Meath Vs Dublin, 7th June 2009

[liihb]

The Dublin forwards look alright, but have no real confidence in the backs, Ger Brennan is a fine footballer, but does not mark his man, Barry Cahill hasn't played well this year, Bastic in my opinion is just not at this level, and I've seen him at club level for a good few years now.....liable to do something silly....and hubbard in fairness is a good player.....

Hope they put Berno into the full forward line

[DUBSFORSAM1]

liihb - Has Bastic not done enough of a job in the league to show he is capable of playing fullback?? He coped pretty well with Cavanagh, Donaghy etc already...

Whelan/Connolly would both have been in the team but aren't 100% so Andrews and Flynn came in for them....

With regards to Brennan the question needs to be asked is he doing what he is told in terms of marking or not and if he wasn't I doubt he would be picked...

Pretty confident we will win, good to see new players coming through and improving the depth in the squad considerably...

A bench of Casey, Cullen, Ryan, Whelan, Fennell, Quinn, Sherlock, Vaughan, Connolly, Kelly etc is a strong bench...

[INDIANA]

Nope DSFM the only injury doubt is Connolly.
Bastic is fine - he's done well so far .
I hope you're right DSFM I don't share your optimism. There is 4 guys not starting that would be in my team simply because I don't think the replacements are better than them. It seems to me a bit of change for changes sake, rather than based on form in the last 8 weeks because I've been at some of the challenge games and most of the league games.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Indiana - I guess we need to agree to disagree on Whelan as I hear that his calf injury isn't 100% thats why he isn't starting and Ross was due to start at chf...

[Hound]

I'm pretty happy with the backs.

Bastic is not the best full back in the country, he's not the best in the province, but based on the NFL I'm pretty sure he's the best in the county. So no matter how he does, I don't think anyone else would have done better.

I think we've got the right 3 half backs too. Personally I thought Barry Cahill was our best player during the league campaign, will be good to see how Griff does as an intercounty wing back, and I think Brennan deserves the final spot ahead of Cullen and Casey. Getting the balance right is key, as IMO every half back we have is more an intercounty wing back than an intercounty centre back. Someone will have to man the centre at all times, but it doesnt have to be the same person all the time.

I am worried about midfield. I think Ross has the ability to be a top centre fielder but it won't happen overnight. I'd much sooner see Whelo alongside him. I have huge doubts over Darren, but I'll put them to one side on Sunday and hope he proves me wrong.

Not convinced by the forwards. Flynn played really well v Meath in the league last year, but I havent seen him do a whole lot since. Paddy Andrews was hugely disappointing in the U21 defeat, so hope that was a one-off. Davoren always seems a bit light to me, but I'm happy enough he's getting his chance.

Very hard to predict what's going to happen as I haven't a notion what Meath will be like, but either way the craic should be great on Sunday!

[INDIANA]

Indiana - I guess we need to agree to disagree on Whelan as I hear that his calf injury isn't 100% thats why he isn't starting and Ross was due to start at chf...

He hasn't been selected. He had a calf injury but that doesn't seem to be why he's not starting- suprisingly. He's a 100% now. A mistake in my view but we'll see what happens.
Meath must be loving this 90% of dublin fans expect to win by 6/7 points and I can't remember bar 1995 any game where either team beat the other by more than 2/3 points. Not a peep out of them.

[Gnevin]

Indiana - I guess we need to agree to disagree on Whelan as I hear that his calf injury isn't 100% thats why he isn't starting and Ross was due to start at chf...

He hasn't been selected. He had a calf injury but that doesn't seem to be why he's not starting- suprisingly. He's a 100% now. A mistake in my view but we'll see what happens.
Meath must be loving this 90% of dublin fans expect to win by 6/7 points and I can't remember bar 1995 any game where either team beat the other by more than 2/3 points. Not a peep out of them.

No one I've talked too expects to walk it.

[liihb]

Has Bastic not done enough of a job in the league to show he is capable of playing fullback?? He coped pretty well with Cavanagh, Donaghy etc already

In all fairness he has done quite well, but you know when you have a sneaking suspicion about a player in the back of your mind that just won't go away?

As for Brennan possibly being told to not mark, then shite.

As for Cahills form, I suppose I'm basing it on club champo form, he's been poor of late, but I'm sure (or at least I hope) he'll step it up for the Dubs

[Declan]

Not a peep out of them

The Royal lads I've spoken to are quietly confident

[Jinxy]

We're massive underdogs for this game, and as the song says, that's the way aw huh aw huh I likes it!

[liihb]

Is the Meath team announced yet Jinxy?

[Jinxy]

After training this evening I think.

[Zulu]

I've been thinking about the Dublin team Gilroy has gone for and on the presumption he will start as selected I think it might be a very smart selection. I think he may have left some of the established players off the team in a calculated risk, this Sunday is an opportunity to see what players are made of in a massive game in front of 70K+ against Dublin's biggest rivals. He knows what Whelan, Ryan, Cullen, Casey etc. can do, I think he may want to see what other lads can do in this type of cauldron and what leaders he has when Whelan, Cullen and Ryan aren't around. He also has the advantage of having real game changers on the bench to bring on and lift the team if things aren't going to plan. These games are won in the second half anyway and Gilroy will be able to have all his big names on at that stage so I don't see any negatives to leaving Whelan et al. on the bench. If the starting players don't meet this challenge then he'll know he hasn't men he can call on to face the really big guns like Kerry and Tyrone and will revert to a similar 15 to last year.

[Zulu]

Meath team for Sunday

Paddy O'Rourke
Anthony Moyles
Kevin Reilly
Eoghan Harrington
Séamus Kenny
Niall McKeigue
Cormac McGuinness
Mark Ward
Nigel Crawford
Shane McAnarney
Stephen Bray (c)
Brian Meade
Brian Farrell
Caoimhín King
Cian Ward

[Jinxy]

I'd say there'll be a lot of moving around before the throw-in.