At the beginning of 2008, Westmeath hurling manager Johnny Dooley set three targets for his team. The first of those was achieved when the Lake County captured the National League Division 2 title, but disappointment followed against Dublin in the Leinster championship and Carlow in the Christy Ring Cup decider. It is a measure of how much expectations have risen in Westmeath hurling circles in recent years that a first National League Division 2 title in many years failed to satisfy the ambitions of Johnny Dooley and his players. Dooley had also targeted victory over Dublin in the Leinster championship and a third Christy Ring Cup success in four years but, alas, neither of these goals were achieved, leaving Westmeath having to contend themselves with their league success. There was also disappointment at the Walsh Cup Shield final defeat to Laois early on in the season. After comfortably accounting for Carlow in the league decider in April, Westmeath went into the Christy Ring Cup final against the same opposition less than four months later confident of repeating the dose. But the Barrowsiders exacted revenge with a thrilling victory after extra-time - a result Westmeath could have absolutely no complaints about after playing second fiddle for the most part. The defeat also ended the Lake County's unbeaten record in the knockout stages of the second tier competition in the three years they have participated in it. But what was perhaps even more disappointing for Westmeath was their failure to shine against Dublin in the Leinster championship - a game that was looked upon as a real barometer of their progress. Having been invited to take part on the back of their 2007 Christy Ring Cup triumph, the midlanders had high hopes of repeating their sensational 2006 victory over Dublin in the first round, but after leading by a point at half-time, they collapsed in spectacular fashion in the second half and were beaten by 19. The result was a big setback to a team that had motoring along nicely before then, and it could be argued that they never quite recovered from it, despite going on to reach the Ring Cup final. The season began in earnest for Westmeath on February 10 when they defeated Kerry by 0-17 to 1-11 in their opening game of the NHL Division 2 campaign. The visitors led by 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time, but the Kingdom hit a purple patch following the resumption to move into a 1-8 to 0-7 lead. But the introduction of Clonkill trio Brendan Murtagh, Enda Loughlin and Adam Price - who flew by helicopter to the venue after helping their club to All-Ireland glory at Croke Park the previous night - turned the game around and Westmeath went on to win by four points. Johnny Dooley's charges made it two wins from two when they defeated Roscommon by 3-19 to 1-13 at Cusack Park. Before they played Mayo in their next league outing, Westmeath lost the Walsh Cup Shield final to Laois by 2-11 to 2-15 at Kinnegad. After trailing by 2-6 to 2-8 at half-time, the home side dominated the possession following the changeover but 15 wides, coupled with the sending off of substitute Eoin Price, cost them victory. Back to the league and what a shock was in store for Westmeath when they made the long journey to Castlebar! The maroon and whites looked to be on course for their third win of the campaign when they led by six points going into the closing stages. But after Keith Higgins pointed from a free, the dual star scored two goals in injury-time to give Mayo a dramatic 2-14 to 2-13 victory and leave the visitors shell-shocked. To their credit, Westmeath responded in the best possible fashion by handing out a 3-19 to 0-9 drubbing to Wicklow at Cusack Park. And they secured their passage into the semi-finals, as well as their place in this year's restructured NHL Division 2 which includes the likes of Wexford and Offaly, with a hard-earned 0-11 to 0-9 win over Kildare - again at Cusack Park. Throughout the year, Brendan Murtagh was Westmeath's best performer by some distance, and the team captain demonstrated his scoring prowess once again by hitting 0-10 in a 2-24 to 2-15 victory over Down at Kingspan Breffni Park. The Leinster men were just five points to the good at half-time after playing with the aid of the wind, but they bossed the second half and Gareth 'Magic' Johnston's goal direct from a 55-metre free deep into injury-time was merely a consolation score for the outclassed Ardsmen. The Division 2 final, which was played as a curtain-raiser to the Division 1 decider between Tipperary and Galway at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, saw Westmeath coast to a 2-12 to 0-12 victory over Carlow. The scoreboard flattered the