Meath’s style fails to impress O’Connell

Meath legend Martin O’Connell admits he is struggling to enjoy watching the county footballers.

Along with his family, the three-time All-Ireland winner was at Sunday’s Leinster SFC drawn game with Carlow but concedes he finds it difficult to watch the style of football being played by the Royals.

O’Connell says: “It’s sad to say but I’ve three young kids and they love the football and going to the games. Only for the kids, I would find it hard for myself to go. Meath teams of old, the support was always there in force for them but they’re not there anymore.

“Club football has a lot more going in how it’s played. You look at Crossmaglen and how they are able to get the ball and kick it. The traditional style was our style. Get the ball and move it quick by foot. But that’s all changed now and whether it suits Meath players or not, I don’t know.

“This short hand-passing and going across the field then coming (forwards) out the field 50 or 60 yards to turn back in — that’s not Meath’s style. You work the ball out then kick it into the forwards as quickly as possible. That’s the way it should be played but Meath aren’t the only team that have changed. It’s hard to look at it — that’s all I can say.”

O’Connell isn’t overly critical of Meath manager Seamus McEnaney who he feels is working with the best players available in the county.

“I go to a good few club games and I couldn’t pick anyone else to go into the Meath set-up that Banty McEnaney doesn’t have already. That’s really all he has — there’s nobody else out there.”

He agrees to a certain extent that expectation levels for this Meath team are too high.

“That’s maybe right but when I was playing and we won an All-Ireland people were expecting us to win three, four and five. This is a bad spell that goes back to 2001 when Galway beat us in the All-Ireland final. It hasn’t been great since then and the players haven’t been coming through.”

After relegation to Division 3, O’Connell believes the controversy surrounding the failed attempt to oust McEnaney has affected the players.

“It can’t be good for morale, the chairman giving out, trying to get rid of the manager and Sean Boylan waiting in the wings.

“The injuries to Shane O’Rourke and Stephen Bray haven’t helped and this bickering... I just think it’s not a happy camp.”

As for today’s Leinster quarter-final replay in Tullamore, O’Connell anticipates a Meath win but reckons a semi-final against Kildare will be where the county’s interests in this year’s provincial competition end.

“Any Meath team would expect to beat Carlow and that’s no disrespect to Carlow. If Carlow had shown a bit of composure and know-how they would have won. They got an ugly goal to get the draw but they kicked three or four wides before that.

“I’d expect Meath to win after they got that good shock last week. They won’t be looking past Carlow but they’ll probably play Kildare the next day. A Meath team in Croke Park can do things but in my eyes I wouldn’t see them beating Kildare.”