Coaches departure still the focus following facile victory

This wasn't your regular run of the mill Leinster SFC opener against an opponent Meath have never lost too in championship football.

A routine, run-of-the-mill victory was expected, and delivered, by the hosts in Pairc Tailteann, but that wasn't what the big titles in the national media came to bear witness.

They had questions they wanted answered. RTE, Irish Times, Irish independent, Irish Examiner were all in place, wondering, like the rest of us, just why highly regarded coaches Joe McMahon and Martin Corey choose to walk away from their positions with the Meath senior footballers just five days after the end of the NFL Div 2 campaign and nine days before the start of the provincial journey.

Rumours were rife in the days that preceded Sunday's clash with Carlow. To hell with rumours, clarity would emerge from the double body blow endured by the Royals - or so we thought.

The likelihood of getting a straight answer was obvious from the moment manager Robbie Brennan walked into the room with Co Board chairman Jason Plunkett in tow.

That was unusual in that in all my years covering Meath GAA (28 in total now), never has a Co Board chairman sat beside a Meath manager for a press conference following a championship match.

The usual softball questions opened proceedings. "How do you feel after that?" etc etc. Then LMFM broached the subject about the two coaches leaving their role so surprisingly and suddenly.

It was put to the Meath manager that it must have been one of his toughest weeks in sport and then he was asked for his reaction to the coaches leaving and was there any particular reason for their departures.

"Glen, the 16-17 players thing wasn’t a pretty place for a few weeks there after the club All-Ireland," recalled Brennan.

"There has been brilliant support around the place, the focus hasn’t changed, it has really been on Carlow and I’m just delighted the lads were able to put in that performance today.

“Very disappointing obviously to lose the two lads. Two brilliant guys. Two brilliant coaches and had a huge amount of work done with us. Thankfully we saw some of that today, the fruition of that work.

“Disappointing, but the onus was on us to make sure we were focused on Carlow. That’s been our target all year from a Leinster Championship point of view and that didn’t change.

“Credit to the players and the group to be able to keep that focus and again, we’ve had that mantra all year, it’s next game up, next game up, and that’ll be the same - no difference here for Offaly coming down.”

Did something seismic happen?

“No, not really. The overriding feeling is just disappointment that they are gone unfortunately, but from a players and management group perspective the onus is on us to make sure we keep driving it forward. We’ve done that well this week and it will be the same for next week."

Will you look to replace the coaches?

“We are happy enough with what we have at the moment, but that’s still open to discussion. It hasn’t really come up to be honest with you, because all the focus was on this game, to be honest with you.

“We’ll look at that as we go, but there wouldn’t be any major panic on it at the moment, no.”

When pressed again for a reason as to why the two coaches left, chairman Plunkett interrupted.

"As far as Meath Co Board and Robbie, we’ve dealt with the issue in the first instance. So I think we put this to bed now, Robbie has answered so we are not making any further statements on this.

"Robbie has clarified, they left, we have accepted they have gone and I think we just draw a line under it and put it to bed now.

"We were focusing on Carlow today and we’ll focus on Offaly the next day. We just want to move on as a county. Robbie has answered and I think he has answered well, and I think now we just move on," concluded Plunkett.

And move on we did, the reasons for the coaches departures clear as mud.

As to the game itself Brennan was pleased with the attacking aspect of the performance, but admitted there is work to be done defensively.

"We have a lot of work done on the attack and it was pleasing to see some of that come to fruition.

“Defensively, at the same time, the second half we wouldn’t be happy with what we conceded there. A lot to tidy up ahead of next week.

"It was (a poor second-half) and some of those (Carlow) goal chances were from our mistakes really, we obviously turned the ball over too many times.

"It was sloppy, really. If you give the likes of Offaly those opportunities they would cut you open with the type of players they have so a hell of a lot for us to work on."

The reward for Sunday's win over Carlow is a quarter-final clash against the NFL Div 3 champions Offaly in Pairc Tailteann next Sunday and Brennan is of the opinion that Meath will go into that game as underdogs.

“Huge turnaround. It’s not easy. We’ve had this through the League already. It’s probably nothing different in relation to our prep and that, but we’ve seen a lot of Offaly obviously on tape. I was in Croke Park last weekend to watch them," said the manager.

“I have to say they are playing a beautiful style of football. It’s electrifying. They are buzzing around the place and obviously they're on a bit of a high down there as a county.

“I think they are doing phenomenal work on both sides, on both codes. I would imagine we are the underdogs going into this one and that’s fine.

"They obviously beat us the last time we were down in Tullamore, so that’s pressure is on us to see if we can close the gap. It’s one we are looking forward to taking on.

"There is no Kerry cute hoorism going on there. If you were in Croke Park last week you can feel that momentum behind a team, and with Dec (Kelly) and Mickey (Harte) there, there is a real buzz about them.

"They remind me of the Offaly team under Tommy Lyons that came and beat Meath unfortunately that day.

"There is a real energy about them, all footballers, huge width, well structured, well coached.

"We are a different type of team and you could see it against Kildare, who were probably big and strong against them but Offaly were still able to cause them huge problems.

"Bottom line is they are Div 3 champions, so from where we’re at that’s where I’d see it."

The only real negative from Sunday's win over Carlow was a knee injury picked up by Jack Kinlough.

Brennan said he'll have to wait on a full report on the injury, but it is another blow with Jordan Morris also sidelined. however, the manager is hoping to have a few players back in the coming weeks.

“Yeah, it’s definitely the knee (Jack Kinlough's injury). We are not 100% sure. Obviously it’s so disappointing for Jack because he started really well.

“He was mad keen to come back on. It doesn’t look great, but we’ll see what the scan shows up. Obviously he’ll go off and we might get some better news, but he’s certainly very sore there.”

“Yeah, it’s not bad (the injury list), obviously Jordie being the big one.

We’ll see now with Jack, what comes back from that, but hopefully Sean Coffey, James Conlon, Ronan (Jones) is not a million miles away either I’d say, looking at it.

“Hopefully get a couple back over the next couple of weeks too."Eoin (Harkin) looks like he got his ankle trapped under him a little bit but I think he’s happy it might just be a ligament he has done before so he’s not too concerned.

"Mick (Murphy) just went on and I think the first burst of a run he did, he just felt the hamstring a tiny bit.

"We don’t know (if Jordan Morris's season is over), we are all saying a prayer it’s not but he’s still limping very badly and obviously time is against us in that regard.

"With a knee injury, you just have to be so careful even if there was a chance of him coming back but its way down the track, it certainly wouldn’t be within a Leinster campaign," concluded the manager.