Time is tight for McEntee as league campaign looms large

With their O'Byrne Cup campaign ending on Saturday night despite the win over Wexford and no prospect of another semi-competitive outing before the start of NFL Div 2 away to Galway on Sunday 30th January Andy McEntee was left to rue the mid-week loss to Laois.

Meath's failure to top their group and advance to a mid-week semi-final against Kildare and a potential final against Dublin next weekend means that there is a fear they could well start the league slightly undercooked.

McEntee bemoaned the lack of time he has had to work with his full squad and while there are still players out injured he is disappointed not to have the opportunity to further test his panel before the start of the league.

"We are still waiting on Conor McGill, Brian Conlon, Bryan Menton, Bryan McMahon to come back in, Ronan Jones is out longer term, but that's the way it is - when someone isn't available someone else has to step up," said McEntee after Saturday's game in Ashbourne.

"Everybody would love more options, but it is going to be difficult. It is difficult to expect lads to come in and play their first game of the year against Galway in a couple of weeks.

"It is what it is and we have to play with the hand we are dealt, and we'll keep working hard for the next two weeks.

"There is a lot of talk about Sigerson and O'Byrne Cup and National League, but where's the player welfare?

"It is crazy the amount of games that are being played at the moment. Between Covid, injuries and Sigerson we have been without 15 players for the last two to three weeks.

"So an in-house game seems unlikely off the back of those sort of numbers. We do need to be playing as a team, because you can see the difference between Wednesday and tonight, we need to find that improvement again and again and again to be in a position to contest with Galway.

"I'd love another game, everyone would love another game, but where do you go looking now, I don't know," said the manager.

Reflecting on Saturday's win McEntee was more pleased with the improved performance which led to a positive result.

He did point to the low scoring return in the opening half as a cause for concern, but he also reflected that had the goal chances been take that might have been a very different story.

"It was a win tonight, but it was more about the performance than anything else.

“The first-half the other night just wasn't good enough and the players themselves weren't happy with it," said McEntee.

"You could see from the off tonight that there was a bit more bite in us and a bit more appetite for work.

"We got off to a decent start, but Wexford stuck at it and maybe a little bit of ill-discipline on our behalf let them stay in it. They got five points by half-time, four of them were from frees.

"There were some good bits, but there's still loads to work on.

"Low scoring in the first-half is always a concern, but Jordy (Morris) missed a penalty, James (McEntee) missed a shot at goal, if they had gone in we would have had three goals in the first 10 minutes.

"A little better execution and a little quicker delivery into the forwards and it might lead to a bigger scoreline, but there is no doubt we'll have to improve on that stat."

While Meath only managed one win from their two O'Byrne Cup games McEntee was pleased with the two very different challenges his side faced and he was particularly happy with the reaction of the players after they had con ceded the goal that allowed Wexford back into Saturday's game.

"There was certainly plenty of pace to that game tonight and there was a good bit of physicality to the game against Laois on Wednesday night, you have to take the games as they come and try to be better again the next day.

"I'm more pleased tonight than I was on Wednesday night, but then I am hard to please.

"There was certainly more appetite and there was more pace to our game. Our finishing was better tonight, considerably better, so it is progress, but there's a lot more to go.

"After we lost our first game there could have been an attitude of 'well how important is this game', but it was good to see the players react well to conceding the goal.

"They got out of the blocks well and delivered the ball quickly to get two good scores after their goal, so that bit was obviously pleasing," concluded the manager.