A Royal Hand To Set The Heather Blazing.......30ú Meitheamh, Páirc an Chrócaigh

[Jinxy]

Drop Wallace?!

[Hardy]

Dare I say it but should we have an extra defender instead of Bray, give Wallace extra room to use his pace. Newman looks of a decent size to win high ball and create breaks for Wallace. If need be he can be swapped with Joe.

I think we need more cover at the back. A more astute team than Wicklow would have had 3 goals on us last weekend.

I know this is heresy and I can imagine Hardy and <name excised on grounds of good taste> piling the faggots against the stake already.

Something along these lines:

P O'Rourke;

D Keoghan, B Menton, C King;
P Harnan, K Reilly,M Burke;
S Kenny;

B Meade, C Gillespie;

                   P Byrne, G Reilly, P Gilsenan(or Bray, Farrell);
   E Wallace, M Newman(or Joe)

Absolutely not. I'm a big fan of good defending. I shudder to think what a good team would do to our defence and I agree our forwards need to defend better. If I'd taken the time to consider my selection a bit more, I'd have put Seamus Kenny at No. 10 as a defender/3rd midfielder/breaking ball scavenger and restore one of the backs I dropped. Maybe even two wing forward defenders.

I too think Stephen Bray is taking unwarranted stick. Things didn't run for him attacking wise on Saturday. That won't happen often. He seemed to get through a mountain of work and took all the right options.

This is a long term project. I don't expect us to challenge for titles this year or next. I just want to see the right attitude and continuing progress and I'm happy on both fronts so far.

[Jinxy]

Have we no Wexford posters?
Or are they all picking strawberries.

[thejuice]

Aye, scarcer than Wicklow wans. Can no other countymen and step in? Westmeath or Louth fans must have little else to be doing these days. Just a wee bit of abuse would be greatly apprechiated.

[Sea The Stars]

How important is it that Wexford were relegated out of Division 2 and Meath were promoted to the same division? Albeit Wexford were only narrowly relegated.

Looking back, Division 2 looks like it was a very weak division. 7 counties from this division found themselves in the draw for Round 1 of the qualifiers last Monday. The only Division 2 teams to win a championship match this year were Louth and Wexford - both at the expense of other Division 2 teams. The 2 games that were contested between Division 3 and Division 2 teams were both won by the Division 3 team.

The long and short of my point is that I think there was very little between Division 3 and Division 2 this year - in fact Division 3 might have been stronger. The fact Meath were promoted and Wexford were relegated is the biggest pointer to the outcome of this match...in my opinion.

Of course, I would not write off Wexford but I think their win over Louth could be overrated. I would also be sceptical of the improvement Meath are supposedly showing under new management.....plus you can never been confident of Meath. There's a feeling out there that Meath are vulnerable to an improving side and I would agree with that but I don't think Wexford are an improving team. I would be hopeful of a Meath victory but not because I think we are a team about to go places.

[Jinxy]

Like most games in recent years, I fully expect to lose.
It's just easier that way.

[thejuice]

Ah don't be taking that road Jinxy.

No matter how bad things may get if we ever lose belief in ourselves it could be a long while before we ever win anything again. Is it worse to feel crushed after a defeat than to go into every game half accepting defeat?

As oul Vicky once said:
"Please understand that there is no one depressed in this house; we are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist."

[Jinxy]

I'll believe again when we show some consistency juice.
In the last couple of years I've driven home from far too many games, absolutely furious at what I'd just witnessed.
And that had as much to do with commitment and effort as it did ability.

[Hardy]

I have faith in Mick and the new regime. I'm confident that even if it doesn't restore glory (though it might) it will restore self respect and revive the soul of Meath football. I'm encouraged by what I see so far. I think the right attitude is in evidence. It may or may not deliver competitive success, but without it competitive success is impossible.

[This Years Model]

Have we no Wexford posters?
Or are they all picking strawberries.

Lurking here from time to time Jinxy ...

I couldn't pretend to have been following Meath's fortunes lately, so I couldn't offer any worthwhile analysis of the opposition. And loathe though I am to confess this to the internet, I haven't managed to witness our boys in the flesh once this year. Bloody wife/recession/kids/lethargy ....

