Poor discipline a culture in Meath?

Meath's disciplinary woes have continued with Kevin Reilly's yellow card last Sunday being overturned to a four-week ban.
I'm sure the county's supporters must be asking themselves why the disciplinary record is so poor at the moment.
Have they just been caught out by the GAA's renewed willingness to tackle the problem of foul play and off the ball nonsense? Or is there something ingrained into Meath's approach to the game which means that players will always push out the envelope in terms of attempting to rough an opponent up?
Graham Geraghty is one of those players I admire and loathe in equal measures.
His intelligence, courage, speed of movement, balance and ball skills are a treat to watch.
Saw him play against Antrim in the League at Casement a couple of seasons ago and in an early season game he still looked like the only thoroughbred surrounded by 29 journeymen.
On the other hand there has always been a dark, mean side to his game, hitting players sly digs, leaving his foot in an effort to hurt someone as the ball moves on but over the years cute enough to avoid the ultimate sanction most of the time.
The game has changed however, there are cameras everywhere, but his colleagues don't seem to have grasped that.
Given the way Colm Coyle's sides was depleted for their game with Wexford the last thing he needed was another key player out of the action.
Coyle himself as a player was like Geraghty a combination of the good, the bad and the ugly, always playing at the very edges of the rule book.
Is there where the current problems stem from in the Meath side?
Is the manager or his back room team too tolerant of the sort of nonsense some of the players have got up to because it was all right back in the '80s and 90s?
Or does it reflect a culture within football in the county at a club level?
Whatever the reason, a season which started with so much promise for what is an improving Royal side has been temporarily derailed and the that's a pity as Leinster and the country need sides like Meath in the shake-up.

Brawl comes back to haunt Meath

I wrote a few weeks ago that the brawl at Parnell Park during the league could come back to haunt Dublin and Meath in the Leinster championship and today the chickens came home to roost.
Meath minus the five suspended players were edged out by just one point after a great second half fightback by Wexford.
This is a game which should never have got away from Meath who were leading by ten points half through the second half.
However, as Wexford steamed forward Meath became increasingly ragged and they seemed bereft of ideas of how to close out the game apart from some very cycnical fouls.
Mark Ward's sending off was pure stupidity dragging down a man when he was on a run when he was already on a yellow.
However, his midfield colleague Meade can count himself very lucky not to join him for a terrible foul when he elbowed a Wexford player in the face.
I don't think there is any doubt that Meath would have progressed to the semi finals with their full contingent but the indiscipline at Parnell Park robbed Colm Coyle of options when the tide turned against them.
Meath now head for the qualifiers and although they will have a full squad by the time they are back in action the Royals will be disappointed at blowing the chance to meet great rivals Dublin in the Leinster final.
With Monaghan and now Donegal also in the qualifiers there are a lot of banana skins there and it's a notoriously difficult route to rebuild your challenge.

Meath send out a warning

Although today's defeat of Carlow by Meath ended up being a bit like one of the mismatches most associated with hurling, the Meath forwards sounded out a warning to the rest of the province with some sharp shooting.
Joe Sheridan, Stephen Bray and Cian Ward all showed that they will once again be worth the watching this season although they would be pushed for their places if Meath boss Colm Coyle had a full selection to pick from.
And as well as these three scoring for fun it was a veteran playing in his 16th championship season who once again caught the eye with his sheer intelligence.
Although the game was a breeze for the Royals Graham Geraghty gave us a couple of memorable moments where first time touches showed once again an awareness that would light up any game.
I still think that the suspensions will affect Meath's season but once again no one will enjoy a day out against them.

Danger, danger Meath's about

Laughed at comments by Paul Bealin, the former Dublin player, now involved with Carlow when he said that Meath were "very dangerous opponents".
I thought at first Bealin was referring to the Parnell Park row between the Royals and Dublin or maybe it was the local championship game which led to six players being sent off.
Wondered had he been showing his players highlights of the 'action' and was on the point of offering him the services of our good friend and coach Darren Corbett, former European boxing champion who puts our club players through their paces.
Big Darren watched the scenes at Parnell Park and wasn't impressed and he told our players so.
He said the Royals had no jab, their body work was sloppy and their efforts to land the big one wouldn't have won a row at St Gemma's. Bring back the Lyons brothers and Martin O'Connell I say!
Now I was never much good at the noble art myself so I'll take the big man's word for it and I thought that maybe Paul Bealin was overacting.
However, realised soon enough it wasn't the 'dabbing' he was worried about at all but the Meath full forward line, or what's left of it anyway.
Yea, they're very dangerous too!

