Meath's Billy Hogan, Donal Keogan and Brian O'Halloran thwart the Westmeath attack during Sunday's NFL Div 2 clash at Mullingar. Photo: Gerry Shanahan-www.cyberimages.net
NFL DIV 2 REACTION Plenty for Robbie Brennan to mull over following lucky escape
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Meath's Billy Hogan, Donal Keogan and Brian O'Halloran thwart the Westmeath attack during Sunday's NFL Div 2 clash at Mullingar. Photo: Gerry Shanahan-www.cyberimages.net Gerry Shanahan
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Jordan Morris had his first-half penalty saved by Westmeath goalkeeper Conor McCormack. Gerry Shanahan
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Meath's Conor Duke turns to celebrate with Aaron Lynch after the late winning goal at Mullingar. Gerry Shanahan
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Conor Duke fires the stunning late goal that gave Meath victory over Westmeath on Sunday. Gerry Shanahan
Published: Fri 7 Mar 2025, 10:45 AM
There was so much for Meath manager Robbie Brennan to contemplate following Sunday's NFL div 2 win over Westmeath.
The dramatic circumstances of his side's late, late win. The frustration with the new rules. The performance of the referee Barry Judge and sub-par display from his own side were all to the fore of the manager's mind.
“I’ll do the old Premier League thing and say nothing because if I do I’ll probably get in trouble. Having said that it is extremely difficult for referees, so all my sympathy is with them in things like that," said Brennan in the belly of the Cusack Park stand.
“I don’t know (if the hooter went before the goal or not), I was giving out to the linesman, like I was for most of the half, I didn’t actually see it.
"When Duke rattled the net I was gone off like Jose Mourinho down the touch line like a madman.
"We didn’t know before the game whether the hooter was in, then the clock was in then it wasn’t, it's all a bit of a mess that thing at the moment.
“My own honest opinion here, not my Meath manager’s hat, is that they have lost the run on what they are trying to do, the whole idea was to protect the game but they are not doing that.
"That is not Gaelic football, you turn on your phone and its 1 -0 to someone. It’s a joke to be honest the way it has gone. It’s a mixture of outdoor basketball with a breeze, soccer style defending with 11 behind the ball and zonal stuff and a bit of rugby thrown in for a few scrums around the middle.
“I don’t like it, it is not Gaelic football but the rules are what they are and we’ll see what they come up with Monday or Tuesday (when the rules are due to be reviewed) and whatever it is we’ll coach to it.
“God forbid if three forwards happen to stay up and the 'keeper was able to go short or long we might have Gaelic football back again instead of a mix of basketball, soccer and rugby I don’t think they will be changing a whole pile.
“I think there are emails floating around (looking for manager's opinions), fill in this form and that form, but I think it will be a bit like voting. The decision will be made no matter what."
As regards Meath's performance there was a sense that the manager felt Meath got out of jail in Mullingar.
He admitted that the performance wasn't up to scratch and that significant improvement will be needed ahead of the visit of Monaghan to Navan on 16th March.
“I think the lads are realistic that we didn’t play well and that last score is papering over a lot of the cracks," admitted the manager.
"We will have a look at the tape, Monaghan had a big win today and along with Roscommon they are perceived the two best teams in the division, and they are coming to Navan in two weeks so we will have to be ready for them.
“The heart rate hasn’t come down yet. At this moment we are extremely disappointed with how we played, that is the reality of it.
"It was a concern coming down here because it was the third game of a three week block, and how good or how bad Westmeath were we knew they were a really good side and we were going to be under pressure and that is how the game turned out.
“The breeze wasn’t as strong as maybe everyone thought so there were probably scoring opportunities there in that second half.
"We were so flat in the first half even if there was a hurricane out there we weren’t going to put up a big score, we just didn’t play well enough to do that.
“I’ll go back to some of the decisions, we were pinged out around the middle for some things that seemed strange to me and that allowed Ray Connellan to smash all the free ball that he wanted, but I’ll have to look it back again on the tape but saying that we probably weren’t at our best and we were behind in breaking ball as well.
“I have my supporter’s hat on me, that is what Meath teams do (never give up), that is how we normally go after these things.
"We are never beaten and never buried no matter how bad or good we were playing and for those who were old enough to be there in 1991 would remember those things. That is massively encouraging to be able to dig that out.
“If you do mention it (being the pre-match favourites) it's complacent, if you don’t mention it it's complacent, it’s a tricky place to be.
"I don’t know how we were overwhelming favourites, Westmeath could have come into that game on six points with the way they played in some games and could have won that one as well today.
"The table probably isn’t a true reflection and overall we're disappointed with the performance and it's difficult to know if we dealt with the pressure of favourism."
One player who certainly didn't disappoint was man-of-the-match Conor Duke and Brennan singled him out as being a special player with a remarkable laid-back approach that clearly makes him calm and composed in high pressure situations.
“ A gas kid! He just comes and does his thing, trains and goes home and comes and does his thing and did that again today. Richie Kealy of Dunshaughlin thinks there is a touch of Evan Kelly about him which is high praise. He has a good right foot as well and has a great attitude and I’m delighted for him. A real addition to us."
Duke form is a huge positive for Brennan who gave an update on the mounting injury list for his side.
“Sean Coffey had to get an operation on his arm so he is going to be gone now which we weren’t expecting.
"Ronan Jones has a bad hamstring so he will be out for a while. Mathew is still trying to work his way back and it's one of those the closer he gets do you push it or do you try and mind him.
"Obviously to get safe in the league was the main aim and I’m pretty sure we have achieved that now. So the decision now is whether to play him or not or keep him for championship," concluded the manager. A nice position to be in.
Published: Fri 7 Mar 2025, 10:45 AM