‘There's disappointment that we didn't finish the job’.... O'Rourke reflects on draw with Limerick

The silence emanating from the Meath dressing room was deafening following Sunday's NFL Div 2 draw with Limerick.

The one point gained in the Gaelic Grounds felt like a loss after the visiting Royals surrendered a late lead and were held by their struggling hosts who secured their first positive result of the campaign.

On a positive note the point gained all but guarantees Meath's safety in Div 2, but with the possibility of playing Tailteann Cup football in the summer still looming Meath need to pick up at least one win from their final two games against Dublin or Kildare and hope Louth lose both games to Cork and Dublin. Afterwards Meath manager Colm O'Rourke admitted that the result against Limerick was a disappointing one and he pointed out the lack of consistency in Meath's play as they mixed the good with the bad and came up short of the win they needed to maintain their outside chance of promotion.

"There's disappointment that we didn't finish the job. Maybe the point gained will be valuable in the wrong run, but I think our dressing room is one of acute disappointment that we didn't finish the job," admitted O'Rourke.

"We had the game going in our favour, particularly in the last quarter, but we let them off the hook a bit. Yet at the same time, they had a goal chance with five minutes to go and it could have been worse.

"When you get into a position with the wind behind you, in front on the scoreboard and in control of the game, it is disappointing. The lads themselves are disappointed with the outcome.

"It has happened in every game. We have had five games now and we have had terrible fade outs, played brilliant football at times and made an awful lot of mistakes, particularly in the first-half today.

"We have a young squad learning their way, there's a lack of experience that showed in some cases.

"At half-time we were in a difficult position, but they tried very hard and got themselves back into it, worked very, very hard.

"It is disappointing because at one stage we were two up playing with the breeze, we really should have finished the job."

That poor first-half showing left Meath trailing by four points at the break, but O'Rourke made three changes at the interval and he was pleased with their impact.

"That is what the subs are for, to come on an make an impact. Maybe we didn't have as big an impact as we would have liked from subs last Sunday, but certainly in this game they did make a big contribution and they were badly needed."

Despite the improved second-half showing from Meath they still shipped a total of 17 points against a Limerick side that had struggled in their opening four games.

Also in attack Meath misfired, hitting a dozen second-half wides as they allowed Limerick stay in the game and claim the point their efforts deserved.

"We have worked really, really hard on it (defence) in the last three or four weeks. Every night at training we have been working hard on our defence, but it is a work in progress," admitted O'Rourke.

"If Limerick are getting 17 points against us, people will probably ask what will the Dubs get against us. We will have a look at it and try to rebuild the defence and the confidence.

"There were quite a few changes in defence today with Harry O'Higgins and Cathal Hickey missing. Then we wanted Jack O'Connor to play wing-forward for his pace, so we had three new backs today.

"We are just going to have to keep working at it. We are giving away too many scores, it's as simple as that.

"The only good thing about that (kicking so many wides) is that we weren't creating many chances in the last three games, whereas we created far, far more today.

"I suppose Limerick are bottom of the division and most teams are running up big scores against them, but at least there is some positivity that we created a lot of chances.

"Maybe there was a lot of silly shots taken, but if we create chances we will eventually score."

Despite being well aware of his own side's failing O'Rourke also praised Limerick for how they bounced back following their round four drubbing by Cork.

"Any team with a bit of pride is going to bounce back from the shelling they got last Sunday against Cork. They have a lot of good footballers like Hugh Bourke and Cian Sheehan, players like that are as good as there is on any team in Munster.

"We didn't take them for granted by any means. We prepared very well and we thought we were ready for it but obviously we needed to be even better prepared. The second-half wides killed us."

With two games remaining Meath need to secure a top four finish if they hope to avoid the spectre of possible Tailteann Cup football in the summer.

O'Rourke is well aware that his side's fate lies in their own hands and he is relishing the prospect of Dublin's visit to Navan in a couple of weeks time where he hopes the Meath supporters will come out in force.

"It is easily solved by going and winning one of our last two games, or even winning the two of them. The whole thing is in our own hands so we have to look forward with confidence," said the Meath manager.

"We have a huge game coming up against Dublin in a couple of weeks. We will prepare well for that. That is where we want to be at, we want to be playing these teams, we don't want to be relying on others to keep us up in the division.

"We want to have our fate in our own hands and we have. There are four points on offer and if we get two or four we won't have to worry about other teams.

"Every player appreciates the local support and the local recognition. For too long Meath players were anonymous figures in the community, so we would like to see that they become heroes for for the primary schools kids coming along to the games

"The aim is to make these players heroes and the handiest way to do that is by going and beating Dublin."

With big games coming up O'Rourke is left with an ever-growing injury list.

"Shane Walsh has a recurrence of his hamstring, so that's bad news for us. Cathal Hickey pulled a thigh muscle in training and wasn't available for today and Darragh Campion has fractured his scaphoid which will necessitate an operation and he will be out for a long time," concluded the Meath boss.