McEntee relieved to scrape through a close encounter

DEEP down it wasn’t the type of performance that Andy McEntee would have hoped for coming off the back of a drubbing in the Leinster championship against Kildare.

However you have to be thankful for small mercies and there was a sense of relief from the Meath boss that his team came out the right side of a close encounter.

‘Look, you set out in games like this to get through and to get into the draw for the next day,’ McEntee said after his sides close shave with the Sligo men.

‘That’s where we are, so massive relief, especially the way the game was going. At times it looked like we might struggle to get across the line, especially when we missed a couple of chances, but the lads showed a bit of character and a bit of guts and they finished the game strong, even allowing for that scary moment at the end.’

Regarding the defensive structure McEntee said he didn’t believe his side were set up much differently than in other matches but he was mindful that his team had conceded big scores in recent games.

‘It might have looked like we weren’t going all out but I think we were. Sligo were nicely set up too. They weren’t committing too many fellas forward. Maybe there were times when we were a bit slow getting the ball into the inside line, I’d certainly agree with that. It was a matter of just sticking at it and trying to pick off the scores and keeping the scoreboard ticking over. I would have liked to have done it a little bit quicker obviously but that’s the way it goes.

‘We scored six points against a stiff breeze in the first half. We’re not doing anything hugely different than we’ve ever done except we’re trying to maybe do it a little bit better. We conceded a big score against Louth, we conceded a big score against Kildare and, sure, everybody is mindful of conceding too much.

‘You’re looking for fellas to do things a little bit better and work a little bit harder. You’re at a stage where if you concede big scores you’re not going to win games. What did we concede tonight, 1-9? It’s not a huge score. The goal itself came from a ball that we had under control and it was fumbled on the way out and we were caught out of position and it ended up in the net.’

Despite being three points in arrears McEntee expressed himself reasonably happy with his sides position at half-time.

‘The breeze was significant enough and Sligo were playing into the town end, the scoring end, so it was a matter of staying a bit patient and making sure that the gap didn’t get any wider. I thought we did that reasonably well and we seemed to have a bit of momentum with us and then Sligo stole the momentum away from us and had a bit themselves and you’d say maybe with 10 minutes to go that we looked in a spot of bother. But the response was good.

‘I suppose what I was most pleased with was that with 10 or 12 minutes to go, momentum was back with Sligo and fellas showed a good bit of character and a bit of heart and finished the game strongly.’