Parnell row now comes home to roost

The impact of the Dublin Meath brawl at Parnell Park finally comes home to roost this Sunday when the Royals start their campaign with five men suspended and two other players Anthony Moyles and Shane O'Rourke injured.
Colm Coyle is already talking about four debutants and while you always believe that Meath will have too much in the tank for Carlow this is no way to build on what was a great All-Ireland campaign last season.
Coyle must have fancied his side to be taking another step up on the back of that performance but the indiscipline shown against the Dubs in what was a meaningless match now casts a huge shadow over the start of the season.
I hope that Meath do get past this inauspicious start given that their full forward line last season which also included the unlucky Brian Farrell brought a hint of past glories back to mind with their great fielding and score taking.
Great forwards make for memorable championships, great defensive displays don't make for a good yarn round the fire at the pub, and Meath's performances last season gave us plenty to rave about.
Coyle must hope to get thorough this week's game and that his key players will be back in time to make their mark on the year.

Meath not boxing clever

You have to wonder are they putting something in the water in Meath with six players including top full back Darren Fay sent off in a club championship match at the weekend.
Now the Royals have never been known to be faint hearted but following so hot on the heels of the Parnell Park brawl with Dublin you would have thought that players would have taken a few chill pills.
Not so it seems but at least there is the consolation of heading off to Portugal this week to do a spot of training for the All Ireland.
Have to admit that I am green with envy about the week's training in the sun, our management at home thought that training us in Ardoyne on the nearby Bone Heights was as good as it gets. At the time the Bone Heights were about as exotic as the Golan Heights and almost as heavily militarised.
But then we have never been as good at boxing as any Meath team despite being trained of late by former European boxing champion Darren Corbett.
I wonder if we get in to our next opponents in the league with as much abandon as the Royals would the club foot the bill for a trip overseas?
I'd even get into the row myself!

Farrell injury another blow to Meath

Meath boss Colm Coyle must be feeling like it never rains but it pours with the news that Brian Farrell has a suspected fracture on his knee and won’t make the Royals’ opener in the Leinster championship against Carlow.
Coyle has already been hit by the suspensions sustained after the recent brawl with the Dubs and he now faces being without eight players for the Carlow game.
Farrell really produced the goods for his county last season, top scoring in the National League and forming part of a potent full forward line which took Meath to last season’s All-Ireland semis.
The big full forward was only making his way back from injury and will now struggle to get back into the county side.
It's not that I have any sympathy for Colm Coyle but I hate to see any top player being hurt at this part of the season as after all you want to see all the very best in the country at full pelt in the championship.
It’s still my feeling that both Meath and Dublin will pay dearly for the stupidity of the events at Parnell Park as their preparations will be all over the shop.

What planet is Caffrey on?

You have to wonder what planet Paul Caffrey is living on when he questions why the media made such a big deal out of the free for all on Sunday in the game against Meath.
In this day and age in front of a television audience and where there is less tolerance than ever for the thuggery displayed on Sunday Caffrey claimed that the players had been made a scapegoat of!
So is Paul Caffrey saying the problem is with the public's reaction or the actions of the players?
So how exactly have the Dublin and Meath players been hung out to dry?
Were they innocent of the offences the GAA have proffered against them, well four of the Dubs have already taken their oil, so they can't believe that they were hung out to dry.
And how can Caffrey claim there was no malice given that players all over the field got involved in the brawl.
However, my favourite comment of the Dublin manager's was that the game was all about "controlled aggression".
Yes indeed.
I didn't think that there was too much controlled about the aggression of the two sides on Sunday but I suppose if I lost eight players to such stupidity I would be feeling a bit miffed too.
Paul Caffrey would do the game a service if he just accepted, like half his players already have, that there is just no place in the game any more for this type of incident.
After all he has lost at least five players, including Alan Brogan from the week previous, with four more appealing the rap for what was simply a loss of discipline and nerve.

Decisive action good for the games

Delighted that the GAA has proposed to take very strong action against Dublin and Meath for their display of thuggery on Sunday.
The proposal to discipline 16 players, eight from each side should send out the message loud and clear once and for all that this type of nonsense will no longer be tolerated.
The decision will of course be very disruptive to Dublin and Meath in their preparations for the Leinster championship and both sides could come to rue Sunday as a very bad day's work.
However, this type of 'free for all' has been an absolute blight on the game for a long time now but in an era where video evidence plays its part, players should know that this particular malaise has had its day and that they must leave it to the referees to deal with foul play.
With punishments being handed out to so many players no one in the country can pretend later this season that they didn't realise that the association would crack down on them so hard if they step over the line.
The real winner is football as this decisive action on foul play will allow our best footballers to perform to the best of their ability.
That can only be good for the game.

