Meath's forward unit a match for the very best

IT JUST goes to show if you play to your strengths, you can be more than a match for anyone.

Meath returned to a traditional style of football – constant movement from all players and the long, direct ball into a forward unit that, on this display, can be considered among the very top in the country – to add their name to the shortlist of serious contenders for the Sam Maguire.

Sure, Meath have yet to win anything. But, as those important steps in any team’s development are concerned, this Leinster semi-final win and the manner of it signified a big forward move for them. Meath’s forwards handed out a lesson to a novice Dublin defence who were guilty of some very poor and naïve defending. Meath’s attacking unit, though, showed composure, know-how and capped that off with clinical finishing that made for great entertainment.

The number one rule for any defender on any team is don’t expose your goalkeeper. You hold your ground! There were numerous times when Dublin’s defence didn’t hold true to this golden rule and there were even occasions when two or three of them were sucked into going for the same high ball.

These actions showed they were uncomfortable with each other as a unit and it was a very harsh lesson for them because Meath punished them each and every time.

I was hugely impressed with the Meath forwards. Stephen Bray, who had gone through a lean spell this past couple of years and was under pressure to deliver, proved that old theory that “form is temporary, but class is permanent”.

But it wasn’t a one-man show; far from it, in fact. Every one of the forwards played their part. Shane O’Rourke is a quality player, as is Joe Sheridan. Cian Ward brings more to the game than his free-taking and the two wing forwards – Séamus Kenny and Graham Reilly – proved the importance of helping back in defence as well as being attack-minded.

Kenny was outstanding, he did a great defensive job as a wing-forward. A player like Kenny can so often be the unsung hero, but the amount of work and drive he contributes feeds through a team and it is players like him that you’d want in your team, ones who put their head on the line.

The biggest positive Meath will take from this win doesn’t concern the clinical finishing of their forwards. Everyone knew how much class they had in that department.

Meath will take tremendous confidence from the display of their defence. The two corner backs, especially, were excellent.

Chris O’Connor and Eoin Harrington do the nitty-gritty extremely well, putting a hand in to win the ball or blocking or simply stopping the opposition from getting a clear-cut chance.

Where do Dublin go from here? I honestly don’t know. There’s too much of an over-reliance on the Brogans, Alan and Bernard, to come up with the scores and it is all too predictable and too slow. The Meath defenders did very good marking jobs – and this was emphasised by the little impact made by Conal Keaney, who you would normally expect to feed off the Brogans and come in with a few points from play.

I’d worry for Dublin. I think it’s a long way back for them and maybe taking the scenic route through the back door is what they need. But only if they can get a couple of easier matches to enable them to build up some confidence because Pat Gilroy is going to have a hard task lifting them after this one.

He has a lot of work to do, that’s for sure.

The only positive Dublin can take from the match is the amount of possession they got. It’s no good having possession, however, if you don’t know what to do with it and Dublin were seriously lacking in ideas up front.

The only area of concern I’d have for Meath down the line is around centrefield, where they are workmanlike and they don’t seem to have a natural leader. Maybe Nigel Crawford can fill that role.

Louth deserved their win over Westmeath, even if they wobbled a bit towards the end. They’d difficulty getting over the line, maybe because the prize for them – a Leinster final – was so big to comprehend. It must have been a very long five minutes for their manager Peter Fitzpatrick, who is one of the most passionate managers in the business.

I’m delighted for Louth, though. I think players such as Brian White, Paddy Keenan and Shane Lennon deserve to grace a provincial final and going in as underdogs against Meath will probably suit them.

They’re not laden with quality right through the team, but I admire their ‘all for one, one for all’ work ethic. It’s obvious they’re very committed and this terrific ethic will certainly stand to them.

Sligo should have beaten Galway. They lacked a little self-belief just when they needed it the most. Perhaps beating the big two in the west, Mayo and Galway, in the same year felt like a bridge too far. But Sligo were the better team and did everything bar win. That fact will dawn on them for the replay and having home advantage should be a help.

In David Kelly, Sligo have a real gem of a forward. He’s a wonderful footballer and he would give any defence a tough time. Still, in fairness to Galway, they kept going to the end and although they had to live on scraps and on hope for much of the match, Pádraic Joyce’s clever pass to Eoin Concannon for the critical late goal proved the importance of that.