Football

Meath will be ready for Armagh test says Royal veteran Graham Reilly

Mark Shields of Armagh and Graham Reilly of Meath during an Allianz Football League media event ahead of the Meath and Armagh fixture at Pairc Tailteann in Navan on Sunday. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
Mark Shields of Armagh and Graham Reilly of Meath during an Allianz Football League media event ahead of the Meath and Armagh fixture at Pairc Tailteann in Navan on Sunday. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile. Mark Shields of Armagh and Graham Reilly of Meath during an Allianz Football League media event ahead of the Meath and Armagh fixture at Pairc Tailteann in Navan on Sunday. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.

MEATH will be ready “mentally and physically” to take on Armagh in Sunday’s pivotal Division Two showdown says veteran Royal forward Graham Reilly.

The St Colmcille’s, Bettystown forward, now in his 12 year at inter-county level, has never played in the top flight and sees the Pairc Tailteann clash as “a four-pointer”.

“I've played Armagh so many times and if you're physically not ready for Armagh you're going to get blown away,” said 29-year-old Reilly.

“Armagh are probably the most physical team I've played against in the country. Their players would be in your face and aggressive in their tackling. You get the ball and you know you're going to get hit straight away, simple as.

“And they always had very classy forwards and they still do. For us, we have to be mentally and physically ready for Armagh on Sunday. If we're not, then Armagh will beat us, simple as.

“But we will be ready, mentally and physically.”

Meath finishing third in the Division Two standings for three years out of four but fell off the pace last season. So far in this campaign, the Royals have beaten Tipperary and should have taken full points from Donegal last weekend but lost the game to a Caolan McGonagle goal.

“Look, we played really well for 60 minutes,” said Reilly, looking back on that game in Ballybofey.

“A couple of errors, a couple of shot selections towards the end, probably let us down big time.

“We probably should have been more than four points up with 12 or 13 minutes left but look, we’ll take the positives from it. It's not an easy place to go to, Donegal; not many teams win up there. But we probably should have won and probably should be top of the league.”

That loss for Meath and luckless Armagh’s draw against Clare last Sunday means that the counties are locked together on two points with two games played.

“It’s a four-pointer probably for both teams,” said Reilly.

“If we win on Sunday it will put us right back into the promotion mix; if we lose, then we’re facing the other way… It would probably make the Cork game in two weeks’ time a relegation thing nearly.

“So, it’s a massive game for both teams. I suppose Armagh are disappointed they didn’t win (against Clare) as well. Armagh will fancy their chances of coming down here to get a result as well.”

So far exactly half of the eight games played in Division Two have ended in stalemate. Reilly says that is symptomatic of the dog-eat-dog nature of a second tier packed with ambitious counties.

“Every team in Division Two wants to be in Division One and I always think Division Two is the most competitive division out of them all, because it’s just so hard to get out of,” he said.

“Obviously I've played with Meath for 12 years and I've been playing in Division Two (there was one year in Division Three) and we’ve finished third on nine points maybe seven or eight of them 12 years.

“Ten points seems to be the magic number at the moment. So, in a way, you can nearly afford to lose two games and still get promoted in Division 2. Obviously it’s not ideal, but every game is very competitive and they’re all a must-win.”

Unfortunately for Reilly, he was brought into the Meath panel back in 2007 when the county’s fortunes began to dip. His first training session was the infamous night veteran Graham Geraghty had an altercation with fellow teenager Stephen Sheppard and quit the panel.

Geraghty briefly returned but the stars of yesteryear like Trevor Giles, Bernard Flynn and Darren Fay have never been replaced and the Royals have become something of a sleeping giant.

“Meath football, the way it’s been over the last couple of years, we’ve been inconsistent with out performances,” said Reilly.

“It's really something that Andy (McEntee, the manager) has tried to get into the team, to perform ... we can’t afford not to have our workrate up to 100 per cent because we’re not good enough to beat teams if we don’t.

“I think that’s something Andy is really trying to bring into the team, that we work as hard as the other team and if we’re there with ten or 15 minutes to go, we’ll win most games.

“Obviously we didn’t win it on Saturday! But, look, against most teams in Division Two, I think if we’re there or thereabouts with ten or 15 minutes to go, I’ll think we’ll win the game.”