Dublin board accept the rap so far

I am fascinated so far this season with the no nonsense approach the Dublin County Board has taken to matters of discipline.
They barred Kevin's from all competition until they gave up a 'supporter' who attacked a referee and their handling of the headbutting of Tommy Freeman was exemplary.
Now they have apologised for the brawl which occurred on Sunday at the game between the county and Meath and have indicated they won't appeal the €20,000 fine.
Reports that the GAA intends to discipline sixteen players in total who were involved in the incident will however, be their greatest test to date.
If eight players from each side are hammered it could have a big bearing on Dublin's All-Ireland challenge and it may be too hard to resist the temptation not to appeal the players' punishments.
In recent years several county boards have driven a coach and horses through the rules and several times punishments which were well deserved were overturned on technicalities or loopholes.
The GAA has attempted to close the loopholes but the example must come from the county boards.
If the Dublin Board resist the urge to appeal given that Sunday's incident was a total disgrace I will tip my hat to them.

Brawl was sheer hooliganism

The row in the Meath Dublin match was an absolute disgrace and I hope that the association doesn't baulk at hammering those involved because they are from Leinster's two top teams and are a huge box office draw.
Parnell Park had a sell-out crowd for the game, a sign that once again the Dublin Meath rivalry has become the big game in Leinster once more after a brief interlude where Westmeath and Laois made the running.
But for 29 players to get involved in a brawl in this day and age is totally unacceptable.
This was reminiscent of the 1996 replay of the All-Ireland final when Meath and Mayo battled it out at the start of the game leading to the current Meath manager Colm Coyle being sent off along with Mayo's then top player Liam McHale.
I hate this sort of nonsense in our game, Dublin and Tyrone did something similar two seasons ago although that looked like handbags at forty paces compared to this.
I hope the GAA examines the video evidence, from what I saw Ciaran Whelan for one was lucky to stay on the pitch long enough after the brawl to earn himself a red card, and that every player who lifted their hands gets hammered.
I doubt they will because of the two sides involved, but I would like to see county boards getting massive fines, or have to play behind closed doors for a number of games when something like this happens.
I would also love to see the first person who lands into a brawl and plays any part in extending it out beyond the original pair involved to be banned for the season. It might make players think twice.
The beauty at least about this incident is that it is on tape and there should be no hiding place.
Don't know what's happening to Ciaran Whelan, he has increasingly become involved in nonsense as his physical powers and impact on a game diminishes.
And as for Bernard Brogan, what are they feeding him and his brother? It's a big chink in any player's armour if the opposition knows that it is easy to make you bite.
As for the spectator who threw the cup of tea at Ciaran Whelan, I hope he is identified and banned from GAA activity for about five years to life. No player should be at risk from anyone at a game.
I know that there are some who will argue that worse brawls than this have happened in the GAA in the past.
I have been at some of them myself, but times have changed and more and more games are televised.
We have a responsibility to bring our young people up to play football and tell them that the so-called hard man or woman is the one who comes out of the fifty fifty with the ball.
Other codes are ruthless about this type of behaviour and have by and large stamped it out because the penalties are stern and players know they have to act in a disciplined fashion.
The GAA needs to get tough with it too and it should make clear that the hooliganism we saw today is brought to an end once and for all.

League game may signal change in Leinster

Tomorrow's game between Dublin and Meath could be much more important than just a routine National League game, leaving aside the fact that both sides still have the opportunity to contest the Divisional final.
After all who cares about who wins Division 2 of the league, most of us have trouble remembering even the winners of the National League by the time the championship comes around.
However, I think this game could be the signal of a change in the fortunes of Leinster's big two.
The Dubs have dominated the province for the last three seasons without ever looking like potential All-Ireland champions, unless you live in the city where the media always get carried away by any championship run by the Blues.
Meath on the other hand slipped right off the radar after winning four All-Irelands between 1987 and 1999, clocking up eight Leinsters between 1986 and 2001.
The Royals never really recovered after being absolutely blown away in the All-Ireland final of 2001 by Galway when they were hot favourites after humiliating Kerry.
It must have been tough in Meath watching minnows like Westmeath and Laois enjoying provincial success before the Dubs resumed business as usual.
However, Meath's star is once again on the rise, and their full forward line last season of Shane O'Rourke,Stephen Bray and Brian Farrell promised much with the veteran Graham Geraghty still full of pace, intelligent running and passing.
I think the Dubs are slightly on the slide, they may need another manager other than Paul Caffrey who has been honest and hard working to take them to another level, and if Meath can even edge them tomorrow we could be in for another change in the Leinster pecking order.
And one thing a Meath side would take into the All-Ireland series is the physicality Leinster sides have lacked in recent seasons.