‘There will be knives out for us but we just have to keep together as a group’

Meath manager hoping for reversal of recent fortunes

Criticism. Every manager, every senior player in the GAA has to put up with it these days it seems, especially when a team loses. It might only be a few barbed comments on social media, but it can sting all the same. Find a way past the strongest of defences.

Some of the comments might be designed to help, little bits of advice given with the best intentions, but not couched in the most diplomatic of languages. Other stuff can be more direct, wounding.

The issue of social media comments was raised by Wayne Freeman after his side lost to Dublin on Sunday. It was tied up with a question about how the Meath’s defeats to Kildare and Dublin might affect the morale of the team ahead of the All-Ireland series.

“We didn’t get the performance levels today which is probably most disappointing aspect,” he said. “We did for half the game but you’re not going to defeat Dublin playing for half the game.

"Against Kildare we actually played really well but had just 20 per cent accuracy, that’s why we lost the game, it was a very, very simple game to analyse, and that figure is obviously not good enough. It’s more a game you can draw a line under and say these are our ‘work ons.’

“It’s difficult keep morale up after defeats like that, but that’s neither here nor there. We just have to work hard and keep our heads up and stick together because, there will be knives out for us, people have their opinions on how we are playing, but we just have to keep tight as a group, keep our heads down, keep working hard, that’s all we can do.”

Did he have people coming up to him and telling him what he should and shouldn’t be doing?

“No, no but, you read bits and pieces and it’s natural enough that the players – I’m not on social media or anything like that – but the girls would be and they probably pick up on stuff.

"It’s very important that you stick together, keep our heads down. We’re the ones who are in it, we are the ones that are trying our best to get out of it. As long as we stick together I think we will be okay.”

One of the revealing little scenes after the game was the Dublin backroom team, with manager Paul Casey, going out onto the pitch to have their photograph taken perhaps for some publicity drive ahead of the Leinster final.

What was striking about the photograph was the fact that there were so many of them, 16 or so with the manager. No doubt it’s one of the reasons why the Sky Blues are so successful – in both the men’s and the ladies games – the resources are just so much greater than anyone else.

Certainly Meath haven’t such an expansive backroom team. Not that Freeman was pointing to that reality as a reason why his team lost. He wasn’t.

“No we don’t (have such a big backroom team) but we have enough – we have good coaches, a good backroom team, good analysts, two brilliant FLOs, good physio, we have enough to do the work we need to get done,” he said.

“I don’t think adding another two or three people is going to make us any better on the field, I just think we have a good unit, a good group of players who are talented, they just need to start believing in themselves a little bit more.”

Looking to the All-Ireland series Freeman knows the mountain is only going to get steeper for his team.

“We have Galway and the losers of the Ulster final, Tyrone or Armagh, so it'll a tough group,” he added. “I don’t think there are any weak teams in senior at the moment, maybe in the last couple of years you could have looked at one or two and said ‘ah sure, they might be relegated.’ Now all four groups are strong, competitive.”

There were some positives Freeman dwelled on from Sunday’s defeat and right up there was the fact that his team ‘only’ conceded 1-11 against a Dublin side that combined slickness and physicality to cook up a storm, whip up something of a whirlwind.

“If you had told me before the game that Dublin would score only 1-11 I would have bitten your hand off – and their goal was an error from us, we would be disappointed by that goal. Overall, defensively, I thought we did very well. We defended for probably three-quarters of the game and you’re always going to have mistakes

“The big work for us is that we are going to have to mind the ball better, we need to have more control of the game. Last year that was one of our big strengths, getting to the tempo of a game whereas today we let Dublin control the game. We had too many turnovers and I think that’s the thing we have to work on.”

He also pointed to the need for the players “who work unbelievably hard” to make the right decisions when scoring opportunities arise.

“We were shooting in the first half under a little bit of pressure when we probably could have brought the ball a little closer and ensure you get a handpass point – even though I don’t like to see the handpass point in the game – but we have to ensure to keep the scoreboard ticking over.”

So plenty of learnings for Meath as the summer of football really starts to hot up – and no doubt, there will be plenty out there, keyboard warriors, all too willing to give their advice on how it should be done. How they can be successful.

Hopefully, if so compelled, those same warriors do so without the harsh words or the stinging phrases.