A POWERFUL FOUR-GOAL performance has moved Meath one step closer to safety in Division 2 of the National Football League as they hammered Down 4-14 to 1-14 at Pairc Tailteann this afternoon.
Andy McEntee’s side recorded just their second win of the campaign in emphatic fashion thanks to goals from Graham Reilly, Padraig McKeever, Donal Lenihan and Sean Tobin.
Two points moves Meath ahead of Down into sixth in the Division 2 standings with one round of games remaining for both counties.
The hosts got off to a perfect start when Lenihan fired home from the spot and Meath added a second goal shortly after when Reilly, who finished with 1-2, palmed into the net after fine work from Cillian O’Sullivan.
Down’s hopes received a further setback when Kevin McKernan was shown a black card just before the interval and after taking a 2-7 to 0-8 lead into the break, Meath pulled further clear during an entertaining second period.
McKeever sealed the win with 10 minutes remaining and although Anthony Doherty struck at the other end for the visitors, substitute Tobin produced the coup de grace.
Meanwhile, Clare rounded off their campaign with a straight-forward victory over winless, and already relegated, Louth in Ennis.
Kieran Malone, Jamie Malone and Keelan Sexton all found the net for the hosts as they eased to a 3-12 to 1-11 victory.
Louth face Meath next weekend while Down host Tipperary in the final fixtures of the season.
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Big teams big decisions same old story
And what happens when a small team gets a dodgy decision against another small team? How does that fit into the cosmic universe of corrupt referees, match fixing and football NWO with Alex Ferguson sitting at head of the table? And while we’re at it who are the ‘big’ teams or does each match have a ‘big’ and ‘small’ team? If Newcastle play crystal palace are they the ‘big’ team then? Do all the officials agree at the start of the season who are the big and small teams? Is it league position or finance determines it? Cheers
Stop talking sense man!
Great strike should have been given, Hart appealed in hope more than anything.
Goalkeeper would never of saved it and the Newcastle player did get out of the way. Keeper hadn’t even taken a step when the ball hit the net never mind have one player out of how many in his way? I’m a goalkeeper myself the sea of players in front of him would cause more of a problem than the one player in the six yard box! Line of sight is from the ball to keepers eyes!
The officials don’t have to determine if the goalkeeper can save the shot, or if his line of sight is obstructed. If there’s a player standing in an offside position, he’s offside.
You’re wrong there. The ref does have to interpret if a player in an offside position is interfering with player. The rules have moved on from an automatic free kick being given for offside.
Gouffran is standing in an offside position, the officials gave offside. Obviously they saw it as interfering with play. To show that he’s not interfering with play, Gouffran should of been running away from goal. Deciding if the goalkeeper could make the save is irrelevant.
What relevance has running away from goal got to do with anything? He could be running towards goal and still not be interfering with play.
If Gouffran is not making an effort to get back onside, why should he get the benefit of the doubt?
If Gouffran’s not making an effort to get back onside, why should he get the benefit of the doubt?
I give up. You haven’t a clue mate.
Can you explain how Gouffran is not interfering with play? He’s not injured, he’s not making an effort to get back onside. He’s standing right in front of the goal.
Gouffran is not interfering with play because his being there is completely irrelevant to the scoring of the goal, if he was not in the position he was the goal would still have been scored, he had absolutely nothing to do with that ball going into the back of the net, whether by interfering with the opposition or the flight of the ball hence he was not interfering with play.
How is it completely irrelevant to the scoring of the goal? Gouffran is in the six yard box next to the goalkeeper. He had to move out of the way of the ball as it went towards goal.
He didn’t touch the ball and wasn’t near the keepers line of sight or any defenders who may have blocked it, if he wasn’t there the ball would have gone into the net in exactly the same fashion as it did which makes his being there completely irrelevant. Newcastle gained absolutely no advantage from him being in the six yard box and Man City gained no disadvantage therefore he did not interfere with play.
Gouffran is in the way of Joe Hart. That’s a disadvantage for Man City and an advantage for Newcastle.
