It was by and large a disappointing year for Westmeath underage hurling, with the minors failing to secure a win in the Leinster championship and the under 16s succumbing to Kildare in the All-Ireland 'B' championship. Westmeath's excellent performances in the 1999 Leinster minor hurling championship are but a distant memory following another disappointing year in the under 18 grade. On paper, Westmeath looked to be in with a decent chance of progressing from a round-robin section which included Meath, Kildare and Offaly. But, when it came down to it, Westmeath failed to win a single game and were left to reflect on what turned out to be a disastrous campaign. Through no fault of manager Pat Ryan and his co-selectors Pat O'Toole and Johnny McCormack, the team failed to do themselves justice in any of their games. There was a distinct lack of interest shown by many of the players which culminated in the embarrassing situation whereby Westmeath had to concede a walkover to Mayo in the All-Ireland 'B' championship. That it should have come to that was hardly surprising, given that Westmeath had struggled to cobble together a team for the final Leinster championship round-robin game against Offaly on May 11. The inevitable outcome was a humiliating 1-1 to 5-26 defeat, a scoreline which caught the attention of one leading national sports journalist who highlighted it in his column a few days later. The writing was on the wall for Westmeath when they lost their opening game of the championship to round-robin newcomers Meath by 0-6 to 2-13 at Athboy on April 17. To be fair to the maroon and whites, the scoreline didn't do them justice as the result had been in doubt until the last 10 minutes when Meath scored two goals to copperfasten victory. With Stephen Clynch in fine scoring form, the Royals had opened up a 0-5 to 0-0 lead before Aaron Corrigan finally got the visitors off the mark. Further scores from Corrigan and Derek McNicholas saw Westmeath trail by just two points, 0-5 to 0-7, at the break. Corrigan kept Westmeath in the hunt with a point after 35 minutes, but, remarkably, that proved to be the visitors' only score of the second half as Meath gradually took control. In the final 10 minutes, the Royals notched 2-2 without reply, with Clynch and John Cummins accounting for the goals. Whatever hopes Westmeath had of qualifying for the provincial semi-final were ended when they succumbed to Kildare by 2-7 to 1-13 at Cusack Park on April 28, a game which provided the curtain-raiser to the senior championship clash between the two counties. Westmeath showed an improvement on their first round effort, but three late points from the visitors condemned them to another defeat. Favoured by the breeze in the first half, the Lilywhites had three points on the board before John Fagan opened Westmeath's account. However, Kildare then enjoyed a purple patch which yielded an unanswered 1-5. That left the home side facing an uphill battle, but a Derek McNicholas goal gave them hope going in at half-time. Faced with a seven-point deficit (1-2 to 1-9), Westmeath showed admirable character to draw level with nine minutes remaining courtesy of points from Fagan, Sean Maguire and McNicholas, as well as a fine goal from the latter. Crucially, though, Westmeath were unable to get their noses in front and Kildare went on to clinch victory thanks to late scores from Anthony Murphy (two) and Michael Divilly. With their interests in the Leinster championship at an end, Westmeath had only pride to play for in their final game against Offaly at Robinstown. But not even that could be salvaged as Offaly strolled to victory in one of the most one-sided games one is ever like to see. Westmeath looked as though they would have to concede a walkover 15 minutes before the throw-in time with only 13 players assembled in the dressingroom. Fortunately (or should that be unfortunately?), the home mentors managed to put 15 players on the field, but from an early stage, it became apparent that the game would be a damage limitation exercise from a Westmeath perspective. The weakened home side lacked nothing in courage, but they were never going to give an unbeaten Offaly side a serious game. At half-time, the visitors led by 4-13 to 0-0 and, despite substituting three of their best players during the interval, the merciless onslaught continued in the second half. The Faithfuls had tagged on five more points before Peter Collins finally broke Westmeath's duck with a well-taken goal. After that, it was business as usual with Offaly adding a further glut of points and a 56th minute goal by substitute Keith Hehir. At under 16 level, Westmeath fared significantly better, though their quest for All-Ireland 'B' championship honours was ended in disappointing circumstances by Kildare. They made an excellent start to the championship, walloping Wicklow by 6-12 to 0-2 at Clane, Co. Kildare on June 29. Two goals from Adam Price and Eamon Og Clarke inside the opening 10 minutes set the tone for the remainder of the game and by half-time, it was over as a contest with Westmeath leading by 3-8 to 0-1. Killian Cosgrave, Anthony Cafferty and Clarke added further goals in the second half to ensure a safe passage into the semi-final against Kildare. Before that, Westmeath made the trip to Durrow in Co. Laois to participate in a Leinster tournament. The highlight of the tournament was unquestionably a 2-6 to 2-3 victory over Kilkenny, a result which sent shockwaves throughout the province. The team couldn't quite reach the same heights in their other outings, however, drawing with Carlow and losing to Dublin. But overall, the tournament was a success. After their exploits in Durrow, Westmeath had reason to fancy their chances of reaching the All-Ireland 'B' final. But such hopes were dashed when they suffered a 1-5 to 0-12 defeat to Kildare at Killeigh, Co. Offaly on July 13. The Lake County side appeared to be in a strong position at half-time when a Killian Cosgrave goal helped them to a 1-4 to 0-5 lead. But the Lilywhites dominated the second half, outscoring a disappointing Westmeath by 0-7 to 0-1. The day hadn't got off to the best of starts for the Westmeath players who, on arriving in Killeigh, discovered that the dressingrooms were locked and the pitch was unmarked. As a result, the players were forced to tog out on an embankment overlooking the pitch - a situation that is hardly acceptable in this day and age. Tweet

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