Moate centre back and captain Michael Broder is as baffled as the rest of us by the club's recent demise. Failure to qualify for the knockout stages of the championship is becoming an all-too-common feature of the All Whites' season. Tired, sapped limbs stumbled slowly towards the gate in Ballinagore as exhausted player after player escaped the pitch to return to the sanctuary of the dressing room. Some moments later Michael Broder joins them, head bowed. This was a difficult time. Exiting the championship as such an early stage was disappointing. To come so close was agonising. The game itself had been a disaster. Both sides needed to win to grasp third place in the group but The Downs, showing greater urgency, romped home by double scores, 0-14 to 0-7. Moate All Whites had failed to qualify beyond the group stage of the competition for the second year in succession and it hurt. Not even the late arrival of John Maughan could inspire them. Defeats to Tyrrellspass, Mullingar Shamrocks and crucially to The Downs had done the damage. Michael Broder has been a pivotal figure in Moate's quest for the Flanagan Cup since making his senior debut way back in 1991. He admits that these are trying times for the club. "We've gone back a lot since 1997," he says referring to the club's last senior championship success. "Something seems to be missing. We're not as focussed as we were back then. We're just not playing as well. "But we can't have any complaints," he continues. "We got well beaten by Tyrrellspass (2-13 to 1-8) and Mullingar Shamrocks (1-9 to 0-6) in the earlier rounds so we had left ourselves with a mountain to climb. Even if we had made it past The Downs I don't think we'd have made much of an impression in the quarter final. We weren't playing well enough." A mid-table position in the league and a Feis Cup defeat to St Loman's in the penultimate round of the competition are further evidence of a team failing to scale the heights of previous years. An over-reliance on sharpshooter Ger Heavin is just one criticism being aimed at a team now bordering mediocrity. "I can understand people saying that," he shrugs, "but I don't think it's fair on the rest of the team. Ger is obviously our main man up front but we have five other fellas working hard up there too. Garrycastle rely on Dessie Dolan and Tyrrellspass rely on Martin Flanagan in the same way as we rely on Gerry yet that kind of criticism isn't aimed at them. When you're a player as dangerous as Gerry up front then the obvious tactic is to use him as much as possible. I don't see anything wrong with that." Broder played alongside Heavin on the Westmeath team which reached the NFL semi-final back in 1994. An incredible refereeing decision saw him receive his marching orders that day; an incident that ultimately cost Westmeath the game against arch rivals Meath. "I barely touched him," he says of the clash with Colm O'Rourke. "I couldn't believe it when he hit the floor and started rolling around. You'd think someone had just shot him from the stands. The next thing I knew I was walking in the direction of the dugout. I felt so bad afterwards because we really had them rattled." Broder cites 1994 as the start of Westmeath's football revolution. "Mattie Kerrigan really got the ball rolling," he insists. "He was so professional in everything he did, something we as players hadn't seen before. He made us believe in ourselves and brought us on to the national stage with our run in the league. That created great hype in the county and people started getting behind the team. Then the minors won the All-Ireland the following year and everything has taken off since." Good times were around the corner for Michael as he helped guide Moate to the county final in 1996. "We beat Mullingar Shamrocks in the semi-final and thought we only had to tog out for the final," he says ruefully. Despite Broder contributing two points from his midfield berth, Coralstown/Kinnegad caused a minor shock by defeating Moate 2-10 to 0-10 in the final. "Mullingar Shamrocks were totally dominant back then and it took so much out of us when we beat them in the semi-final. It was like winning a championship without getting a trophy afterwards. But then we lost the final and it was all in vain." Lesser teams would have thrown the towel at it following the heart-wrenching defeat to Kinnegad but Moate came back stronger in 1997 and made amends with a first county title in 14 years, beating the previous year's opponents 2-11 to 1-9 in the decider. It was a time of mixed emotions for Michael as he missed the county final due to a suspension he picked up in the semi-final clash with St Loman's. "It wasn't the same watching it from the sideline," he admits. "I desperately wanted to be out there with them. County finals don't come around every day and when they do you want to be out on the pitch playing your part. In saying that, it was still a tremendous feeling when the full-time whistle blew and Gerry lifted the cup. And the celebrations that followed in Moate were unbelievable." That day seems a long time ago now as the same batch of players get ready for a make-or-break year. A club that has given so much to Westmeath football down the years is at a crossroads and the direction they choose to go nect remains unclear. "We have to come together as a group of players and make our minds up whether we're going to just to through the motions for another year or make a genuine effort to turn things around. A club of our stature shouldn't be content with the way things are at the moment. We have players good enough to compete with the best teams in the county. And there's no shortage of young talent coming through either. Last year's minor success was proof of that. I was at this year's county final and I've no doubt in my mind that on our day was as good if not better than both of the teams on show that day. The problem with us is that those 'days' don't come around too often." Broder's versatility has seen him line out in practically every position on the pitch down the years. His physical strength and aggressive style suit his current centre back role though some would argue that he's best deployed as a roving midfielder. Where does this year's recently appointed captain favour lining out himself? "I'm happy enough playing centre back," he replies, "though there are times when I'd prefer the freedom that comes with lining out at midfield. Unfortunately I'm not as fit as I once was so maybe centre back suits me best." And finally, how did Michael feel about being the recipient of the club's prestigious Player of the Year award. "How did you know about that?" he blushes. "Ah, it was a great honour to be named player of the year but to be perfectly honest I'd prefer to receive it at the end of a more successful campaign. Still, it's a nice award to get." Michael Broder will be hoping to add more silverware to the cabinet next season. And he'd gladly swap any personal accolades for another county medal. It won't be easy but he'll be giving in his best. He always does. Tweet

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