McEntee upbeat after tea

DESPITE a fourth defeat on the trot Meath boss Andy McEntee was in much more positive mood as he reflected back on his side’s brave showing in Kerry’s backyard.

‘I thought it was a fantastic performance. We were definitely slow out of the blocks in the first 10 minutes and they raced into a 1-5 to 0-0 lead.

‘From then on we gave as good as we got and I thought some of the individual performances were great, but even as a team I was very happy with the vast majority of it.

‘We knew coming down it was going to be a hell of a challenge and we talked about the possibility of shipping a volley of scores. We just made sure that we would react and keep at it. It looked ominous following that start, but we got a couple of scores and then we got a fantastic goal and we were right back in it.’

McEntee was particularly happy with his team’s response after twice going eight points in arrears and also having to overcome the handicap of two black cards.

However he felt aggrieved about the cards issued to Cillian O’Sullivan and Donal Keogan by referee Derek O’Mahony.

‘Black cards, we are having this discussion every week,’ McEntee continued. ‘It seems to me since we made an issue of some black cards that weren’t issued up in Tyrone we are on the receiving end of it.

‘Maybe that is just a coincidence or maybe I am just being paranoid!

‘Kerry finished with 13 - it is easy to flash black cards when you are in injury time.

‘When the black card comes along we were struggling to get our kickouts away. Kerry pushed right up and when you are a man down it makes it a little bit more difficult.’

Reflecting back on the campaign so far, McEntee felt they should have had something to show from the displays against Tyrone and Mayo, but their finishing let them down.

Looking ahead, McEntee said he will be looking for a performance in each of their three remaining games.

‘There are some things we cannot control, but we can control our attitude and our application and I have no issue with that.

‘You are playing the best teams in the country week in week out, and while it is disappointing and frustrating it is where we want to be.’