Despite a good start to the year, Meath suffered the latest setback in their 2023 campaign after the lost to Offaly in their Leinster quarter-final earlier today. Having entered the fixture as favourites, they would ultimately come up short on a scoreline of 1-11 to 0-10 in Tullamore.
Not only did that result end their provincial hopes, but it also ensured that Colm O'Rourke's side would not be competing for the Sam Maguire later this summer. As a result of their finishing league position and loss this afternoon, it has now been confirmed that Meath will be playing in the Tailteann Cup this season.
That is quite the blow for a county who entered the year with hopes of making real progress under a new management team. Instead, they will be playing in the second-tier championship for the first time.
Sunday Game pundits make Colm O'Rourke comments
There were signs earlier in the year that Colm O'Rourke was bringing some real positive changes to this Meath team. They were playing good football and picked up some promising results to start of the league.
However, they have since regressed and look like a fairly poor outfit.
O'Rourke long coveted this position, leaving his long-time post as a pundit on RTÉ this year as he stepped into the job. Speaking on The Sunday Game this afternoon, pundits Lee Keegan and Sean Cavanagh threw a couple of playful digs at the 65-year old on the back of the Offaly result. They also summed up the challenges he faces in turning this team around.
'They've been teetering and they got what they deserved' - the panel reflect on the confirmation that Meath will be contesting this year's Tailteann Cup after defeat to Offaly #SundayGame #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/y2T72jlutB
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) April 23, 2023
Keegan: Poor Colm might want the role back on RTÉ!
The way they started Division 2 we were tipping them very highly, but things have gone down the slide pretty quickly.
Today has kind of summed up their season really. That's no disrespect to Offaly, but Meath were tipped as the favourite today to win. Fair play to Offaly they will go into a semi-final now and look forward to it, but for Meath it's definitely a decline and it's something they are going to have to look at for the future.
Cavanagh: You get what you deserve, they haven't been good enough for the last number of years. We're not standing here and saying that Meath have fallen off a cliff in the last couple of years.
They were probably lucky enough to stay outside the relegation places (in Division 2), Clare were a bit unlucky in a couple of games and picked up a few injuries. Meath kind of ambushed Cork in the first game, but they really should have been relegated which would have knocked them out anyway.
They've been teetering, but they've now gotten what they deserved.
Keegan: They haven't really gotten the bounce of a new manager that group. They started wellish but then they had a couple of injuries. It's unfortunate because Colm was really excited about that role, he has a lot of work to do with that group to get them back to where they want to be.
Cavanagh: He stood with myself and Joanne last summer and said he wasn't taking the role under any circumstances, I'm not sure how excited he was!
Meath will be one of the stronger teams in the Tailteann Cup this summer, although their form in recent weeks would suggest that they will find it difficult to make a deep run in the tournament.
Colm O'Rourke has plenty of work to do over the next few weeks.
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