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Westmeath Hurling thread

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Replying To Claretandblue: "Who would you have on it from Pollard? Name the player he missed? Likewise Fr. Dalton's? Clonkill's best player of an average bunch was Peadar Scally but he was sent off twice so hardly team of the year material." Darragh McCormack certainly merits selection.I would place him at 14.Owen McCabe in half forward line at 12 I would have Luke Loughlin ahead of O Brien who was exceptional on frees but not exceptional from play. Jack Kearney I would have somewhere on half back line he was excellent while even though Shane Clavin was good in both finals for me Emmet Cuneen had a better Championship. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1807 - 02/11/2025 02:20:14 2642581 Link
Replying To jobber: "Darragh McCormack certainly merits selection.I would place him at 14.Owen McCabe in half forward line at 12 I would have Luke Loughlin ahead of O Brien who was exceptional on frees but not exceptional from play. Jack Kearney I would have somewhere on half back line he was excellent while even though Shane Clavin was good in both finals for me Emmet Cuneen had a better Championship." Seriously? Niall O'Brien was the top scorer in the championship how do you leave him out? Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 1056 - 02/11/2025 09:07:10 2642586 Link
I think we could put 8 teams at senior A level. Standard is improving and gap is narrowing in some ways. Plunketts and Pollard could be in an 8 team group phase next year. Top 4 into semis. Current format has worked well but last 4 years the top team hasn't played their best in first final. Clonkill in 2022. Raharney in 2023 Castletown were dire for 14 minutes last year and those minutes did them the world of good in rematch. Castletown this year didn't play anywhere near their best in first match. The 5 week gap without a game is not aiding teams in my opinion. Blackjack (Westmeath) - Posts: 50 - 02/11/2025 09:47:10 2642592 Link
8 teams would make it more interesting overall but the clubs would say why are Plunketts and Pollard been rewarded for nothing....Also bringing up Plunketts leaves only 5 Senior B teams.. Is there a case for making Senior B and Intermediate 1 competition?? Bigjoe1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 80 - 02/11/2025 10:50:20 2642608 Link
Sorry, leaving them both Senior A then leaves only 4 teams in Senior B Bigjoe1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 80 - 02/11/2025 11:12:06 2642615 Link
Replying To jobber: "Darragh McCormack certainly merits selection.I would place him at 14.Owen McCabe in half forward line at 12 I would have Luke Loughlin ahead of O Brien who was exceptional on frees but not exceptional from play. Jack Kearney I would have somewhere on half back line he was excellent while even though Shane Clavin was good in both finals for me Emmet Cuneen had a better Championship." No niall obrien ridiculous call to me castletown have at least 7 if not 8 on team this year. Loughlin was OK but no way ahead onrien Niall wasn't at hsi ehst in final replay or first agke but before was good from playagree with Owen mccabe though but where you darragh mc cormsck how does he get in this year and obrien doesn't sorry but that's poor call . Craving would eb in too but that's more arguable than Obrien Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1068 - 02/11/2025 12:03:31 2642625 Link
Replying To Dheen: "Seriously? Niall O'Brien was the top scorer in the championship how do you leave him out?" Just an opinion.Selecting 14 players from the finalists is equally debatable. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1807 - 02/11/2025 12:11:14 2642628 Link
Replying To jobber: "Just an opinion.Selecting 14 players from the finalists is equally debatable." Fair enough I agree on some your point but I think he was effective most of their games. Mccabe probably should be in and maybe 1 from raharney bit ctg and llg this championship were far and away best team all stars sometimes goes like this fair or not. Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1068 - 02/11/2025 13:17:56 2642638 Link
How about that demolition of Clonkill by Plunketts..Superior all over the field. Hopefully start of success for the town team at adult level Baldy1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 95 - 02/11/2025 17:30:16 2642673 Link
Sounded like a demolition alright 6-12, 0-7. An impressive double too for lots of lads involved with Mullingar Shamrocks minors. Trick now for Plunketts especially is to keep them playing and don't expect too much too soon. Didn't Plunketts win U20 last year so future looks good. Period of transition ahead perhaps for Clonkill. I heard Paddy Dowdall was offered the Clonkill senior gig but is sticking with Lomans. You'd imagine David Reilly and or Sean Loughlin would be in contention. Lots of decent ex players around Clonkill so won't be an issue getting good people involved. BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1209 - 02/11/2025 18:13:28 2642682 Link
Replying To Baldy1: "How about that demolition of Clonkill by Plunketts..Superior all over the field. Hopefully start of success for the town team at adult level" Hopefully, along with Cullion's Division 2 minor win, it is a positive sign for Westmeath hurling. A lot of those lads are featuring for CBS, who I think are doing huge work alongside the two clubs. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 99 - 02/11/2025 18:16:24 2642683 Link
Clonkill have some job to lift 10-12 of those lads for Friday's under 20 final vs Raharney. Not an easy task after 10-12 of them featured in both minor final defeats. Plunketts were at it from the first whistle with their centre back Hayes outstanding and Padraig Casey, Will Scahill, McNamee and Weir also prominent. Their full forward was impossible to stop when high balls went in, he caused havoc. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2433 - 02/11/2025 19:31:52 2642698 Link
plunketts were v good at underage and minor 20-25 years ago and it never transferred fully to senior, a top 4 team around 2009/2010 but that was the height of it preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 810 - 02/11/2025 19:36:01 2642700 Link
Replying To preddan: "plunketts were v good at underage and minor 20-25 years ago and it never transferred fully to senior, a top 4 team around 2009/2010 but that was the height of it" They were top 4 from about 2006-2013 I'd say. Made 5 semis and 1 final in that period. I think they lost 06/07/08 semis all after replays. They made 10 minor finals in a row , up to 2003. Their underage fell apart. Good they've turned it around. jamsie (Westmeath) - Posts: 497 - 02/11/2025 20:47:33 2642713 Link
Replying To jamsie: "They were top 4 from about 2006-2013 I'd say. Made 5 semis and 1 final in that period. I think they lost 06/07/08 semis all after replays. They made 10 minor finals in a row , up to 2003. Their underage fell apart. Good they've turned it around." Plunketts have had an excellent year.Minor champions,Senior B Runners Up and under 20 semi finalist after winning it last year. They need to keep at it year in year out which isn't easy but the CBS are clearly going to help. Must have a favourites chance to win the senior B in either 2026 or 27 and if they can do that bring a decent number of 20s and 18s through they can build up to being very competitive.Its very important for Westmeath hurling that Plunketts and Southern Gaels are strong but those talking about an 8 team senior A are at least 3 years ahead of reality. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1807 - 02/11/2025 22:20:14 2642727 Link
Will be interesting to see if Plunkett's can back it up. Absolutely no doubt they were the better team today & fully deserved it. Lots of talk about Plunkett's revival & great work being done. How many will actually come through though? We have seen it for many years that they cannot get as many players through to senior as the old traditional clubs like Raharney, CTG, Clonkill & LLG. Not taking anything away from the team today, I will watch on & maybe these lads can breakthrough. Left Full (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 02/11/2025 22:24:11 2642728 Link