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Westmeath Football thread

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Replying To Fighting-Cocks69: "Come here, I'm sure you've heard it all yes indeed, but if you read the report Damien Maher wrote on Westmeath inter-county expenditure, you'll see they received €254,212 in sponsorship, which is massive. This includes the companies I mentioned earlier, plus Clarke's Bar, Slevin Coaches, KC Sports, and Mullingar Autos. i was just pointing out majority is coming from one part of it." 250K is not massive for a county sponsorship. Kerry, Mayo, Donegal, Dublin all spent between 1 and 1.5 million last season on county teams. 250k wouldn't cover expenses from start of year to end of the league. Agree with you that the county board should be reaching out more to companies in Athlone such as PPD, 3M, Alkermes, Alexion (now Astra Zenecca). Chops (Westmeath) - Posts: 787 - 02/04/2025 15:58:42 2600149 Link
Where does south vs North Westmeath Start can someone explain because i have been looking at the map and not clear,old maps broke it down south and north but Tyrellespass and rochfortbridge were south but i would consider this to be north even though there very close to Offaly. Also Rathconrath in the south of this Map if correct 11 of the u20s team who lined out last week are from the south of the county and 4 from the north and at senior level who started vs roscommon there would only be 5 from the south and 10 from the north. From the minor team that started vs Meath 4 from the south and 11 from the north of the county. In All of those 3 squads only 2 starter's from Athlone/ Garrycastle and only 1 more on any of the 3 panels, thats a worrying stat. PowellJohn3 (Westmeath) - Posts: 75 - 02/04/2025 16:09:14 2600152 Link
Replying To Chops: "250K is not massive for a county sponsorship. Kerry, Mayo, Donegal, Dublin all spent between 1 and 1.5 million last season on county teams. 250k wouldn't cover expenses from start of year to end of the league. Agree with you that the county board should be reaching out more to companies in Athlone such as PPD, 3M, Alkermes, Alexion (now Astra Zenecca)." The CB should hold off approaching any of the pharma companies in Athlone until tomorrow.....Mr Trump might have an impact on their longevity tonight ExiledCuCu (Cavan) - Posts: 253 - 02/04/2025 16:10:22 2600153 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "Let us know when Mullingar Town's underage system gets underway so. Must be twenty years since they had a team" They have just started their second season ,with players from Shandonagh,The Downs,St Lomans ,Mullingar Shamrocks ,Ballynacargy,Bunbrona, Killucan,St Oliver Plunketts,Clonkill,Cullion,Raharney and all these clubs field GAA underage . Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 265 - 02/04/2025 16:12:17 2600155 Link
Replying To Temple56: "There are some great points regarding sponsorship. A significant portion of county boards' sponsorship comes from businesses based in Mullingar, so why is this the case? There are large companies in Athlone that support local teams. For example, AirCoach sponsored Athlone GAA last year, and now they are sponsored by Dead Centre Brewing. Ganly's Hardware has been sponsoring Garrycastle for years, while Caulry has Egans Pub, Tubberclair has Spollens, and Castleday has been sponsored by both Heavins and Duffy Contractors in recent years. Do TUS Athlone (formerly Athlone IT) sponsor Westmeath GAA at all? When looking at Carlow GAA, their main sponsor is SETU Carlow (formerly Carlow IT). If TUS were based in Mullingar, there would likely be a strong connection between the college and the county board. So, why can't that happen since it's located in Athlone?" Perhaps it's a self fulfilling prophecy, more mullingar sponsors lead to a perceived "mullingar bias" leading to more potential sponsors from south Westmeath not seeing it worth sponsoring our county. Good point r.e. the college as if I'm not mistaken the Midwest branch of TUS also sponsor the naming of the Gaelic grounds in Limerick. But once again could be due to almost none of the county's activities being in the colleges town (athlone) Iakecounty90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 4 - 02/04/2025 16:32:10 2600161 Link
Big game for the u20s in Kinnegad this evening v Meath-hope a good crowd come out to support the lads Bruno@1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 254 - 02/04/2025 18:01:58 2600172 Link
Replying To PowellJohn3: "Where does south vs North Westmeath Start can someone explain because i have been looking at the map and not clear,old maps broke it down south and north but Tyrellespass and rochfortbridge were south but i would consider this to be north even though there very close to Offaly. Also Rathconrath in the south of this Map if correct 11 of the u20s team who lined out last week are from the south of the county and 4 from the north and at senior level who started vs roscommon there would only be 5 from the south and 10 from the north. From the minor team that started vs Meath 4 from the south and 11 from the north of the county. In All of those 3 squads only 2 starter's from Athlone/ Garrycastle and only 1 more on any of the 3 panels, thats a worrying stat." Draw a line from Killuagh to Loughagar to Sonna to Laragh Hil.........every village above that line is North Westmeath......therefore, yes Rathconrath is in the south of the county.....and do you know what.......so is Mullingar :) .....now what are we going to argue about ? ExiledCuCu (Cavan) - Posts: 253 - 02/04/2025 18:09:36 2600173 Link
