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Westmeath Hurling thread

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Egerton and reilly hack for chamipuonship will help too Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1203 - 13/02/2026 16:31:32 2656240 Link
Replying To Loughlenegale: "Agree totally. There are a few causes for concern. The number of players from last year's panel who are not available. The lack of Clonkill players NM, PS, OL for example all previous members of the panel and a good age profile. Lack of training on grass. What happened Abbottstown, Delvin and Cullion astro just not acceptable for an intercounty set up. The loss of Wolfhound added to above and the performance against Meath we just got out with the points. Using JG knowledge of Raharney as a reason baffling to me. Let's hope we get our best team on the field for London. Put up a good score and get our score difference moving. As others have said here DW to the full forward line and PC to midfield would be a good start and if DMc is back with EK upfront this is very possible." Just to address some of your issues, the following are facts, 6 out of the 7 names mentioned by previous poster were asked in for trial matches, declined the offer, that's fine, Jack Murphy is a Carlow man who feels inter county is behind him, Dan Higgins is work tied in Dublin, others all have personal reasons not to commit, you mentioned Niall Mitchell, he's with the county footballers, obviously being a dual player is not feasible, he's also injured at present and not available for selection for footballers, Peadar Scally chose not to join panel which is a pity as he's a fine player, good ball winner, free taker, Oisin Loughlin's form not what it was 12 months ago, he wasn't a regular championship starter for Clonkill, the hurlers not in Wolfhound gym was a decision made by the Nangles who own the gym, they told the county board that no Westmeath team could use their facilities in 2026, that's a private business so decision up to them, none of the above is within Kevin O' Brien's control, Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2583 - 13/02/2026 17:25:30 2656246 Link
It's a disgrace in 2026 that the county teams don't have a dedicated gym Rent a unit in town somewhere, kit it out. Get a sponsor to cover cost of it or something valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1925 - 13/02/2026 22:09:08 2656271 Link
Just on Niall Mitchell choosing county football, he's absolutely entitled to choose either code but without knowing him I would have thought hurling was his first love. Bigjoe1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 86 - 14/02/2026 23:01:33 2656441 Link
Replying To Bigjoe1: "Just on Niall Mitchell choosing county football, he's absolutely entitled to choose either code but without knowing him I would have thought hurling was his first love." Whatever his decision it has to be respected. If there is to be a debate on this it surely comes down to the development squads at underage where you've young lads doing both until it's not feasible at u16/18 level. It might be better if young lads picked one or other at u14 and stayed with that. It avoids fighting for players later on and it allows players who would lose out be brought in earlier to these squads or prevent them from dropping out of the game altogether at a young age. 2maroonjerseys (Galway) - Posts: 129 - 18/02/2026 10:20:17 2657082 Link
I don't see why there's any reason to be cribbing over lads not lining out. It's like the Jogger said when he was on the Indo sport podcast after he retired, lads put their lives on hold and personal development on the back burner for hurling. Who'd begrudge anyone deciding to dip out when they're not getting paid for what they put in? The 9 or 10 lads who moved on have their reasons that's it. No point stirring the pot especially when so far the new faces have done pretty well so far. We went down to Kerry and Cunneen pulled it out of the fire with an equaliser to draw it. It's very rare in recent years that Westmeath ever got an easy game below in Tralee. The blowout last year in the Joe Mc is an outlier. Only in 2024 Kerry came up to Mullingar and bet us. We were cruising against Meath about 6 or 7 points up midway through the 2nd half and then let it slip, but did enough to pull through. What's there to be disappointed about? A draw away and a win at home is a decent start for a relatively young squad. Hopefully, we can win away in London and then the game against Laois in Mullingar on 1st March will tell us a lot about where this team is at. RadioactiveTan (UK) - Posts: 36 - 19/02/2026 20:23:58 2657369 Link
Westmeath need a comprehensive victory today after yesterday's results. I hope all concerned realise after the Meath game that just running on subs is not the answer. Very concerning given there's 2 big names missing from the starting lineup. Sloweddie (Kilkenny) - Posts: 9 - 22/02/2026 08:48:00 2657731 Link
Clarke and keys huge losses could be hard at it Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1203 - 22/02/2026 13:03:41 2657769 Link
Acceptable result. Score difference could do with being better. Given the missing players we will move on but a better performance required next week against Laois. Hopefully the 3 lads are back we will need them. Sloweddie (Kilkenny) - Posts: 9 - 22/02/2026 14:37:07 2657781 Link
Replying To Thechick: "Murtagh when he feels like it ???. Do ya go to many games???" At this stage five points out of six is ok especially as the squad is so young.We will need everyone next Sunday which is as good as a final now. Win that and we are virtually promoted but it is concerning we haven't seen Dara Egerton at all after over 15 months off. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1888 - 22/02/2026 14:54:31 2657787 Link
I think Kevin O'Brien is cautious and doesn't want to risk players for the sake of it. Thats why we didn't see Doyle, Clarke and Keyes and why Egerton and O'Reilly aren't being rushed back. They will be a boost when they are back of course but we are trusting the players we have. Big performance needed next week. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 1091 - 22/02/2026 16:27:04 2657825 Link
Replying To Dheen: "I think Kevin O'Brien is cautious and doesn't want to risk players for the sake of it. Thats why we didn't see Doyle, Clarke and Keyes and why Egerton and O'Reilly aren't being rushed back. They will be a boost when they are back of course but we are trusting the players we have. Big performance needed next week." We will need a huge performance next Sunday but with everyone fit we can do it. Great to see the footballers going so well.Gives the county a boost. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1888 - 22/02/2026 21:03:10 2657944 Link