'We would like to get more goals'...Bulfin always looking to improve

Before Saturday's double header at Pairc Tailteann got underway one local GAA man, and a witty observer of life in general, observed how the world had turned upside down, inside out.

He observed how in football Meath were playing Tipperary a county more noted for its hurlers while in hurling they were playing a county, Tyrone, where football is undoubtedly the stronger force. Maybe it's an indication of Meath's standing in hurling and football these days?

Tyrone might not have produced many household names in the small ball game over the years but there is clear evidence the ancient game is improving in the Red Hand County; that it's going places.

That evidence could be seen in the flashes of quality play they produced in Saturday's curtain-raiser. They were defeated, 0-20 to 0-28 by Meath but the Ulster side had performers who could hurl with skill and conviction and take scores too. Players such as Ruairi Slane and Sean Og Grogan and Michael Little amply demonstrated.

Meath had to graft hard to put the resilient Ulster men away. Tyrone had after all, come into the game with the same number of points as the Royals so they were always likely to pose a formidable challenge.

"We knew that if Tyrone lost today their championship was over, we knew there was a huge game in Tyrone and we did a lot of analysis on them," Seoirse Bulfin said.

So it's was no wonder the Meath manager looked bright and bubbly and pleased with what he had witnessed afterwards - but then he's not someone, you suspect, who wears a downtrodden demeanour in defeat either. He's a man who looks on the bright side of life and he had reasons to be happy with Saturday's display.

There was the range of five-star scores Meath produced and right up there in that department was Jack Regan. Some of the chances he converted were breathtaking in their audacity and accuracy. Eamon O Donnchadha, James Kelly, Adam Gannon, Mark O'Sullivan, James Murray, Martin Healy were just some of the others who fired over points that any top-ranking Tipperary player would be proud to claim as theirs.

Bulfin had a vision about how he wanted Meath to play when he took over and now that vision is, it could be argued, becoming reality.

From the start of his connection with Meath he wanted the team to pass the ball around while using the long ball too when the players felt it was their best option; to mix things up. At first the Meath players seemed uncomfortable with the passing game. Now they are much more proficient at it. That was obvious on Saturday when they stitched some fine moves together.

There was another source of satisfaction for the manager in the 0-28 to 0-20 scoreline although he knows there's room for improvement too.

"To get 28 scores in a championship match is fantastic, fantastic, but we are hitting wides we shouldn't be hitting, our shot selection in the first-half was a little bit rash at times against the breeze, we could have worked the ball into better positions but if you get 28 scores in a championship match you are going to be happy and you'll be there or thereabouts of winning the game.

"If you were guaranteed 28 points in every game you would be hard bet but at the end of the day as we found out in London goals win games. We scored 1-24 but we conceded four goals and it cost us the game so. We would like to get more goals (they have scored four in four games). We created a few chances but our finishing wasn't probably what it should have been."

Bulfin then reflected on what, for him, is the hardest part of managing - telling players they won't be in the starting 15.

"You can't pick everyone unfortunately. I told the guys the very first night I met them I will make more mistakes than all of them combined for the year and on top of that I have to make decisions that might be right or might not be right but ultimately it's not easy to leave players out when you see the effort they are putting in."

A big plus from Saturday's match was the return to the fray of players who were sidelined by injury - Mark O'Sullivan, Adam Gannon and James Murray. They came on in the closing stages and put the outcome beyond doubt, firing over six points between them.

"You had Mark O'Sullivan, injured all winter, he's coming back, James Murray made his debut today, gave a super performance as did Adam Gannon. Those three guys we could spring from the bench were hugely important as were Daire Shine and Evan Fitzgerald. As I also said we have guys on the bench who didn't get in but are hugely benefical to our squad at the moment."

He said the game against Sligo this weekend was now effectively "an All-Ireland semi-final." He emphasised that while Meath defeated the Yeats County in the league (0-22 to 1-13) that won't have any bearing this time around.

Meath might find themselves these days playing teams not noted for their hurling exploits but that's doesn't mean victories are assured.

Meath had eight points to spare on Saturday but they still had to sweat and graft under the unrelenting early summer sun to get their way. They still had to do the business. Now they have to do it again against Sligo before they can be assured of their place in the Christy Ring Cup final. All to play for.