Have Meath not learned anything?

WITH Kildare being such a good second-half team, yesterday’s Croke Park clash was always going to be decided after half-time.

Unfortunately for Meath, they didn’t learn anything from their defeat by the same side last year.

Going back to last year’s quarter-final, Meath led by a point at the interval but were out-scored by 12 points to three in the second-half. At the changeover yesterday, Meath led by two points but were outscored 11 points to three. Six consecutive points without reply in a 15-minute spell after half-time, three each from the impressive Eamon Callaghan and John Doyle, gave Kildare the platform for victory — and this at a time when Meath were winning half the kick-outs.

Surely the Royals had identified this as the crucial period to hit Kildare for scores and push on and extend their lead — or at the very least, puncture any momentum Kildare were building. The failure to do this was a very disappointing aspect of the performance.

It must be said, Kildare were the better team and deserved their win. Indeed but for 18 wides, they’d have won by more. Clutching at straws, Meath will look to the 54th minute where after two consecutive points narrowed the margin to 0-11 to 0-9, Brian Farrell was harshly sent-off. Meath won the next kick-out but turned over the ball in the tackle and Eamon Callaghan kicked his fourth point. There was no way back for 14-man Meath.

Seamus McEnaney’s side were on the end of another harsh call when Graham Geraghty, showing no sign of losing his predator’s instinct, scored a goal out of nothing only for it to be disallowed for a square ball. Maybe Kildare will offer a replay. Either way, I still don’t think Meath would have gone on to win the game.

Another disappointing aspect of Meath’s performance was the lack of intelligence in their forward play. It was back to the Route One stuff they tried unsuccessfully against Kerry in the 2009 semi-final, which was easily contained by Kildare. A lot of the time high ball was directed to the O’Rourke cousins, who were often outnumbered, and Kildare’s Morgan O’Flaherty was able to sit back and sweep up the breaks. Despite talk about how well the training went, there was no sign that the Royal forward line was well coached. Meath have good forwards but this shouldn’t be confused with having a good forward line. Meath needed to be far more careful with the ball but didn’t have the ability to get the ball into the hands of their scoring forwards in space near goal. This requires intelligent movement, good support play and angles of running and most of all good foot-passing. And no goal chances created either.

For the last three years Meath have trained well under Colm Brady, Sean Kelly and Martin McElkennon but still the team fades out in the second-half of games. Yesterday they hadn’t a player around midfield with the mobility to track John Doyle, who caused problems coming forward. And although five subs were used, and Eamon O’Brien lost his job last year for not making changes, it made no appreciable difference. I feel that even with the best training in the world, Meath have some players who will never be great athletes — they must get a better balance of less size and more mobility up front.

No doubt there will be speculation about Seamus McEnaney’s future but I don’t go down the road of blaming managers. All the ingredients were there for a big performance from the Meath players but it didn’t happen. And although it is hard to justify €11,000 a month to prepare the team, in the absence of any appreciable improvement I would give any manager two years to prove himself.

My view is Meath over-achieved by getting to All-Ireland semi-finals in 2007 and 2009 and there has been an unrealistic expectation from those within the county ever since. On a slightly positive note, Banty introduced four U21 players who made their debut yesterday with Brian Menton being the pick of them.

Kildare evidently have an ability to keep going at a ferocious pace for 70 minutes and they created 36 scoring chances yesterday. On that alone they will take a bit of beating. Although they are very fit, they struggled a little with real pace in the Down game last year. And I just don’t think they are clinical enough up front to win the All-Ireland.

In the second quarter-final at headquarters, Dublin progressed but having looked at Kerry’s slick attack on Saturday, Dublin’s was much more laboured. Kevin McManamon had a good League last year but failed to make any impact in the Championship. Having scored five points from play in the recent league final he got himself substituted after 47 minutes. I feel he is good enough to be on the team but he is at a vital cross-roads in his career. Stephen Cluxton’s three 45’s were important when the game was still a contest. Of most importance, Bernard Brogan came through unscathed after his recent hamstring tear. Dublin’s physio will be an important member of the set-up this year, especially if he can keep Bernard on the field.