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Westmeath Hurling thread

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Replying To Dheen: "Just a word on Joe Fortune, manager's get criticised when things don't go to plan so it's only fair to give the man the praise he deserves, he has been fantastic all year and seems to have a great relationship with the players. Winning 2A with a comprehensive win against Down in Thurles, putting in some super displays of hurling against the top teams in the championship, earning a memorable draw vs Wexford and then the emphatic win over Laois yesterday. He also seems to have a plan in place for all the young players we have coming through, they seem to be working alongside our seniors. I'd imagine a lot of the focus with these lads is on S&C. The players deserve massive credit of course, but Joe and his management team do equally. Hopefully we can see the return of Liam Varley, Shane Clavin, Josh Coll and Gary Greville along with the addition of 2/3 of the younger lads, and I'm convinced we can make further progress next year with this management team." Nice to see a bit of belief seeping in also. Its so often a vital missing ingredient in teams that are nearly there. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 11827 - 22/05/2022 12:34:35 2419365 Link
Replying To jobber: "Firstly thanks for all the congrats from our friends in Carlow,Kerry Kildare and Offaly.We all know what a great competition Joe Mcdonagh is and our two final defeats helped our guys to get the mental strength we have shown in the last eighteen months.I have no doubt we can make more progress as almost all of these lads should be around in 2023 and we have some serious talent at under 20.The 14s,15's and 16s are all good and now have a team to look up to.Iarmhi abu and here to all the good hurling folk of Carlow,Kildare,Offaly,Laois,Kerry and Antrim who we all know like ourselves are trying so hard to make it to that top 9" That's what it's all about Jobber. When Westmeath get results it pushes Carlow, Kerry and Antrim on to do the same. I agree with you about the JoeMc being a great competition. Look at the three matches yesterday with everything in the balance going into injury time. Didn't work out for us but we have wins this year over Offaly and Westmeath to build on for next year. Look forward to getting up their for a club match at some point this year of past draws are anything to go by. carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 22/05/2022 12:48:24 2419377 Link
Congrats Westmeath and not a bit surprised. Ye deserved better faith against us last year and out played Waterford for 60 minutes. There has to be stepping stones now. Competitive against the top few and beating the next layer. It is not necessarily all this team but who can be developed to boost them. I hope someone takes this gem and polishes it. Whether it is the county board, team management or good sponsors coming to the plate and recognizing the potential. A great fan of yere hurling since college years. Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2658 - 22/05/2022 14:37:19 2419400 Link
Great achievement by all involved and some improvement over the course of the season, I would say that the championship results defied odds based on early season performances but the squad really upped their levels when it counted and the results were just rewards for the performances. The challenge now is to maintain these standards, introduce consistency, and push on more and cement the standing in the leinster championship and try to become a mainstay in division 1. CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 270 - 22/05/2022 15:10:56 2419420 Link
Replying To CleanShoulder: "Great achievement by all involved and some improvement over the course of the season, I would say that the championship results defied odds based on early season performances but the squad really upped their levels when it counted and the results were just rewards for the performances. The challenge now is to maintain these standards, introduce consistency, and push on more and cement the standing in the leinster championship and try to become a mainstay in division 1." Brilliant to see. Onwards and upwards. Well done to all involved Onionbagger (Westmeath) - Posts: 77 - 22/05/2022 21:13:41 2419546 Link
Replying To Canuck: "Congrats Westmeath and not a bit surprised. Ye deserved better faith against us last year and out played Waterford for 60 minutes. There has to be stepping stones now. Competitive against the top few and beating the next layer. It is not necessarily all this team but who can be developed to boost them. I hope someone takes this gem and polishes it. Whether it is the county board, team management or good sponsors coming to the plate and recognizing the potential. A great fan of yere hurling since college years." great post thank you.We have to look after the young players coming through and focus on achievable targets in 23 such as maintaning division 1 status and winning 5 points in next years round robin. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1456 - 23/05/2022 18:19:21 2419844 Link
Attention now turns to the club championship after a very positive year for the county. I'm particularly interested to see how some of the young players fair with their clubs. Davy Williams and Kevin Hogan for the Gaels, Darragh McCormack and Conor Gaffney for Pollard, Rhian Holding and Josh Murtagh for Clonkill, David Maloney, Peter Clarke and David O'Reilly for Castletown. I will be keeping an eye on these players as I think they can stand out, all very talented young hurlers. It's hard to tell anything by the club leagues, so we won't know how each club are looking until there are a couple of championship games under the belt. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 27/05/2022 21:45:33 2420547 Link
