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I been on this thread a good while and always agree with what you have to say and the way you try and find positivity for westmeath hurling but you have to call it as it is and can't cover up this, the whole setup is a shambles,this is two weeks in a row the team has died in the second half, lack of fitness or belief or whatever,the team is good enough to comfortably stay in this,this could set back hurling in the county twenty years if they go down and it's most definitely likely now
preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 778 - 02/03/2025 21:49:09 2594290 Link 0 |
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Where's the proof that this team is good enough to stay in the division? Where do we get these notions from? On what basis? Results don't lie, we've lost every game and let's be honest we haven't been close to winning one of them. Knowledgeable hurling people in the county are just hoping we can stay in McDonagh, maybe division 3 hurling next year is a chance to blood new hungry players. We have 5-6 of today's panel nearing the end of their careers at this level. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2042 - 02/03/2025 22:37:44 2594299 Link 0 |
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I don't disagree at all that relegation would be a massive setback for us.I was if you check opposed to Bulfin's appointment supporting Johnny Grenville but that's water under the bridge and we can't blame a new manager 3 months into the job.If Jogger and Egerton were playing we would have won our last 2 games but we are Westmeath with 15 clubs so don't have those replacements. I believe underage hurling up to minor has never been better in the county so now in a moment of crisis we must have cool heads and make sure there is no panic in hurling circles.Also our support has been pathetic we need to get people out supporting us. I still think if we can get everyone fit we will be serious candidates to win Mcdonagh. Not all of the players are unfit so they need to work on those who aren't. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1642 - 03/03/2025 07:53:49 2594319 Link 0 |
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This period of transition was coming and we knew it was but despite that I still believe this current management team have failed to get the best out of the players. There's enough talent there to stay in this division. I agree with jobber that despite the major disappointment we are experiencing now at senior level that it's most definitely not all doom and gloom. The underage has been the strongest it has been in quiet some time, development squads have plenty of talent and the minors this year have lots of potential. This is mostly down to St Mary's who as I've mentioned already have a number of teams competing and winning at A level now. It's going to take us another 3/4 years to climb back up but I believe there is enough talented young players on the panel at the moment and enough coming down the line to see us back competing at a higher level. I don't buy the notion it'll set us back 20 years that's an exaggeration. Offaly were Christy Ring only a few years ago and now look where they are.
Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 998 - 03/03/2025 09:20:13 2594333 Link 1 |
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I amongst others have mentioned transition periods almost every couple of years. To a degree, it's true as we've always relied on special players to hang around until they are pushing 40. Then struggled to bring through new talent as they retired. Frequent management changes are the way business is done at intercounty these days. So there is always an element of transition due to lack of continuity. Have we enough talent to stay in the division? Yes on paper but it's conditional to having our house in order. Solid backroom, player availability, support from clubs/board and crucially player buy-in. If we don't have everything more or less in sync then we are relying on other counties to fail. Exclude Dublin and Waterford. We've beaten or been clipped by the other teams for the last number of years. It's always been the case of 1 of Carlow, Antrim, Laois and a resurgent Offaly being promoted/demoted - not unlike our own Senior B clubs going straight back down. Rinse, repeat and little chance of being relegated to 3rd rung. Even in a bad year, there was always a weaker Down, Kildare or Meath team to beat and stay in the 2nd tier. Since the league re-shuffle that's safety net is gone and we are caught on the hop by a very competitive group. There are green shoots at underage and with any luck some of these teams will produce a few gems. It's 9 years since that u21 team famously downed Eddie Brennan's Kilkenny. That team supplied a number of familiar names who've featured prominently at senior level since then. However, we haven't looked like kicking on from there at underage. That's just a singular performance but it's not a breakthrough. We need to see a minor or u20 team in a Leinster final to show a real breakthrough. Then to sustain this with consistently competitive teams. We're definitely not sent 20 years in reverse but it is a setback. As a county we should use this to take stock and really plan for the future. There's no hail mary galactico or Davy Fitz intervention that could rescue things. We have to be grounded and look for solutions inside the county boundaries. gedupoutofit (Westmeath) - Posts: 176 - 03/03/2025 17:17:20 2594512 Link 0 |