HOW MUCH CREDIT CAN WE GIVE FOR TALLY v LONGFORD?

HE HAS certainly been accused of that.

A year ago, when he first came into the job, he constantly talked about kicking the ball long into the fullforward line and bringing Meath back to the future.

Big wins over Cork — where Shane Walsh scored 1-7 — and Clare, suggested he was right.

Then Walsh got injured and long balls became easy to defend.

In O’Rourke’s third game in charge, away to Derry last year, they were tactically outsmarted, with Brendan Devenney, in his role as RTE pundit, calling them ‘naive’.

Season

They lost that game, lost momentum, lost to Offaly the Leinster Championship, but then turned their season around to win the

Tailteann Cup.

New guys got their chance and so did pragmatic tactics.

These days, Meath mix it up, Sunday’s win in Longford being a prime example as they played a completely different type of game into the wind after kicking the ball long in the first half when the elements were in their favour.

O’Rourke, clearly, has copped on that you cannot play 1980s-type football any more. Meath don’t.

The trailer for 2024 caught the eye.

We can’t wait to see the entire show. (right)

THE ANSWER is very little, Longford being a Division 4 team.

Even so, their 85 per cent shooting accuracy in the first half of Sunday’s game was impressive. Frayne scored 1-5, Morris 0-4, Conlon 1-6.

We have not even mentioned Shane Walsh, whose ability to kick points off either foot and be the securer of dirty ball, is a potential weapon for O’Rourke. Yet he too has been unfortunate with injuries in the last 15 months. The best is still to come. That leaves Conlon (right), a corner-forward from Colmcille, outside Drogheda, Bernard Flynn’s old club.

The comparison doesn’t end there. Physically, technically, they are similar. Except Flynn produced the goods over a decade. Conlon has only done it over 70 minutes against a mediocre Division 4 team.

Games

Sidelined last year, he only made one sub appearance in the first six League games before O’Rourke handed him a start against

Donegal in round 7 of the

League. He responded by scoring two points.

Is he too small? Or a hidden gem?

The Dubs will be the acid test.