McEntee's focus on getting the preparations right

This was a gathering of the players and management (often in Bellinter House) after training in nearby Dalgan Park.  

It was a forum for players to say what they felt needed to be said; to unload pent up frustrations and get it out there instead of muttering to their friends behind the scenes.

The infamous ‘meeting’ developed something of a fearsome reputation over the years as a place where there was nowhere to hide.

Neither was it a place for the faint-hearted. Views were exchanged with uninhibited abandon. Andy’s brother, Allstar and current selector Gerry McEntee, was part of the same set up.

Now as Meath manager, McEntee has built in something similar into his team’s preparations; a kind of a meeting of minds, a soul-bearing exercise when players - and management - are not immune to the slings and arrows of forthright criticism.

McEntee knew the cathartic effect such meetings had. They could get heated too, and personal, but ultimately it was all for the good of the cause. He could see the benefit of them then. Still can.

“It’s very important that we are honest with each other, that we own up to our failings and that includes the management,” he said.

“There are occasions when we’ve had to look at ourselves and ask: Look did we approach the game in the right manner or did we allow the players to approach it in the right manner?

“Everyone has to be accountable for their actions and I think we’re getting there. I think, by and large, we’re getting there.”

McEntee was speaking at the Meath media day held at Dowth Hall last week as part of the countdown to the Leinster SFC quarter-final against Louth.
The choice of location was, of course, not an accident.

Dowth Hall was purchased by the chairman of Meath GAA sponsors Devenish Nutrition, Owen Brennan and his wife Alice Stanton in 2013 and they have kick-started the process of restoring the 18th century house to its former glory.
McEntee felt that the house and surrounding 400-acre plus estate was ideal for the event.

It was an iconic building, a symbol of former glory days in the heart of the Boyne Valley that was going to be restored to its former glory.

It symbolised, perhaps, what he is endeavouring to do with the Meath team.  
As he stood in a room that wouldn’t be out of place in a Downton Abbey film set, surrounded by a small group of quote-hungry journalists, McEntee spoke of something he has become familiar with coaching teams like Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Meath minors and the All-Ireland winning Ballyboden St Enda’s - leadership - and how it relates to the current Meath squad.

“That’s an interesting subject. Gerry spoke to the lads at the end of 2016 and said that when he was involved with Meath first there wasn’t too many leaders.
“Meath were losing in the first round of the championship to Wexford and Longford and, he said, there were no leaders then.

“He talked about going down to play Mayo in a league match where Meath scored only two or three points the whole game.

“He said leaders emerge as the players start to work harder, I’m finding the exact same thing. We’ve got enough leaders, I’ve no issues with that.
“Fellows need to take responsibility for their preparations and for their performances on the day and they need to be accountable to each other and we’re getting there, lads have been pretty honest with each other so far.”
Creating the “right” environment for the players to prosper in is a task McEntee has clearly set out for himself.

To help achieve that, he was determined to bring strength and conditioning expert John Coghlan on board as part of his backroom team.

Coghlan was in China where he worked with Su Bingtain - the first Asian athlete to run 100m in less than 10 seconds - but the offer to work as Meath Co Board’s full-time ‘Head of Athletic Development’ proved attractive enough for him to take up the challenge.

Having people like that on board  is, McEntee believes, vital if Meath are to compete “with the Dublins, Kerrys and Mayos of this world.”

The Meath chief agrees that performing at an elite level can take its “toll” on every aspect of the players’ lives from their jobs to personal relationships.
He clearly found very distasteful Benard Flynn’s recent criticism of Mayo star Aidan O’Shea for taking “photographs and selfies” with kids. 

It was an example, McEntee clearly indicated, of a pundit unfairly shining a light on a player - and an amateur player at that.  “People feel you are public property and that they’re entitled to comment on you. You’re trying to strike the right balance, you’re trying to make sure fellows are in a good space outside football, it does take its toll.”

McEntee is happy his team has put in a “huge shift” ahead of the Louth game; that they are focused on the job in hand.  

He also knows that as soon as the players cross the sideline and step into the arena there’s not a whole lot more he can do apart from making a few tweaks here and there.

Then it’s up to his charges; the men he has trusted and selected to do the job.
He believes they are ready for the big task of taking on the Wee County.