Despite goal-fest, O’Dowd sees plenty to worry him

It told a tale of exactly how easy Meath had it at Dr Cullen Park that manager Mick O’Dowd wasn’t best pleased with his side’s performance.

Sure, they scored seven goals and the Skryne man admitted he couldn’t remember the last time a Meath side did that in the championship. But he also furrowed his brow in bemusement at the suggestion that expectation may overtake the supporters after their storming start.

“We have a hell of a lot of work to do now for Kildare,” said O’Dowd. “I thought we were very poor in the first half. Carlow missed a goal and a few point chances early on. It was only when we got the penalty that we started to drive on a bit.

“And then the couple of goals we got knocked their spirit a bit. We know we have an awful lot of improving to do.

“I’d say most of the fellas did a lot of good things. But it’s that consistency now that we need to show. We head into Croke Park against a Division 1 team. It’s 70, 72 minutes of the same level of accuracy and concentration that is required.

“That’s what we need to work on now over the next two weeks. Our accuracy at times was poor. There was a lot of passing that we wouldn’t like either.

“It was slow play at times and it needs to be quicker, more pace to it. Okay, it was fast for some of the goals but, at times, pretty slow and that’s got to improve.

“We’d a decent break since the league. Possible there was a bit of that affecting us. Carlow were dropping men back early on too. But, at the same time, seven goals. It is a while since Meath scored seven goal in a championship game I’d say so that’s obviously a big positive.”

Carlow’s best player, Brendan Murphy, at least missed the humiliation in front of his home fans. An apparent mixture of work and personal reasons ensured he played no part in the setback.

“I did ring Brendan and ask him to come in but he wouldn’t commit and there’s nothing that I can do about that,” said Carlow manager Anthony Rainbow.

The former Kildare defender admitted they were unable to bridge the gap between Division 4 football all spring and taking on a strong Division 2 side.

“There’s a huge gap between Division 1 and 2 and then Division 4. We’d be a lot happier going into our next game in the qualifiers against Waterford, especially at home.

“There’s going to be a lot of motivation for the players to try to come back and prove that they’re not as bad as this scoreline suggests.”