Westerns made steady progress
November 27, 2011The league was a bit of a write-off; Westerns never quite hit top form. But crucially, they did manage to hone a new style of play during their Division Three games.
In the junior championship, the Reaghstown men finished as runners-up in Group One, thumping Wolfe Tones by 3-16 to 0-6 in their opener at Ardee on July 16th before falling to a narrow 0-12 to 0-11 defeat to highly-fancied Glen Emmets at the county grounds eight days later. On Friday, August 19th, Westerns returned to Drogheda for a JFC quarter-final clash with St Nicholas but were well beaten on the day, 3-11 to 0-6, despite competing well for the first 20 minutes or so. But two Nicks goals in an many minutes turned the tide very much in favour of the town side.
The Westerns team on championship duty at the county grounds in mid-August 2011 was: Jonathan Brennan; Andrew May, James Ward, Gerry Curtis (0-1); Ciaran McGarrell (0-1), Andrew Kerr, Stephen Boylan; Anthony Durnin, Terence Sweeney (0-1); Trevor Boylan (0-1), Tommy Durnin (0-1), Aidan McGarrell; Paul Byrne, John Murray, Brian Martin (0-1). Subs: Colin Martin for Andrew Kerr, Ciaran Campbell for Anthony Durnin, Seamus Peppard for Aidan McGarrell.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Brennan was delighted to act as club captain during the year. The experienced clubman, who's been a regular with the Westerns for eight years, took the added responsibility in his stride. He's a vocal sort of lad at training and during matches anyway, so it was a natural enough role, though he admits: "I suppose there's a bit more pressure and you would like to do your bit as captain and maybe lift a bit of silverware, but it wasn't to be."
What was the team's target for the year? To reach the knockout stage of the championship? "We just took it one game at a time and wanted to get as far as we could. We wanted to win as many games as we could in the league and to develop a style of play that would suit us.
"In the championship, we hoped to top the group. We knew that if we could win our first game against the Tones then we could push on against Glen Emmets and get an easier quarter-final as group winners, then see what happens. Unfortunately, we didn't quite manage to finish top, losing to Glen Emmets by one point in Drogheda.
"That was disappointing because we felt that we at least deserved a draw, which, as it turned out, would have left us top on points difference. The performance was encouraging, however, and that still gave us confidence going in against the Nicks, but it didn't work out for us on the day and we were well beaten in the end.
"We were still well in it coming up to half time but they got the two goals before the break and our heads dropped after that. We were always chasing the game and they always held that six-point cushion. We couldn't get back into it. The two goals took our confidence away. In the end, they pulled away for a comfortable win."
When the final whistle sounded on Westerns' championship campaign, the players certainly couldn't be faulted for lack of effort. They had played with great determination and application throughout. "They were very committed and the spirit in the camp was good," Jonathan states. "There probably wasn't great belief in the team because we had taken a lot of bad beatings in recent years and that had affected our confidence. The team was suffering from a lack of belief, but this year has given us renewed confidence.
"It was a great performance against the Tones and the Glen Emmets game will also give us a lift. On our day, we can compete but we have to work on making those days happen more regularly. That's what we were focusing on this year under our new trainer, David 'Red' Martin, who did a great job alongside his selectors Padraig Brennan and Kevin Murray."
The best thing about 2011 was that Westerns found a new style of play that suits them and went a long way towards putting their brand on the new system. "We've been developing a style of play all year that we're comfortable with and I'd imagine we'll stick to that because there were signs that it was serving us well. We don't have a big man in there in the full-forward line, so there's no point thumping a big high ball in. Possession is key for us, and trying to work the ball, denying the other team possession and frustrating them. We worked on that all year. Once we understood what the manager wanted, it started to bear fruit for us and I think this brand of football will be the way forward for us as we get more and more used to it."
The 2011 captain agrees that the club made significant steps forward during the year: "It was great to get to the quarter-finals of the championship again and that kept us going all season. But we weren't happy with our league form and we have to improve on that. The average age of the team is young and we have a few young lads still to come through as well, so things are looking quite good."
So what's the target for next year? "Our home form isn't great and we have to improve on that. We know we are capable of moving up the league and I think that will be the main aim. We need to find more consistency. We haven't really been able to string two good performances together. We have to do that and get into a winning habit. In general, we hope to make further improvement and hopefully get some silverware as well.
"We have a small squad of 21 or 22 players, so we tend to struggle if we have any injuries, but there are a few lads coming through. It can be hard for a small club, especially when we lose key players to other clubs, but I suppose in fairness we have benefited from transfers ourselves in the past so we can't complain too much. Ideally, it would be nice if something was done to protect the small clubs from losing men to the clubs with large numbers; it would be great if the small clubs in Louth could hold onto their best players."
Jonathan Brennan broke into the Westerns team in 2003. He has contested two JFC finals as well as a MFC final with Baile Talun and has won a Kevin Mullen Shield in 2006 and a Division Three Shield in 2010, beating St Kevins in the final in November. He also represented West Louth in the regional competition.
He was delighted to see the clubs' U8s and U10s get to play at Croke Park during the year is hopeful that more Westerns lads can follow in the footsteps of Michael Martin by breaking through into the first team from the productive Baile Talun underage set-up (where clubman Frank Scribben does a lot of work with the U16s).
With more fresh blood pushing on, Westerns can continue to improve as a force.
Under 8 Westerns travel
to Croke Park
There was great excitement when we were informed that our U8's had been invited to play in Croke Park on Tuesday 12th of July. We had 48 excited people travel by coach to Dublin. Players, mentors, parents, brothers, sisters and even grand-parents made the journey. The 14 excited U8 players arrived in Croke Park to be greeted and escorted to the dressing room. They changed into their green and gold strips and the players then ran out onto the magnificent pitch for their first time.
The group of supporters in the stand clapped and cheered. They were introduced to their rivals who were a team from Kiloe in Longford. The 40 minute game began and all the Westerns players played remarkably well with many scores, however were out-skilled a little by the team from Kiloe. The two cousins, Gavin and Sarah Gilmore showed their experience with a few scores each. All players played extremely well and we were all very proud of them. All the players showed great sportsmanship and shook hands after the match.
They were taken into the Hogan stand presentation area where they were presented with a cup and lots of photos were taken by their excited supporters. We then returned to our bus and headed for McDonalds to reward the children for their great effort.
On return to the Westerns pitch, everyone was exhausted after a terrific day.
Many thanks to Paul Kennedy, Aisling Scriven and Martin Kane for organising the trip and mentoring the team.
Thank you also to all the parents and supporters who made this such a memorable day. A final thanks to Westerns GFC for funding the bus. The players were Shane McEneaney, Nicholas Brennan, Sarah Gilmore, Aaron Kindlon, Matthew Kane, Gavin Gilmore, James Maguire, Charlotte Osborn, Cathal Kennedy, Ava Crosbie, James Cahill, Erinn Brennan, Adah Murphy and Cian Kennedy.
Westerns at Darver
A great night was had by all Westerns players with all our mixed team of girls and boys u8 in attendance.
The Westerns won their three games which were all very exciting and closely contested. The players involved were: Gavin Gilmore, Matthew Kane, Nicholas Brennan, James Cahill, Sarah Gilmore, James Maguire, Charlotte Osborne, Adah Murphy, Ava Crosby, Erin Brennan, Aaron Kindlon, Jack McEvoy, Emily Scriven and Lee Sweeney.
The was great kicking by James Maguire and Matthew Kane, very impressive overhead catches by Sarah and Gavin Gilmore, good blocking by James Cahill and Charlotte Osbourne and some lovely points by Nicholas Brennan. Tweet
