Brennan remains calm as Meath turn on the style to set up semi- final clash with Dublin

LEINSTER SFC REACTION Buoyant manager looking forward to last four trip to Portlaoise

One thing is for definite. This Meath team certainly know how to entertain.

A bit like Rory at the Masters they have an uncanny knack of mixing the sublime with the ridiculous and have done so all year with patches of pure brilliance mixed in with periods of head-scratching, under-whelming failures.

Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final win over Offaly had it all.

There's no point in trying to sugar-coat it or make excuses, the first-half display against Offaly was undoubtedly Meath's worst 35 minute performance for a long time, stretching back over the last few years. In contrast, the second period was up there with one of the best ever produced by a Meath team.

There might be a hint of hyperbole in that last statement, but after the abject first-half the second 35 minutes appeared masterful.

Excuses for the first-half display will be offered. Meath played against the wind, confidence was fragile after a poor finish to the league, injuries are still effecting the camp, Offaly were riding the crest of a wave following their NFL Div 3 success.

However the fact of the matter is that Meath missed tackles, got pulled out of their defensive shape, were second to a lot of breaking ball, got in muddles at the Offaly kickouts, made poor shot choices, were sub-par in the execution of a lot of basic skills and looked like a side that were bereft of leadership and ideas.

Meath manager Robbie Brennan agreed with much of that assertion.

"Definitely. We hoped we'd set the tone for the first-half and we didn't. It actually started alright but a few dropped short and shot selection (was poor) and a few wides and things like that didn't help. It put us on the back foot then for the second-half."

Whatever was said at half-time in the Meath dressing room certainly drew a response from the players and they produced a second-half display for the ages and deserve enormous credit for being able to turn it around in such spectacular fashion.

Brennan was asked about what was said at the break. Were tables upturned, tea cups thrown against walls, hairdryers turned to full blast?

“No, I try not to (raise his voice) because you’ve only so many bullets you can use! We might have used one up already this year, so not many left," he replied with a smile.

"I don’t tend to (shout) because this generation (of young players), they’d be looking at you with 10 heads, ‘What are you shouting about?’ It’s all about the data and the numbers, what we’ve done poorly and what we can improve on, and that’s what we focused on.

“The lads know that themselves, when you’re in there and you get their feedback, they have it pretty much covered. So it was just up to us to clarify a couple of pieces, so that was it, no roaring or shouting, thankfully.

"We probably felt that we weren't putting any pressure on them at all. It was easy ball being popped in inside to their full-forward line and they have good forwards who are going to cause us trouble.

"That was one of the key things we were going after, more pressure on the ball and being a bit tighter. I think the lads started like that (in the second-half) and kept it going for the full second-half.

"That (increased intensity) was huge, and it's huge for the group to be able to deliver a performance like that because there were a couple of bad performances towards the end of the league that they were really disappointed with, so I'm just delighted for the lads that they were able to do that in the second-half. Onwards and upwards now.

"I think it was that bit of spirit that was most pleasing in the second-half. We had that bad patch, that bad spell when we played Cork the first time, and that kind of came to the fore again in the last couple of games that we've played. So we're disappointed that that's happened, but to be able to respond today was probably the biggest thing for us.

"I think I said it here last week, they (Offaly) are a proper team, they have some fantastic footballers, as you would have seen in that first-half.

"The benefit of having a Championship game behind us, you can't beat Championship football and feeling the pace of it.

"We probably seen the benefit of that in the second-half but the first-half, the first 10 or 15 minutes just left us a bit flat and stale. We had to fight then in the second-half to come out and get after it."

Central to Meath's outstanding turnaround and brilliant second-half display was Mathew Costello, while the introduction of Aaron Lynch and James Conlon as substitutes was instrumental, so the Meath management must take some credit for the changes.

“You’ve got to be delighted for Mattie (Costello). He’s one of the key guys there obviously and he’s well known around the country for what he can do. Even the run he took off on the terrace side was amazing. You’d be disappointed no one was with him; he was on his own.

“He came over about 20 minutes into the game and he was like, ‘We’re just lacking that bit of bite.’ and I think he went after it, to be fair, and continued that right the way through. So, major plus to have him back at this stage of the season.

