Am I right in thinking that there could be a Leinster championship in this team over the next three years.

If the manager gets them to believe they can do it.

That is the big if.

I hope it's not like Luke in 2001. Apart from his obvious value, I think bringing back Dessie and making him captain for 2013 would be a master stroke.
His experience and know how in winning big games would be a huge asset to this young team.

Dessie for captain
Gary vice captain
Michael Ennis to stay on for one more year.

Let's make it a special year.

Promotion to Div 1 and at least a Leinster Final appearance

Slow down there charlesj

obviously a giddy 12 year old

Why not Westmeath for a leinster and all ireland in next five years ?
I am not getting carried away with one performance.
I have been to almost every westmeath game this year and trust me this team has huge potential if put in the right hands.
I am not saying we are going to do it but we have a team capable of challenging for honours over the next couple of years.
I rate maguire, sharry, heslin, martin and egan v highly.
I was disappointed dessie didn't come back for the few months. He would have added so much.

Btw I thought kerry weren't up for it last Sunday and that westmeath could have played better. We were missing some key personnel. Dessie, Mccormack, gavin and connaughton. Denis carrying an injury and not playing at his his best.
That's my humble opinion. Why cannot we aim high ?
I believe in this team. The jury is out on management. I am honestly not sure either way.
It took paidi to come in 2004 and get a lesser team than in 01 to believe enough in themselves enough to win leinster.
I respect flanagan, he has done well but can he take us to the next level ?
That is the big question. Do we need a higher profile person with a proven track record.
This is a team worth investing in.
We had no conor lynam and rumour has it he didnt want to play for current mgt. That's worrying.

charlesj your points are well ,made my opinion for what its worth is that the current management and trainer are doing very well .
we kept our status when i among others said we would not win a game. we finally beat louth, and we if we were treated fairly should have beaten kerry.
so can i ask you what more can the management do. i have had my issues with pat flanagan but i have a high regard for him
after this year . i hope co board appoint him quickly and especially Joe quinn who is among the best in ireland as a fitness coach
finally just on dennis i dont know how he continues to play with the personal abuse he gets. he has a great love for his county but there is
only so much abuse a young amateur sportsman can take

Mick I do agree things have improved this year significantly. This time last year I was dead against Pat Flanagan. Had no faith. He handled the typass situation well last week ( better than I would! )
Denis is denis Mick. Supremely talented, but an enigma! He gets a bit of abuse. Some of it he brings on himself. I am not justifying it but he talks a bit too much in the media and can be v frustrating on the pitch. That said he is a very talented forward.
As for dropping him - that is crazy. On his game he is one of our very best forwards.
I was disappointed that dessie didnt make himself available for three months this summer. I know he owes us nothing but he will be finished fior long enough. The man's a legend and if he never played for wmeath again he is a legend but he has more to offer. We would have beaten kerry with him - no question. And Louth the first day too

It's absolutely amazing that people are defending Flanagans position.

To be fair to Charles he makes a good point. Maybe a couple of years early with talk of promotion and a Leinster final but I can see it in 2 or 3 years. We should of beaten Dublin in an u21 final 2 years ago(Dublin went on to win an AI) and we got done out of a semi final a year after. If we had won either one of those we would be demanding a Leinster final in the next couple of years. Last years u21s were the best team in Leinster so success really shouldn't be a pipe dream. Staying in division 2 this year was crucial.

He hardly handled the tyrellspass situation too well when he had 3 on the team!

charlesj make a fair point to the whole thing. It is far to think that this Westmeath team can go on to win things. Sure if they dont belive that they can what is the point in them even going out to play? There are some huge talents in this team of ours!! But i have to disagree whit one thing that charlesj said and that is the:

Dessie for captain
Gary vice captain
Michael Ennis to stay on for one more year.

I think is time that we move on from the players of the 2004 winning team and start fresh with a younger team. There is no question that Dessie can be the winning of a game but i think he would nearly better to put into a role in the management set up were by he can help yonger players in there game. It may take afew years for this team to show there full talent but when they do lets hope good things come of it!!

I am all for blooding the young players and building the team around them. But gary is still by far our best goalkeeper and michael e and dessie in partic still have a lot to offer - even as subs for last 20 mins.
Experience is important in big games too.
Dessie is only 34

charlesj
34 is still to old!! Dessie has been used as a 20min man for two or three years now. He will be 35 next year the man cant go on forever!! He is the greatest player with john keane in my eyes to have ever of played for westmeath but the time comes in ever players days to call it time for the county!!

lads, come out of the fog. dessie has just turned 32. to be saying he is over the hill and move on is rubbish, he still has a year or 2 at the top level. if westmeath had an abundance of class forwards you could say something but this is anything but the case.

anyone that followed garrycastles run to the all ireland club would recognise his enduring class, he ransacked defences everywhere he went winning further admirers all over the country. he is still the best player in the county and has been for the last 10 years, heslin will take over that mantle this year or next. he is on a different level to any other forward in the county, the closest is denis but he does not have the finishing ability of a real top player.

so dessie should def be on the westmeath team, the q is if he wants to be or not.

Lads parts of this thread im sure is embarrassing for the westmeath Gaa supporter. Talking about winning all irelands and leinsters ?? Go to the donegal forum, the mayo forum the kildare forum, none of them are even mentioning winning all-irelands. Take things a game at a time and you will get far. I have no doubt there is plenty of talent in your county. But beating 13 man louth team is hardly enough to generate talks of all-irealands.

Billyboy you are clearly right. Lads will ye all relax. Lets stop talkin absolute crap and get realistic.

they were the best team in Leinster last year in u-21 till Longford beat them in the semi-final, before Wexford then beat them in the final

have to agree with billyboy, we need to simmer down, keep pluggin away, and hopefully keep progressing in the years to come. talk of all irelands is crazy, but i hope we can make a dent in the leinster picture. crucial to keep bringing in young talent

A few names for the future from the games over the weekend- Pat Holloway (Castledaly), Eoin Monaghan(Garrycastle), Ronan Foley's brother who played at No3 for Coralstown -Kinnegad, and- wouldn't it be great to be able to turn back the clock for Martin Flanagan-he is still a great footballer.

Nice to see Jack O'Connor thanking Westmeath for Kerry's performance v Tyrone- he forgot to mention the referee!

Notfade the 3 players you mentioned their will be huge assets for the county in years to come. Now is the time to bring them in and get back the likes of lynam and d Daly to mention a few. Unfortunately I think lynam wont play under pat but im not sure if this is correct.

I heard Luke Dempsey on a radio programme at the weekend saying that he would love the chance to be involved in some way in football in Westmeath in the future if the chance arose. What do you think. Would you like to see him as manager of the senior team at some stage or maybe a role in youth development would be good. He did a great job with the underage lads in the 1990's winning a minor All Ireland in 1995 and under 21 in 1999.