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Westmeath Football thread

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Replying To Claretandblue: "I've no problem with five Loman's players starting, the five are deserving of their place especially when we're missing other forwards but some of those starting are playing poorly for some time, the Cavan half back line destroyed Westmeath for 50 mins, physically powerful and attacking at will, in relation to The Downs players not playing, Niall Mitchell and Darragh Egerton are county hurlers, Conor Coughlan gone travelling, Kevin O' Sullivan dropped from panel last week, Mark Kelly cruciate, two others played, another is sub keeper, that's eight players, who else have we from The Downs?? Cavan were determined to get revenge for Tailteann and were easily 6-7 points better team, it's also dispiriting to see us massively outnumbered supporters wise in a home game, the entire stand seemed to have Cavan supporters, our support is among the worst in the country." Surely joe Moran would have been a good addition to that half back line ahead of any other downs player without a doubt up there as one of the best wing backs in the county and is still only young would bring strong powerful running to that line .. Did Jimmy Dolan even touch the ball today ? Westmeath213 (Westmeath) - Posts: 332 - 29/01/2023 21:35:24 2455140 Link
Replying To Temple56: "Very poor performance. Looked like the lads had weights around their legs couldn't get moving at all. O Toole and McCartan poorest I ever seen them. O Toole taking too much out of the ball. Robbie Forde and Shane Dempsey are summer footballers and will add nothing to the team during the league. Conor McCormack is not a midfielder. Only positive is Ray, Luke and Lorcan made a great difference off the bench. All 3 should be back starting next week. Scahill also had a solid debut." I said that a few weeks ago about Dempsey and someone shot me down.. he has been tried before at this level and he is not good enough; definitely not at this time of year anyways! Scahill was the only positive for me yesterday. I was surprised with so many untested players starting also. Huge game next weekend but they can win with the correct team selection. Matthew (None) - Posts: 1005 - 30/01/2023 09:27:57 2455164 Link
Westmeath very poor yesterday all over the park.Only Wallace and Maguire fron the "senior"players did ok.Only a few months ago the streets were packed with "Westmeath"supporters after the Tailteann cup win but where were they yestetday??First real competitive HOME fixture for new management and team after their cup win and are hugely out numbered by Cavan supporters.Very dissapointing. Bruno@1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 163 - 30/01/2023 09:49:57 2455172 Link
Surprised at the thoughts on Dempsey, I was chatting with people from Shandonagh afterwards and they thought he was one of the players that did okay considering the ball hardly came in and I imagine he was told to stay deep. He scored a good point from the one shot he had. He has proven he is good enough at this level before. The issue was that Westmeath kept losing the ball in transition around the middle third. Looking forward to the lads putting things right in the next few games. NeilH (Westmeath) - Posts: 8 - 30/01/2023 10:14:09 2455183 Link
Listening to Dessie's interview after you'd wonder what match he was watching but I guess he has to put a positive spin on it. I am guessing the likes of Loughlin and Connellan maybe hadn't trained enough to start, possibly carrying knocks. As already stated, silly stuff with all the changes to the published team, 5 in all. Scahill did well and might be a better wing back where he plays with Shandonagh. Ball into Dempsey and McGivney not great and they were well marked by the Cavan corner backs. Not sure what Lynam's role is but he's obviously not a corner forward. A lot of of key players were just not at it, possible targeted by Cavan ie Heslin, O'Toole and McCartan. You have to admire the Cavan keeper Galligan, kicking 3 points but his kick outs with the breeze were top drawer. Looking ahead to Longford, always a tough game but starting 15 will have to be closer to the team that finished v Cavan. Lorcan Dolan looked lively along with Loughlin so deserves start. Thought Maguire, Wallace, Giles did ok. BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1129 - 30/01/2023 10:39:11 2455197 Link
Replying To Bruno@1: "Westmeath very poor yesterday all over the park.Only Wallace and Maguire fron the "senior"players did ok.Only a few months ago the streets were packed with "Westmeath"supporters after the Tailteann cup win but where were they yestetday??First real competitive HOME fixture for new management and team after their cup win and are hugely out numbered by Cavan supporters.Very dissapointing." extremely poor support for the team yesterday . seems the sunshine supporters only come out for the big homecomings . mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 1799 - 30/01/2023 11:00:10 2455202 Link
