An Mhí Vs Cill Dara - 11th April, Pairc Tailteann

[thejuice]

For what its worth we'll start a thread for this.

The battle for lower mid table!!

the lads will be back from Portugal and hopefully in good spirits. Of course it wouldnt be normal if we didnt pick up a few injuries while we were out there. S.Bray, McGuinness and O'Conner are reportedly injured. Niall McKeigue is supposed to have really badly pulled his hamstring the last day out against Donegal and could even miss the game against Offaly.

This might see the return of James Macken, Davy Dalton if they're fit, or even Cormac McGill. Kevin Reilly probably wont be ready yet.

[Jinxy]

I hope they've figured out how to move the ball out of defence while they were in portugal.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Not looking forward to this given our dreadful recent form.

Dermot Earley definitely out with a knee injury and Mikey Conway still nowhere near to a return.

Hopefully Smith will make his first appearance of the year and McGeeney will finally give Kevin O'Neill a start at full-back.

[thejuice]

On a side note as I  think it might not get a reply in the Local section but seen this on Hoganstand:

Getting Meath GAA Back On Track   
Venue; Knightsbrook Hotel Trim  Wed 14 April 2010 @8pm   

ADMISSION FREE

GuestSpeakers;   Peter Canavan    Coaching in schools/clubs in Tyrone
Niall Laird        Club Tyrone  How it works
Ned Quinn         Sec/Former Chairman Kilkenny Co Board----Under Age Infrastructure in Kilkenny
Michael Dempsey-----Kilkenny Senior Hurling Trainer Strength & Conditioning at underage

This will be followed by a Question And Answers session

All clubs, Under Age and Adult Coaches School Coaches and anyone with an interest in improving football and hurling in Meath

Please come along and learn how things are done in these very successful counties

I don't know why but I have a feeling this hasn't anything to do with the Meath County Board though I'd gladly eat my words on that.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Alan Smith set to make his first appearance of the year for Kildare on Sunday according to the local papers. Not before time - we badly need someone to spark our misfiring attack. He kicked 5 points for the Sash against Athy at the weekend and played a challenge for the Juniors last week.

Earley and Conway are both expected to play in a challenge match against Sligo on 16 May at Ballykelly.

[thejuice]

MEATH SENIOR FOOTBALL TEAM

Allianz N.F.L. - Meath v Kildare - Sunday, 11.04.10

1. David Lyons, Seneschalstown

2. David Dalton, Summerhill
3. James Macken, Rathkenny
4. Eoin Harrington, Wolfe Tones

18. Graham Reilly, St. Colmcille's
6. Anthony Moyles, St. Oliver Plunketts
7. Gary O'Brien, Navan O'Mahony's

8. Nigel Crawford, St. Peter's, Dunboyne
9. Conor Gillespie, Summerhill

10. Seamus Kenny, Simonstown
11. Joe Sheridan, Seneschalstown
12. Niall Mooney, St. Patrick's

13. Stephen Bray, Navan O'Mahony's
14. Jamie Queeney, Na Fianna
15. Shane O'Rourke, Simonstown

Really happy with that team there now, will be good to see how Dalton and Macken do. Gillespie and Crawford worked well together earlier in the year I felt. Would expect a somewhat similar team to line out against Offaly though with possible changes to the HF line.

[thejuice]

Kildare team:

P Flood;

G White, H McGrillen, E Bolton;
K Cribbin, B Flanagan, M O'Flaherty;

D Flynn, D Whyte;

J Kavanagh, A Rainbow, R Sweeney;
A Smith, E Callaghan, J Doyle.

I suppose Harrington would need to be the one to pick up Doyle and let the younger lads on the other two. Dalton on Smith should be interesting.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Kildare full-forward line looks good but I'd worry about how much ball they'll actually get. We'll need a big game out of Daryll Flynn at midfield because his clubmate David Whyte is yet to do it at senior level. Roli will have to provide an option on the kickouts because I'd expect Meath to have the edge over our pair. Surprised Mark Ward isn't playing?

