Laois v Meath

[laoislad]

I don't mean to dismiss Laois at all, (if we play badly we can lose to anyone) but if we are on form we should beat them 10-12 points. And I think we will be on form.

Well I guess ye weren't on form after all.......

[Hardy]

How did it go? I was watching the badminton.

[Hardy]

Seriously, please tell me the nightmare is over now. Banty, of course, is at it again, trying to sell this year's debacles as progress, to add to last year's progress that saw us win three matches between league and championship. "Listen, we played six championship games this year and that's great for Meath football". Right.

Listen, we lost two championship matches this year and drew one. Against Carlow. And somehow we've turned into Tyrone, with players collapsing and face-clutching. Where did that come from? That was the last positive about Meath football we had to hang on to. Oh, I forgot. "The heart is BACK in Meath football" - S. McEnaney.  Thanks Banty.

Go on Laois.

[emmetryan]

Smart game by Laois today, here's my tactical take
http://action81.com/blog/?p=6041

[Shamrock Shore]

Time for a Meath reboot, like they do to the likes of Spiderman and Bantyman, sorry Batman. Like Longford Meath can now focus on the O'Byrne Cup.

Congrats to Laois in recovering from the defeat in Longford.

Onwards and Upwards

[thejuice]

Banty didn't hold on to the 6 day excuse. Said it had nothing to do with it.

I wasn't saying banty would but those who would rather keep the head in the sand probably will.

[laoislad]

Congrats to Laois in recovering from the defeat in Longford.

Onwards and Upwards

Credit to McNulty for keeping the troops together after the defeat to Longford and going on a 4 match run.
Sure these outside managers are great 

[agorm]

Didn't sound great on the radio.

Kildare game aside we have had a poor year it has to be said. Hopefully the core of the Meath support are smart enough not to try and dine out on the kildare win. The state of things were brought into sharp focus after getting relegated. But the kildare put a stop to it all. Unfortunately the 6 day excuse will probably be trotted out.

I was at the game. I didnt hear too much of the Meath support that were at the game trying to dine out on the Kildare win.  Most supporters know full well what the problems are and most know that many of the problems predate the arrival of Banty.

Banty made mistakes in his selection for today. Cian Ward shouldnt have started. I am not sure what was going on regarding Kevin Reilly as the change to bring in Bray and bring back Carroll to the back line destabilised the team. Once again silly losses of possession and going into blind alleys cost us as did very por kickouts and a penalty given away from nothing.

That said, Laois built on their previous wins and were fully deserving of their win even though some of their tactics to keep Meath out were a bit cynical in the second half, they seemed to be clever at taking tactical yellow cards and this was mentioned on their local radio a couple of times. Also, Munnelly took Keoghan out of it.........he didnt hold back and succeeded in taking our best player from last week out of the game.

Some of our shot and passing choices were poor. Also, Bray, and Farrell to a lesser extent, should never have gone for a point at the end! Like WHY? Did he not know that the game was almost over??

[agorm]

Seriously, please tell me the nightmare is over now. Banty, of course, is at it again, trying to sell this year's debacles as progress, to add to last year's progress that saw us win three matches between league and championship. "Listen, we played six championship games this year and that's great for Meath football". Right.

Listen, we lost two championship matches this year and drew one. Against Carlow. And somehow we've turned into Tyrone, with players collapsing and face-clutching. Where did that come from? That was the last positive about Meath football we had to hang on to. Oh, I forgot. "The heart is BACK in Meath football" - S. McEnaney.  Thanks Banty.

Go on Laois.

First of all I didnt see the interview as I was on my way back from the game. However I read the interview ion HoganStand and I dont see too much nightmare material in it.

Whats this about turning into Tyrone and face clutching? Did you not see that Laois essentially decided to foul out the field and basically took it in turns to do so to spread out the yellow cards? I am not having a go at Laois in that ....we have had plenty of sinners in our defence over the years.  I didnt see face clutching etc and spoke to about 4 or 5 different suporters afterwards and they had a lot to give out about but not that.

As I said I didnt see an interview but he did say "The future is bright for Meath football". I dont have a problem with that. He does wear his heart on his sleeve and his management team (perhaps not himself) have developed new players this year. To even imply that the source of our problems lie with the manager considering our poor record at underage and leinster club championships is almost delusional imo. That said he DID make several serious errors in selection in my opinion including picking Ward today, causing confusion with Kevin Reilly who could never have been fit & not having an alternative to Gallagher.