Replying To Chops: "250K is not massive for a county sponsorship. Kerry, Mayo, Donegal, Dublin all spent between 1 and 1.5 million last season on county teams. 250k wouldn't cover expenses from start of year to end of the league. Agree with you that the county board should be reaching out more to companies in Athlone such as PPD, 3M, Alkermes, Alexion (now Astra Zenecca)." Ericsson too probably as big or bigger than them all put together. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 02/04/2025 18:31:59 2600181 Link
Replying To Iakecounty90: "Perhaps it's a self fulfilling prophecy, more mullingar sponsors lead to a perceived "mullingar bias" leading to more potential sponsors from south Westmeath not seeing it worth sponsoring our county. Good point r.e. the college as if I'm not mistaken the Midwest branch of TUS also sponsor the naming of the Gaelic grounds in Limerick. But once again could be due to almost none of the county's activities being in the colleges town (athlone)" Didn't the county footballers use the colleges pitches for a while for training? Chops (Westmeath) - Posts: 787 - 02/04/2025 19:24:22 2600188 Link
Disappointing first half-definitely an eye-opener and a reality check on where we're at. To be fair, we couldn't have expected much more after playing teams like Offaly, Carlow, Fermanagh, and Wexford in preparation-not exactly top-quality opposition by looking at scores in their opening games. Honestly, we're lucky to be only 8 points down at halftime. Meath have some superb players-Armstrong, McIvor, Martyn, and Cokery are all flying it, especially McIvor, who's been outstanding. They should definitely have had another two-pointer too-that was a bad call by the ref. On our side, I hate to be negative, but we look a bit soft and are getting bullied on our own kickouts. Ormsby and Connell are doing well, and Duncan and Corcoran have had plenty of chances but just can't seem to get it over the bar-same with Kelly, a few poor misses off the ground. the final pass is killing us as we have created chances. The most disappointing part was right at the end when we had a goal chance on the last play of the half and didn't go for it. Being 8 points down, we had to go for the jugular there. Hopefully, things will change in the second half, but it's not looking great at the moment, unfortunately Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 02/04/2025 20:10:43 2600202 Link
u20s left it all on the pitch tonight . We were ten nothing down in a blink of an eye. You just cant give teams a head start like that. We competed very well on kickouts I thought and had we taken a couple of those goal chances we wouldve been back in the game . I felt we created better chances throughout the game but seriously lacked any composure. Kealan Connell was making great runs forward, Taylor Slevin too. Good players but need to show more control on the ball and not be rushing shots. Meath physically streets ahead of us and took some brilliant scores. The six Meath forwards were better than anything we had to offer. A_Chairde (Westmeath) - Posts: 284 - 02/04/2025 21:32:47 2600215 Link
Replying To Chops: "Didn't the county footballers use the colleges pitches for a while for training?" Valid point, I believe the seniors do sporadically use their facilities still. Iakecounty90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 4 - 02/04/2025 21:51:00 2600217 Link
Hard to know what reaction to have to that under 20 match, trailed 0-10 to 0-0, never looked like winning it but missed three more than decent goal opportunities, had four different free takers, at least 7-8 wides and five or six more shots dropped short, indiscipline in second half cost us too. Meath a bigger side but we definitely could have scored 2-17 while they never created a goal chance. Our kicking for points was markedly inferior as even a Meath wide was kicked with force and conviction, ours in first half lacked confidence. Shane Ormsby, Shane Corcoran and Jack Duncan in second half, Ronan Murray and Sean Dillon our most prominent tonight. Tough task to travel to Parnell Park next Wednesday needing to beat Dubs to qualify. Credit to Kinnegad club tonight, outstanding stewarding, car park organisation, facilities, pitch was immaculate, lots of club members in club jackets to assist. They certainly showed their club in the best possible light. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2091 - 02/04/2025 22:40:29 2600235 Link
Replying To Fighting-Cocks69: "Disappointing first half-definitely an eye-opener and a reality check on where we're at. To be fair, we couldn't have expected much more after playing teams like Offaly, Carlow, Fermanagh, and Wexford in preparation-not exactly top-quality opposition by looking at scores in their opening games. Honestly, we're lucky to be only 8 points down at halftime. Meath have some superb players-Armstrong, McIvor, Martyn, and Cokery are all flying it, especially McIvor, who's been outstanding. They should definitely have had another two-pointer too-that was a bad call by the ref. On our side, I hate to be negative, but we look a bit soft and are getting bullied on our own kickouts. Ormsby and Connell are doing well, and Duncan and Corcoran have had plenty of chances but just can't seem to get it over the bar-same with Kelly, a few poor misses off the ground. the final pass is killing us as we have created chances. The most disappointing part was right at the end when we had a goal chance on the last play of