losers, who were outplayed for most of the game by a Westmeath team for whom Brendan Murtagh was once again magnificent and John Shaw and Derek McNicholas scored goals either side of half-time. Westmeath set the tempo from the off and led by 0-5 to 0-1 before Carlow clawed the gap back to 0-6 to 0-4. However, Shaw's opening goal in the 31st minute left the Lake County ahead by 1-8 to 0-6 at the interval and a second major from McNicholas within seconds of the restart ended the game as a contest. Most of Westmeath's 2008 preparations had been geared towards the Leinster championship clash with Dublin at O'Moore Park on May 25. However, their hopes of replicating their 2006 victory at the Portlaoise venue suffered a huge blow when Brendan Murtagh suffered a broken hand in the lead-up to the game, which ruled him out of the starting line-up. Despite this, the wind-assisted underdogs more than matched the Dubs in the first half and four points from Andrew Mitchell helped them to a 0-8 to 0-7 interval lead. But it all went horribly wrong in the second half when a rampant Dublin outscored Westmeath by 2-14 to 0-3 to run out facile 3-21 to 0-11 winners and finally banish the memories of two years earlier. The Lake County were still in the game with less than 15 minutes remaining, but a hat-trick of Dublin goals in a devastating five-minute spell left them down and out. Westmeath bounced back from that disappointment by walloping Roscommon, 3-23 to 0-13, in their opening defence of the Christy Ring Cup on June 28. But they were brought back down to earth a week later when they lost to Wicklow - who they had beaten by 19 points in the National League - by 1-15 to 1-18 at Arklow. Despite that defeat, Westmeath qualified for the quarter-final where they faced Andy Comerford's high-flying Kildare at Newbridge. Under pressure to get back on track, the Lakemen rose to the challenge by running out impressive 2-22 to 3-13 winners with goals from the Clonkill pair of Paddy Dowdall and Andrew Mitchell paving the way for the victory. The visitors took full advantage of their wind advantage in the opening half to go into the break leading by 2-13 to 1-6. However, the home side made a dream start to the second half when Adrian McAndrew netted and they trailed by just 3-8 to 2-13 inside eight minutes. But despite hitting eight second half wides, the holders refused to panic and with team captain Brendan Murtagh to the fore, they pulled away again in the closing stages. Derek McNicholas was Westmeath's semi-final hero, scoring 1-4 in a comfortable 1-19 to 0-12 win over Derry at Cusack Park. The full forward's goal after eight minutes helped Johnny Dooley's men to a 1-10 to 0-9 half-time lead, and second half scores from McNicholas, John Shaw, Andrew Mitchell and Brendan Murtagh sealed Westmeath's place in the final against Carlow. The build-up to the Christy Ring Cup final was overshadowed by the bizarre decision to fix it as a stand-alone fixture at Croke Park on a Friday evening. Neither finalist was happy with this arrangement, and so it was eventually agreed by both to play the final in Tullamore. Lough Lene Gaels clubman McNicholas scored an early goal for the second game running as Westmeath stormed into a 1-5 to 0-3 lead after 12 minutes. But a goal from Craig Doyle four minutes later helped turn a five-point deficit into a two-point lead for Carlow before Brendan Murtagh hit the final two points of the half to send the sides into the break level on 1-10 each. Despite their strong finish to the first half, Westmeath failed to score for 13 minutes after the restart as Carlow took complete control. During this period, the south Leinster men played some superb hurling and were rewarded with two goals inside a minute from Doyle and Robert Foley. Carlow led by six points deep in injury-time, but the holders weren't going to give up their crown easily and after John Shaw's goal brought them to within three, the outstanding Murtagh brought his tally for the day to 2-10 when he blasted home a penalty to force extra-time. But after surviving a penalty miss from Murtagh in the first period of extra-time, Carlow came good in the second period with two massive frees from centre back Shane Kavanagh helping to finally break Westmeath's resolve and give them a 3-22 to 4-16 victory. Westmeath, whose Ring Cup bid hadn't been helped by the absence of key players such as Enda Loughlin, Joe Clarke, Ronan Whelan, Niall Kilcoyne and long-term injury victim Killian Cosgrave, showed further signs of progress in this year's restructured NHL under new manager Eamonn Gallagher, and are looking forward to the Christy Ring Cup with real optimism. Tweet

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