I dont want to doing a 1 man defence of Banty but there is a limited number of Meath posters on this forum and there seems to be a definite agenda against him. Of course he made mistakes and I think he made bad calls in todays selections. I am not sure if he will even decide to stay. If it was me deciding I would give him another year as I do think there were positives albeit within a lot of negatives this year. With a bit of luck on the injury front and a new goalie we will have a stronger panel next year.Our biggest problem and Banty's biggest failure is thedivision 3 league position for next year.
Banty is on a tightrope of course but what is our alternative, we have gone through the managerial appointment process several times in recent years and the peoples chioices like O Rourke, McEntee etc have not been interested. More change will mean more instability and I think we have had enough change for changes sake.

[agorm]

Also, Banty bust his gut from the sideline today in the spills of rain trying to motivate the players. That isnt obvious from the television.

Every game this year himself and the management team have been discussing what changes can be made, where the problems are from early on. We have archaic structures in the county with a merry go round of a county board and nearly all that is written about on here is Banty!

If Banty decides to fight on and can bring forward the same management team then the county board etc need to specify exactly what management team they propose to replace him with and not just another single name that has to go off and get a team behind him.

[mylestheslasher]

A lot of talk about Meath here but since the bet Kildare I am not going to dance on their grave! However, I think the focus should be on Laois who I thought were outstanding. The obviously made a conscious decision to shoot on site with the wind in the first half and they kicked some outstanding scores. They started the 2nd half with some vital scores and that was critical. I thought they fought really hard and played some great football. Meath, to their credit, never stopped trying but once or twice made poor decisions  and didn't put in enough high balls to their FF line. Are Meath making progress under Banty, doesn't look like it to me. I think they are too obsessed with muscle and so the balance of the team is wrong. I think Laois could run Dublin close.

[Sea The Stars]

I would hope Banty would stay on. Been at all Meath's O'Byrne Cup games, five League games, all championship matches plus a couple of challenges and couldn't say I've a problem with management. Few decisions maybe I could find fault with but easy to be smart in hindsight. Banty has done a lot for Meath in his short time here. A good team behind him. And I think he's the right man to captain the ship even if he's not always the brains of all decision. I get the impression that Hardy secretly gets a lot of satisfaction of out of seeing Meath losing today (though I wouldn't expect he'd say so). It gives him the opportunity to have a go again.

Just on the year as a whole - it's clear that Meath have worked very hard.  They are in far better physical shape that any time in the past, and I think there's positives to be taken from the fact that they came back twice from ten points down to almost snatch victory. Maybe that's naive of me but in the past, that wouldn't have happened. We can also be proud of the youngsters plus some very good form shown by some of the older brigade. But Meath's biggest problem in my opinion - and it came to fruitation again today - is nerves. Some comical goalkeeping, and very foolish handpassing. Some players not as comfortable shooting either. The like of Burke, Forde, Meade, Ward are all very conscious of doing something wrong, and are paralysed by their own fears at times. When it sets in, everyone becomes uptight even when giving a basic handpass. That's my biggest complaint. The nerves. It was the same in the Wicklow and Carlow games.

Anyway the last thing we need now is more upheavel. Please let the winter go quietly by and Banty quietly prepare for next year.

[agorm]

A lot of talk about Meath here but since the bet Kildare I am not going to dance on their grave! However, I think the focus should be on Laois who I thought were outstanding. The obviously made a conscious decision to shoot on site with the wind in the first half and they kicked some outstanding scores. They started the 2nd half with some vital scores and that was critical. I thought they fought really hard and played some great football. Meath, to their credit, never stopped trying but once or twice made poor decisions  and didn't put in enough high balls to their FF line. Are Meath making progress under Banty, doesn't look like it to me. I think they are too obsessed with muscle and so the balance of the team is wrong. I think Laois could run Dublin close.

I agree with you but it is up to Laois posters to focus on them. We, naturally, will focus on our own county.

[thejuice]

Also, Banty bust his gut from the sideline today in the spills of rain trying to motivate the players. That isnt obvious from the television.

Every game this year himself and the management team have been discussing what changes can be made, where the problems are from early on. We have archaic structures in the county with a merry go round of a county board and nearly all that is written about on here is Banty!

If Banty decides to fight on and can bring forward the same management team then the county board etc need to specify exactly what management team they propose to replace him with and not just another single name that has to go off and get a team behind him.

That's what I'm getting at. When we got relegated people started to focus on the county board and underage structures. It felt like change was in the air. But with the county team reaching the Leinster final it seems all that is lost and we'll be back to same old story next year. Blaming the senior management is like shooting the messenger.

[mylestheslasher]

Will McEneaney want to stay on and will there another attempt to get rid of him if he does?