The Allianz League Sunday panel said Meath had cause for alarm after their "abject" display against Galway in Salthill yesterday, stressing that such a result would heap further pressure on manager Andy McEntee.
A game widely billed as a clash between two of the stronger outfits in Division 2 turned into an unmitigated rout, with Padraic Joyce's team utterly rampant throughout, essentially killing off the contest in the first half.
Meath, incredibly, failed to score until the 45th minute, Joey Wallace finally hoisting over a point with the deficit already standing at 14 points.
Assessing Meath's situation on League Sunday, RTÉ analyst Oisín McConville said that early in the second half, he had begun to genuinely doubt whether Meath might score at all.
"It was abject. Looking at Shane Walsh's scores, they stood off and stood off. They didn't know whether to stick or twist, they didn't know whether they wanted to play with a packed defence or whether they wanted to push out. They made life way too easy (for Galway).
"Conditions were atrocious but there was no excuse for three or four yard handpasses going astray. At one stage, honestly, at 45 minutes gone, I wasn't sure if they were going to score. It was that poor.
"Andy McEntee looked a pretty dejected figure walking off that field today."
"There was 45 minutes gone, I wasn't sure they were going to score, it was poor... Andy McEntee looked a pretty dejected figure walking off that field" - the panel assess Meath's problems after their heavy loss to Galway #rtegaa #LeagueSunday pic.twitter.com/iRwWQyRhm8
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) January 30, 2022
Fellow panellist Pat Spillane pointed out that the production line was working fine in Meath, with an All-Ireland minor title arriving last year.
But he was at a loss to wonder whether the failing lay in the players' ability or the management team. Either way, he said the nature of the performance would ratchet up the pressure on the manager.
"The county board management, for whatever reason, they'd a vote to get rid of Andy McEntee - he got back in because of the county board delegates.
"But a performance like this puts a lot of pressure on him (McEntee), an awful lot of pressure.
"What you associate with Meath - fire and brimstone, you know you're in a game when you play Meath! Not today, they didn't put it up to Galway."
