Muineachán v An Mhí, NFL Division 2 Round 2, Clones, Sunday 9th February 2014

[Sea The Stars]

Monaghan are picking up where they left off last year. I was naively optimistic about Meath's chances after out big scoring tally last week and as well as that I got carried away by Monaghan's failure to beat Down. Reality is Monaghan are totally superior to Meath! 

It's always good to see a different county challenging and I hope Monaghan continue to improve and genuinely challenge for an All-Ireland this year. There were a lot of names in that Monaghan team I didn't recognise so it's onwards and upwards for them.

[seafoid]

Defeats like that shouldn't happen to good teams. Monaghan play close to the line and were able to unnerve Meath - completely different to last week when Galway stood off Meath and were happy to play football with us. This defeat brings Meath supporters back down to earth after everyone got a little bit carried away with the scoring power shown last week. Some obvious concerns I would have is how poorly prepared Meath were for this game - after two big defeats to the same opposition in 2013, I expected we would go about the game differently. Also disappointing is how de-spirited some Meath players become as soon as things start going against them.

Also label me a sore loser but I thought the referee made some horrendous decisions. Throwing up the ball when Paddy O'Rourke took too long on a kickout - there was a Monaghan player on the ground and it wasn't obvious to me the referee wanted to play on. Also what is the point of the black card if some referees are going to be afraid to use them - in one instance it was blatantly obvious the Monaghan full-back was hanging off David Bray. This was towards the end when the game was long over - the ref must have noted the fouling because he spoke to the Monaghan player. Yet no card. Just seems like every other rule going where different referees will interpret them different.

Meath are not a good team yet. It was a long way down. Galway are just as bad . At least Armagh are worse.

[Throw ball]

Defeats like that shouldn't happen to good teams. Monaghan play close to the line and were able to unnerve Meath - completely different to last week when Galway stood off Meath and were happy to play football with us. This defeat brings Meath supporters back down to earth after everyone got a little bit carried away with the scoring power shown last week. Some obvious concerns I would have is how poorly prepared Meath were for this game - after two big defeats to the same opposition in 2013, I expected we would go about the game differently. Also disappointing is how de-spirited some Meath players become as soon as things start going against them.

Also label me a sore loser but I thought the referee made some horrendous decisions. Throwing up the ball when Paddy O'Rourke took too long on a kickout - there was a Monaghan player on the ground and it wasn't obvious to me the referee wanted to play on. Also what is the point of the black card if some referees are going to be afraid to use them - in one instance it was blatantly obvious the Monaghan full-back was hanging off David Bray. This was towards the end when the game was long over - the ref must have noted the fouling because he spoke to the Monaghan player. Yet no card. Just seems like every other rule going where different referees will interpret them different.

In relation to the black card the player may be hanging off him but it is not a black card unless he is pulled to the ground. Stupid maybe but not referees fault.

[Sea The Stars]

Defeats like that shouldn't happen to good teams. Monaghan play close to the line and were able to unnerve Meath - completely different to last week when Galway stood off Meath and were happy to play football with us. This defeat brings Meath supporters back down to earth after everyone got a little bit carried away with the scoring power shown last week. Some obvious concerns I would have is how poorly prepared Meath were for this game - after two big defeats to the same opposition in 2013, I expected we would go about the game differently. Also disappointing is how de-spirited some Meath players become as soon as things start going against them.

Also label me a sore loser but I thought the referee made some horrendous decisions. Throwing up the ball when Paddy O'Rourke took too long on a kickout - there was a Monaghan player on the ground and it wasn't obvious to me the referee wanted to play on. Also what is the point of the black card if some referees are going to be afraid to use them - in one instance it was blatantly obvious the Monaghan full-back was hanging off David Bray. This was towards the end when the game was long over - the ref must have noted the fouling because he spoke to the Monaghan player. Yet no card. Just seems like every other rule going where different referees will interpret them different.

