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This was a horrible performance completely different to Kilkenny not even a hint of defiance.The only positives I could see was Doyles freetaking maybe Mitchell and Jogger who went off injured.A major worry for next week.We desperately need Aonghus Clarke and Dara Egerton back. Everyone will need to get together now as Dublin will be on a huge high after Wexford. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1445 - 24/04/2022 09:19:16 2412652 Link 0 |
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I was listening to the game on Galway Bay fm, according to the commentary team westmeath won the toss and elected to play against the wind, even they were baffled by it.
preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 733 - 24/04/2022 11:43:10 2412695 Link 0 |
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Yeah I agree we are more competitive in Cusack Park given the tight pitch and also the players being very familiar with it. I may be over optimistic but I would feel that of the players I mentioned, Aonghus Clarke, Darragh Egerton, Liam Varley, Gary Greville and maybe Josh Coll (he has showed up well against the big teams before) would have made a difference. We all wrote off the Galway game and knew we would be on the end of a bad beating but I think when it happens your just more disappointed. We have to be realistic now, a couple of good performances in Mullingar against Dublin and Wexford would be nice before the Relegation battle with Laois. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 769 - 24/04/2022 14:34:04 2412728 Link 0 |
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Puzzled by this, are you saying that TEG Cusack Park is not the correct size? I would have though that for a Senior Championship match the pitch must be regulation size regardless of where it is on.
Meridian (Westmeath) - Posts: 601 - 25/04/2022 10:45:59 2412981 Link 0 |
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Not all pitches are same size. Look at likes of Milltown versus Tyrrellspass, pitch must be a minimum length and width and there's a maximum too. Same in most field sports, American Football an obvious outlier. The gap between the 2 65s in pitches is the indicator, in Cusack Park it's no more than 6-7 metres, on other pitches it could be 17-18 metres. The terrace sideline versus Kilkenny had two lines, one approx 2 metres further infield than the other one which was quite faint. Nothing wrong with this tactic, teams set up to suit themselves and we need to condense the space against top teams. Waterford hurlers prefer the spaces of Thurles than Walsh Park which apparently has tight confines. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1478 - 25/04/2022 11:43:35 2413016 Link 0 |
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Shur it must have been like 'Any Given Sunday' in the dressing room before the game. The Westmeath manager like Al Pacino telling the lads to go out and fight for those inches against the wind. Telling them this crucial round robin game is like living or dying for those inches against the wind in Galway. Meanwhile Galway just take the wind advantge with bemusement and proceed to build up a cricket score because hurling hasn't operate in the mindset of fighting for inches since the 50's when a soggy ball weighed half a ton while the modern hurling ball was being pinged over the bar from the opponents half back line. We use metric now lads. RadioactiveTan (UK) - Posts: 28 - 27/04/2022 08:35:48 2413483 Link 0 |
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Still no team named for tomorrow, is it a secret or what?? CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 30/04/2022 20:53:30 2414260 Link 0 |
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What's the story with minor hurlers? Absolutely annihilated this morning by Carlow. A 26 point defeat. Worrying times at underage level after the minor footballers' abject display on Wednesday Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1478 - 30/04/2022 21:43:10 2414271 Link 0 |
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Hopefully tactics tomorrow are slightly more thought out than last weekend when the inexplicable decision to play against the wind was made. Whoever decided this should explain their thinking. The game was effectively over after ten mins. Underdogs have always utilised the conditions in any sport from the outset. To hand Galway this advantage at home was mind boggling. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1478 - 30/04/2022 21:58:15 2414276 Link 0 |
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Minor hurlers i cant understand.Should have beaten Laois last week who beat Wexford yesterday.Totally agree with last weeks crazy decisions.
jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1445 - 01/05/2022 07:04:06 2414278 Link 0 |
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I believe this was a vastly different team that beat Carlow away in the Leinster championship by 9 pts and lost by a point or two to Laois last weekend. I guess this competition is not important to the management with so many players left out. I also heard some of the prominent players are u16 still, so maybe they were let back to play with their own age group. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 769 - 01/05/2022 09:05:49 2414287 Link 0 |
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Very worrying times for hurling the county, our minor and under 20 teams are as far behind the standard of the top tier as the seniors. It is hard to ever see Westmeath hurling compete at the top table. You only just posted a comment last week about how good it was to see the spread of clubs being represented at minor, but alas the general standard coming through in this spread seems relatively weak. I really think it represents an overall malaise regarding the standard in general across all grades in the county
CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 01/05/2022 12:54:01 2414346 Link 0 |
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I don't think you have good insight into the underage at the moment, their is talent at minor and u20 in the county. There is good young players between u13 and u16 also. Your going off a result against Carlow who we already beat by almost 10 points in the Leinster championship. Clearly management just used this mickey mouse tournament to give some other fringe players a chance at game time after training hard and committing all year. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 769 - 01/05/2022 16:46:45 2414398 Link 1 |
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Anyone know what's going on with Jack Gillen, he was one of the best players in the league but hasn't seen any championship game time. We had chances today....... Bigjoe1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 38 - 01/05/2022 17:54:47 2414421 Link 0 |
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Anyone who thinks we're progressing at minor or under 20 hurling definitely has no concept of what's actually happening at club level and by extension at inter county level. At minor level we are way behind likes of Offaly, Dublin, Wexford and Kilkenny and Laois beat us albeit by only four points. Our 20s beat Carlow but Wexford easily beat us at home in Leinster and they looked an average team. Offaly comprehensively beat our 20s in a challenge game, the standard at underage club level is distinctly average, the odd player stands out but other sports are clearly gaining traction. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1478 - 01/05/2022 18:23:57 2414437 Link 0 |
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Well Dheen, the insight I have is that I'm looking at underage hurling matches from one end of the week to the other and I most definitely am not basing opinions on one match. There are talented hurlers at all ages, no doubting that, but it is one thing showing to be strong at local level within a county and another thing entirely when compared to the standard bearers at inter county level. We have very few competitive underage clubs in the county (same as adult level) and most clubs have one or two prominent players doing all the spadework, usually but not always the biggest and strongest lads at each age level. When brought together for inter county there are simply not enough of them and then they are finding that compared to the top counties they are no longer the biggest or strongest or most skilful. The players simply aren't there. Sixty percent of our hurling clubs have to amalgamate to field at underage level. Nearly half of our adult clubs are bunched in one corner in the north of the county and not one of them competitive at senior championship level. There are three clubs in the south with over half the county to pick out of and still not competitive at senior level. Where are the players going to come from? CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 03/05/2022 11:36:54 2414514 Link 0 |
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That "average" Wexford still in the u21 final all the same :), have beaten Laois and Dublin now too..
preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 733 - 03/05/2022 13:44:39 2414586 Link 1 |
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Wexford won both games by a point, obviously easily could have lost. Still think they're an average team, maybe they'll beat Kilkenny and go on to win the All Ireland but doubt it. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1478 - 03/05/2022 21:18:14 2414754 Link 0 |
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I think our biggest problem in 2022 is that we have too much respect for these teams.Last Sunday we were 12-11 down at half time after hitting eight wides.But in the second half players who would have scored goals with their eyes closed either shot wide or chickened out and passed.We really need to beat Laois and realise these teams 8-10 are in our range. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1445 - 04/05/2022 19:23:12 2414931 Link 2 |
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Whilst it is good to be optimistic, it is also necessary to be realistic… I would say that teams 10-12 is where we need to be looking. Teams 1-9 Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford, Dublin, Waterford, Tipperary, Limerick, Clare and Cork are most definitely outside our range as it stands. If we were to participate in a mini league with say Antrim, Laois and Offaly, I would expect that at the moment we might win 1 out of 3 on a given day, so this group is tentatively within our range and these are the teams we should be setting our initial sights on matching consistently. Our current level as it stands is more in line with Kerry, Down, Carlow to be fair, which is what our recent league campaign would suggest.
CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 05/05/2022 16:57:21 2415106 Link 0 |