Tough questions to answer as losing run continues

A child born in the last year Meath reached an All-Ireland SFC final will celebrate their 21st birthday this year and the way things are looking right now they could be collecting their pension before they see their county back in the realistic hunt for Sam Maguire again.

That might seem OTT and pessimistic in the extreme because sport can be a fickle thing and fortunes have been known to change in a heartbeat.

Just look at Derry. A couple of years ago they were floundering in NFL Div 3, now they were a whisker away from promotion to Div 1 in the spring and will contest the Ulster SFC final against Donegal in a couple of weeks time.

That's just one example of how quickly things can change, but for the weary Meath supporters the prospect of a dramatic change in fortunes seems as far away as some of the black holes scientists have been discovering of late.

Of course the success of a number of minor teams over the last few years ensures hope springs eternal in the Royal County, but those young men that won the All-Ireland MFC title last year are still five or six years away from being physically ready for the wars of senior football and not all of them will progress.

Look at the Meath team that won the All-Ireland minor crown in 1992. Only one of that team, Trevor Giles, went on to play a major role in an All-Ireland senior victory - so putting all our eggs in the basket of hope that the minors coming through the ranks might be a tad premature.

Unfortunately Meath are going to lose players like Donal Keogan and Bryan Menton very soon. Those two men have been immense for the Royals over the last decade and more and in another time their pockets would be lined with Celtic Crosses.

However Father Time waits for no man and despite both still being Meath's top performers they are not going to be involved in inter-county football to help nurture the next generation into a position of success.

Where the likes of Darren Fay, Paddy Reynolds and Trevor Giles had Tommy Dowd, John McDermott, Martin O'Connell and Colm Coyle to battle with them shoulder-to-shoulder as they eased their way into senior football, players like Sean Emmanuel, Oisin O Murchu, Liam Kelly, Eoghan Frayne and Ciaran Caulfield won't have that wealth of experience and know-how to draw on when they inevitably make the step up.

Andy McEntee admitted in the belly of the Hogan Stand on Sunday that Meath "have suffered at Dublin’s hands, not just in my tenure, but before that as well," and that is an undeniable fact so the same people who were clambering for McEntee to be given the senior managers job back in 2016 were back behind their keypads on social media calling for his head.

Granted McEntee's record since taking over as Meath manager hasn't been great, but Meath weren't exactly pulling up trees in the 15 years before that either.

Of his 62 league and championship games in charge McEntee has won just 27, drawing five. Meath have won just 10 championship games in that time beating Wicklow twice and scoring victories over Sligo, Louth, Clare, Laois, Carlow, Offaly and Kildare.

The humbling loss to Longford in 2018 aside, Meath's other 10 championship losses have come at the hands of Dublin (four times), Donegal (twice), Kildare, Tyrone, Kerry and Mayo so there is no shame in those defeats, especially in the Super 8s in 2019 when Meath were competitive for large parts of huge games against massive teams.

The same can be said for most of the only year spent in NFL Div 1 since 2006. Apart from the 10-point drubbing by Donegal Meath only lost to Tyrone by five points, to Mayo by one, to Kerry by three, to Galway by two and to Dublin by four before drawing with Monaghan. There were enough positive signs then to suggest a bright future, but since then the light has gone out.

As McEntee eluded too Meath have found it tough against Dublin long before he came on board, with the obvious exception in 2010 when Eamonn O'Brien's side put five goals past Stephen Cluxton to inflict Dublin's last defeat in provincial competition.

The year after reaching their last All-Ireland SFC final Meath lost by seven to Dublin, in Sean Boylan's last year at the helm Meath lost to the Dubs by two points.

Colm Coyle was in charge when Dublin won by four in 2007, Eamonn O'Brien's first year at the helm saw Meath lose by two in 2009 before that famous win in 2010, but then things started to go woefully wrong for Meath.

Under Seamus McEnaney Meath lost by three points to Dublin in the Leinster SFC final in 2012 and the gap widened to seven points the following year in Mick O'Dowd's first year in charge.

Worse was to come the following year when Meath were walloped 1-10 to 3-20 and in O'Dowd's last year in charge Dublin proved too strong by 10 points.

McEntee took over at the end of 2016 but didn't face Dublin until 2019 where his side lost 0-4 to 1-17. In 2020 the margin of defeat was 0-9 to 3-21, while last year the gap was closed to six points (1-13 to 2-16).

In his four games against Dublin McEntee's Meath have scored just 2-40 while shipping 7-81, an average of 14-point defeats.

However, last Sunday's heavy loss was another major setback and while the defeat wasn't exactly unexpected the manner of the performance left a lot to be desired and the question of just when Meath might be capable of closing the gap on Dublin remains a tough one to answer.