In relation to the black card the player may be hanging off him but it is not a black card unless he is pulled to the ground. Stupid maybe but not referees fault.

The incident I am thinking of - David Bray was making a run (had not got the ball) and was being held up by Drew Wylie so it was an obstruction in my opinion. It mattered little in the end. I agree with the above though that little anomaly in the rule.

[babarino]

Monaghan are picking up where they left off last year. I was naively optimistic about Meath's chances after out big scoring tally last week and as well as that I got carried away by Monaghan's failure to beat Down. Reality is Monaghan are totally superior to Meath! 

It's always good to see a different county challenging and I hope Monaghan continue to improve and genuinely challenge for an All-Ireland this year. There were a lot of names in that Monaghan team I didn't recognise so it's onwards and upwards for them.

Fair dues for taking the defeat on the chin. Last week Monaghan were far better than Down - the 'Aristocrats' delude themselves thinking otherwise. Both teams were short big players and the draw was down to Monaghan's rookies (who played well and won the match ups) not taking their goal chances. Otherwise it would have been a rout. Soft frees, from a consistently poor, ref to Down, after McCartan and his backroom team threw wobblers on the sideline. The Down keeper should have been black carded...

Tús maith - Muineacháin abú.

[agorm]

I was at the game in Clones, there was a pretty decent Meath crowd there. Very well done Monaghan. The simple fact is that Meath were unable to play against the defensive strategy that Monaghan played. They had an extra guy in the defence and he mopped up everything. On top of that everytime Meath did attack Monaghan had about 3 men around the attacker and they seemed physically stronger than the Meath players. When Monaghan attacked they were allowed shoot with less pressure but their point taking was sublime in the first half especially.

I agree with Sea The Stars, some terrible decisions by the referee, the throw in against Paddy, the penalty amoung others.

Very concerning that no change was made in one of the worst first halves we have played in years. Surprised as I was getting quite optimistic about the management.

Very few players played anyway well. Paddy O'Rourke did well, Keoghan did well considering he was on one of theor best players but our defence overall is poor. I thought that David Bray did well when he came on and should start the next day. Carroll very luck to last the 70 minutes as he doesnt seem up to the CHF position.

[Hardy]

Well done Big Tom and the mushrooms. Monaghan are clearly a level above us and that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, given their form of last year.

Sounds like we had a bit of a harsh lesson today. As someone said, that may not be a bad thing. The manner of the defeat is worrying, though, particularly the reports about the players dropping heads, the management inaction and the fact that our players looked physically weak. To me, they look weaker than just about any other inter-county team I know. But that's no more than an impression and I'm assured they're working hard in the gym. Great, I think.

By that I mean that it's a bit of a pity that it seems to be impossible to be successful just playing football. You have to be muscled up as well. Which seems at odds with the ever-decreasing physicality in the game. If there's hardly any physical challenge any more, why is physical strength so telling? I'm not talking about endurance and stamina, the benefits of which are obvious, but the type of muscle strength we see in Donegal, Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, etc.

I'd still like to think, based on all we've seen so far, that Mick and the lads are working on a system of play with their own stamp, that's based on skill, pace and accuracy. If that's the case, setbacks like this are to be expected and can be be a valuable part of the learning. I hope they keep at it. Even if it ultimately fails, there's no shame in an honest effort to try something.

[Maguire01]

Monaghan play close to the line and were able to unnerve Meath - completely different to last week when Galway stood off Meath and were happy to play football with us

That's a ridiculous comment. Monaghan played plenty of great football today and Meath simply couldn't match them.

[Maguire01]

Great performance from the team today with a great spread of scores. Nice to see us holding out for the full 70 minutes after last week. Some of McManus'points in particular, were sublime.

[Sea The Stars]

Monaghan play close to the line and were able to unnerve Meath - completely different to last week when Galway stood off Meath and were happy to play football with us

That's a ridiculous comment. Monaghan played plenty of great football today and Meath simply couldn't match them.

