Meath dig deep like days of old

posted: 09-Aug-2009
Meath are back with a bang. They disposed of another provincial winning championship team in Mayo and now the GAA must do major surgery to the championship structure.

Provincial winners are handicapped by their success and long waiting periods to the quarter finals is ideal aooportunity for teams to overtrain and thus underperform in headquarters. At the very least provincial winners should get home venue for quarter final stages.
 
Meath show the heart of old
But can we take away from Meath's great performance today? No. Should we be surprised of their never say die attitude?? - absolutely not. Meath teams over the years have shown abundance of heart, passion and a fight to the bitter end no matter what.

However this present team were not receiving likeable comments from their own county or outside. They had an appaling 2008 championship and a terrible league in 2009. But like Kerry the back door has been very kind to them, 5 games in as many weeks, pitted against weaker teams, Meath found themselves back in Croke Park again today and by God did they take their second chance.
 
The game looked like it had finally swung away from the Royals when Mayo went up 4 points after Trevor Mortimer's attempt for a point fell short and into the path of the youngster Aidan O'Shea who finished cleverly to the net.

But like Meath teams in the past, they put the shoulder to the wheel and within minutes were back level from a point and a super penalty from Ward. Big men always stand up with 15 minutes to go and all these players were from Meath. Moyles, Crawford, Sheridan, Farrell and Bray all went to the next level and sent Meath to a 5 point lead.
 
Full-forward line the key
The key to Meath's success was their tenacious tackling all over the field and their ability to just root the ball into their full forward line with the confidence of knowing that all 3 players will fight tooth and nail to win possession.

This is a trait that Meath teams have for a long time and I witnessed it against the likes of Gerathy, Ollie Murphy, Tommy Dowd and watched former players like O'Rourke and Flynn do the same. Today's full forward line of Bray, Farrel and Ward will not feel ashamed to be mentioned in the above company after today as along with Sheridan, they worked themselves to the bone.
 
Won't fear The Kingdom
So Meath roll on to play The Kingdom in the second semi-final, they will have no fear of the men from the south and will relish such a challenge. The last time both teams played at semi-final stage was in 2001 and it was one of the worst days i ever had the honour to wear the green and gold.

To say we got a hammering is an understatement and memories of that defeat are still very fresh in the brain. Meath teams and some of their supporters  had always the belief there was a soft underbelly running through Kerry teams and while they found the heart of that so called soft under belly in 2001, they may not find it as easy this time round.

Kerry will give Meath the ultimate respect and will know that nothing less than their personal best will be required to repel the Royals.
 
Mayo disappoint again
What of Mayo, well we certainly wont hit a dog while it's down. Today will go down as one of their major disappointments as they were such red hot favourites. This tag does not suit them and i feel John O' Mahony will need to inject more of the winning under-21 team of 2007.  

I could not understand with 15 minutes to go Mayo decided to send high balls into the full forward line when everyone knew O' Shea and Moran were no longer in the field. There were 2 major turning points in the second half:
1. Conor Mortimer should have swelled the net from the radar pass by Dillon.
2. Second goal that Meath got came from a sideline ball which indeed was a Mayo sideline. Mr. Linesman, this is not good enough, the end result of this blatant mistake, penalty for Meath and 3 point swing.

I must say i felt the referee gave Mayo very little breaks throughout the match and the cancellation of their goal in the first half was another junior B football call by an umpire.
 
Mayo no doubt will come again but their supporters hearts must be broken at this stage, no GAA team or county deserves a day in the sun as much.
 
Your comments
Looking at some of of the blog responses - gaakitten, while i appreciate that the road to success requires complete dedication, i empathise with the Dub players going out having a few pints. you did say yourself that it was after a Dub match and as long as i played with Kerry in a championship match, we were always allowed out for a few beers to  feel that you were still alive and maybe the opportunity to meet up with the girlfriend whose social life takes a fair nose dive when entering a relationship with a county player.

I agree on a ban on drink if there is game the week after a match like what happens in the back door route as this does not allow adequate time to recover but who must realise all those lads are amatuers getting up for work Monday morning, also there is a thing called team bonding!!!!!
 
thumper 35, no leader in the Dub team? well i know plenty of them, i know Cluxton was the only one on view the last day but it does not help when the 2 key leaders were sitting on their holes all year. Enough said.
 
All the best
 
The Pony   
 

 
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Comments (3)

  • Aug-12 - Sunshine! (gaakitten) — I agree that the players should be allowed let their hair down after a game when they have a couple of weeks rather than one until the next game but when they are doing more than just drinking then there is a problem. Anyway, well done Meath, hurts to see them in the semi when Dublin are gone but sure that's football.
  • Aug-11 - kerryNo1 — A few of us were wondering if this really is Seamus Moynihan doing the blog or just someone imitating you? For one thing, I can't ever imagine the real Seamus Moynihan signing off a blog as "The Pony". So it is you or not? One way to prove it's you is maybe to wear a baseball cap at the Kerry-Meath game or for Dara Ó Cinneide to mention your blog on TV.
  • Aug-11 - bodhran — Seamus - I couldn't agree more with your take on the problem of Dublin Senior Clubs playing too many high profile players from other counties. In doing so, clubs are improving their own chances in Dublin but they also handicap their own underage development where the local young lads don't get enough exposure to the Senior Championship. What do you suggest can be done aboug it? Is this something that the Dublin County Board should look at? Until young players in Dublin are able to come through and develop in their own County - Dublin will struggle to get past quarters...???
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SeamusMoynihan

Described as a 'one-off player' Seamus  'the pony' Moynihan was one of the greatest Gaelic football stars of his generation.

 

The Kerry centre-back has won four all-Ireland medals for his county, three national leagues, nine munster championship medals, two GAA All-Stars, one Railway medal and one Division 2 title.

He was scouted as a young teenage player and only retired from the Kerry Senior Football Panel in 2006. He still plays football for his local Glenflesk team in Kerry where he lives with his wife and children.

So whether you're a Kerry fan or not, do not miss The Pony every Friday and Monday on Ireland.com ! 

 

And if you feel strongly enough - leave a message for The Pony by posting a comment beneath his blog

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