"With the new rules and if you have a bit of a wind, I think everyone in the stand probably realises that it's possibly on if you get a couple of those two-pointers. Dukie (Conor Duke) was swinging for fun and he was popping them over. Delighted for him, he had a great game.

“The impact from the bench was huge. James (Conlon) has had a few niggles with the hamstring and stuff like that, so to get him back in that kind of shape is great. He scored 1-2, and missed one, so it should have been 1-3!

"Lynchie (Aaron Lynch) is a livewire, and to have that impact on the bench – particularly when you need to turn and see who you have, they’re two great guys to have and there’s a few others as well."

Lynch and Conlon combined for the only goal of the game with the Trim lobbing a high ball into the square and with the goalkeeper absent Conlon climbed higher than his marker to deflect the ball to the net.

Lynch insisted it was a pass, Brennan wasn't as sure.

“I turned around to Suppy (Shane Supple) and said it could be the worst kick pass to the smallest man on the pitch and we get a goal off it! So, what do I know!

"It’s funny because we’d done some analysis on that, that maybe the 'keeper coming out there would be an opportunity to put one in high. So, it worked out in the end.

“Oh, it was definitely a pass! He’s claiming it is anyway. Banty (James Conlon) is definitely claiming the touch.”

All attention now turns to Dublin on Sunday 27th April at 4pm in Portlaoise and Brennan is looking forward to the challenges that will bring and is hopeful that the supporters will get behind the players and given them the same reaction they got at full-time on Sunday.

"The lads deserved that bit of a reaction from the supporters at the end. You could see maybe too why the supporters were maybe quiet in the first-half.

"We've seen that a little bit too much this year, so delighted for them but we'll go on to Dublin now, a big challenge there and we'll get our heads down and go at it. We're looking forward to that.

"I think it's in Portlaoise , I don't know if that is confirmed. We'll go wherever we have to go and play them. As a group we're really looking forward to it. It's nice to be in a Leinster semi-final, but as a group, we're just trying to improve. It's game by game, session by session, half by half as you can see out there. That'll be the same approach for the next game.

"It's probably a different Dublin team, it's probably a different Meath team. So we'll see on the day. As you saw out there (against Offaly), it can be a game of two halves most times so we'll just keep the focus on what we're doing. That's all you can do.

“I just briefly saw the Wicklow result. It will depend on that tape, we’ll have a look and maybe see if there’s any weaknesses in it, and I didn’t say they’re beatable, by the way!

“Particularly with the new rules, I think Wicklow kicked 18 points, so generally if you get possession of the football, you’ve a chance to score. Even Antrim-Armagh, you can see the fight they put up yesterday as well.

“There’ll be certain things we’ll be going after, but we’ll have to delve into the tape a little bit to see where we can get at them.”

“Possibly (playing outside of Croke Park being an advantage for Meath). I don’t know how often we’ve played in Portlaoise. I can’t remember being down there too often, and it’s probably similar for Dublin.

"So it’s probably a bit of a leveller, maybe. I mean, obviously when you’re going into Croker, everybody is used to it, at the end of the day, it’s a pitch, isn’t it?”

“Eh, no (this is not bonus territory), not from where we’re at. We’ve just gone game by game, and we’ve no real big long-term targets. It’s literally just game by game.

"We were disappointed with how the league finished, delighted to have improved a wee bit. Offaly would have beaten us the last time we played them in championship, so it’s nice to win that one today, but we’ll see how we go.”

Before returning to the dressing room Brennan gave an update on the injury situation.

"Conor Gray’s back running now and back on the pitch. He’s had a few little niggles, but I expect he’d be fully training this week.

"The lads who went off today were all cramp. I think Raff was cramp, Sham (Seamus Lavin) was cramp, Frayner (Eoghan Frayne) is fine as is Kinsella, they're all good.

"We don't know if Ronan jones will be back for the Dublin game. He's due to go in to get another scan. He's moving well. It'll probably be a little bit early I'd say for him, but Ronan's a bit of a freak when it comes to recovery. Hopefully he might be able to make a late push but it probably looks a bit doubtful at the minute," concluded the manager.