National Forum

Westmeath Hurling thread

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "Utter nonsense. Our minors last year played games against very weak teams like Wicklow which served no purpose when it came to the sterner test in the knockout stages, one game against a Tier one opposition and we were eliminated, this year we have had gradual increase in difficulty with the Kerry game, then Offaly being a tougher challenge before we secured three matches against Tier 1 opponents, losing to Kilkenny didn't mean campaign was over as in previous years and yesterday showed that, we now face Laois looking for our fourth win, none of which came against Wicklow or Kildare who are very weak at minor. Ask the players what they think of the system and you'll get total approval. If you're that bothered contact Leinster council"
What other very weak team?

The system last year had an even better 'gradual increase in difficulty'.

The knock out game against tier 1 opposition was against the bottom team in the group.

Not sure how anyone could defend a system where a tean could win 3 out of 3 and get knocked out while up to 2 teams losing 3 out of 3 could go through.

Kind of explains where these systems come from I suppose.

Maroooned (Westmeath) - Posts: 13 - 26/04/2026 17:35:00    2668849

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "Utter nonsense. Our minors last year played games against very weak teams like Wicklow which served no purpose when it came to the sterner test in the knockout stages, one game against a Tier one opposition and we were eliminated, this year we have had gradual increase in difficulty with the Kerry game, then Offaly being a tougher challenge before we secured three matches against Tier 1 opponents, losing to Kilkenny didn't mean campaign was over as in previous years and yesterday showed that, we now face Laois looking for our fourth win, none of which came against Wicklow or Kildare who are very weak at minor. Ask the players what they think of the system and you'll get total approval. If you're that bothered contact Leinster council"
You are the one spouting nonsense. Firstly the 2025 minor championship has nothing to do with 2026 as the vast majority of the players are not eligible. If you have to seed teams it should be done on the basis of under 16 results.
Secondly any team entering any championship should do so on a level playing field which is clearly not the case as Kilkenny,Dublin,Wexford and Galway a non Leinster county were GUARANTEED THREE games, Westmeath were guaranteed ONE against another non Leinster county with a game under their belt.

I have spoken to players. Have you?

They are as young men shocked by this ludicrous championship where you dont play any matches against the teams in the group they are in.

Name me one successful championship run on this basis.
You are defending the indefensible and it appears to me you doth protest too much which opens up many scenarios as to why you are so aggressive in its defence.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1934 - 26/04/2026 18:42:42    2668903

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The system in principle seemed sound, at least the first phase anyway. Westmeath players getting more games and giving the so-called lesser lights a chance to build up a head of steam is a good thing. The first phase there was no issue with the system, bar the failure of certain counties not bothering to fulfil fixtures, which was not the Leinster Council's fault.

The problem is why did the Leinster Council make it this convoluted cross round robin thing for the second phase? I'm guessing it seemed like a great idea on paper, but nobody probably thought it through as to the potential permutations of running such a system in a single round robin format.

The whole set up reeks of the kind of snobbery or elitist mentality that exists in hurling. Like the bigger counties wouldn't reckon the third seeds could do anything to progress. It's like they're saying we don't need to plan out what happens if a third seed beats a second seed, so let's just adopt this cross system unthinkingly because it throws the minnows 1 game, probably the only game, that Laois or Westmeath will have a chance to win in the last round. Pure condescending stuff altogether.

If they'd just ran it as a normal round robin, without this stupid crossover thing, then you win a match on your side and you're guaranteed to progress. If we'd just played a normal round robin group with Kilkenny and Dublin, we'd be guaranteed to be in a Leinster semi final already. This year that means even if you lose your provincial semi final, you still progress to an All-Ireland series and get a chance to play one of the big Munster teams.

It's great beating Dublin at underage. Really kudos to the manager, the team and all the work and support that has been given to this group all along. But I think most Westmeath supporters would be far happier seeing this Westmeath team progress to the knock out phase of the championship rather than just taking a moral victory over Dublin.

If we end up going out through no fault of our own except this badly designed format what message dies that send to young Westmeath hurlers or Laois hurlers if it had been them in the same scenario? You're telling these young Westmeath lads playing for us we can make it through on merit, but then a team who lost to you gets rewarded even if they lose more games. Make it make sense like.

It's really silly that as well as now having to make sure we beat Laois ourselves, we are also relying on Kilkenny doing us a favour and beating Wexford just to make sure this good young Westmeath team gets a shot at more high-level hurling. It's complete nonsense and only speaks of the lip-service that's paid to developing hurling outside the top 10 'traditional' counties.

