Meath must find consistency while lost Tribesmen face a long road back

BEFORE we get into the game itself, which had a tremendously exciting finale, some quick observations. Firstly, Saturday evening football has a huge amount of positives, both for supporters and players.

We arrived in Navan at 5pm, two hours ahead of throw-in and the place was already buzzing.

The restaurants were doing a brisk trade and there was a real championship feel to the place. Sunshine always helps.

Secondly, Meath folk love their football. There was an extraordinary amount of Meath jerseys around and as we walked by Páirc Tailteann around 5pm, there were already a few loyal supporters of the Royals in the stand.

And by 6.20pm, the large stand was full to capacity. More than 17,000 turned up and the game was delayed for 10 minutes due to queues at the turnstiles.

Pricing was a major factor in attracting that marvellous crowd and the GAA got it spot-on with the weekend qualifiers. A tenner for the terrace and €15 for the stand was reasonable and many remarked on the good value it represented. Fans like fairness and those prices were very reasonable.

Thirdly, both Meath and Galway have slipped back a long, long way from their halcyon days of 1996, 1999 and 1998 and 2001 respectively.

Saturday night was a real game of two halves and it was one Meath should have won handily.

They lorded the first half and with Joe Sheridan having a field day at centre forward (in the first half only), they should have been much further ahead than 0-8 to 0-4 at half-time.

Kicking nine wides did not help their cause. Apart from Páraic Joyce up front, Galway had little threat.

In what may have been his last championship outing with the county, he hit three points and set up Cormac Bane for the other score. Michael Meehan’s tale of injury misfortune continued when he dislocated his shoulder after a preposterous dive in the Meath penalty area. Meehan was not fully right to take a starting spot and his lack of match practice and self-confidence due to a dearth of game time was shown up with his Olympic plunge to the deck.

From a Galway perspective and on an individual level, it was sad to see him being linked down the sideline once again.

Meath staged an almost total collapse in the second half and only for the introduction of the likes of Graham Reilly, Brian Farrell and Mark Ward and a terrific display by Shane McAnarney, they would be out of the championship.

They failed to score for 30 minutes. And their forwards, in particular Cian Ward, lost focus and went into their shells.

Ward’s miss from a 20th-minute free in front of the goal was shocking and was a snapshot of Meath’s woes.

With Finian Hanley immense at full-back and Matthew Clancy magnificent on the breaks, Galway clawed their way back and went one ahead heading into injury-time. Meath’s apathy looked likely to cost them and their manager dear.

However a late point from impressive substitute Farrell and a fine winner from Stephen Bray put the Royals back in front. In a final twist in the final seconds of the game, Cormac Bane had a goal chance but he fluffed his pick-up and Brendan Murphy charged out to smother his shot.

Had that hit the net, Seamus McEnaney would have been run out of the manager’s job. He survives for now, however he will need his team to improve enormously and be more consistent for the entire 70 minutes if they are to go much further in this year’s Championship.

Their display for the first 30 minutes of the second half was inexcusable and their wide count was far too high.

Paddy O’Rourke will be unlikely to start the next day as he offered no real threat at full-forward and looked poor in possession while Cian Ward had a horrid display too. He looked anything like the man who hit 4-3 against Louth and his abject miss from “that” free stunned every Meath fan.

That said, they can improve and if they are fortunate in the draw for Round 3 of the qualifiers they could lurch on for another few weeks, but ultimately it is difficult to see them being able for the likes of Kerry, Cork, Kildare or Dublin.

The only positive for Galway from their very short championship campaign is that they blooded six or seven of their U21 panel, but their catastrophic run in the qualifiers continues. They have been beaten by a point for the past three years on their first day out, Donegal 2009, Wexford last year and Meath on Saturday. Whoever is in charge next season, Galway have a long road ahead.