Meath…4-22
Longford…0-12
It was a case of letting their shooting boots do the talking as an unanswered salvo of 1-5 prior to half time set Meath on their way to a comfortable victory and into another joust with the boys in blue in the forthcoming Leinster SFC semi finals.
The full time score might indicate a handy victory for the home side but for one thing there is no such thing in Championship fare and secondly those closest to the setup have endured an undue and unjust grueling period in the build up to today’s game. Anybody who takes on to look after any team – regardless of grade or level – does so only with the best of intentions. To develop and advance their fortunes. Nobody intends for things to go wrong. Nobody likes that they do sometimes.
As much as I wish this wasn’t still so, these people are amateurs. Making their contributions as a hobby, out of love for our games. GAA should be professional at senior inter county level. Players and mentors alike properly rewarded for what is an amazing commitment they give. But they’re not, and people passing comment and judgement on same need to remember as much before being so trigger happy with vitriol.
Before anybody thinks I’m trying to portray myself as St Anthony here, that is not the intention at all. I myself have been serially guilty over the years of engaging in kneejerk reactionism and not, per se, taking a step back and being more analytical and dispassionate. The most recent example of same being no later than a week ago when paying heed to the title of a certain Chris De Burgh song and that is something which is earnestly regretted.
These people all have to go to work tomorrow, they have wives/partners, families and people who are close to them. Anyone can have an opinion but there has to be a line you don’t cross in expressing it. Having been paired against Dublin for their next assignment, nobody can underestimate the scale of the challenge. However, what those involved with the team on and off the field need and deserve is for the whole county to get behind them.
There are good footballers on this Meath team. Damn fine ones. And once they negotiated a mini Longford onslaught after Shane McEntee had drove forward and netted immediately after the throw in, they went on to demonstrate just what they are capable of doing, notching an unchecked 1-5 to take a 2-10 to 0-06 cushion to the change of ends.
Jordan Morris’s ‘major’ and fine points from Fionn Reilly, Mathew Costello, Cathal Hickey and Cillian O’Sullivan illuminated that spell and effectively ended the game as a contest. Detractors will be straining to point out the paucity of the opposition but the same people would probably bemoan the lack of Caviar when Our Lord was making dinner from the loaves and fish. In both cases, the protagonists could only deal with what was in front of them.
Andy McEntee’s team played some fluid, varied, attractive attacking football during the second half. Goals from the burgeoning Cathal Hickey and the dependable James Conlon and in particular a flurry of exquisite points from the returning James McEntee showing what they are capable of. They will have to do more of the same next time. And then some. But you know what? Yes they can.
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