Definitely some players with potential there, it's a big step up to senior championship, some of those lads might feature at intermediate or junior championship initially before being introduced as subs at senior level. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1488 - 28/05/2022 11:26:56 2420571 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "Definitely some players with potential there, it's a big step up to senior championship, some of those lads might feature at intermediate or junior championship initially before being introduced as subs at senior level." Yeah I'd imagine we will see some of those young players come in towards the latter stages of championship as is so often the case. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 28/05/2022 14:27:44 2420602 Link
Division 1 hurling league final this Saturday, Castletown Geoghegan vs Lough Lene Gaels. This should be a good game, interesting to see how many of the county players feature. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 16/06/2022 11:31:52 2425326 Link
Was great to see Offaly win last night but ud have to wonder how far off we are from say an Offaly at underage. Offaly and Laois met in d leinster final this year, 2 similar sized, poululations, dual counties as ourselves, with Kk Dublin and Wexford all beaten along the way. My Point is that its clear to see the work going on at underage in Offaly. Anybody who drives through Kilcormac will see their set up, envious to say the least. Meanwhile our Co board are trying to fix the nets in Cusack Park to stop losing so many balls during games............. Bigjoe1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 38 - 18/06/2022 09:58:29 2425704 Link
Replying To Bigjoe1: "Was great to see Offaly win last night but ud have to wonder how far off we are from say an Offaly at underage. Offaly and Laois met in d leinster final this year, 2 similar sized, poululations, dual counties as ourselves, with Kk Dublin and Wexford all beaten along the way. My Point is that its clear to see the work going on at underage in Offaly. Anybody who drives through Kilcormac will see their set up, envious to say the least. Meanwhile our Co board are trying to fix the nets in Cusack Park to stop losing so many balls during games............." We have plenty of talented hurlers between u14-u16 at the moment, so there is good work going on. It's an awful pity we don't have a centre of excellence like many counties do, it'd be far more enticing for the young lads. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 18/06/2022 14:04:48 2425759 Link
The current crop of under 13s is a talented group. Clonkill, Raharney, Na Piarsaigh, Clann Na Gael and Cullion all capable sides. Definitely the makings of a competitive minor side in 3-4 years time. Work with county development squad will be vital for this group. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1488 - 18/06/2022 15:36:04 2425787 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "The current crop of under 13s is a talented group. Clonkill, Raharney, Na Piarsaigh, Clann Na Gael and Cullion all capable sides. Definitely the makings of a competitive minor side in 3-4 years time. Work with county development squad will be vital for this group." Yeah my own exact thoughts, we will potentially have two very competitive minor teams in a couple of years time but the work that's put in development wise in the meantime with these young lads will be very important. I seen the u14s had two teams out today against Carlow and beat them in both games, winning by 31 pts in one and 24 pts in the other. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 18/06/2022 17:30:46 2425836 Link
Replying To Dheen: "Yeah my own exact thoughts, we will potentially have two very competitive minor teams in a couple of years time but the work that's put in development wise in the meantime with these young lads will be very important. I seen the u14s had two teams out today against Carlow and beat them in both games, winning by 31 pts in one and 24 pts in the other." any word of 16s v Laois? jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1456 - 18/06/2022 18:41:51 2425870 Link
Replying To jobber: "any word of 16s v Laois?" Not quiet sure how they got on, I heard they drew and I also heard they lost by a point or two. The u16s have a few talented players, probably about 6/7 It's at u13, u14 and u15 that we appear to be strong having attended some games. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 21/06/2022 11:29:51 2426555 Link
Replying To Dheen: "Division 1 hurling league final this Saturday, Castletown Geoghegan vs Lough Lene Gaels. This should be a good game, interesting to see how many of the county players feature." Good win for the Gaels, CTG were missing a few. It was very hard to get updates during the game and the Division 2 final. The same story on Tuesday for IHC games. Obviously the county PRO can't attend all games, but I think with a bit of communication & help from club PRO's regular updates from games can be sorted. stonemadbeany (USA) - Posts: 542 - 23/06/2022 13:55:23 2427052 Link
Agree SMB. People love regular updates on club games, shouldn't be too difficult to organise one person at a venue to submit scores every 10-15 mins for Twitter Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1488 - 23/06/2022 17:51:58 2427120 Link
Replying To stonemadbeany: "Good win for the Gaels, CTG were missing a few. It was very hard to get updates during the game and the Division 2 final. The same story on Tuesday for IHC games. Obviously the county PRO can't attend all games, but I think with a bit of communication & help from club PRO's regular updates from games can be sorted." I believe Castletown were missing nearly a full team of players but still a good win for the Gaels and it'll give them confidence ahead of the championship. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 781 - 23/06/2022 18:50:43 2427132 Link
Castletown had 10-11 players who'd be expected to start in a significant championship game. Missing Niall O' Brien, Shane Clavin, Liam Varley and Naoise McKenna who were major losses but to suggest it was nearly second string side is unfair to the Gaels. The Gaels were missing a couple themselves and Derek McNicholas was injured for 20 mins. It was a boost for the Collinstown men and Buddha and his selectors will be mildly concerned that their younger players struggled to step up. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1488 - 24/06/2022 12:23:16 2427238 Link