Can you explain how being on the other side of the 6 yard box, completely out of the line of sight between where the ball was struck and Joe Hart in anyway interferes with the keepers ability to save the shot. If you have watched that incident more than once and are still of the opinion that Gouffran is in anyway impeding Joe Hart well then I’m afraid you seriously need to consider your ability to look at these kind of situations objectively.
Joe Hart can’t commit to stop the shot because he doesn’t know if Gouffran is going to flick the ball in or leave it.
I wouldn’t waste your breath any further Sean. I thought this guy was an idiot earlier, now I think he must be trolling.
@ Mark Stewart. All I’ve done is provided a counterpoint to your argument. That’s hardly trolling. There’s no need for childish name calling.
You’re clutching at straws, Gouffran being in an offside position means that if he had of flicked the ball he would have interfered with play and would have been correctly ruled offside so I can assure you Joe Hart would not be likely to allow that to prevent him from making the save, it was simply just a well struck shot to the corner which the keeper didn’t have a chance of saving, you see it all the time when a strike like that goes in the keepers are often just standing watching it go in, nothing to do with him feeling like he couldn’t commit he was just beaten by a very good shot.
The officials don’t have to decide if Hart can save the shot. The position that Gouffran has taken means Hart can’t even attempt to dive for it. Gouffran doesn’t have to touch the ball to interfere with play. Being in the way of Joe Hart is how he’s interfering with play.
I never mentioned anything about officials determining if Joe Hart could save it or not so I don’t understand the relevance of that, I merely stated that him standing still had nothing to do with a fear to commit and more to do with him being beaten by a well struck shot, this was in reply to your comment about him being afraid to commit himself which is extremely unlikely as Gouffran couldn’t touch the ball as he was in an offside position, so Joe Hart as an experienced goalkeeper would be well aware to play the ball and not waste his time thinking about the player who can’t touch the ball. I have been over it numerous times now and its plain to see Gouffran had no impact on the situation given the position he was in and should have been deemed as not interfering with play because of this, the goal would have been scored in exactly the same way had he been at the order end of the pitch. I will now take Marks advice and stop wasting my breath, as we appear to be on the verge of constantly repeating ourselves.
Clearly Mark Stewart and Sean don’t know the rules of the game and are making things up as they go along. Number 1:Gouffran is in an offside position. Number: 2 Gouffran is standing directly in front of the path the ball and had to duck to stop it hitting him, therefore he is interfering with play. That’s all that’s required for the officials to give offside. Saying that Gouffran didn’t touch the ball is irrelevant, he’s still interfering with play. Saying that Hart wouldn’t of saved the shot is also irrelevant. Gouffran is still in Hart’s way while in an offside position. Stating that Hart must determined if a player is offside or not in order to act is the most moronic point. Hart has to protect his goal first instead of waiting for a decision from officials. Otherwise he would look very foolish. It’s up to the officials to give offside not Joe Hart.
Specsavers come to mind.
Of course Hart can commit to saving the ball, in the knowledge that Gouffran is in an offside position if he decides to touch the ball. Perfectly good goal.
Your a goalie, isn’t most of ur best stuff caught out of the corner if your eye? The fact that the striker as you say had to get out of the way of the shot, isn’t that an action, isn’t that interfering with play , he definitely was on harts radar, moving to avoid getting his head removed, and too lazy and dopey to get back onside, I think ’twas a great decision.
As a city supporter I believe the goal was good just a thought though was it the fact he got out of the way he issue if he hadn’t the ball would have hit him and therefore he was interfering with play just a thought for debate as I said it should have stood
Good decision, keepers sight would Off been blocked by the offside player.
Wowzers that’s a ridiculous statement!
clearly not
Gouffran is standing in line with the goalkeeper making no effort to get back onside. If he’s not going to try to get back onside, he shouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt from the officials.
Stand in a goal, with a player on the opposite side. Get another player to take a shot, preferably pummeling it into the top corner where most keepers wouldn’t reach. As he hits it try dive to save it! Did you save it?
No cause it was a screamer! No keeper in any league would of saved that!
Some people should watch this again. Gouffran is one of 3 in an offside position ! The most central player IS causing a problem to defender & keeper. You can argue Gouffran isn’t ‘interfering’, but then wtf else is he doing ? If you’re in the penalty area you should be causing a problem to the opponents defence.