MICK O’Dowd bemoaned the “lack of respect for people” in modern society as he resigned from the Meath hotseat after four years in charge.
Saturday’s 1-14 to 1-11 defeat by Derry brought the curtain down on his tenure, which began promisingly with a Leinster final appearance in 2013, but never reached the heights they would have hoped for beyond that.
In sombrely announcing his resignation moments after the game, O’Dowd also took a swipe at GAA pundits for “ripping decent people apart”.
“I don’t think people realise the work that goes into it,” he said.
“I’ve just invested my heart and soul in the job because I love Meath so much, as a volunteer.
“To be honest, there’s a bit of a culture within the GAA now where you have these overpaid, inflated egos acting as pundits that are just ripping decent people in the GAA apart.”
Asked if he was referring to the sizeable number of former players from his own county who have turned to punditry, O’Dowd said: “Yeah, you have some, but I’m talking about in general, it seems to be a culture that’s taking over.
“Maybe it’s society. There’s a lack of respect for people, for their work and their effort. But that’s nothing I can change.”
He steps down with Meath still in Division Two of the National League for next year, but with just one of the last 15 Leinster titles available to their name.
O’Dowd bemoaned the loss of Conor McGill, Brian Power and James McEntee to injury before the Championship and said injuries during his tenure had stopped them from building momentum.
“I actually think it [Meath football] is not that far off. It’s not an excuse, but this group has had no luck.
“You’d wonder is there someone looking down on you, taking out the fellas you’d invested time in. It was the same last year, and the year before.
“We’d good momentum in 2013 and we felt it was moving along the right tracks, but really it’s nearly a new team again in such a short period of time.
“I do think it’ll be a team that will be there for the next five, six, seven years. We just need to keep working harder at underage and bringing players through, and at club level.
“It’s an exceptional Dublin team that’s there in Leinster, but they’re not going to be there forever. We just need to keep raising our standards.”
