Greville hopes Meath don't regret letting victory slip

Meath manager Johnny Greville was left pondering and bemused after his side let slip a seven-point lead with two minutes of normal time remaining in their Christy Ring Cup clash with Derry on Saturday in Trim.

While the Westmeath native praised his side for the resilience they showed to get a very late equaliser, he was disappointed with the goals that his team conceded and some of the decisions made by the officials on the day.

“You had a feeling that it was going to be helter-skelter and chaotic. The two goals were the killer and their goal in the first-half was fortunate enough, but we got a fortunate one against Wicklow last week so we will not cry about that," suggested Greville.

"I thought we were the better team by a long way and the lads really dug in, so to not get across the line was disappointing from our perspective. It was pleasing though that we showed resilience and resolve to get that last puck-out to the man in the best position and we got the equaliser.

“You learn on the road and we are a group in transition but that does not mean that we can’t transition and learn while winning.

"Today was one of those days where the boys can learn from the experience. We would have loved to have closed out the game but there was a few dubious calls there as well. I don’t like going after referees but it did feel like it came down to someone else's decisions rather than our own control.”

There was a strong breeze blowing away from the town end at Trim and both sides found it difficult at times to navigate the wind. Greville said that while he would have liked a better conversion return, he cannot blame his side for taking on shots.

“The wind today was blowing the opposite way to what it usually does at Trim. It usually blows back down into the leisure centre. We had something up around 17 or 18 wides in total which was disappointing. We had four in a row in the second-half when we were on top which would have really helped us close out the game,” said Greville.

“We have spoken to the lads about it all year, if you don’t shoot you don’t score. I can’t really criticise them for having a high wide count when if you look back at the Laois game for example, we only had 23 scoring opportunities.

"Since then, we are creating around 35 to 40 opportunities each game. That is what I want the lads doing. Okay, we have to get our efficiency up, especially during periods when we are on top.

"We will go back this week and have a look at that and few other things. We will make sure we are in the right physical and tactical mindset to make sure that we go to Donegal and get the result.”

Greville had high praise for stalwarts Seanie Geraghty and Damien Healy. He also gave huge credit to the lads that were introduced from the bench and he praised Tom Shine for his fantastic equaliser.

“Seanie (Geraghty) and Damo (Healy) were brilliant today again and the bench was really important again today," said the manager.

"Simon Ennis came in and did really well. As did Noah (Conroy) and Darren O’Higgins. It is really a team effort and there are five or six more u-20s that have joined in us in training as well.

"It is great to have a group that have really gelled. I hope the Meath public can see the togetherness in the group. For a young team that is in so-called transition, I think the level of hurling that the lads are playing at the moment is excellent.

“The way Tom (Shine) stepped up and took on that equalising point today was brilliant. For a lad who was out with a cruciate for 18 months or more he has really come back so strong. For him to be able to get a score like that today for his county that means so much is brilliant.”

Greville has huge faith in the current Meath squad. He believes that this side can lay the foundations for future talented squads that will be able to take Meath hurling to the next level.

“From the outside, this might look like a wider project than just this year, but from the inside, we want to develop by winning," he said.

"What better way to develop than to get to a Christy Ring Cup final and winning it. By having that winning mentality, you can instill a fantastic culture in the overall county.

"Every lad in that dressing room wants to win a Christy Ring Cup and go after that next level. As you have seen with the u-20’s this year, the players are there in Meath to take the hurling in this county to the next level.

“I have huge belief in the group. We have a great belief in that dressing room and the energy at training and the environment is brilliant. Everyone backs each other.

"When they go back to the clubs they will take lumps off each other but while we are here in this environment, we are working towards the same goal and it is like a club mentality at inter-county level.

"It showed there we had 45 tackles in the second-half which was more than some of our tallies in games for 70 minutes. We have been instilling that belief in the group since last November and it is coming to fruition.”

Meath’s final group game will be away to Donegal in Letterkenny next Saturday. Greville hopes that his side won’t regret letting the victory on Saturday slip away from them.

“Today was effectively a quarter-final, and we got a key point that keeps us in it. We have to approach next week as a semi-final. That was always the case," he summised.

"Even if we won today, we still have to go up to Donegal and win. We have to go to Donegal and do our part and add to our performance.

"We have to make sure the lads are well rested and recovered so that we can get across the line against them. If other results go our way hopefully we will have a Christy Ring Cup final. If not, we will probably look back at this game today and say maybe that was one that we could have got across the line in.”

Meath will hope that a win will be enough to qualify for the Christy Ring Cup final when they face Donegal next Saturday in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny at 1.30pm.