THE ROYALS SEAL
Tobin: Closing games out is vital for this Meath side
GAA NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO Cork v Meath (2pm)
Kildare Galway Clare Meath Down Cork Derry Fermanagh P 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 W 4 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 D 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 L +/- Pts 1 32 8 1 13 5 1 6 5 2 4 4 3 -10 4 2 -6 3 2 -22 3 3 -17 2
The Royals travel to Cork buoyed by their victory over Galway and knowing that another two points could leave them in a promotion position this evening.
They’ve shown the best and worst of themselves so far under new boss Andy Mcentee (inset), with losses to Kildare and Down followed by wins over Derry and the Tribesmen.
Beating Galway was particularly significant, as Meath came from three down with 10 minutes to go to sicken the Connacht champions.
In the last two years it’s Meath who’ve tossed away large leads, with Westmeath and Derry both making them pay in Championship games.
Defender Tobin said: “Yeah, it’s always good to close out games and it gives you belief in terms of what we’re doing and what we’re working on.
“We know that if we stay doing what we are doing and stick to the game plan, then we will pull the result out. “That is important, so it was very good that the boys dug deep and got the result against Galway. It’s getting the consistency, that’s what we are striving for from now on. “There are a lot of new lads on the panel who are trying to get used to our way of playing and they are starting to get more comfortable with it and I think you saw it against Galway. “There was belief until the very end that we could get the result we needed. I think the consistency will come, we just need to work on that.”
It’s 30 years since Meath and Cork contested the first of back to back All-ireland finals.
The Royals won them both but have slipped off the radar in the last few years. Former boss Mick O’dowd consistently talked about becoming a topeight team again, without ever managing to do it.
Tobin added: “That’s where we want to be obviously but we are not looking that far ahead. Division 2 is a very tight division.
“If you looked at it before any ball was kicked you could see that it was going to be a tight division.
“Everyone is well capable of beating everyone else.
“Our thing now is to make sure that that performance the last day is the minimum standard in terms of performance for the rest of the League and that we build on that and try to push up the table.”
The Blackhall Gaels man expects Cork to give a big display on home soil after a surprise loss to Clare.
He said: “We would have played them in a good few friendlies in the last few seasons so we’ll know a bit about them.
“They are a top team so we know ourselves that our performance will have to be top class if we are going to get the two points down there.”