Replying To Bruno@1: "Westmeath very poor yesterday all over the park.Only Wallace and Maguire fron the "senior"players did ok.Only a few months ago the streets were packed with "Westmeath"supporters after the Tailteann cup win but where were they yestetday??First real competitive HOME fixture for new management and team after their cup win and are hugely out numbered by Cavan supporters.Very dissapointing." How as a county can we improve support? Every Cavan person there yesterday had some kind of GAA jersey, Hat, Jumper, Jacket. All I saw was blue. I'd say I saw maybe 20 people wearing Westmeath Gear. We were outnumbered in support 3:1 at home is embarrassing as a county!! The population of Westmeath is also 15000 more than Cavan. Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 382 - 30/01/2023 11:22:16 2455211 Link
Few things to consider, the support issue is a long term issue and I've no idea how to change it, another poster said it's embarrassing to be so outnumbered in a home game against a county with a smaller population and he/she is totally right. Certainly not helping the various county teams. We had numerous people doing analysis in terms of stats yesterday and yet management seemed to get zero feedback on where our problems were. Cavan halfback line tore us apart in first half especially, McVeety was some loss to Cavan last year, outstanding yesterday, our rate of turnovers was terrible, lost possession numerous times which suggests intensity in training is nowhere near required level. The reality is that unless we get three points from the next two local derbies against Longford and Offaly we'll be fighting a relegation battle. We still have Down and Fermanagh away and they look extremely challenging based on this weekend's results. We have an ageing team with likes of Maguire, Martin, Daly, Heslin, James Dolan all in the last couple of years at this level and Division 4 football would accelerate retirements. Surely the likes of Baker and Whittaker deserved a run yesterday when scores were badly needed. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 30/01/2023 11:35:29 2455219 Link
Replying To Bruno@1: "Westmeath very poor yesterday all over the park.Only Wallace and Maguire fron the "senior"players did ok.Only a few months ago the streets were packed with "Westmeath"supporters after the Tailteann cup win but where were they yestetday??First real competitive HOME fixture for new management and team after their cup win and are hugely out numbered by Cavan supporters.Very dissapointing." That's extremely disappointing to hear. I traveled from Westmeath to cork and back yesterday, was speaking to a few wm "supporters " at work this morning asking them about the game and not one were at it, but they could give a running analysis of the Liverpool match. These same people were out celebrating tailteann cup win last year. I know every county has them so called supporters but Westmeath seems to have a lot more than most. royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 30/01/2023 12:08:24 2455240 Link
If you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got! Westmeath have never been well supported! Cavan and Roscommon have a much better football heritage than Westmeath! Tickets for kids U16 are free. Why not pick 10 or 15 primary schools and give out 1,000 free tickets for all home league games? Or give tickets to every U10 team in the county for one game, and U12 team for the next game, etc. Not all 1,000 would go but if they did they would have to bring a parent with them, and increase attendance and atmosphere that way. Give out Westmeath merchandise as prizes. Create an atmosphere that people want to go to. It would take a monumental effort, over a number of years. But you have to start somewhere! Wmeath2 (Westmeath) - Posts: 176 - 30/01/2023 13:12:33 2455260 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "Few things to consider, the support issue is a long term issue and I've no idea how to change it, another poster said it's embarrassing to be so outnumbered in a home game against a county with a smaller population and he/she is totally right. Certainly not helping the various county teams. We had numerous people doing analysis in terms of stats yesterday and yet management seemed to get zero feedback on where our problems were. Cavan halfback line tore us apart in first half especially, McVeety was some loss to Cavan last year, outstanding yesterday, our rate of turnovers was terrible, lost possession numerous times which suggests intensity in training is nowhere near required level. The reality is that unless we get three points from the next two local derbies against Longford and Offaly we'll be fighting a relegation battle. We still have Down and Fermanagh away and they look extremely challenging based on this weekend's results. We have an ageing team with likes of Maguire, Martin, Daly, Heslin, James Dolan all in the last couple of years at this level and Division 4 football would accelerate retirements. Surely the likes of Baker and Whittaker deserved a run yesterday when scores were badly needed." Some of the younger lads Ie Kevin O'Sullivan Adam Trainor Brandon Kelly that where brought in 2 years ago to develop them into senior players where ommited from the panel a few weeks ago maybe a few of the older guys should have been ommited instead fresh blood needed Mooo (Westmeath) - Posts: 41 - 30/01/2023 13:37:04 2455270 Link
