Meath need to refind that winning touch again

“Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing.”

It’s very doubtful the renowned and very successful American football coach, Vince Lombardi, knew much about camogie. What he clearly did know something about was how a winning sequence can bolster a team’s morale and how, equally, a losing streak can undermine and diminish confidence – and how it can be devilishly difficult to stop the slide.

Halting such a slide is just one of the challenges facing the Meath camogie team right now. They have just completed a series of games where victory has proved to be as elusive as a winning Lotto combination.

The recent defeat to Westmeath in the opening round of the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship at Ashbourne was the team’s third in four games. You have to go back to early March for the Royal County’s last victory and that was against Derry in the National Camogie League Div 2A. Since then they have suffered setbacks against Kerry in the league final (1-8 to 0-7), and Westmeath in Leinster (0-11 to 1-10) and in the All-Ireland series (1-12 to 4-13), while they also drew with Carlow.

That last defeat means that Stephen Sheil’s team have to overcome Laois on Saturday at Portlaoise (12.15pm) to sustain their championship ambitions.

Yet how likely is that? All the indications are that Meath will have to up their game considerably if they are to carve out a victory with the odds stacked heavily against them. Laois will start the game as favourites. Strong favourites.

Not that the Royals are short of hope. They, after all, defeated Laois in the early stages of the league, 2-16 to 1-8. The league and the championship are, however, different worlds. Games are played at a different tempo and intensity. Under the summer sun the O’Moore County have pushed on to another level while Meath, as their results suggest, have slipped back.

Recently Laois won the Leinster title, overcoming Westmeath 1-15 to 1-13 in the final. It was a sweet victory for the O’Moore County who had lost the previous two deciders, suggesting they are a team who have learned from their past setbacks – and built up a formidable resilience in the process.

In the opening round of their All-Ireland campaign recently, Laois continued on their winning ways by defeating Carlow 3-15 to 2-9; the big score they racked up also suggesting they have successfully found a way to translate possession and chances into something tangible on the scoreboard.

According to all reports Aimee Collier is in fine form for the midlanders these days and Meath will have to find a way to restrict her influence, especially when it comes to taking scores.

In their defeat to Westmeath last time out, Meath felt the harsh reality of what one player, Megan Dowdall could do. She ransacked the Royal defence - chalking up a personal tally of 3-6 in the process. Kaylee O’Keefe, Grainne Delaney, Clodagh Tynan and Ellen Conroy are other big players in the blue and white of Laois.

Meath’s form in the league suggested that one of their greatest strengths was their defensive fortitude while they often struggled to translate enough chances into scores. That was certainly the way in the league final against Kerry in Banagher and in that tight game with Westmeath in the provincial championship, but the 4-13 shipped against the Lake County the other week suggests the Royals have developed some problems at the back that now need to be urgently addressed ahead of the visit to Portlaoise.

The manner in which Meath finished that Westmeath game in Ashbourne should also cause the management some concern. It constituted a collapse with the Maroons notching up 2-4 without reply in closing stages. Was that down to a lapse in concentration by Meath or just an unfortunate turn of events that can happen in any game? Or was there something more profound at play? Manager Sheil will be hoping the absolute need for a win against Laois will inspire his players. On a more practical level there is the reality that Meath have a team full of talented players well capable of defeating Laois and moving on from there.

Maggie Randle is one of the top goalkeepers around, her reflexes and puck outs major assets. Maeve Clince, Ellen Burke, Leah Devine, Sophia Payne, Roisin Heaney, Ciara Foley are only some of the team’s stars. Aoife Minogue’s return to the fold is another huge positive. There are plenty of sound reasons for Meath to be optimistic, although it’s still difficult to see, right now, anything but a Laois win.

Meath have to find a way to halt that dispiriting run of defeats – but it’s something, as Mr Lombardi suggested, that is clearly not an easy thing to do.