At the end of the storm there's a golden sky

It's always darkest before dawn. Well if that's true then we are in for some spectacular sunrise in the near future because right now Meath football looks to be in a bleak place.

This isn't a knee jerk reaction piece to last week's loss to Offaly in the Leinster SFC, neither is it a 'kick em when they're down' hatchet job because no one with any sort of an interest in the GAA in Meath takes any comfort from the current predicament.

Last week, after the humbling loss to the Faithful County in the Leinster SFC quarter-final which ended Meath's interest in the race for Sam at the first hurdle, commentators came out of the woodwork at a rapid rate of knots to have their knock.

Some lamented the sad decline of Meath football, others sneered and mocked, apparently taking delight that Colm O'Rourke's transition from pundit to inter-county manager hasn't gone as smoothly as he suggested it might.

Those who sneered should be quickly reminded that Mayo aren't exactly the serial winners they wish they were and Tyrone aren't the greatest exponents of the art of Gaelic football.

Meath are not in a good place, but Colm O'Rourke believes the future is bright. He accepts that things aren't good at the moment, but it's not as if the Royals have fallen off the cliff in dramatic fashion.

There has been a steady decline for many, many years - interspersed with a few bright spots here and there like the Leinster SFC title win 13 years ago, or the promotion to NFL Div 1 in 2019 or the Super 8s in 2019.

There were also All-Ireland SFC semi-final appearances in 2007 and '09, but we are clutching at straws now to suggest that Meath were a significant force at any stage since the last All-Ireland final appearance in 2001.

So why has it all gone so horribly wrong for Meath in the 24 years since they last won an All-Ireland senior title?

If there was any one answer then it might be easy to solve, but there has been a plethora of problems down through the ages. Some have been addressed, while some still linger.

For quiet some time underage structures and the Co Board shipped a huge portion of the blame and with just cause. However, especially in the last five or six years, huge strides have been made to improve the structures behind the scenes with key appointments at development level and while there have been green shots at underage level with an All-Ireland minor title in 2021, it will take some time for that to translate to senior football.

Managers have also shipped much of the blame, somewhat unfairly in many cases.

Boylan was hounded out of the job in 2005 and replaced by Eamonn Barry who had wanted the position for many years before finally being given one year and told 'right you've had your go, now adios'.

In came Colm Coyle who guided Meath to an All-Ireland SFC semi-final but was then abused to the hilt by a small section of supporters in Limerick a year later and his time was up after just two years.

Eamonn O'Brien also 'enjoyed' two years, reaching an All-Ireland SFC semi-final in '09 and winning a Leinster title in 2010, but after the quarter-final humbling by Kildare he got his marching orders by an impatient Co Board.

Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney came in with plenty of fanfare, but that experiment ended badly with relegation to Div 3 in the league and a loss to Laois in the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2011.

Mick O'Dowd took over for 2012, immediately secured promotion back to Div 2 and looked competitive in Leinster before losing to Tyrone by two points in the qualifier.

However the team never seriously built on that promise with injuries blighting them, losing to Westmeath in championship football for the first time in 2015 and after losing to Derry in the qualifiers in 2016 O'Dowd was out the door with just six wins from his 14 championship games.

Off the back of guiding the Meath minors to an All-Ireland final in 2012 and having managed Ballyboden St Enda's to an All-Ireland Club title in 2016 Andy McEntee was appointed as Royal ruler.

He reached Leinster finals in 2018 and 2019, won promotion to NFL Div 1 for the first time since '06 and brought the team to the Super 8s, but still the success-starved Meath fans called for McEntee's head after a poor 2022 campaign.

Now Colm O'Rrourke has finally been handed his chance at the helm after being overlooked on a few occasions and already the natives are starting to get restless.

At what stage are supporters going to stop constantly blaming managers and accept that our malaise maybe just that we are not good enough or competitive enough to be where they want the team to be.

In fairness to O'Rourke, and to all the other managers who went before him, he is leaving no stone unturned in his attempt to unearth fresh talent, but the root of the problem is that Meath football is not as intense as it once was.

Some have suggested that as a team Meath no longer have the fear factor, the bite is gone, where's the nastiness, the ruthlessness that is often needed to be successful.

When Sean Boylan was in his closing days as boss he lamented the fact that the back door system had taken the fear of losing away from Meath football. The comfort of a safety net was making players immune from the bitter pain of defeat and that contributed to a softness.

