Nally accentuates the positives

With Andy McEntee serving a suspension and having a watching brief from the stand in Pairc Tailteann on Sunday it was coach Colm Nally who donned the bainisteoir bib for the NFL Div 2 clash with Down.

Nally also took the post-match media duties and admitted that confidence is low in the group, but he is sure that all the hard work that is being put in on the training grounds in Dunganny will reap dividends.

It was hard to find any positives from Sunday's disappointing draw with Down and admitted that he believed Meath were in the driving seat at half-time when trailing by just three points after playing into a gale force wind.

"Obviously confidence is a little bit low but, in fairness to the lads, they’re working very hard in training and trying to put everything right as much as possible. Hopefully that point might come into play later on and stand to us,” said the Meath coach.

“Yeah, the odds were in our favour at half-time – but the breeze, although it was very, very direct down into the scoreboard end, we were probably a bit slow in our attack play and that allowed Down set up.

"When we tried to swing the ball from left to right we were too slow in doing that, and that was allowing Down to get out and put pressure on us and we couldn’t work the ball into the shooting areas that we wanted to.

"We are a little bit disappointed in that, but hopefully we can learn from that and improve the next day.

“That’s the tactic that you try to do. You try to move the ball around, you try to stretch your opponents and get your shooters on the ball.

"We got it down to the right a couple of times but we couldn’t get it back around the middle and that’s a credit to Down and their defending. They were very much tackling to win the ball back, they were putting huge pressure on us.”

While keen to accentuate the positives Nally admitted that Meath had a couple of let offs near the end when Caolan Mooney squandered two good chances to win the game for Down.

However Nally questioned whether they were wasted opportunities or good defending?

"Well, it depends on how you look at it. Everybody just sees what they want to see, but Padraic Harnan made a fantastic tackle to stop the ball going over the bar," he suggested in reference to the Moynalvey man's excellent last-ditch challenge that denied Mooney a certain goal.

"So, I’d like to say there was some good defending in there; there’s more the game than the scoring, there’s the defending as well and some of our tackling was really, really good there today. Podge made a super interception to put pressure as the player was taking the shot.”

“They never gave up and there’s good fighting spirit amongst them, that's a real positive.

"I see them every night in training and everyone, to a man, is turning up trying to correct it. They’re not silly, these things can seep into their head and they’re a little bit worried, but they’re training very, very hard.

"Tactically they tried to play right. Sometimes the execution wasn’t proper, but that’s something we have to keep working on. Everyone to a man is a credit, they’re trying their best and that’s all you can ask for.

"We lost the toss in the first three matches, and didn’t get the chance to play with the wind in the first-half yet.

"We thought we were in a good position in the second-half. The wind was very, very strong and we got in three points behind, which is the closest we’ve been to date to any team that’s got the wind.

"We focused hard at half-time on what we needed to do and in fairness to Down they came out with a game plan in the second-half to disrupt and delay and deny.

"They’re entitled to do what they want. It’s our job to break them down and we didn’t so we’ve a lot to work on.”

But what about the apparent reluctance to take on a shot from distance or the unwillingness to be more direct on occasions, especially with the wind at their backs? Is that management policy or a lack of confidence from the players?

“No, it’s not a policy. At the end of the day, as coaches and managers, our impact on match day is minimal - probably one per cent - the players have to make the decisions, and you want to create an experience in training that they’ll make their own decisions," revealed Nally.

"For whatever reasons they chose not to shoot from those distances today. I wasn’t out on the pitch; it could have been that there was a swirl in the wind or something, but they obviously tried to work it into more advantageous positions but they didn’t get there.

"That’s something we’ll work on. We do those things every night and we try to correct the wrongs every night in training. That’s all we can do, keep at it.”

With massive games coming against Offaly, Cork and Clare Nally and the other coaches certainly have plenty to work on and not too much time to do it.

“Without doubt we have plenty to work on. We only scored three points there in the second-half, conceded nothing, so that just shows how difficult the wind was – for both teams," he said.

"The first-half was a little bit of a game of poker, everyone sussing each other out and showing each other’s hand, but we know we need to work on that area.

"A lot of their scores in the first-half, 1-5 of it came from turnovers from us, giving the ball away. So, we’ve a lot to work on – and we know that, but that’s what you have to do, you have to keep trying to correct those wrongs.”

“Even if you’re at the other end of the table, you’d still be working on things that you’re not happy with.

"You try to play a particular style of football and every night you try to better that and learn from it.

"After each match you go back training and reinforce the positives and work on the stuff you need to improve on and that’s where we go. We try to be as positive as possible.

"What’s the point in giving out and roaring and shouting at the lads? They’re as disappointed as us. They fought hard there today and never gave up.

"The conditions were tough – difficult for everybody, for both teams. We stuck at it and got away with a little bit of luck at the end, but we would have been very disappointed if we had lost,” concluded Nally.