O'Rourke has plenty of learnings from humbling Owenbeg experience ahead of Louth visit this Sunday

If you're not learning then you're losing and Meath manager Colm O'Rourke will have plenty to pick over from Saturday's disappointing performance when going down to Derry in their one-sided NFL Div 2 clash in Owenbeg.

O'Rourke stressed time and again after Saturday's loss that there is plenty to be learned from the performance and while he refused to push the panic button he is hoping for a vastly improved display against Louth next Sunday.

"There were so many lessons to be learned. From start to finish we were poor in a lot of areas. Our ability to break down their mass defence was not good, our tackling of the forward line and tracking of their players wasn't good," O'Rourke said after Saturday's defeat.

"A lot of that is down to inexperience, of players not playing at this level. There is a lot to be learned.

"The lads themselves are their own harshest critics so we will have a good look at it on Tuesday night, there's no point in getting overly critical of them.

"Defensively we were a bit more disciplined, but the downside of that is that we gave away a bit more scores, maybe some of the fouls in previous games had avoided major scores, particularly goals.

"By half-time the game was over and that goal before half-time really killed the game off.

"Maybe Derry just played around with us for the second-half. It just shows that we have a long, long way to go.

"There will be a big crowd (in Navan next Sunday for the round four game against Louth) and there should be a great atmosphere. We will be ready for them. We will take what we can from tonight.

"There was a lot of lads who really tried hard tonight. A lot of things didn't go right for a lot of lads, even though they tried very hard.

"It wasn't all bad tonight. In the second-half we put up better resistance and it could be said that maybe Derry had eased off, but we'll take some positives.

"Louth are very similar to Derry in the way that they defend. Derry are at it longer and are more organised, but it will be very similar and hopefully we won't fall into the same traps," warned the Meath manager.

As for Saturday's game O'Rourke was clearly more frustrated with the performance than the result.

In their opening two games of the league, Meath had looked a significant goal threat, but apart from Thomas O'Reilly's 51st minute goal they rarely looked like troubling Odhran Lynch in the Derry goals.

O'Rourke was also left to lament the concession of the early goal which threw an instant spanner into his side's works and he admitted that Derry just toyed with his side as the goal just before half-time effectively ended the game as a contest.

"It was a disappointing outcome and a disappointing performance. If we had had a good performance and were beaten we could have went down the road a little bit easier, but it has been a harsh lesson for us in what top flight football is about. We have to take a lot of lessons from this," said the manager.

"We always said from the start that even though it was great to get two games and two wins, we knew there was going to be bumps in the road and there were going to be learnings, but I'm confident that even though we got a major setback tonight the lads will learn from it.

"They are very committed and very willing to learn so I think that they will bounce back and I'd be very disappointed if we don't have a positive performance against Louth.

"The game was over by half-time. Even though we put in a much more spirited second-half, in reality the game was over and Derry could contain us and play at their leisure which they did for the whole second-half.

"That is what football against a top four team is about and tonight showed we are still a long way off that, but we have to learn, that is where we want to go so we will have to get on with it and start again from Tuesday night."

After managing just eight points against Clare Meath returned just seven white flags against Derry and O'Rourke agreed that the return of just three first-half points left his side on the back foot.

"It was (a disappointing return) and we didn't look like getting too much more either. We seemed to be lacking a bit of energy. I don't know what was wrong, the boys seemed to be fazed by it a little bit," admitted O'Rourke.

"That is all part of the learning process. I know all about bad performances during my early days with Meath, so I won't be too hard on them because I think they will recover."

Learnings continued to be the key word as O'Rourke admitted that Derry were a tough side to break down and he also urged the Meath fans to be patient, reminding them that Rome wasn't built in a day.

"They did (get men back behind the ball quickly) and it showed that we weren't able to break them down, even though we put a lot of work into that during the week.

"We knew exactly what to expect, but we didn't seem to be able to get men in front of the ball and we didn't seem to be able to get runners coming at pace like Derry did.

"You are not going to build a team in a couple of months, this is a long process, but we will be better for the next couple of games, we will learn a lot from tonight.

"Derry were in the All-Ireland semi-final and could easily have been in the final. They are the Ulster champions, which is the most difficult province to win. Maybe tonight might be a more accurate reflection of exactly where we are at the moment.

"We have still a long, long way to go, but when you have players who are committed and as interested in improving themselves as we have then we can make progress. It may not come all of a sudden, we may have to be patient with them, but it will come," said an optimistic O'Rourke.

Looking ahead to the Louth game O'Rourke hopes to make Shane Walsh and Matt Costello back in contention, but refused to use their absence as a reason for Saturday's disappointing performance.

"We are short a few, but again it was an opportunity for lads on the panel to come in, so we won't put that forward as an excuse," he said.

"It would be nice if we could have all the other players available for next week.

"We will look at them (Walsh and Costello) on Tuesday night. They haven't take part in a full training session with the team since their injury, so we weren't going to risk them on that basis for today.

"We hope that they might take part fully in training on Tuesday night. They had a session today, they'll have another session tomorrow (Sunday) and we'll see how they are, but if they're not right we won't be taking any chances," concluded O'Rourke.