MEATH… 0-15
DONEGAL… 3-24
A picture might be worth a thousand words but that’s damn all good if the majority of the words are bullsh** which completely distort the reality of a given situation.
There is no way Donegal are 20 points a better team than Meath. They’re not that far ahead of anybody. Indeed, there’s a strong possibility they will be proven to be not as good as Kerry in a little under two weeks time.
Are Meath as good as Donegal? No, no they are not. Not presently anyhow. But they’re not 20 points worse than them either. Absolutely not. Essentially, the advantages the Tir Chonaill men had – in terms of players and management – was the winning (and losing) of the match.
Meath lay up with their highly vaunted opponents for as long as they humanely could, but, like many a good steed when Hurricane Fly produced the famous kick going around the Cheltenham bend, lack of experience of competing in Grade One company left a far harsher after taste than was fair or realistic on Robbie Brennan’s side.
Put simply, it was one of those horror occasions where everything which they had relied upon and excelled at throughout the season fled on them when they were needed most.
Now, surprise, surprise moaning meddler Mickey Harte continues to zone in on what he sees as the negative connotations of the new rules – two pointers – even though the rest of the Gaelic football loving world thinks they (and Jim Gavin’s other adjustments) rescued the game from the pedantic, robotic, negativity-inspired dross peddled by the likes of Harte and Jim McGuinness.
Meath’s attempts at utilising two-pointers, which served them so well in making it to the second last hurdle in the entire country abandonned them when it was needed most. That doesn’t mean they were wrong to try for them.
Absolutely not. Prior to Sunday last, Meath were one of the most efficient teams in the country from outside the arc for the majority of the season with only Galway in front of them for potency. Alas, most recently, they just had one of those days when everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong.
So, having said all of the above, where did Sunday last go so wrong? My theory on that is two pronged. (i) That Meath, understandably, were predisposed to attempting two pointers given their alacrity at converting them throughout the season. Alas, the one day they really went to lean on the orange flag option, luck and accuracy deserted them.
And (ii) that the loss of Bryan Menton to a 20th minute injury had a more cataclysmic effect on Meath’s ambition than may well be calculable. That is not to in the slightest criticise his replacement Conor Gray.
After all, as was said in a previous offering here, that the gargantuan Dunshaughlin midfielder is in a position to play football at all – let alone at inter county level – is nothing short of a miracle.
No, disappointment felt at Menton’s early departure was – apart from for the man himself obviously – because it left Donal Keogan to shoulder the experience burden on what is a very young, raw group of players.
Not to mention the fact that, in that opening quarter, Donaghmore/Ashbourne’s Menton had ruled the skies around Drumcondra while he was on but the minute the former captain succumbed, the young Royals found themselves dealing with traffic chaos that they were never able to get under control.
Now, no doubt, knowing we were beaten by 20 points some will scoff and possibly even sneer at the following, but, the fact is that when the match was still a contest, the men from the north west benefitted from two awful refereeing decisions involving the same Meath player which certainly put the eventually vanquished on the back foot very quickly thereafter.
Firstly, Michael Langan can count himself a very lucky boy to have escaped a black card at the very least for taking Keith Curtis out along the Hogan Stand sideline and then, the highly impressive Rathkenny clubman was absolutely fouled in the junction of the Hogan and Nally stands, but again it was play on and at the end of said passage of play the ball ended up in the Meath net. Inches.
Not to mention the the fact that, Michael Murphy, as per usual, had far too much pull with the referee. Indeed, as used often be levelled at a certain Meath player, Murphy tried to referee the match as well as playing in it. Make no mistake about it, Murphy is a pup, but you need that bit of bouldness in you to make the separation between the best and the rest.
You’d hope that Meath would be a little bit more streetwise going forward after what has to have been a very chastening experience. Certainly, in terms of Donegal’s goals, Meath’s well meaning rear guard were far too hospitable to the O’Donnell County’s advancing attackers. There are times when – if you have time to make a mental calculation – taking a black card for the sake of the greater good is a gamble worth taking.
However, painful though it may be to contemplate, when you kick 15 wides and leave seven balls short into the ‘keeper, you only need a mirror to find the reason your ambitions were derailed.
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