the half and didn't go for it. Being 8 points down, we had to go for the jugular there. Hopefully, things will change in the second half, but it's not looking great at the moment, unfortunately" How many goal chances do we need? gerry1414 (Dublin) - Posts: 56 - 02/04/2025 22:51:03 2600239 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "Hard to know what reaction to have to that under 20 match, trailed 0-10 to 0-0, never looked like winning it but missed three more than decent goal opportunities, had four different free takers, at least 7-8 wides and five or six more shots dropped short, indiscipline in second half cost us too. Meath a bigger side but we definitely could have scored 2-17 while they never created a goal chance. Our kicking for points was markedly inferior as even a Meath wide was kicked with force and conviction, ours in first half lacked confidence. Shane Ormsby, Shane Corcoran and Jack Duncan in second half, Ronan Murray and Sean Dillon our most prominent tonight. Tough task to travel to Parnell Park next Wednesday needing to beat Dubs to qualify. Credit to Kinnegad club tonight, outstanding stewarding, car park organisation, facilities, pitch was immaculate, lots of club members in club jackets to assist. They certainly showed their club in the best possible light." When asked for their facilities they oblige and then they supply stewards etc ,its possible you know that's why they get these games not some North/South bias. Im told TUS would be used more often only it never seems to be available when asked for . Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 265 - 03/04/2025 11:32:09 2600306 Link
Replying To gerry1414: "How many goal chances do we need?" We didn't need any more than we had-we easily threw away 2-8 from play and another 4 or 5 from dead balls. One thing I've noticed between the 20s and seniors is the sheer number of free-takers we've used throughout the campaign. Against Meath in Cusack Park, we had about 34 players trying to hit frees and 45s-that's something we seriously need to sort out before the Dublin and Kildare games. The second half was way better, and I definitely think Slevin and Callaghan should be starting next Wednesday. I wouldn't be too worried about Dublin either -they were only a point up at halftime against Offaly, Definitely there for the taking if we can get scores on the board and both management and players avoid disciplinary issues.The main difference yesterday was that every single Meath forward got on the score sheet at least twice-that's impressive going and something we need to match Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 03/04/2025 12:28:09 2600315 Link
The U20's will do well again in the B competition against teams of a similar standard. Meath were virtually home and hosed with two thirds of the game still to play. Our half back line was virtually non existent and allowed the Meath forwards time and space like it was a shooting practice. We're light years behind Meath at underage level. In the last 2 years at U20 they've whipped us by an easy 7 points. In the last two 2 years at U17 they've beaten us by 7 and 12 points. iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 142 - 03/04/2025 12:40:22 2600323 Link
Replying To Thechick: "When asked for their facilities they oblige and then they supply stewards etc ,its possible you know that's why they get these games not some North/South bias. Im told TUS would be used more often only it never seems to be available when asked for ." I think we tend to get the wrong idea about the actual purpose of AIT/TUS and how the college facilities are used. From October to early March, the main focus is on supporting the college sports teams by providing pitches and facilities to host games. This has become increasingly evident as teams like the Sigerson Cup squad and others have grown more successful-especially after the Trench Cup win-and they're clearly recruiting decent players every year. Seemingly rugby soccer, and hurling is growing steadily in the college too. Outside of those months, however, they seem to operate more like a business by renting out their facilities. For example, Connacht Rugby underage system or club teams from Mayo and Galway might use the pitches midweek to avoid long commutes for players based in Dublin, which is pretty common with college and work commitments. I could be wrong, but that's just my guess. I do feel that we should have some sort of agreement in place-if we want to use the facilities, we should get priority over clubs or teams from outside Westmeath. This is especially important considering that the majority of coaches working with the fresher and senior teams there are Westmeath-based. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 03/04/2025 12:40:42 2600324 Link
Scoring or taking your chances was the difference between the 2 sides last night.Meath's first 9 shots produced 7 pts÷1 two pointer and 1 wide=9 pts Westmeaths first 9 shots produced 6 wides and 3 fell short=0 pts Meath physically stronger and moved the ball quicker but our lads stuck at it and were very good in second half-3 great goal chances and a lot of wides.If 50% of those efforts raise a flag we win the game but you gave to take your chances-last wednesday against Offaly we were scoring but unfortunately not last night.There is great potential in that squad so hopefully they go on and push for places on the senior squad-I think they are good enough. Bruno@1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 254 - 03/04/2025 12:43:09 2600325 Link