A Strange Day In The Pairc
Saturday last was the strangest day endured in Pairc Tailteann for a long time. And for once that wasn’t just in terms of the weather. At times, Meath played some brilliant, quick, direct football and cut the Cork defence ribbons at times. With both Shane Walsh and Mat Costello highly impressive.
However, the manner in which they – consciously or otherwise – fell into a defencive shell which, naturally, invited Cork onto them. The problem was, as many Rebel raids as they did repel, the good of that was undone because they coughed up more turnovers than you’d see in a bakery.
A more indepth analysis of the NFL campaign as a whole will of course appear in this space after next weekend’s game in Donegal but even before that, it’s clear there’s plenty to work on before Longford are tackled.
LADIES LACKING CONFIDENCE?
The headline may be simplistic bit it is self explanatory. After getting away to a flying start, winning their first three matches, for whatever reason, the wheels have come off the wagon in the interim. Now, naturally, when a team loses a few games, confidence will begin to dissipate.
That then becomes even more of an issue when perhaps you don’t have the strength in depth that may once have been the case.
Using that parametre, not counting players who have completely retired, from their three All Ireland appearances in a row, the following are no longer part of the Meath setup: Emma Troy, Orlagh Lally, Vikki Wall, Stacey Grimes, Aoibheann Leahy, Kelsey Nesbitt, Caragh Monaghan, Alison O’Sullivan and Sarah Wall
Even at that, I’ve probably left somebody out. Yes, others such as Aine Sheridan, Nicole Troy, Niamh Gallogly, Shelly Melia, Ciara Smyth, Ella Moyles and Marion Farrelly have stepped up and acquitted themselves handsomely, but that’s still an awful lot of upheaval in a short space of time.
That’s without mentioning the disruption which has hung over the management of the team since the departure of Eamonn Murray and – even more significantly – Paul Garrigan and Eugene Eivers. One wonders could more have been done to either hold onto them or persuade them back.
Mind you, the ironic thing is, with even some of the absentees listed above back in the fold – or even with a good performance and a bit confidence restored to all concerned they are only a kick of the ball off most of their contemporaries.
MEN OVERBOARD?
After getting away to a flying start to life in Div. 2 of the NHL with a noteworthy victory over Kildare, Meath have found life at a higher level following last season’s promotion quite difficult. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that either. Especially when taken against the progress made by teams like Laois and Carlow at the higher level in recent seasons.
Having said that, it dawned on me after Seoirse Bulfin’s lads put in another chastening afternoon in Ballycran, that a large swathe of those who were instrumental in Meath’s double success aren’t aboard the good ship Royal at present.
Now, at this point I will openly admit to not knowing the reasoning behind the absences, but, whatever they may be, take players of the calibre of Damien Healy, Brendan McKeon, Martin Healy, Jack Regan, Sean Quigley, Paddy Barnwell and Eamonn Og O’Donnchadh off any team and there’s bound to be a diminishment in efficiency.
Conversely, however, if they were to get some of the absent back to availability, hope and expectation would be that it would become obvious to all concerned that they have not, as some might think, regressed or, indeed, are they out of their depth at Joe McDonagh level. Take, for example, Mark Fanning, Matt O’Hanlon, Lee Chin and Conor McDonald out of the Wexford team and they would struggle to hold their Mac Carthy Cup status.
UPGRADED GEARBOXES
Having watched what must have ran into a double figure amount of Gaelic football matches between in person and by other means over the past week, one thing which became glaringly obvious was the fact that the fare in the lower divisions is played out at pedantic or even pedestrian pace when compared against the run of things at the top table.
So anybody thinking that Meath weren’t playing a good enough brand of football to compete with certain teams would be wide of the mark. However, Meath would seriously have to up the tempo at which they do their business.
JIM DOESN’T NEED TO GO SHOPPING
It must be the week for bombshell announcements. Between one supposedly emanating from Buckingham Palace that never came, and Leo Varadkar catching all and sundry off guard by calling time on his tenure as Fine Gael Leader and Taoiseach.
Mind you, every bit as surprising as the country’s youngest ever leader pulling the pin were the murmerings that Sir Jim Ratcliffe had already earmarked Gareth Southgate to replace Erik ten Hag. To me, even such talk is a case of kneejerk reactionism at its worst.
Look, no matter what way you dress it up, the club has turned into a bit of a sh*t show since Alex Ferguson left the dugout 11 years ago. Changing the manager isn’t always the solution. All one need do on that score is ask Chelsea.
It’s not that difficult to discern what the problem is when repeatefly changing the manager doesn’t work. Except in this case to my mind Erik ten Hag is making progress at Old Trafford. It’s not all that long ago he led United to a trophy, is on the cusp of doing so again, has brought through players like Mainoo and Garnacho and Amad and has the team rightly on course for a top four finish. Leave well enough alone.
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