Replying To Blackspot09:  "Holy god Brian. Never mind were you at the match. Did you even watch it on TV if you think Rafferty was marking Mulroy..."

Replying To brian:  "Accept your points Blackspot

Yes I was at the match, lower hogan

My question is.. where was Rafferty playing , or who was he marking? He had 3 on his back and in old money that's a full back to me. Mulroy went out the field and wasn't followed, had a field day on the ball.. so who was marking him if it wasn't Rafferty … there didn't seem to be anyone at all doing that job

If Rafferty did play at FB… then why did we concede 3 goals.. where was he when Lennon ran straight down the central corridor and scored a goal from the 21… would a mick Lyon's or Darren Fay have allowed that to happen?"

Replying To brian:  "Accept your points Blackspot

Yes I was at the match, lower hogan

My question is.. where was Rafferty playing , or who was he marking? He had 3 on his back and in old money that's a full back to me. Mulroy went out the field and wasn't followed, had a field day on the ball.. so who was marking him if it wasn't Rafferty … there didn't seem to be anyone at all doing that job

If Rafferty did play at FB… then why did we concede 3 goals.. where was he when Lennon ran straight down the central corridor and scored a goal from the 21… would a mick Lyon's or Darren Fay have allowed that to happen?"

Replying To brian:  "Accept your points Blackspot

Yes I was at the match, lower hogan

My question is.. where was Rafferty playing , or who was he marking? He had 3 on his back and in old money that's a full back to me. Mulroy went out the field and wasn't followed, had a field day on the ball.. so who was marking him if it wasn't Rafferty … there didn't seem to be anyone at all doing that job

If Rafferty did play at FB… then why did we concede 3 goals.. where was he when Lennon ran straight down the central corridor and scored a goal from the 21… would a mick Lyon's or Darren Fay have allowed that to happen?"

Replying To brian:  "Accept your points Blackspot

Yes I was at the match, lower hogan

My question is.. where was Rafferty playing , or who was he marking? He had 3 on his back and in old money that's a full back to me. Mulroy went out the field and wasn't followed, had a field day on the ball.. so who was marking him if it wasn't Rafferty … there didn't seem to be anyone at all doing that job

If Rafferty did play at FB… then why did we concede 3 goals.. where was he when Lennon ran straight down the central corridor and scored a goal from the 21… would a mick Lyon's or Darren Fay have allowed that to happen?"

Replying To Blackspot09:  "Well for Lennons goal the full back line would be last line I'd be blaming. He ran basically from midfield throug a few different lines through and past multiple players and them took shot a bit of a distance out when Rafferty was coming to meet him. Anyone who has played in the full back line will know he was stuck between a rock and a hard place there. He goes out to meet him early and lennon pops it over his head to his man for a handy goal. In my opinion he did the right thing. Held his ground and decided if he is gonna shoot let him shoot from there. Unfortunately for us it was an absolute unbelievable finish but for me it's probably a 3 in 10 shot that goes in so it's still the right decision by Rafferty .

He was playing full back . It was clear to see. Mulroy was playing Centre forward. It was clear to see."

Replying To Blackspot09:  "Well for Lennons goal the full back line would be last line I'd be blaming. He ran basically from midfield throug a few different lines through and past multiple players and them took shot a bit of a distance out when Rafferty was coming to meet him. Anyone who has played in the full back line will know he was stuck between a rock and a hard place there. He goes out to meet him early and lennon pops it over his head to his man for a handy goal. In my opinion he did the right thing. Held his ground and decided if he is gonna shoot let him shoot from there. Unfortunately for us it was an absolute unbelievable finish but for me it's probably a 3 in 10 shot that goes in so it's still the right decision by Rafferty .

He was playing full back . It was clear to see. Mulroy was playing Centre forward. It was clear to see."

Replying To brian:  "So I've rewatched the whole first half there and yeah, maybe I've been a bit harsh on him. Think he broke up two plays that ended up in Meath scores. And fully agree that full back line were last line to blame for Lennon goal, however I watched as Rafferty went to him as lennon went to take the shot (fair play he made a good call to go to him) but then he turned his body away from it… if you're going to go at the laces you go fully length (Lyon's and Fay were masters at that) and twisting your body isn't going to help which is what's happened. As you say plenty of blame and I'm not saying others don't have fault there too. Keogy and or Flynn should've hit Lennon before he got going and give up a free. Learnings a plenty from those few passages of play for everyone. Think he'd be better suited to a corner role, with O'Neill at 3 maybe. But Robbie doesn't seem interested in that.

As for someone saying family ties and commenting in defeat, I've no ties to anyone playing, could only wish my family had that kind of ability, I have fully commented on the game on the Meath v Louth thread. Tried to give some balanced points and solutions where I could. I'm not going to sugarcoat and give out gold stars when criticism is due too. I'm the same in victory , how do we improve on and get better, by being critical in victory and defeat."

Replying To winatallcost:  "I think it's time to forget about putting Rafferty under the microscope for now. He has been our best back in the championship this year. No point in comparing anyone on this Meath team to some of the all time greats of the past yet. It is totally unfair.
There are other areas of much greater concern. Our two most experienced players happened to be two of our more disappointing performers at the weekend. I think the demands of the new rules and the scale of croke park plus the heat played their part here. Its a big ask for these guys to play full games in middle third positions at their age. Keoghan perhaps should be in back three for at least some of match while Menton probably a 40 min man at this stage."