Meath vs Limerick

[The Claw]

I think you're right juice, go for a new one

[meathie]

Thought Id throw in my comments after the game too. The first thing I noticed on saturday was how bloody slow the boys were. Ive never seen the team as sluggish and just slow from the get go. There was no appetite for the game, no interest from most of the boys and no will to win. When thats not there we are in serious trouble. I cannot for the life of me work out why Crawford is still on the panel never mind the team. He was the cause of so many frees in the first 20 mins. I think the biggest problem with this team is that there is no gel in the team. Theyre all too individual and they dont play for each other. well Coyle had to go after it, I reckon they'll chase O Rourke though he had said before he would have difficulty managiing while his son is there. Bringing Boylan back couldnt be any worse than what we suffered against Limerick. I dont think the County Board would ever go for an outside Manager to be honest. This was talked about last time around and it was a no go then. I shook hands with Darren and Graham after the game. Knowing it was most probably their last game was really depressing way to finish. some day in the distant future the Royals will rise again.......

[Hardy]

I wonder if there's an underlying fitness issue? Lack of proper physical preparation? Hence the running around racecourses to try and catch up with the fitness level of the rest of the teams? It's just a thought. I thought the same against Wexford and said here that Meath looked the least fit team in the championship.

Coyle is known to favour ball-based training and to have a jaundiced view of over-concentration on fitness. He is famously said to have introduced himself to the Monaghan squad with a football in his hands and to have said something like "this is a football. We'll be doing all our training with one of these".

I hope you're right meathie about no outside manager. In any case, I don't think the Co. Board will pay any manager, so that would seem to kill the idea.

I had the opportunity to shake hands with the boys too and didn't take it, which I regret now.

[meathie]

Id like to see someone with abit of fire in their belly. I agree that Dudley is too invoved already. Maybe Gerry Mc, thye spoke about him last year. wonder how long he's got left with the Dubs?? hope Crawford gets sense to retire over the coming days too....

[Croí na hÉireann]

Hardy

I feel your pain. In 1981 Meath lost to Longford by a point which prompted the appointment of Boylan. Hey, there will be troughs but look forward. I see Coyle has abdicated so maybe Luke Dempsey, also countyless, will step in and restore the sheen to the Royals' crown.

Or- eh- maybe not cos he was involved with your less well educated illegitimate cousins to the West.

My enemies enemy is my friend 

Anywhoo always thought this Meath team was overhyped. Fine forwards but no backs. With no Moyles to hold the stitching together I thought the spread was madness but certainly never envisaged this scoreline. Looks like Micky Ned is finally turning the wheels down in Limerick...

[Hardy]

I was sitting beside an American tourist, watching his first game of gaelic football. Overall, he was quite impressed and picked up the essentials fairly quickly - I explained the tackle rule, the shoulder to shoulder, the 4 steps.

Then he started to ask awkward questions.

"Four steps, you said? Everyone seems to be taking six or eight".

"You can only tackle by playing the ball away when the player is in the act of playing it? But everybody is holding each other, slapping each other around the arms and chest and the referee doesn't seem to mind"

What could I say?

Then he came up with a perceptive comment. "There's not enough violence in this game". I think he meant physical contact. He wasn't wrong.

The main thing that bothered him, though was that there was no beer and hot dogs.

[agorm]

Have to feel sorry for Meath and their supporters last night.

They def took the foot of the peddle against Wexford and the perception was that the ref gave Wex an easy ride in the second half.  Very hard to come back after a defeat like that - although after what the Dubs done to Wexford today probably a good job they did not meet in the Leinster final.  After that performance definitely something simmering underneath the surface in Meath  - don't know if anybody has any info?

Hard to comprehend after their AISF appearance last season.

The funny thing is, I still think Meath would have given Dublin their toughest game in the province. The players would have no problem getting fired up to play the Dubs in Croker. It's the likes of Wexford in Dr Cullen Park and Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds we have problems with. 
I know that seems like a ridiculous thing to say but I honestly believe it. Football ability isn't the problem with this Meath team. Attitude and application are. If we had scraped through the Wexford game I believe we would have continued to improve. Then again we're into Aunties having balls territory here.....
It's all Wexfords fault. They ruined the Leinster championship for everyone! 

