Dubs I met before the game that the qualifiers might suit us better this year. However imo we will be slated and written off by one and all which suits us fine. Important to get to Leinster final  to avoid the early qualifiers.

I was absolutely frozen in the Hogan Upper. Played a match on the Saturday night and like alll the other lads I lost feeling in my hands towards the end of the game because of the wind , cold and hail. Some weather for June although I believe the rest of the Country missed it.

If the rumour is true and Gilroy and Whelan are deliberately aiming for peaking later in the Summer then today's result was v good for us.

[Canalman]

Btw Paul Griffin's accent is by no means non indicative of the GAA in parts of Dublin. The association is drifting slowly away from its working class/ country lad in Dublin roots.
Would personally love to hear it across the tannoys come September.

[Jinxy]

It's the qualifiers for us now.
Hopefully we put forwards in the forward line next time.

[INDIANA]

Will go against the grain here and say that I was happy with Dublin's display today. A major improvement in our problem areas..... the half back line, Full back and midfield consistency, winning breaks.
THe core of Dublin's problems imo on today's display anyway have been improved...... whether enough remains to be seen.

Very worried about Davoren's injury..... he seemed to be settling well into the pace of the game and he looked in alot of pain. THe forward didn't click today and I wouldn't be too worried about that unless they misfire again in the SF.

Very muted crowd today....... possibly because of the back door and the opinion of many Dubs I met before the game that the qualifiers might suit us better this year. However imo we will be slated and written off by one and all which suits us fine. Important to get to Leinster final  to avoid the early qualifiers.

I was absolutely frozen in the Hogan Upper. Played a match on the Saturday night and like alll the other lads I lost feeling in my hands towards the end of the game because of the wind , cold and hail. Some weather for June although I believe the rest of the Country missed it.

If the rumour is true and Gilroy and Whelan are deliberately aiming for peaking later in the Summer then today's result was v good for us.

You on the beer. Genuinely? the full back line?- half forward line? Happy. Tell me you're joking.

[Canalman]

Indiana, no drink at all on me, watching the elections on the BBC. I differ from you in that I went to the game without a preset (and well cybered) mindset and judged what I saw. Will judge the Dubs on their merits or demerits and not on what the perceived opinions are on their opponents.

For me, not conceding a whiff of a goal chance or being reasonably tight in the half backs is good enough progress for me, given the shambolic displays in the past .

Beg to difffer I suppose. Bit rich though of you to criricize a differing opinion to yours as being alcohol induced.

[heffo]

Indiana - Offaly were so bad that day they made Meath look good and only actually playing when they started to make the subs and put on guys like McManus etc who could actually play football...

Can't see us missing as many chances again and B Brogan certainly won't...

We need to make the 6/7 personnel changes now to give ourselves any chance of even designs on making the last 4.

We needed to do the same after the pasting Tyrone gave us - Shane Ryan isn't fit enough to play a Junior league game at the moment never mind play in Croke park.

[INDIANA]

Well you're entitled to your opinion canalman ( I didn't mean to insult you if thats what you felt) but in my view Henry and Hubbard really struggled. Hubbard was shunted out of the way by Cian Ward like a ragdoll at times. The fact that Ward's shooting was erratic is the only thing that saved him. Henry was caught the wrong side several times and Farrell with more match practice would have done more damage. Bastic was marking a half back and conceded way too much space too him.
It would be frigtening to see what Mulligan/Cavanagh and O Neill would do to them- thats the yardstick.
They aren't helped  though with the amount of space in front of them.
The half forward line is simply a revolving door. We seem incapable of picking the correct balance to the line on a consistent basis to give the line a bit of continuity but its like muscial chairs at the minute.
if Dublin people are genuinely happy with that yesterday- fair play. But you have to question whats the ambition for Dublin football anymore and if its winning poor standard Leinstre championships then yesterday was a fine result. If its about beating the best teams in the land-yesterday was not even in the ballpark. Thats the worst Meath team since the 70's and I'm old enough to remember them.
I'd also like to hear other counties fans opinions about Shane Ryan. If he was on the transfer market would other counties be interested in him? I just can't fathom how an allstar from last season isn't in the top 20 players in Dublin. Or maybe I rate him far too highly?

Heffo I've seen them training that Shane Ryan isn't fit thing- is bullshit. He isn't carrying an ounce more than last year.

[heffo]

Heffo I've seen them training that Shane Ryan isn't fit thing- is bullshit. He isn't carrying an ounce more than last year.

I've been told by two current players and one other person involved that he made the cut by the skin of his teeth last week due to fitness - those sources have been impecabble in the past.

If he is fit - he has to have a part to play.

[INDIANA]

Well I'm telling you they are wrong. He isn't carrying an ounce more than last year. He has much chance of playing Heffo as I do.

[Declan]

I'd agree with that assessment of the performance Indiana. The Royals were pretty dejected last night and couldn't see a way forward at all.
On a sad note a young lad (16/17) collapsed on the sideline last week - he was playing a Junior match for Skryne - and is critical in Beaumont hospital. So puts all the bitching and cribbing about performances into perspective. Spare a thought for himself and his family 

[heffo]

On a sad note a young lad (16/17) collapsed on the sideline last week - he was playing a Junior match for Skryne - and is critical in Beaumont hospital. So puts all the bitching and cribbing about performances into perspective. Spare a thought for himself and his family 

Jesus I hadn't heard that - I've friends in Skryne - I must get onto them - hope he pulls through.

[Hound]

Quite bizarre walking out after the game - usually when the Dubs beat Meath, the fans are euphoric regardless of the manner of the victory, but yesterday the feeling amongst the masses was closer to dejection!

I was hugely disappointed with the second half performance - the objective seemed to be to run into cul-de-sacs!

Having said that, the negative reaction is over the top. We had an excellent 15 minute spell at the end of the second half which showed what we are capable of. Big performances in June don't win All Irelands. You take every game as it comes, hope to improve each time and see how far it takes you.  

There is some hope that Davoren's injury might not be as bad as first feared. Would be a big pity if he was ruled out as he showed very well for his championship debut and really seemed to be enjoying himself.

Fair play to Darren Magee on winning man of the match. He fielded really well, and worked his socks off. Still needs some work on kicking the ball straight!

PS Best wishes to the boy from Skyrne.