Nothing ridiculous apart the idiot who is clearly very paranoid! I realise Monaghan played some excellent football and they played the type of football I would expect from a top team. Meath had a more naive approach to today's game expecting that Monaghan would let them play as Galway did last week. Monaghan have some class footballers - despite the hammering Meath took it's still enjoyable to see a class footballer like McManus.

However going back to my earlier point - Monaghan intimidated Meath today and I feel they do sail close to the wind. I'm not saying that's a bad thing but all the same I would be cautious a different referee might view their tackling, off the ball stuff different. Onwards and upwards from them though - when players like the Hughes's, Eoin Lennon and Dessie Mone get back from their injuries they are going to be a serious threat to all.

[Main Street]

Well done Big Tom and the mushrooms. Monaghan are clearly a level above us and that shouldn't be too much of a surprise, given their form of last year.

Sounds like we had a bit of a harsh lesson today. As someone said, that may not be a bad thing. The manner of the defeat is worrying, though, particularly the reports about the players dropping heads, the management inaction and the fact that our players looked physically weak. To me, they look weaker than just about any other inter-county team I know. But that's no more than an impression and I'm assured they're working hard in the gym. Great, I think.

By that I mean that it's a bit of a pity that it seems to be impossible to be successful just playing football. You have to be muscled up as well. Which seems at odds with the ever-decreasing physicality in the game. If there's hardly any physical challenge any more, why is physical strength so telling? I'm not talking about endurance and stamina, the benefits of which are obvious, but the type of muscle strength we see in Donegal, Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, etc.

I'd still like to think, based on all we've seen so far, that Mick and the lads are working on a system of play with their own stamp, that's based on skill, pace and accuracy. If that's the case, setbacks like this are to be expected and can be be a valuable part of the learning. I hope they keep at it. Even if it ultimately fails, there's no shame in an honest effort to try something.

I doubt that was a factor in this game. Monaghan played Meath offa da park.
Monaghan have one of the smallest and unmuscled teams going, in inter county football, at this and higher levels.
By all accounts the best player on the park was McManus, he's as scrawny as you can get.

[Sea The Stars]

I don't know Main Street - McManus is able to take a hit and he took some serious ones over at the stand side from Keoghan and I think Burke at one stage in the first half yet he barely flinched, turned around and picked out a fine pass.

I personally wouldn't think strength is an issue for Meath - although where strength comes most into play is in the tackle. And today when Monaghan players tackled Meath players they slowed them down or made them go back ways. When Meath tackled they didn't have the same effect. 

[Main Street]

The commentators said as much that Meath defenders were resorting to most foul actions in vain attempts to stop McManus
but you'd think, according to some accounts here, that the only players doing the fouling were Monaghan players and the only players escaping censure from the ref were Monaghan players.

[Sea The Stars]

I was at the game so my reports are not second hand. Definitely some of Monaghan's frees/penalty I din't think were frees and one or two occasions, Meath should have got something they didn't get though we did get a point from Stephen Bray that looked wide.

[Maguire01]

Monaghan play close to the line and were able to unnerve Meath - completely different to last week when Galway stood off Meath and were happy to play football with us

That's a ridiculous comment. Monaghan played plenty of great football today and Meath simply couldn't match them.

Nothing ridiculous apart the idiot who is clearly very paranoid! I realise Monaghan played some excellent football and they played the type of football I would expect from a top team. Meath had a more naive approach to today's game expecting that Monaghan would let them play as Galway did last week. Monaghan have some class footballers - despite the hammering Meath took it's still enjoyable to see a class footballer like McManus.

Idiot? Really no need to resort to personal abuse.

And now you're talking about how Meath might have been expecting Monaghan to let them play, whereas your initial post was that Monaghan weren't happy to play football with Meath - they were, but Meath couldn't match them.