That Meath team would have been totally wiped at midfield even if Dublin had played Shane Ryan on his OWN there yesterday. Dublin are much stronger physically than Meath and are prepared to use the aggression. I do agree that Meath generallly up their performances for the Dubs in Croker but Dublin were a different level yesterday to what I have seen in recent years. Remember Wexford not only beat Meath, they disposed of Laois as well and were very worthy of their place in the final.
I am not sure if anyone really knows the true answer to Saturday night, perhaps Coyle is also struggling to explain it thus his quick exit. All I can say is that we have capitulated drastically 3 times in the championship and also against the Dubs in Parnell Park. These guys do not seem to be able for it when other teams up the physical stakes and I reckon that other managers are observant enough to know this. I wonder has all of the crap in te newspapers and on Joe Duffy etc etc sayiong how dirty Meath are had an effect and we have ended up as a team that are a soft touch.
The new management team should study the video very carefully and should think very carefully about the character of theplayers that they take in next year. I am not saying that they take in dirty players but they need to replace some of the current team with players that are willing to put their lives on the line so to speak. We may have to sacrifice a player like, say, Stephen Bray to get in a David Beggy type player. We could criticise some of the attackers for not being defensive or aggressive enough but it may not be in them. They should lower the priority level away from an All-Ireland and concentrate on promotion in the National League and get consistent games against better opposition which hasnt been happening in recent years.

[INDIANA]

we'll gladly have stephen bray if you don;t want him are you nuts? meaths problems all begin and end at midfield, they have no partnership. no settled number 6 without moyles and can't seem to find the best combination of forwards despite having 9 quality forwards. that to me is management. Coyle continually messed around  with the team. i have no doubt  with a good manager meath will be back there in no time. they do have some very good footballers.

[Armamike]

Coyle's arrogant comments about white flags after the league game against Armagh have come back to haunt him.  His stint with Meath has followed the same pattern as his time with Monaghan - a competitive showing in the first year followed by annihilation in the second.

[agorm]

we'll gladly have stephen bray if you don;t want him are you nuts? meaths problems all begin and end at midfield, they have no partnership. no settled number 6 without moyles and can't seem to find the best combination of forwards despite having 9 quality forwards. that to me is management. Coyle continually messed around  with the team. i have no doubt  with a good manager meath will be back there in no time. they do have some very good footballers.

I am not nuts, I gave it as an example to make a point regarding the fact that we have "nice" footballers but ones that arent performing when the chips are down. Beggy was underrated and ran at defences. At this momnt in time we have noone that does that. When I think of it I would probably sacrifice Farrell ahead of Bray but here is no denying the fact that Bray has had a horrendous year. Hopefully he will blossom again under new management.

[agorm]

Coyle's arrogant comments about white flags after the league game against Armagh have come back to haunt him.  His stint with Meath has followed the same pattern as his time with Monaghan - a competitive showing in the first year followed by annihilation in the second.

What was that?

[Armamike]

Monaghan got wiped out by Armagh in the first round in his second year in charge - something like 15 points and a very tame performance.  The previous year at the same stage they'd seen off Armagh with a really gritty performance.

[meathie]

yes midfield deff an issue but its not just that. I havent sen a decent (and I mean legal!) tackle from a Meath lad in about three years. Theres no hardness there at the moment (I mean hard not dirty!) we've no Lyons, Hayes, Harnan, Giles, Reynolds, Reilly etc. I reckon Coyle believed with the forward line we had, we could do enough to beat most teams and he forgot the matter of midfield and defence. Or else the team did...... I still have an article from just before Carlow game from Indo I think where Coyle speaks about bringing the fear back for Meath teams and how he would be sent off in every game if he was still playing, didnt see it coming out in the team though 

[uimhir a cuig]

I think this result could do Meath a lot of good in the long term.  It should think there won't be the same amount of complacency when they play so called 'weaker' teams.  You could see it in the players body language on Saturday night, Limerick were up for it, whereas Meath's seemed to think it was some kind of challenge match.  It will bring a fresh face into the managers job, someone with new ideas, and i'm sure we will see a few recruits to the senior panel in the coming year.

As for Limerick, i was not very surprised we won, don't think Meath fans knew how good this Limerick team is. A lot of them thinking they would come down and beat Limerick easy by 6 or 7 points - something that has not happened to Limeick in over ten years in league or championship.  Limerick are very very hard to beat at the Gaelic Grounds, we knew that, but its obvious they didn't. I had them backed in an accumulator - odds of 4/1 on Limerick were a bit generous to say the least - afterall Limerick outplayed Cork at the same venue last month. 1/7 odds on a Meath win were even more of a joke.  I expect Limerick to beat Kildare this coming Saturday, that is if they manage to keep their heads down and ignore the hype.  They certainly are the better footballing side of the two teams.

[armaghniac]

A lot of them thinking they would come down and beat Limerick easy by 6 or 7 points - something that has not happened to Limeick in over ten years in league or championship.

er, I seem to recall  Limerick 0-11 Armagh 4-10 in 2003, that's an 11 point margin. Perhaps you mean that Limerick have not been beaten in the Gaelic grounds by this margin.