Is tonights result between Westmeath and Kilkenny one of the biggest shocks of all time. Westmeath Hurling on the evidence of this will be up near the top now in a few years if they stick at it. I actually cant think of any other real hurling shocks...maybe Offaly and Kilkenny in 1980 springs to mind, but for a so called non traditional county to beat the top hurling county has never been heard of,,,not in our lifetime anyway.

If you were to say 10 years ago Westmeath would beat Kilkenny in u21 hurling would be similar to saying Luxemburg would beat new Zealand in rugby it would just be unthinkable. It just shows you the strides that have been made in Westmeath hurling in 10 years. Everyone saying Offaly hurling finished after the Westmeath drubbing but maybe did anyone think Westmeath are a fairly good team on the rise!

preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 736 - 25/05/2016 21:17:46    1858666

amazing and great to see!

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 25/05/2016 21:25:53    1858674

Brianmac78 (Dublin) - Posts: 1168 - 25/05/2016 21:28:47    1858677

Seriously impressive result. Congrats to all involved in Westmeath hurling

onlyhurling (Galway) - Posts: 800 - 25/05/2016 21:34:45    1858682

probably is - but heres few others antrim v wexford 21s in 2013, offaly v antrim 1989, kerry v waterford 1993, great result well done all

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 25/05/2016 21:36:34    1858683

westmeath now play winner of dubs/wexford insemi other semi is carlow v offaly,
no offence to the cats but aint it nice that there is a major all ireland available for the rest of us, also great either carlow or offaly will be in a leinster final - big boost for hurling is those counties.

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 25/05/2016 21:43:19    1858691

great result for Westmeath hurling. And with Carlow having beaten Laois, after only been beaten by 2 points by Kilkenny last year, the Leinster U21 championship is looking very competitive.

When was the last time both Kilkenny's minor and u21 hurlers were out of the championship before the Leinster final? Interesting times in Leinster hurling. Huge congrats to Westmeath U21's. With their seniors unbeaten in the championship, after winning division 2, this could be a year to remember for the county.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 25/05/2016 21:46:03    1858694

Just great to see . I am delighted for Westmeath. I have always loved Kilkenny hurling . However last year as I left after the senior hurling final I heard a Kilkenny lad saying that he wasn't going to the homecoming because he was "sick of them". That lad needs a serious dose of humility .

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 25/05/2016 21:59:55    1858700

Hold on with the Luxembourg New Zealand rugby thing. Westmeath have regularly come close to beating Kilkenny and all other Leinster counties in the last ten years, and one day it was going to fall for them. They got their luck needed with the missed penalty, but anyone even remotely following underage hurling in the last ten years wil have known that this was coming, so I can't agree it was the greatest shock of all time as they've put the work in.

galwaydublin (Galway) - Posts: 226 - 26/05/2016 08:32:06    1858704

shoceked?not in the least.westmeath have been coming at underage,wexford beat kilkenny comfortably in the last 2 years.
but i think it would naive to think kilkenny wont be redoubling the efforts and the rest of us need to keep up the effort to counteract it.
i can tell you in wexford the effort going into underage hurling has been phenomenal for the most part in the past 5-6 years.kilkenny upped the ante 10-15 years ago and it took 10 years for the rest to raise the bar another notch.i suspect this effort is being matched in dublin and westmeath in leinster,sadly not in as many more and offaly is a real tragedy.

marlonjd i was going to ask the same question,when was the last time kilkenny were out of both minor and u21 by the end of may?

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 26/05/2016 08:48:36    1858708

Well done to Westmeath. They are already making decent strides at senior and hopefully they can bring it on another few levels and get in the mix in Leinster. A few years ago my own county would have beaten Westmeath but now they take us to hurling school. Fair play to them.

SaffronDon (Antrim) - Posts: 2385 - 26/05/2016 09:03:39    1858713

johnwhite12 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 306 - 26/05/2016 09:31:23    1858721

Great result...anyone know what odds Westmeath were before the match?
I wonder will this start a crisis meeting in Kilkenny!!

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 2073 - 26/05/2016 09:44:35    1858726

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5518 - 26/05/2016 10:20:06    1858743

nine of the Kilkenny team that won the All-Ireland MHC started against Westmeath last night, while another three who started in the win over Limerick in 2014 came on. Was at that final and kilkenny were very good. About 8 of that limerick team won under 21s all ireland last year . just goes to show it was not due to a poor kilkenny team

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 26/05/2016 10:27:09    1858748

benched (Tyrone) - Posts: 534 - 26/05/2016 10:40:18    1858755

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 26/05/2016 10:45:56    1858762

tonorio (Offaly) - Posts: 608 - 26/05/2016 11:06:29    1858779

What a night Westmeath were wonderful the entire seventeen who played but particularly Varley,Clinton,Shaw,Mitchell and Galvin.Tore into them and gave them no respect.No doubt the media after focussing on the demise of Antrim,Wexford,Offaly will focus on the decline of Kilkenny underage but to hell with the lot of them,Hurling is on the up in Westmeath and hopefully we can keep improveing.
Kilkenny need to be complemented in that they were out of the hat first but as our footballers always travel to Nolan Park they returned the complement.Might not happen again.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1456 - 26/05/2016 11:10:08    1858784

Remember this is Westmeath who won Div 2A but didnt get promoted as they
have to be protected from the giants in Div1A.

Anyone who has been following hurling know that Westmeath have put in
huge effort.

Hope they get the credit they deserve.

carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 26/05/2016 11:21:54    1858796