RadioactiveTan (UK) - Posts: 44 - 26/04/2026 19:26:51    2668919

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Replying To jobber:  "You are the one spouting nonsense. Firstly the 2025 minor championship has nothing to do with 2026 as the vast majority of the players are not eligible. If you have to seed teams it should be done on the basis of under 16 results.
Secondly any team entering any championship should do so on a level playing field which is clearly not the case as Kilkenny,Dublin,Wexford and Galway a non Leinster county were GUARANTEED THREE games, Westmeath were guaranteed ONE against another non Leinster county with a game under their belt.

I have spoken to players. Have you?

They are as young men shocked by this ludicrous championship where you dont play any matches against the teams in the group they are in.

Name me one successful championship run on this basis.
You are defending the indefensible and it appears to me you doth protest too much which opens up many scenarios as to why you are so aggressive in its defence."
Agree the person above does post fair stuff but this i agree with you its complete farce of a system it seems you cant question authority its nit dig county board its dig at some attiude tiwarda middle tier counties trying to improve.

Well said jobber

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1285 - 27/04/2026 11:21:16    2669124

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Competition format is a total farce. In Theory you could win all 3 games and be alimented while another county could loose all 3 and finish top of the group.
This format encapsulates the ineptitude of the apathy we have come a costume to. The format is indefensible Claret.

Well done to all involved huge result for westmeath hurling. Great to see.

Loughlenegale (Westmeath) - Posts: 30 - 27/04/2026 12:07:01    2669158

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Well done on your MHC result Saturday. Looks like you might have done us a favour. Big turn around form our game by the looks of the result.

Sloweddie (Kilkenny) - Posts: 22 - 27/04/2026 12:16:32    2669163

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Replying To Sloweddie:  "Well done on your MHC result Saturday. Looks like you might have done us a favour. Big turn around form our game by the looks of the result."
Ye might return the favour this weekend, if we can do the business ourselves against Laois in Portlaoise of course.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 1120 - 27/04/2026 14:22:33    2669242

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Replying To Sloweddie:  "Well done on your MHC result Saturday. Looks like you might have done us a favour. Big turn around form our game by the looks of the result."
Well please do us a favour and beat Wexford.
Also please in the interest of some form of fairness ask your board to play your game at the same time as Laois v Westmeath. Its hard to credit but Leinster have fixed our game at 12 noon with KK v WX at 2.
I am not going to say anything more about the organisation of this championship as i will be censored.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1934 - 27/04/2026 14:41:51    2669254

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Minor game vs Laois changed to 13.30 now, maybe the county board requested for it to be.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 1120 - 28/04/2026 11:07:46    2669453

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Replying To Dheen:  "Minor game vs Laois changed to 13.30 now, maybe the county board requested for it to be."
A bit of a help but still giving Wexford and Kilkenny an unfair advantage. If i was the Westmeath manager i would be slow to start both halves. If they dont give us fair play why should we give them respect. The players need to know they are being disrespected and get inspiration from it.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1934 - 28/04/2026 14:01:24    2669528

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Replying To jobber:  "A bit of a help but still giving Wexford and Kilkenny an unfair advantage. If i was the Westmeath manager i would be slow to start both halves. If they dont give us fair play why should we give them respect. The players need to know they are being disrespected and get inspiration from it."
Why is it giving Wexford an advantage? All 3 games are on at the same time now.
And its completely irrelevant to Kilkenny, they arent even in the same group as us.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19373 - 28/04/2026 15:08:51    2669548

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Replying To Viking66:  "Why is it giving Wexford an advantage? All 3 games are on at the same time now.
And its completely irrelevant to Kilkenny, they arent even in the same group as us."
Yeah I seen all games start at 13.30 so there is no unfair advantage. Its a poor structure but we just have to get on with it, I am sure the management and players are not thinking about anything other than being prepared for Laois, Portlaoise is never an easy place to go and get a result. We need to be focused, if we play like we did vs Dublin we will have enough, we need to match that performance at the very least.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 1120 - 28/04/2026 15:49:30    2669558

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Replying To Viking66:  "Why is it giving Wexford an advantage? All 3 games are on at the same time now.
And its completely irrelevant to Kilkenny, they arent even in the same group as us."
Originaly our game was fixed for 12 and WX v KK at 2.Dheen saw our game was changed to 1.30 but Leinster being Leinster had'nt changed the other times on their site so thats the reason. Wexford would have known the score in LS v WH.
So Dheen is right now we must concentrate on beating Laois in Portlaoise always a big ask.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1934 - 28/04/2026 22:12:01    2669644

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News coming from Antrim, when you read into the details comes across a lot like the incompetence and lack of PR and communication abilities witnessed in lots of CB's across the country. It is time headquarters did a root and branch review of the finical running of the organisation at CB. Some counties have paid officials. Is this working ?. Is there any performance reviews or targets attached to these roles. Is it possible a county board will follow in the footsteps of Parnells GAA club.

Loughlenegale (Westmeath) - Posts: 30 - 29/04/2026 12:11:58    2669726

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