After winning the Fr Manning Cup for the first time in seven years in 2006, Westmeath had to be content with the runners-up spot last year. Meanwhile, Dublin ended their involvement in the Gerry Reilly Cup with an extra-time victory. Over the years Westmeath's under 16 footballers have enjoyed a fair degree of success, but in 2007 they failed to win either the Gerry Reilly or Fr Manning Cup tournaments despite a gallant effort. After losing to Meath in their opening game of the Gerry Reilly Memorial tournament in Oldcastle, Westmeath recovered to beat Kildare. But an extra-time defeat to Dublin put paid to their hopes of renewing acquaintances with the Royals in the final. In the Fr Manning Cup, which almost didn't take place due to a Croke Park ruling limiting the number of teams who can partake in an inter-county tournament, the Lake County recorded wins over Offaly, Longford and Sligo before losing the final to Roscommon, again after extra-time. Despite ending the year empty-handed, the Westmeath team showed plenty of promise and the same players will hope to go on to achieve bigger things in the Leinster minor championship next year. As in 2006, the under 16s were managed last year by Tubberclair man John Fagan. There was a slight change to his backroom team which saw Kilbeggan's Liam McDaniel replace Tubberclair's Danny Sammon as a selector. The Downs' Johnny Murray and Kieran Galvin of Castledaly continued in their roles as selector and coordinator respectively. Incidentally, the same management will take charge of the county minors this year. Westmeath and Meath have had some memorable clashes in the Gerry Reilly Memorial tournament down the years, but last year's meeting was a largely forgettable affair with both sides cancelling each other out for the most part. Padraig McKeever scored the game's only goal in the seventh minute and it helped Meath to a 1-3 to 0-4 interval lead. The margin separating the sides was still two points with five minutes remaining, but the Royals got the last two scores to win by 1-9 to 0-8. Westmeath looked to be heading out of the tournament when they trailed Kildare by 0-1 to 0-4 in the early stages of their next outing at Gilson Park, but battled back to lead by 0-8 to 0-6 at half-time. The maroons were hanging onto a one point lead in injury-time when a mistake by the Kildare goalkeeper Mark Murphy allowed Eoin Gorman to score the only goal to give John Fagan's side a 1-12 to 0-11 victory. Against Dublin in their final game, Westmeath were four points up with six minutes remaining, but a late 1-1 from the Metropolitans forced extra-time. Dublin powered into a five-point lead in the first period of extra-time, and though Westmeath rallied well in the second period, they ran out of time as the boys from the capital held on for a 2-11 to 1-13 victory. A fortnight later, Westmeath opened their Fr Manning Cup campaign with a 1-13 to 2-6 win over Offaly at Cusack Park. Such a result appeared unlikely after Offaly had stormed into a 2-4 to 0-3 lead after just 10 minutes. But the home side refused to panic and went into the break leading by 1-8 to 2-4, and never relinquished their advantage thereafter. Westmeath's biggest win of the year came at the expense of Longford in the next round at Pearse Park. Goals from Stuart Flynn, Callum McCormack and Alan Fitzpatrick helped them to a facile 3-18 to 0-9 victory. The Lake County clinched their place in the final one week later when they overcame Sligo by 1-14 to 0-4 at Cusack Park. Westmeath were always in control, leading by 0-8 to 0-3 at half-time, and they sealed an easy win when substitute Stephen Noonan goaled late on. The final at Longford's Michael Fay Park on August 15 was a repeat of the 2006 decider, which Westmeath won, and thus revenge was very much on the mind of the Roscommon players. Roscommon were the better team overall but their wastefulness in front of goal allowed Stuart Flynn to salvage extra-time for Westmeath with a late equalizing point. The Connacht side finally made their dominance count in extra-time, scoring three points without reply, to secure a 0-10 to 0-7 victory. Westmeath regrouped for the Leinster tournament in October which yielded wins over Wicklow and Kildare and a defeat to Wexford. The Westmeath team that faced Roscommon in the Fr Manning Cup final was: Sean McCormack; Paul Carey, Ciaran Sheridan, Trevor Farrell; Ben Moran, Adam Browne, Shane Mulvihill; Ger Egan, Alan Fitzpatrick; Adam Ward, Wayne Fox, Cormac Boyle; Callum McCormack, Robert Kenny, Stuart Flynn. Subs used: Kevin Maguire, Stephen Noonan, Shane Flanagan and Eoin Slevin. Tweet

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