Round 4 Qualfier: Armagh v Meath

[thejuice]

Meath did an awful lot of silly things while in possession. A game that won't be enjoyable on the video, but perhaps can learn a lot from it.

Yeah, lots of poor use of the ball, poor decision making and I think that comes from being physically under strength. The lads were always in two minds about where to go.

[Orior]

And on top of everything else, we have to look forward to ten months of the Man. Utd. thread on top of the other side of the board. I'm getting out the Tullamore Dew and retiring to the back room.

Well yis were warned last night about the Orange alert.

To be fair though, I did buy a bag of Navan potatoes last night in Tescos which I hope, in some small way, eases the pain for the Meath people.

[INDIANA]

I'm not as dispondant as you Hardy but still disappointed. It's not like we are bereft of talant but the lads don't look as strong or physically made for the game. The fact that we lorded it in terms of kick outs but still could have been beat by a much bigger margarine says a lot of where we are tactically.

You are utterly bereft of new talent. The standard of your club game is rubbish- I've seen enough of it. You can't fix a problem if you don't recognise one exists.

The other issue is your manager got rid of some experienced players for some younger players that aren't up to it. A silly move now in hindsight as the experienced players were immeasurably better then their replacements.

Change for change sake is always a sign of desperation.

[rrhf]

Can I just get in before the rest of my fellow county men and wish Armagh the best for the year.  If they win the all Ireland I will be a good Christian and give them the credit they deserve.  We all know what happens the year after Armagh win all Irelands.

[hairyUlsterman]

Quite a good performance from the fierce Ulidians.

[Ard-Rí]

I generally dislike criticising particular players in an amateur game, especially given the level of commitment neccesary, but desperate times call for desperate measures. In my estimation Burke, Harrington, Harnan, D Bray, MacDonagh, Meade, Wallace & McMahon at least are not good enough. That's eight passengers, for Christ's sake no panel can carry eight players. And there are more who are far from convincing. To be frank, it would be easier to name the players who you could be happy with this year. Tactically, we're brain dead. In the last two games we have allowed teams to play short kickouts at their leisure and run unchallenged up to the 50 yard mark. Mick O'Dowd has to take a degree of responsibility for that.

It's not all bad news. Next year will see the return of E Wallace, Gillespie, D Dalton and C O'Sullivan, all of whom would have started that game today. Nevertheless, we're in bad need of uncovering some new talent as well. I'd like to see the two Queeneys in, C Ward as well, and Daire Rowe is a better footballer than Joey Wallace and if we're honest, was overlooked because he plays for Syddan. If he played for Ratoath, he'd have been in the panel. There's plenty of other players there to be found if we go looking, I don't buy the claims that Meath are 'utterly bereft of new talent'. The situation has actually dramatically improved on where it was some years back, except that we don't have any exceptional players in the 'experienced' category to help along. Newman, E Wallace, Cillian O'Sullivan and Donal Keoghan are some of the best players Meath have had since our last AI, and Adam Flanagan has the potential to join them.

[Captain Obvious]

Another great win for Armagh, serious momentum built up from the last three wins. Donegal will have to be at their very best if they want to reach the All Ireland semi final this summer.

[ardchieftain]

Armagh in an all Ireland quarter final. Not bad for a team who were called a lot of unsavory things in April. Well done to Paul Grimley and the panel for proving the naysayers wrong.

[Zip Code]

Can I just get in before the rest of my fellow county men and wish Armagh the best for the year.  If they win the all Ireland I will be a good Christian and give them the credit they deserve.  We all know what happens the year after Armagh win all Irelands.

Ah bless - did you take down your wee bitter topic from this morning and me having a great day in Dublin and never got to read it.

[INDIANA]

I generally dislike criticising particular players in an amateur game, especially given the level of commitment neccesary, but desperate times call for desperate measures. In my estimation Burke, Harrington, Harnan, D Bray, MacDonagh, Meade, Wallace & McMahon at least are not good enough. That's eight passengers, for Christ's sake no panel can carry eight players. And there are more who are far from convincing. To be frank, it would be easier to name the players who you could be happy with this year. Tactically, we're brain dead. In the last two games we have allowed teams to play short kickouts at their leisure and run unchallenged up to the 50 yard mark. Mick O'Dowd has to take a degree of responsibility for that.

