26-05-2025
Shane McEntee on Meath v Cork: ‘I thought there was a clear difference in football ability'
Former Meath captain Shane McEntee believes Cork's limited kick-out options and technical ability were the difference in their All-Ireland SFC Group 2 encounter last weekend.
Speaking on the Irish Examiner's Gaelic football podcast, McEntee was content with his county's ability to shake off their provincial final hangover and secure a four-point victory. He pointed to two issues that were costly for John Cleary's side.
'I'll go with two key things here. They started their kick-outs quite well. Cork have done this a long time. They set up pods, nothing too glamorous about it. They overload one side of the field.
'Ian Maguire for example, he'll call the kick-out on him, he will shape that, 'this is my ball, I'm going for it.' His midfield buddy or wing-forward knows that he isn't really. Maguire backs into Bryan Menton for example and someone else comes in to win it. Cork won five of their first seven kick-outs in the first half into the gale. But that was all that they had from a kick-out perspective.
'The only variation was instead of them all straight away going to the wing, they would start in the middle. One fella would go one way, the rest to the other. Meath just got to grips with it. Menton in particular.' Cork were three points down at the turnaround having played against the wind, but Cork could not do enough in the second half. They now face a huge tie against Kerry at home this weekend.
'Conditions weren't terrible to begin with, there was a wind and it was greasy, but the heavens opened in the second half. I thought there was a clear difference in football ability.
'Meath had a number of fellas when the pressure was on, you needed someone to carry ball and make something happen, Matt Costello, Ciaran Caulfield, Sean Coffey, Cathal Hickey came on and made a difference, Jordy Morris was dangerous, Meath had a load of ball carriers and ball players. They could handle the ball in pressure situations.
'Cork did not seem to have the same ability to execute under that pressure. I'm not going to pick out an individual, that wasn't the case, they just didn't seem as a team to be able for that.'
