McEntee no fan of free-taking contest
THE supporters might have enjoyed it, but a first-ever free-taking contest to decide a senior intercounty game wasn’t on Andy McEntee’s New Year wish list.
It was historic, the Meath boss agreed. ‘Yes, it was exciting. I spoke to a few people afterwards, they seemed to enjoy it, probably more than I did.
‘They were eager for the game to go to frees to see what would happen. I must say I wasn’t saying the same myself. We had a four-point lead and I was pretty sure that Cillian O’Sullivan’s effort that was waved wide was a score. But having said all of that Longford showed what they were capable of. That was a great move for their goal, the length of the pitch and we didn’t put a finger on anybody so I suppose it was good from their point of view, bad from our point of view.’
McEntee said he didn’t realise that the shootout would be from the 45-metre line.
‘It’s tough, if you’re after playing 70 minutes, plus another 20 minutes, and then you’re asked to kick a 45 metre free. A 45 metre free-kick is no easy thing. There was a bit of a breeze behind but a 45 metre free-kick is a fair effort if you’ve just played 90 minutes.
‘In a competition like that, where the final has to be played next week, what’s wrong with it. You’d prefer to win it or lose it but it’s not the end of the world either if it goes against you.
Meath showed what they were capable of at times but on other occasions, especially in the opening half they were well off the pace and it was something that McEntee was concerned about.
‘We got a real test and there were loads of occasions where we looked second best out there. We stuck at it and we turned around and worked a
little bit harder and we put ourselves in a winning position. Then we didn’t win! So there was loads of ups and downs.
‘It was good to get 90 minutes football at this time of year though. Longford have a lot of really good players and as you can see they’re very organised so that’s certainly the best test we’ve gotten this year so far. I thought it was ideal.’
McEntee expressed disappointment with the opening half display but thought the introduction of fresh legs at the start of the second half did make a difference.
‘We didn’t put them under enough pressure to make them play the ball in the first half. They’re playing against the wind. They’re probably quite happy to keep the score down. I was a bit disappointed. But we regrouped and fellas came out in the second-half and were much more effective.
‘The changes had a big impact. I thought Brian Power looked very strong at six, he manned the area well, Cillian O’Sullivan, James McEntee, Sean Tobin, Joey Wallace, Dan O’Neill, they all did very well. I think Dan O’Neill scored two from play so that’s very positive, and again we get football into the likes of him and Mark McCabe and fellas like that.’