It's not all bad news. Next year will see the return of E Wallace, Gillespie, D Dalton and C O'Sullivan, all of whom would have started that game today. Nevertheless, we're in bad need of uncovering some new talent as well. I'd like to see the two Queeneys in, C Ward as well, and Daire Rowe is a better footballer than Joey Wallace and if we're honest, was overlooked because he plays for Syddan. If he played for Ratoath, he'd have been in the panel. There's plenty of other players there to be found if we go looking, I don't buy the claims that Meath are 'utterly bereft of new talent'. The situation has actually dramatically improved on where it was some years back, except that we don't have any exceptional players in the 'experienced' category to help along. Newman, E Wallace, Cillian O'Sullivan and Donal Keoghan are some of the best players Meath have had since our last AI, and Adam Flanagan has the potential to join them.

Your club game is way off what it was. The Meath County Final this year was one of the poorest games I've seen in a while in Meath.

The likes of Harrington and D Bray have proven to be able to compete at this level and you're putting a sizeable amount of faith in a lot  of young players who've done nothing at underage level and not much at this level either to date. Some of the guys you've mentioned I'd agree with you on.

James Mc Entee is a young player who played very well for UCD this year- never made an appearance. Your manager is obsessed with speed because of Dublin.  He drops Reilly because he had one bad game. Reilly is one of your best players.

If teams stopped trying to play like Dublin they might actually beat them. Meath need to start investing in training their young footballers correctly in the art of sports science without forgetting the traditional values that made them a footballing power.

[DuffleKing]

I'm not aware of any of the other top six teams in the country who "try to play like Dublin " 

Nor have Dublin met any of those teams yet it is worth remembering

[Ard-Rí]

Your club game is way off what it was. The Meath County Final this year was one of the poorest games I've seen in a while in Meath.

The Senior Championship has not been great in the last couple of years. That's a very different thing than being bereft of underage talent, or indeed, reflecting the club scene generally.

The likes of Harrington and D Bray have proven to be able to compete at this level and you're putting a sizeable amount of faith in a lot  of young players who've done nothing at underage level and not much at this level either to date. Some of the guys you've mentioned I'd agree with you on.

Harrington used to be a very handy back but I don't recall him playing a good game for Meath in a long long time. A couple of years even. David Bray had one really good performance for Meath that I recall, against Mayo in 2009. Hardly proving himself capable of performing at this level, that was five years ago. In terms of having faith in the younger players, you have to do it at some stage. And our experienced players never exactly set the world alight themselves.

James Mc Entee is a young player who played very well for UCD this year- never made an appearance. Your manager is obsessed with speed because of Dublin.  He drops Reilly because he had one bad game. Reilly is one of your best players.

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with you on this. I've never seen a Meath team as windy or light as the team we are fielding at the minute. And the speed we have as a result is not working in our favour, we can't make a ball stick in the forwards. I guess that's where strength and conditioning comes into it.

If teams stopped trying to play like Dublin they might actually beat them. Meath need to start investing in training their young footballers correctly in the art of sports science without forgetting the traditional values that made them a footballing power.

Again, I'm inclined to agree.

[T Fearon]

Another excellent win.This time last year I watched Tyrone defeat Meath in a tight game the outcome of which was in doubt until the final whistle.I remember thinking Armagh were light years behind both teams.What a difference a year makes

[maddog]

And on top of everything else, we have to look forward to ten months of the Man. Utd. thread on top of the other side of the board. I'm getting out the Tullamore Dew and retiring to the back room.

No ice in mine Hardy. Delighted with the progress this year and all credit to the team and management. Hard to say what will happen from here, Donegal will rightly be favourites and will be tough nuts. Fair play to the meath lads, no whining there. A spade is a spade and a bit of class carries you a long way.

[agorm]

Well done Armagh. Like Hardy I am a bit despondant tonight.

There are so many areas of despondancy that I could be writing for ages. Overall I would agree with much that has been said. We are in a bad place. Not competing at underage level is a surprise considering our population, traditions etc. I am not sure if all the bad press about Meath being physical in the eighties has got to the powers that be but we dont seem to want to develop players with a physical edge to their game anymore.From what I hear the Dubs train it into the players from a young age but we dont seem to develop that side of the game.

I would like to keep MOD on but I have to say that I was shocked to see him bringing Joey Wallace in to that game. That decision alone has seriously dented my faith in him. I also think that we have no defensive system and we dont seem to have any plan B to deal with a team like Armagh who play to a defensive strategy. If Micko stays on then he MUST upgrade his backroom team with someone tha can develop our defensive system

lastly, the Meath support in Croke Park was v poor today. Armagh outshouted us all game and we are just down the road from Croker. Much more excuses for Armagh fans to travel. Best of luck to them the next day.