Football and the Meath team in need of a radical reset

ALL-IRELAND SFC Home side completely out-gunned by far superior Kerry outfit

There are those who feel, with justification, Gaelic football is in crisis. That the game is heading in the wrong direction; that it is losing out to other sports.

Looking at some of the fare that was served up at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday it's difficult not to agree. The game was filled with lengthy passages of sterile play as both sides passed the ball around ... and around .... often going backwards as they sought to get through the massed defensive blockade set up by their opponents.

Often we witnessed the sight of only one player in one half of the pitch - either the Kerry or the Meath goalkeeper. They were left to mind the house as their team-mates went foraging in the congested opposition half - although, of course, that's not unusual in the modern game.

The fixture was only rescued (as a spectacle) by the fact that two superbly fit, committed set of players sought to give everything for their counties.

A crowd of 8,224 turned up for Sunday's encounter but not too long ago 10,000, at least, would have attended such a fixture, filling every space on the Pairc Tailteann terrace at the hospital side. The gaps that did exists told a lot about how supporters feel about the modern fare served up.

According to the latest figures there has been a 15 per cent drop in attendances for the Sam Maguire qualifiers so far this summer than compared to 2023. That's a statistic that should make the powers-that-be sit up and take some notice. The vast open spaces in Croke Park for last week's Dublin v Roscommon game was another alarming sight. In Meath attendances at club games have been paltry.

There was a sizeable crowd from Kerry in attendance at Pairc Tailteann but, according to one very well-placed source from the Kingdom , "only one busload of supporters travelled up and usually at least two busloads travel." That too was another indication of the apathy that surrounded a game Jack O'Connor's side were certain to win.

That, and the fact that the contest was live on TV, would have served up keep down the attendance.

Yet the sound that greeted David Clifford's opening half goal was loud and clear; it indicated that many exiled Kerry supporters living in Meath and other locations close by had travelled to the game to cheer on their team.

Among those in the packed Pairc Tailteann pressbox covering the game were two representatives from Radio Kerry - Tim Moynihan along with analyst and former Kerry captain, Ambrose O'Donovan.

Combined they gave a superb, colourful dipiction of what was happening on the field of play - and they didn't hold back either when it came to giving their views on what they were seeing.

"It is as poor as I've seen in a long time," commented Moynihan on the air at one stage in the opening half just after a Meath player had spooned another chance wide.

O'Donovan, who captained Kerry to the All-Ireland SFC crown in the centenary year, 1984, wasn't impressed with the way Kerry were, early on, passing it around near the Meath posts.

He couldn't understand how why more Kerry players didn't "have a cut from 30 or 40 yards." He bemoaned the fact, in his on-air analysis, that more players weren't taking the responsibility and taking a pot at the posts. You sensed he despaired of the modern game.

The holder of three All-Ireland medals also noted how Meath's slow build up wasn't reaping much reward. He noted how Mathew Costello was put in at full forward but no ball was sent his way. It seemed a waste of a richly talented player suggested O'Donovan. It was a perceptive reading of the situation. It wasn't long before the ace Dunshuaghlin attacker was moved outfield in search of ball.

At half-time there was a well-orchestrated demonstration of skills by youngsters and coaches. As the demonstration unfolded one spectator from Kerry commented how "there was more entertainment provided by the youngsters than we saw in the first-half." Meath supporters who had witnessed their side register eight wides in the opening half had reason to despair. Yet early in the second-half events transpired that hinted that they might, just might, be about to mount one of the comebacks the county was once famous for. Sean Coffey and Costello superbly swept over points in quick succession to leave just five between the sides.

However, the remote prospect of a sustained Royal revival was firmly crushed when Kerry - making the most of one of the many turnovers they executed - broke forward. They put a fast-paced move together that ended with David Clifford blasting to the net.

Afterwards Colm O'Rourke jokingly bemoaned the fact that there is no transfer system in Gaelic football to recruit "class acts" such as Clifford and Sean O'Shea and the rest.

The long suffering Meath supporters, no doubt, would share that sentiment. They were hoping for a reaction after the 10-point defeat to Louth - and they did get one, but only to a limited extent.

Even before the final whistle sounded the exodus towards the exits was well underway. Those gaps on the terraces at the hospital side were getting larger by the second.

That too said something about the modern game - and the state of Meath football.