McEntee hopes to bounce back in style

The last couple of weeks must have felt like a lifetime for Meath manager Andy McEntee.

Ever since the disappointing loss to Kildare in the NFL Div 2 promotion play-off McEntee and his men have been chomping at the bit to get back on the field and prove that the aberration of a performance in Newbridge was just that - an aberration.

After the game against Kildare McEntee insisted he wouldn't have any problems in raising the player's spirits for the start of the Leinster SFC and with Longford due to visit Navan next Sunday the manager is happy with the response of his crew.

"Training has been good and as always the attitude has been good," McEntee told the Meath Chronicle on Monday evening.

"Everybody was disappointed to lose to Kildare, we were disappointed as a management team and we have to take certain responsibility for that, and the players will have to take certain responsibility.

"Collectively everybody realises that we didn't do ourselves justice, so it hasn't been an issue trying to pick them up because they want to get back at it themselves."

So what was the reason for such an underwhelming display against Kildare in what was effectively the biggest game of the year?

Just as he was in Newbridge after the defeat, McEntee was at a loss to explain where it all went wrong and he couldn't put his finger on any one particular issue.

However he believes in his players and with Longford looming on the horizon they are fully focused on the task that lies ahead of them in Navan next Sunday.

"I'm looking at professional teams and they often throw in performances like that too. You get it every now and again and you just have to bounce back," insisted the Meath manager.

"You are going through training and everything is fine, preparations go well, but usually it is the opposition that give you the real feedback.

"No, I don't buy into that (that the Kildare game was the biggest game of the year). We knew the league was over after that game, that that was going to be the last game no matter what, so we knew it was an important game.

"However, the Leinster championship was down the road and it is on us now. I'm not thinking about what comes after Sunday because if we don't perform there won't be an after Sunday.

"So there is no point in talking about other games of what might come further down the line.

"What's the point of thinking about the next game. Regardless of whether we know who the winners will play in the semi-final or not, you have to be on your guard for every game or you just get turned over.

"We saw that last year with more fancied teams than Meath, so it is just about whoever performs best on the day and whatever happens after that, happens after that."

After a promising first year in charge of the Meath senior footballers in 2017 end with a narrow one-point loss to Donegal in the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers, McEntee saw his plans for progression go up in smoke against Longford the following year.

The Midlanders are a decent, formidable side and as McEntee can allude to, anything can happen on any given Sunday.

The Meath boss was impressed by Longford's win over Carlow and their strong finish to the league, but he believes Sunday's game is not a revenge mission and with so many new players involved for Meath he knows the history is exactly that - history.

"Longford were very impressive last Sunday and they have improved every time they have gone out this year, so we will certainly have our work cut out," warned McEntee.

"Our team has evolved further since the last time we played Longford. A lot of young players have come through onto the team. We had a lot of young fellas last year and then Fionn Reilly has progressed through this year

"There are a lot of lads involved now who weren't around for that last game against Longford and maybe that is no harm.

"That is the way it is. People mightn't realise it, but we used the second most amount of players in the league last year, so we have been able to get a lot of new players in there over the last couple of years.

"Of course we need an improved performance from when we last played them. Revenge has nothing got to do with it. We have to play the game that's in front of us and hopefully lads are ready and able to do just that," said the manager who is still waiting on fitness reports before making a call on players like Donal Keogan, Bryan Menton, Shane Walsh and Ronan Jones.

"We are still waiting on a few of our injuries to clear up. It is a mounting injury list we have unfortunately and the suspensions on top of it, so you are talking about the possibility of missing six or seven lads, so that's a fair chunk of your team," concluded McEntee.