But I will be attending on Sunday to witness Wexford footballers contest their (wait for it ...) 8th Provincial semi-final in the last 10 years. I have it on good authority (i.e. I heard it third-hand) that only Cork, Kerry and Dublin have ever achieved that level of consistency in their province, and let's face it, of those three only Dublin could really claim that as any kind of praiseworthy achievement. It's all the more remarkable considering where Wexford football was in the era leading up to this stretch.

That statistic won't count for a whole lot on Sunday, though we do have a very experienced  spine of the team, with the two young midfielders in great form, and a nice bit of pace in the youngsters, and I would certainly expect us to be in with a good shout. Midfield won the Louth game for us, and Lyng is in good form up front, having missed the entire League through injury. He took a box to the face off the ball with 10 minutes to go in the first half against Louth, which went unpunished. A bit pissed off, he decided to exact his own retribution then and kicked 1-2 from play before half-time including an outrageous goal. Red Barry had a (very) rare off-day, and statistically isn't due another one now for about three years, so I would expect him to have a big say on Sunday.

Our corner backs are normally our biggest worry, especially against the likes of Meath. I don't know why they played Lee Chin in the left corner against Louth, and I can't see him being asked to play in there again. I would go for Rob Tierney, based on his championship last year at least, though as I say, I haven't seen him this year. Michael Furlong is our new man at right-corner and is having a solid year, but he will be making his Croke Park debut, so hopefully he'll handle the pressure ok.

Any Blackstairs men care to predict the team? I'll have a stab at it:

Masterson
Furlong
Molloy
Tierney
Flynn
Murphy
Malone
Waters
Quinlivan
Doyle
Brosnan
Holmes
Lyng
Barry
Banville

Andy Doyle would probably need to funnel back and support our full back line though ...

I don't know of any injuries, and actually if all fit, it's a fairly strong panel capable of playing at this level, with Chin and Wadding  at the back, Paddy Byrne in the middle, and Roche up front all capable of coming on and doing a job if needed.

[Ohtoohtobe]

Have we no Wexford posters?
Or are they all picking strawberries.

I have it on good authority (i.e. I heard it third-hand) that only Cork, Kerry and Dublin have ever achieved that level of consistency in their province, and let's face it, of those three only Dublin could really claim that as any kind of praiseworthy achievement.

Do you mean of current teams rather than ever? Loads of teams would have done it in the past. Think Armagh won seven of 10 Ulster finals from 99 on, for example. Not to mention every team in Connacht!
Still serious consistency from Wexford though.

[rodney trotter]

Think Wexford will win this. Solid enough team, with Molloy, Lee Chin and Adrian Flynn in defence. Decent midfield pairing in Waters and Quinlivan and good forwards, Red Barry, Ciaran Lyng, PJ Banville and Brosnan. Shane Roche is also a very good forward, to spring from the bench.

Meath defence was very poor in the League final against Monaghan in the wide open spaces of Croker. The defence didn't look great either against a limited Wicklow team minus Glynn.

[This Years Model]

Have we no Wexford posters?
Or are they all picking strawberries.

I have it on good authority (i.e. I heard it third-hand) that only Cork, Kerry and Dublin have ever achieved that level of consistency in their province, and let's face it, of those three only Dublin could really claim that as any kind of praiseworthy achievement.

Do you mean of current teams rather than ever? Loads of teams would have done it in the past. Think Armagh won seven of 10 Ulster finals from 99 on, for example. Not to mention every team in Connacht!
Still serious consistency from Wexford though.

Yeah, good shout ... that's probably what I meant  ... unless it is since they removed seeding? Although Leinster is the only province that now has seeding, in that the 4 semi-finalists get a bye in to the Q-Final the following year ... Did Ulster ever have seeding? I don't think so ...

One for gaainfo.com, which is sadly no longer with us. That was a great site ....

[Jinxy]

I'd say it should be a good game for the neutrals anyway.

[gwan-ye-boy-ya]

tough wan ta call.. yellowbellies by 2