Avoiding drop is new aim
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Wednesday March 17 2010
FOLLOWING this latest horror show manager Eamonn O'Brien was realistic enough to admit that avoiding relegation rather than promotion was now the goal for his Meath under-achievers.
'I think it's a situation now where we see how other results go but it's survival we have to concentrate on now, more than promotion,' a shocked O'Brien said after Sunday's match.
'It was very disappointing and I have to say that Tipperary deserved to win the game but we created chances in the opening 10 to 15 minutes and should probably have been 1-3 ahead at that stage.
'At this level of football if you do not take your chances you are going to suffer and when the opposition get a period of dominance you do not have the cushion that you should have.'
O'Brien also lamented the lack of spirit in his side's display and pointed out that the penalty decision by referee Tom Lynch had a big influence on the outcome.
'I thought around the middle third of the field we didn't work hard enough or put pressure on them. I didn't see the penalty – I don't know what it was for but it did look a bit innocuous and did change the course of the game.
' The referee signalled a free out, whether he signalled wrong I don't know, but you would still be concerned whether that penalty came or not. I know there were other things, when we were coming back at them our handling and our passing let us down.
'You don't know whether we exceeded expectations last year, that might be a reality but you would expect us to beat Tipperary. In fairness, though, Tipperary played quite well and when they were in possession of the ball it was hard to get it back off them.'
He also admitted that his team have defensive problems but said that if you only concede 1-9 you should be capable of winning matches.
'It was not a huge score and I don't think they really threatened at any stage to create a goal chance so it's problems in other areas that we need to look at as well and that's in terms of converting possession.
'We had a lot of possession in the first half and didn't convert what I would call a reasonable amount of those chances.'