Meath now find themselves in the Tailteann Cup which is the ultimate humiliation for this once proud county.

The Tailteann Cup is for third and fourth tier counties. An opportunity for those counties to taste success, to build on the promise of a winning run. It is for counties like Leitrim, Sligo, Wexford, Carlow, Antrim, Tipperary, Limerick, Wicklow.

There should be no place for Meath, Kildare, Cork, Cavan or their likes in the Tailteann Cup.

If those counties are not good enough to compete for provincial or All-Ireland senior honours then so be it, they shouldn't be offered a shot at a consolation prize that could deprive a so-called 'lesser' county a chance at silverware.

There is nothing to suggest that Meath will win the Tailterann Cup, indeed in their current form there is no chance of Meath winning anything, but if they were to win it what would that achieve?

Winning the Tailteann Cup would provide the team with a false sense of achievement. Lull them into thinking they're still 'great lads', whereas the reality of the situation is that we are still a million miles from competing at the top table.

Another reason for Meath's lack of competitiveness at inter-county level has to stem from the quality of our club football championships.

We have a 16 team senior football championship that often produces some exciting, entertaining games, plenty of football that is nice to watch and evenly matched.

However, the stark reality of the Meath SFC is that only six or eight teams have any realistic chance of winning it, while the other eight or 10 teams are merely there to make up numbers and maintain their vanity by being called a 'senior club'.

In Kerry there are eight teams in their senior championship. They play high intensity, hugely competitive tough games in their club championship and then introduce a regional element to make it even more competitive.

We have too many soft, nothing games in our SFC.

Sure it's entertaining, but so is League Two in English Football where every game is exciting and close and where Leyton Orient romped to the title. However if Leyton Orient were to try to mix it with the big boys of the Premier league they wouldn't keep it kicked out to them.

Our club players in Meath are playing lower league intensity football and then are completely out of their depth when expected to step up and play in the Premier League standard of inter-county football.

We need to harden up our club players. Make every game count. Make every game in the championship a battle, a war of attrition, so that when the very best of those club players come together to represent their county they are steeled and hardened for the rigours of competing against the best.

We need a 12-team senior championship in Meath, two groups of six. Play five games against high quality teams before advancing to the knockout stages. Top team in each group advance to a semi-final. Second and third play-off to make it to the semi-finals.

A similar process for the relegation scenario. Bottom two teams advance to relegation semi-finals, second and third from bottom play-off to get one more shot at survival.

Have eight teams in IFC and JFC. Play seven rounds in one group. Top two into semi-finals. Third, fourth, fifth and sixth play quarter-finals, while seventh and eighth play in a relegation play-off.

Every game means something, every match-up is intense, the fear of losing is restored and the hunger to win is ravenous.

That needs to be restored - and quick.

To solve the inter-county conundrum the provincial championships need to be removed from the qualification process for the All-Ireland series.

By all means retain the provincial championships. Play them earlier in the year instead of McGrath, O'Byrne, McKenna Cups and FBD Leagues. Start the league a little later, place more emphasis on finishing in the top 16 of the NFL.

The top eight from Div 1, the top six from Div 2 and the top two from Div 3 all contest the All-Ireland series in a Champions League format of four groups of four.

Top four teams advance to quarter-finals. The second and third placed teams play in preliminary quarter-finals with the four winners advancing to the last eight. And then it's straight knockout.

The bottom two teams from Div 2 of NFL and third, fourth, fifth and sixth in Div 3, along with winners and runners-up of Div 4 play in second tier Tailteann Cup, while the two relegated teams from Div 3 and the other six teams in Div 4, along with New York can contest a third tier championship.

Plenty of football for everyone, most of which is at a similar level and all of which will draw huge interest and represent a fair chance of silverware for almost every team starting out the year.

It works well in the hurling where the Liam MacCarthy, Joe McMcDonagh, Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups are all up for grabs.

Either way it is time for Meath football to shift the blame of failure away from managers. Our players have to take a huge responsibility for where we are at the moment and they are being let down by a club structure that's not fit for purpose.

Will anyone listen to these suggestions? Probably not.

The success of the senior footballers in the near future is large being laid at the door of the 2021 All-Ireland winning 17-year-olds and while four or five players will undoubtedly emerge to make decent senior footballers we need to better equip them for the higher intensity of war at the top table.

Don't let it get any worse!