‘It’s a very difficult thing to do to bridge that gap’

Sometimes an expression can speak a thousand words.

As Seoirse Bulfin made his way into the press room at Pairc Tailteann on Sunday after the NHL Div 2A game he buffed out his cheeks. It was the expression of a man who had just endured a torrid, unsettling, profoundly uneasy afternoon.

Sunday's game, at least for Meath, was disturbingly one-sided. For the man from Bruff, the opening half especially, must have been akin to watching a horror movie unfold before his eyes.

Bulfin is an affable, genial man. He's also a man in whom the competitive spirit, and the will to win looms large indeed. Defeat of any sort hurts, deeply, especially one by 23 points. Ok Laois were always going to win Sunday's game, that was a given, but Bulfin would, no doubt, have hoped to keep the margin to say 10 points. That would have been something, an indication that he - and his selectors' - reconstruction of the team was going in the right direction. Moving along.

Now this week they must sift through the wreckage of a mother and fathering of a beating and move on from there. After all they have a game to prepare for - a clash with Down away this weekend - but if you were looking for an assignment to get back on track a trip up to Ballycran would be well down the list.

Looking beyond the league programme Sunday's defeat gave an indication of the kind of testing, unforgiving environment Meath will find themselves in this summer when they play in the McDonagh Cup; a 'reward' for taking home the Ring Cup in 2023. Sunday's setback underlined that a major gap exists. At least Bulfin and Meath are not alone. Other teams in other contexts face a similar gulf.

Yet somehow Bulfin and his assistants must find a way to bridge that gap if his team is to have any chance when the championship season comes around.

"It's the same old conundrum. If you take Carlow and Laois when they go up to the Liam MacCarthy it's similar, the likes of Antrim and Westmeath have shipped some heavy defeats and I see Offaly today suffered a huge defeat to Cork.

"It's a very difficult to bridge that gap. The tricky thing for Meath who moved up is to learn very, very quickly or you'll find yourself back down again. Now there's a safety net issue this year, there isn't any relegation in the league, but the Joe McDonagh is even more difficult in that you have Westmeath, Laois, Offaly along with Kerry and Down. It's a very steep learning curve you've got to find your feet very quickly.

"I don't know what you can do about it but that's the situation at the moment, you just have to get on with it, you have to try and win your few matches and learn. You stay at this level and learn and bring it to a new level the next day."

In looking for some kind of winning formula, Bulfin and his selectors are trying out new things all the time. On Sunday James Toher was played as a roving forward, given the brief to go deep in search of ball. It didn't work. He's a classic centre-back, someone who can spray the ball around with visionary accuracy and who is happiest when the ball is heading towards him. Not when he has to forage for possession.

Meath also relied a great deal on route-one hurling. The target was big centre-forward Jack Walsh but it didn't work either. Route one leaves players such as Nicky Potterton on the margins looking for breaking ball. He thrives when the ball is worked towards him.

Trying new things, admitted Bulfin, is all part of a learning curve, a sharp learning curve, for both himself and the players.

"It's horses for courses, you are trying to look at the opposition, you are trying to take learnings from the previous games and see where things fell down for us and where things worked for us. We went a bit more direct today at times and by-passed some of the backs in the middle third. I suppose it didn't really work at times. We changed it a bit in the second-half but I suppose there was a jump in quality today against the opposition and how clinical they were. Every time you fail to take a touch or get a ball (into your hands) you are punished at this level."

A significant blow to Meath on Sunday was an injury to James Murray. The young Trim player was having a fine game until he was stretchered off in the second-half with Bulfin, after discussions with the team's medical personnel, asserting that the player could be out "long term" because of damage to the ankle. That's the last thing his team needs right now, the further loss of a talented young player.

Despite the defeat on Sunday Bulfin says he believes in this group of players. "I have fierce faith in them" was how he put it. He feels the "the younger lads" will learn with defeats like they endured on Sunday and be better.

Whether Bulfin and his players can bridge the gap between themselves and teams like Laois in the summer is another question. If they do it will be some achievement. The gap, as Sunday's game showed, is wide right now. Bridging it may prove even beyond Bulfin's undoubted formidable capabilities and competitive spirit.