Pressure grows after nightmare run of form

Seamus McEnaney has overseen 12 defeats in 18 league and championship games as Meath manager.

The Monaghan man has only enjoyed five victories (a win rate of 28%), three of them in the league and two in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Meath’s victory over Sligo in last year’s Division 2 campaign was their only win of the competition although their last round draw with Tyrone was enough to see them avoid the drop. They exited the Leinster championship in their first game, a quarter-final against Kildare, after McEnaney had just weeks earlier lost selectors Liam Harnan and Barry Callaghan. Tom Keague eventually came on board as a replacement selector and Meath picked up qualifier wins over Louth, as Cian Ward scored 4-3, and Galway in front of 17,000 fans in Navan.

Despite opposition expressed against him continuing the job, McEnaney was endorsed for a second season last September and he duly appointed Graham Geraghty as a player/selector after Paul Grimley switched to Armagh.

All looked well when Meath began Division 2 this year in fine fashion, with wins over Monaghan and Westmeath.

However, their promotion aspirations turned to relegation fears after a disastrous March when they lost four games in as many weeks.

Players pointed to Kildare’s last-gasp win in Navan on March 3 as the result which knocked “the stuffing” out of them. It was their fourth consecutive defeat to the Lilywhites under McEnaney. Further defeats followed to Galway (one point), Derry (four) and table-toppers Tyrone (10) before Sunday’s 12-point reverse against Louth saw them relegated to Division 3.