I've no issue with those omitted as selectors are seeing them in training and some of the players mentioned need to perform for their clubs to merit inclusion on county panel. Adam Traynor has been injured for some time and only featured for Shandonagh in semi final and final, game time for his club will benefit him. Being on the county panel but not featuring on match day is the worst case scenario for young players as they miss club league matches. Confidence can improve with good club performances. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 30/01/2023 16:24:04 2455328 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "I've no issue with those omitted as selectors are seeing them in training and some of the players mentioned need to perform for their clubs to merit inclusion on county panel. Adam Traynor has been injured for some time and only featured for Shandonagh in semi final and final, game time for his club will benefit him. Being on the county panel but not featuring on match day is the worst case scenario for young players as they miss club league matches. Confidence can improve with good club performances." Some of the older players did not perform for the last couple of years but are automatically back in the panel that was evident last Sunday in the park in which they where poor again Mooo (Westmeath) - Posts: 41 - 30/01/2023 18:30:27 2455379 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "I've no issue with those omitted as selectors are seeing them in training and some of the players mentioned need to perform for their clubs to merit inclusion on county panel. Adam Traynor has been injured for some time and only featured for Shandonagh in semi final and final, game time for his club will benefit him. Being on the county panel but not featuring on match day is the worst case scenario for young players as they miss club league matches. Confidence can improve with good club performances." Older players are not performing for the clubs and they are automatically in the panel which might explain some of the problems for such a poor performance in the park yesterday Mooo (Westmeath) - Posts: 41 - 30/01/2023 19:43:46 2455401 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "I've no issue with those omitted as selectors are seeing them in training and some of the players mentioned need to perform for their clubs to merit inclusion on county panel. Adam Traynor has been injured for some time and only featured for Shandonagh in semi final and final, game time for his club will benefit him. Being on the county panel but not featuring on match day is the worst case scenario for young players as they miss club league matches. Confidence can improve with good club performances." As I understand it he did have surgery in the Summer but returned for Shandonagh before the season end. In the Final replay and he was probably the best player on the pitch. fogonthetyne (Westmeath) - Posts: 6 - 30/01/2023 21:30:09 2455420 Link
No water running to the taps in the mens toilets on the terrace side again on Sunday. How long is this going on now? the21yardline (Westmeath) - Posts: 178 - 31/01/2023 09:53:46 2455435 Link
Replying To Mooo: "Older players are not performing for the clubs and they are automatically in the panel which might explain some of the problems for such a poor performance in the park yesterday" What players? Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 382 - 31/01/2023 10:49:30 2455452 Link
Replying To fogonthetyne: "As I understand it he did have surgery in the Summer but returned for Shandonagh before the season end. In the Final replay and he was probably the best player on the pitch." Really, best player on the pitch ??? Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 232 - 31/01/2023 12:07:15 2455483 Link
Suggested team for Longford: Daly / Martin Scahill Maguire Giles McCartan Wallace Harte Connellan Duncan OToole Heslin McCormack Loughlin Forde L. Dolan Would like to see young Smith, Dillon and Baker get a run. Not putting James Dolan on the scrap heap just yet, still has a lot offer but we know what he can do. In the main we seem short on defensive options assuming Gonoud injured. BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1129 - 31/01/2023 12:21:45 2455492 Link
Replying To the21yardline: "No water running to the taps in the mens toilets on the terrace side again on Sunday. How long is this going on now?" Have you tried getting a plumber recently ? Only interested in big jobs. dbpcmi (Westmeath) - Posts: 66 - 31/01/2023 13:39:50 2455529 Link