Full-back line still poses problems. Playing Hughie at 3 is robbing Peter to pay Paul IMO. He is our best marker when played in the corner and we don't have great options at corner-back. Chalky is not a corner-back and will struggle against a nippy corner-forward. Not sure if Shane O'Rourke is that kind of player though.

[thejuice]

David Bray out for 9 months with a cruciate ligament injury. That is a big loss for us.

Not that surprised by Mark Wards ommission. It will be either him or Crawford in the summer but not both, just like last year.

[Donnellys Hollow]

You really would be tearing your hair out watching Kildare at the moment. It was an improvement from Crossmaglen and Portlaoise but we're miles off where we were last year.

Smith's comeback was encouraging and he caused problems for the Meath full-back line. Johnny and Jimmers aren't at the races at all though and both look to be lacking confidence. JD is missing frees he'd normally kick in his sleep. I can't understand why he is kicking so much from the hands these days when he was usually so consistent from the deck. It's draining his confidence and his general play is suffering. A change of free-taker (Roli or Jimmers?) might do him the world of good. Roli had his best game since last year but we need far more from the forward line as a unit.

Dermot was badly missed at midfield. Flynn had a decent game but you'd have to question whether Whyte is up to this level. He covers every blade of grass but some of his basic skills are poor. Interesting to see Tomás O'Connor with the panel today - I certainly think he'd be a far better midfield/half-forward option.

Full-back line had a few hairy moments as usual. Kevin O'Neill's continued absence is baffling and I'm surprised he hasn't packed it in and walked from the panel because he has been badly treated in my view. Why not bring him in today when Flanagan went off and move Chalky out to centre-back where Joe Sheridan was running the show? Our goalkeeping problems hasn't helped the full-back line and we are back to square one again after Paul Flood's howler. That's three keepers we've tried this year and they've all made awful errors (McCormack v Louth, Corley v Donegal, Flood v Meath). I'd start Robbie Eyres in any upcoming challenge matches and leave him there for the Championship if he impresses.

We've Dermot and Mikey Conway to come back in so all is not lost yet but it is hard to have any confidence this year. We're still well capable of reaching the Leinster Final (Louth/Longford, Westmeath/Wicklow/Carlow) are all beatable, but looking at the Dubs result today - they look to have found a few players from last year and we appear to have engaged the reverse gear. Bernard Brogan would have a field day against our backs unless we can get our act together.

[Jen Cui]

Jesus not much interest in this game, two fairly disasterous sides??..... who won... 

[LilySavage]

Kildare going nowhere this year. Our best players last couple of years, Dermot, Smithy, JD,Jimmers and Mikey Conway are all not performing due to a variety of reasons. Sadly, it looks like Conway is out for the year from what Ive heard. I genuinely fear for us against Louth in the Leinster Championship, it could be a short summer. Also, agree with the sentiments expressed about Kevin O'Neill. Why hes not getting a chance now is beyond me.

[Hardy]

A poor team beat a bad team, with an awful standard of football on display.

Meath won the midfield easily, by winning breaks more than primary possession, but the standard of delivery to the forwards was abysmal, with the ball being passed directly to the Kildare defender more often than not, and the absence of movement or showing by the forwards clearly contributing to that.

There was practically nothing positive to take from this game, from a Meath point of view. There was no obvious attacking strategy and consistent tactics were impossible to discern. Nobody ever seemed to know what to do next or what the plan was. None of the players introduced in the league seems to have established himself. Graham Reilly did OK. Macken was a disappointment and is not the obvious answer at full back. The whole defence was jittery and you felt all the time that anything could happen depending on which way the ball bounced, or was allowed to bounce.

Mark Ward continues to disappoint and Gillespie didn't set the place alight as his partner.

Stephen Bray was anonymous, as was Queeney, apart from two good long range frees. None of the forwards could win his own ball, though I'd cut Shane O'Rourke some slack for effort and to give him time to play himself back in.

The only bright spots were the display of Joe Sheridan, taking responsibility, showing leadership and driving through powerfully to take a few good scores on the run and the improvement in performance when Brian Farrell and Peadar Byrne came on. We were very good for the last ten minutes!