MEATH ARE WHERE they deserve to be, according to manager Colm O’Rourke. 

The Royals lost to Offaly in the Leinster SFC quarter-final today and as a result must settle for a place in the Tailteann Cup. 

O’Rourke said after the 1-11 to 0-10 defeat that having great teams in the past does not entitle Meath to compete for the Sam Maguire this season.   

“Well, everything went wrong, we weren’t good enough on the day,” O’Rourke told Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.

“Simple as that, I don’t make excuses. You get 70-plus minutes to score more than the opposition and we didn’t do so. We’re not going to complain about anything.

“The lads prepared very well for it. We were very happy with the preparation. Obviously, a championship match like Offaly had against Longford was a big benefit. We were coming in cold. But in saying that, we thought we had prepared well.

“Our first half shooting was poor. It’s been a problem we’ve had all year, we haven’t been able to run up enough points. And it came back to haunt us today.

“It’s tough in one sense but it’s an opportunity as well. We’re in the Tailteann Cup and we will embrace the challenge of it.

“We are where we deserve to be. We’re not going to make any excuses.

“Just because we had great teams in the past doesn’t give us any right to be in the championship this year.

“The rules of the competition are that we’re in the Tailteann Cup even though we’d prefer if it was different. But we’ll embrace the challenge and get on with it.”

Get instant updates on the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues on The42 app. Brought to you by Allianz Insurance, proud sponsors of the Allianz Leagues for over 30 years.