Down v Meath official thread

[Cloc Mor]

ALL THE TIME

You go back through my posts and you'll find I am not agressive(sic) all the time.

I have made a legitimate point about our LACK OF SIZE V Meath - nothing else

[lecale4]

Cloc Mor - the problem isn't height - its the inability of the defence to man-mark - and/or the unwillingness to drop in a sweeper/get the half forwards to defend a la Tyrone. There isn't a decent defender in the team.
PS Murphy isn't 6' yet he played well at midfield against Monaghan.

[Jinxy]

Question for the Down boys. Who've been the main score-getters for ye so far? (I promise I won't tell Coyler!)

[greygoose]

Now that hopefully you have all stopped bitching @ each other, do we have anybody in the Panel that could possible do a good job man marking Gerraghty ?

[Declan]

Had to laugh at permatan Flynn saying that Meath are taking the qualifiers seriously this year as all the lads were at training on the Monday after the Dublin game. I suppose they just picked the team from whoever turned up on the day over the last few years then

[Lecale2]

This isn't a bad draw for Down when you look at some of the others. It's good to be at home for a start. If Ross can learn form the Monaghan defeat and sort out the defense I think we can give this one a good rattle.

[No1]

  At the last national league we played against Meath in Newcastle, Monk Cole marked Geraghty completely out of the game.

 I'd be more worried about Ward and Sheridan to be honest.

 Coulter couldn't have a worse man to try and find form against than Fay.

 I think it's a shite draw and copious amounts of alcohol will be required to make me half believe we have a half chance.

[Jinxy]

Geraghty in the league and Geraghty in the championship are two different beasts.

[amallon]

I'm glad we got a good stiff test in the draw.  This is much better than winning a game or two against mickey mouse teams and prolonging the inevitable.  If we aren't good enough our county season will be over and we can get back to club football.   A win against Meath shouldn't be out of the question though, if we can tighten up in defence we are in with a strong shout.   

[bcarrier]

Its time for Down supporters to cheer up a bit .Monaghan put up a fine performance yesterday ( without Finlay) and are probably a much better side than they are getting credit for. With a bit more composure we probably would have beaten them .

Meath on the other hand lost to the most hyped team in Ireland. They have a few decent forwards but do look fragile defensively. Fay is not the player of old. Their record in qualifers aint hectic either and Graham Geraghty is as unlikely to be as up for a saturday evening game in the marshes as he is for a full house in croker. In any case he is also not the player he once was.

The guys Id be worried about are Farrell and Bray ....we struggle against these types and you would really doubt if Sheridan can be as poor again as he was in Dublin games . Its a game we can win though.

[Jinxy]

"Fay is not the player of old"? Fay is the best full back in the championship so far.

[downredblack]

The last time we played Meath , Geraghty was a second half substitution and only coming back from injury no doubt he will cause us a lot more problems this time . In saying that I'm happy enough with the draw . In fairness the two Dublin v Meath games were exciting and passionate but in terms of football neither team are AI material as I think Dublin proved again yesterday . We could of got a couple of handier draws but If we cant beat Meath with a home advantage then we are better off out of it .

[Jinxy]

Dublin strolled past Offaly at 50% and looked mentally fatigued from the 2 Meath games. Galway could have been beaten by leitrim if leitrim had nailed even one of their goal chances in the 2nd half. And yet people would not look strangely at you at all, if you were to include Galway in your list of contenders for Sam. Tyrone very nearly lost the first day against Fermanagh, and hammered a poor Donegal team the next day and now they are front runners. It seems to me that the logic applied to Dublin based on their performances so far could be applied equally harshly to a few other teams with All-Ireland aspirations.

[bcarrier]

On what basis has Fay been best full back in championship ?

Moved himself of Brogan and Keaney notched high score from play after that. He has been a great player but not this year IMO.

Coulter is overhyped but should be able to get a few scores of an old fella like that. Hope they are marking one another.

[heineken_on_tap]

A repeat of the '91 final if memory serve me right... Alot has changed since for both counties but would expect Meath to come through this one - hard to know how good either side actually is but reckon Meath by a point or two