Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Oh no! Hammered Royals still have so much work to do
I’M a wounded Meathman, but sometimes you have to put your hand up and say you just didn’t see it coming. There’s no pundit or commentator who could forsee what would happen to Donegal and Meath respectively last weekend. That’s the wonderful, incredible nature of GAA and we don’t give enough credence to things like this when they happen. But you must give huge credit to Tyrone’s performance and, as Andy Mcentee put it, ‘a right good spanking’ dished out to Meath by Kildare. We didn’t just get a spanking – we got a lesson in how to play Gaelic Football. It wasn’t nice to witness. There wasn’t a Meath person on the field, on the sidelines or among the support who could do anything but take their hat off to Kildare. Yes, I did think Meath had turned the corner and I was optimistic. But it didn’t work out that way and the Royals management are now faced with two massive tasks. The immediate one is to lift the team for the qualifiers in the aftermath of what was a tsunami in Gaelic Football terms. With all due respect a home draw against Sligo is as good an outcome as they could have got. Secondly – and most importantly – they must look inwards for the long term future. One thing the management can’t be accused of is putting a spin on things. But what they’re dealing with now is serious because they know, and the Meath public know, that quite of few of the players aren’t good enough to win titles. And this is a management that signed up to win Leinster crowns and win National Leagues. I remember in 1984 we ran Dublin close – a Dublin team that went on to win the All-ireland title. The following year we were absolutely hammered by Laois. We had to sit down and re-evaluate everything. We had believed we were good enough, but what we produced wasn’t acceptable. Sean Boylan led the charge to transform things and the same must happen again now. It’s about making Meath strong in the long term and so the people involved must be honest and not hide from the serious frailties on display at O’connor Park. Fitness, pace, strength, attitude and commitment, all things you would associate with a Meath side, were missing on Saturday. I was one of those who wrote that things were coming right and were being done right but now all bets are off. Meath are back at square one. To see the backs being side-stepped and beaten to balls one on one was unbelievable. In 50-50 challenges, Kildare players were putting opponents on their backsides. Meath looked lost and forlorn. Including the captain, Graham Reilly, five forwards were taken off – Donal Lenihan, Meath’s best player, was the only one who remained. The other notable performer was Mickey Burke, who took a lot of criticism in the build-up but did his job on Niall Kelly. I know a couple of members of the management team personally and this won’t sit well with them. The minors were beaten by Laois, the under-21s were beaten by a poor Westmeath side and now the seniors have been hammered twice in 2017 by Kildare. The really worrying thing is that a lot of players tried hard. But why were they so
Sluggish Meath got a lesson in how to play Gaelic football
sluggish? Was it because they were out in the baking heat for so long in the build-up, while Kildare were inside? I don’t know. But questions must be asked now because Meath looked so unfit and lethargic. Players looked physically weak and lacked pace. Those big questions will wait until Meath exit the championship. The corner has not been turned, after all and when you analyse it in the cold light of day things look seriously worrying for Meath.