After so much promise Meath face relegation

WHERE does Meath hurling go from here? The defeat to Kerry a few weeks ago has left the county team facing another crisis situation and there doesn"t appear to be too many positive answers to the many questions the loss to the Kingdom has thrown up. Undoubtedly it was one of the lowest points in Meath hurling for some time and it will take all John Andrews"s managerial experience to restore the morale of a team that had high hopes of travelling far in the competition this year. After reaching the semi-final last year it would have been reasonable to hope that a similar feat could be achieved this time around - at the very least. Two flat performances against Mayo and Kerry has instead left the team facing the prospects of relegation. The long road to redemption will start for Andrews and his players on Saturday when they take on Roscommon in a relegation play-off semi-final at Mullingar, 1.45. And to make matters worse for the manager he is facing an injury crisis. He says that 10 players are carrying injuries including chief freetaker Niall Hackett. Andrews must also plan with Mike Cole who was sent off against Kerry and Stephen Clynch who was also mentioned in the referee"s report following an incident that took place after the final whistle. On the basis of past encounters Meath would have to be considered strong favourites to achieve the win and avoid further involvement in a relegation dogfight. Next year Meath play in Div 3 of the NHL. They were re-graded after they finished third in Div 2 this season. These however, are turbulent times for the small-ball game in the Royal County and nothing can be taken for granted anymore, not even victory over a Roscommon side who look out of their depth at this level. The Connacht side have their own difficulties to sort out after they finished bottom of their Ring Cup group shipping big defeats against Westmeath and Wicklow. They lost 0-13 to 3-23 to Westmeath and fared little better in the second round when they were defeated, 0-12 to 3-21, by Wicklow. The Garden County went on to achieve one of the biggest shocks in this year"s competition when they defeated Westmeath to secure top spot in their group and they then lost to Mayo after extra-time. That was a result that provides further evidence that unless Meath get their house in order pretty quickly they could be left further behind in hurling"s order of merit. Meath will have to look closely at the defensive frailties that were so cruelly exposed against Kerry. The Meath backs will not thank you for mentioning Michael Conway, the skilful Kerryman who did a good impersonation of a Kilkennny hurler when he plundered 4-3 in that remarkable game in Tralee that yielded the unforgettable 7-11 to 4-13 scoreline. The Meath defence looked woefully short of pace when Kerry played quick ball to their forwards and the home side made hay. Don"t be surprised if there are some changes in Meath"s back-line. Of course Roscommon will not have anyone of Conway"s ability in front of the posts and that fact alone should help to see Meath through on this occasion. Any other result apart from a Meath victory is simply unthinkable. Meath and Roscommon last met in the Ring Cup two years ago. On that occasion Meath won by 2-21 to 2-8. A similar margin of victory must be expected this time around.