‘I have a lot of demons in my head right now just trying to balance it and get it right’

TOM GANNON

A dejected Anton O'Neill spoke to the Meath Chronicle after his side suffered a heavy defeat to Antrim in the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship on Saturday.

The Kilmessan man was very honest in his assessment of where his side are at the moment. There was times during the interview where he was lost for words. Ultimately though, its very evident in the way that O'Neill speaks, that he is emotionally very invested in this Meath camogie team.

Saturday's contest was obviously tough for O'Neill but he also admitted that it was a bit of a reality check for him and his players.

"I suppose we can make all the excuses in the world but that is the level that Antrim is at. They are on a different level to us," admitted the manager.

"We're disappointed, we put a lot into training, but it's just not coming off at the moment. I don't know if I am disappointed or if it is a reality check. I thought we were coming on and then we get a beating like that. It is what it is.

"It is hard to travel up here and for things not to go your way. It was hard on the subs coming on, they realised the game was over but we got them on the pitch. There was a lot of stuff that went wrong that we couldn't really quench."

O'Neill paid tribute to Antrim and said that they will be hard to beat in the knockout stages. He also gave a very honest review of where is own head is at at the moment and is looking inwards at himself to see what he can do different.

"Goals win games. We are actually getting patches where we are generating goals but we are not taking them," said O'Neill.

"In the end there we came strong again but Antrim had made a few changes. They are a team with confidence and they are going to be hard bet.

"Our girls will of course be disappointed and questions will be asked but you can't argue the result. I can't really give any answers. I'm doubting myself a bit now and, I know you shouldn't but it's hard to know where to go.

"I give it all I have and I wear my heart on my sleeve. It's my first year with this group and maybe sometimes I want more than what's required and that might filter down. We'll just have to see where we go from here."

Despite the gap on the scoreboard, there were several players of mixed experience among the Meath team that battled to the end on Saturday. O'Neill spoke about the importance of that blend of experience and youth.

"Players move on and players come in, and the whole idea is to steer them in the right direction and give them a bit of belief. It is hard and that is a fair level to be coming into and playing at. In fairness to the more experienced players, they tog out and inspire the young girls.

"Over the course of a career, you are going to have plenty of setbacks but it's about keeping these youngsters going. There are players there for us who kept battling to the bitter end today.

That is the main thing, you just want them to keep going and not to give up."

Next up for Meath is a game against Down and O'Neill is hoping his side can return to the level of performance that earned them that spot which was displayed in the victory over Westmeath in round one.

"That game against Down will be another step for us. It's the result of beating Westmeath the first day and we played exceptionally well. We have to try and get back to that level and to be fair to the girls, the team got moved around since then but you make these changes to try and get girls into the game more as well.

"I have a lot of demons in my head right now just trying to balance it and get it right. We are where we are and we've come up against teams that will be in with a fair shout in the end.

These teams have experience of coming down from senior and they want to get back up there as quickly as they can. It is hard for teams that haven't reached that height to compete with teams that have," concluded the Meath manager.