Plenty to be optimistic about for Meath manager

In any other time a ninth successive defeat would be cause for great concern, but the promise shown throughout this ultimately doomed NFL Div 1 campaign has sustained optimism and Meath manager Andy McEntee believes the gap to the top is closing.

Saturday night's loss to Dublin in Parnell Park was Meath's sixth in their first NFL Div 1 campaign since 2006 and when you add in the three defeats in the 2019 Super 8s the line of form makes grim reading – LLLLLLLLL.

However, all those Ls don't tell the true story.

The first three were nine-point reversals againstMayo and Donegal and a 10-point defeat at home to Kerry in the Super 8s in August 2019. Even those games were tight until the closing stages.

The six defeats in the league have a combined scoring difference of minus 25 points, meaning an average loss of just four points against the top tier teams in the country, so on that evidence the gap is very definitely closing.

Even those figures are skewed by the disastrous showing against Donegal in round two last February when McEntee's men went down by the 10 points.

The other losses were a five-point reversal away to Tyrone, a low-scoring one point defeat at home to Mayo, an unlucky three-point deficit against Kerry in Killarney, an even more unfortunate two-point loss at home to high-flying Galway and then last Saturday's four-point victory for Dublin in Parnell Park.

As Mark Twain enforced there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics and depending how you look at them they can all tell a different story.

The facts of Meath's NFL Div 1 campaign are that they have been competitive and last Saturday night, McEntee was obviously disappointed not to win the game, but he was uplifted by the performance.

“I expected us to perform and to a large extent we did that. The players have minded themselves really well throughout this period, it was a difficult time for everybody,” said the Meath manager.

“It's hard to know exactly where you are until you are stuck into a game of that pace and that intensity.

"We are in the business of trying to compete with the likes of Dublin, so I expected us to compete with them.

“We didn't come here to just stick with Dublin. It was a game of football, we came here to try to win.

"Ultimately we weren't good enough to win it, that's the bottom line.

“We had our fair share of chances to win the game or at least put them (Dublin) under an awful lot of pressure, but we didn't do it.

"We had three goal chances, we didn't take any of them and you pay the price for that.

“We had 11 wides? That's more than I thought, it was a four-point game.

"We had three goal chances which we didn't take, the goal they got was something you would like to think wouldn't happen again.

“The lads have put in the work. One of the highlights of tonight was seeing Eoin Harkin, Jordy Morris, Cathal Hickey, Jason Scully, guys like that, that was their first taste of senior inter-county football and you have to say they all stood up pretty well.”

After a gap of almost eight months since that unlucky loss to Galway McEntee had to be pleased with the character and resilience shown by his players once again, but for him those traits are unquestionable.

In the not too distant past, Meath teams would have capitulated after the early error that gifted Dublin their goal, but McEntee insists that this bunch of Royal volunteers will never throw the towel in.

Meath just need a change of fortune, a stroke of luck that might earn them their first win since the one-point All-Ireland SFC qualifier victory over Clare in July 2019.

“There is never a doubt about their resilience and their character. It would have been easy for them to pack up and say it's not for us tonight, especially with the nature of the early goal, but that's not the way the players are,” ensured the Meath manager.

“Every team that is on the trajectory we are on are looking for that win. We are coming from a bit behind, but we are trying to get there.

“Last year in the Super 8s we were getting to 12 and 15 minutes left before the gap was opening up, but I think by and large we have closed that gap another little bit, but we certainly have work to do.

“Scoring 19 points, especially against Dublin, is a decent return, but we still lost.

"Some of the stuff was really good tonight, some of the movement was good, the work rate was top class, there was an awful lot of good about the game, but it's about the scoreboard, 1-21 or 1-22 was very gettable for us there tonight and that is still allowing room for errors,” rued McEntee.

While losing a game of football is always disappointing, McEntee is also very aware of the bigger picture and the concerns felt around the country about playing these games in the midst of a pandemic.

However, he insists his players are determined to play to the rules and he confirmed the players are free to withdraw from playing if they feel uncomfortable.

“That is not an issue with these players. They want to be here, they want to get better, they want to work and they want to win games like tonight,” said McEntee when pressed if the players were concerned about Level 5 restrictions being introduced by the Government.

“Nobody expressed any concerns to me about playing in the championship, maybe I'm the wrong lad to be asking, but as far as I know no one expressed any reservations about playing.

“I know there was a survey, but lads have made their opinions known. It is a very serious situation.

"We have abided by all the rules absolutely, above and beyond to be perfectly honest and lads are still free to make that choice, everybody is here of their own free will, I didn't have to twist any arms.

“Like everything there are two sides to it. It is a very serious situation, everybody's health has got to be absolutely the number one priority.

“My only slight concern is that we are putting a little bit of extra pressure on players by saying it is up to them to keep up the morale of the country, I don't think it is quite that simple.

“Everybody knows just how important football is, but at the same time we have got to do what we have to do.

"Whatever the rules are and whatever decision is made by Government and by the GAA, we will abide by it.

“I'm sure I'm talking for every county and every inter-county player in this regard.

"We are asking lads to basically restrict the amount of friends they have, to restrict the amount of people they see. We are asking them to keep distance from loved ones.

“They come to training togged out, they spend little or no time in a dressing room, with a mask on.

"After training they then jump into gear and drive home without showering. The Co Board are very good and everybody is working hard to make it as comfortable and possible for them, but at the same time it is very difficult for them to do what they are doing.”

As it stood in Parnell Park on Saturday night McEntee was looking forward to the trip to Clones to play Monaghan next Sunday.

Relegation has long since been confirmed, but McEntee is still looking for a win and he is planning for the championship.

“Different game, different surrounds, different opposition, you'd like to think a different result, but it's not going to come easy. We have to get better,” said McEntee when looking ahead to the final league game against relegation threatened Monaghan.

“We can use these games as preparation for the championship, but we are also looking to gauge ourselves and see where we are in the great mix.

"Our aim is the same as everyone else's in the competition, we want to be winning games.

“We weren't thinking about Wexford or Wicklow tonight, we were thinking about coming up here to Parnell Park and getting a result, but unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted,” concluded the manager.