A season which promised much for the Westmeath minor hurlers turned to disaster when they suffered humiliating championship defeats to Laois, Offaly and Carlow. Supporters are still wondering how a team that beat reigning All-Ireland champions Galway in a February challenge could fare so poorly in the Leinster championship a few weeks later. If ever a team flattered to deceive, it was surely the Westmeath minor hurling side of 2006. When Noel Boyce's charges recorded a morale-boosting victory over reigning All-Ireland champions Galway in a challenge match on February 5, supporters began to dream of an extended championship run and possible provincial glory. The general consensus was that this was the best minor team the county had produced since 1999 when Westmeath beat Offaly and Dublin in the Leinster championship before losing narrowly to Kilkenny at the semi-final stage. But when it came down to it, the Lake County side failed abysmally to live up to expectations and finished on the receiving end of three of the heaviest defeats the county has ever suffered in the Leinster championship. Hurling fans have been asking themselves how such a capable and well-prepared team could fare so badly against Laois, Offaly and Carlow - three teams supposedly of a similar standard to them. What is patently obvious, however, is that something went horribly wrong in the weeks between the Galway challenge and the start of the championship. Training sessions were well attended in the early part of the year as manager Noel Boyce and his selectors Adrian Moran, Ger Jackson, Declan Mullen and Barry Kennedy ran the rule over an extended panel of 40 players. In late January, Westmeath travelled to Limerick to play a challenge match against the host county, who had contested the All-Ireland final only a few months previously. Limerick emerged winners by six points, 3-15 to 2-12, but Westmeath could still take many positives from their performance. The following weekend, Westmeath welcomed back key players Niall Kilcoyne, Shane Egan, Owen Price and Eanna Doolin - who had missed the Limerick game due to football commitments - for another challenge match against Galway at Castletown-Geoghegan. Despite falling behind early on, Westmeath battled back to lead by 1-7 to 0-8 at half-time thanks to Shane Collins' 11th minute goal. The Tribesmen got themselves back onto level terms before Christopher Flanagan restored the home side's lead with a goal after 48 minutes. When Robbie Jackson slotted over a free to put four points between the sides, it looked as though Westmeath were home the dry, but the All-Ireland champions stormed back to restore parity once again. However, a late Owen Price free saw Westmeath clinch victory on a 2-13 to 0-18 scoreline. Westmeath continued their championship preparations by competing in the Leinster League and a 1-10 to 0-5 win over Meath put them through to the final where they met Carlow at Dr Cullen Park. This proved to be the first real wake-up call for Westmeath who slumped to a 1-6 to 3-13 defeat. The visitors were awful in the first half and were in deep trouble at the break when they trailed by 0-2 to 2-7. Niall Kilcoyne gave Westmeath some hope when he pointed just after the restart, but the Barrowsiders upped the ante again and a third goal from Paudie Kehoe put the result beyond all doubt. Shane Egan pulled back a goal in the closing stages, but it couldn't disguise a dreadful performance by the visitors. Westmeath had six weeks to get their house in order for the championship. Their opening game of the round-robin series was against Laois at Cusack Park and for 25 minutes, the home side gave as good as they got. But Laois finished the first half strongly to take a 1-10 to 1-6 lead into the interval, and they took over completely in the second half to run out facile 3-22 to 1-10 winners. The O'Moore County side got off to a flying start when midfielder William Hyland goaled in the first minute. Westmeath, who showed a number of changes from the team listed in the match programme, replied with a brilliant long-range point from Stephen Conway. And they were given a further boost in the ninth minute when Alan Devine pounced for a goal. Two long-range frees from Owen Price edged the Lake County in front, only for Laois to regain the lead with points from John Prior and John O'Loughlin. But the home side hit back with scores from Robbie Jackson and Price to lead by 1-6 to 1-5 after 22 minutes. However, Westmeath couldn't sustain the effort and Laois ended the half with five unanswered points to lead by four at the break. A quick-fire 1-3 at the start of the second half put the O'Moore County in complete control and left Westmeath trailing badly. Padraig Bergin shot over an early point before Prior blasted their second goal. Things went from bad to worse for Westmeath 11 minutes into the half when Prior bagged another goal to end the game as a contest. Laois had extended their lead further before three points in succession from Shane Egan, Price and a surprisingly off-colour Niall Kilcoyne showed Westmeath were at least prepared to battle. But Laois held all the aces, underlining this fact by firing over a string of late points to complete the rout. After such a sobering experience, it was always going to be difficult for Noel Boyce to lift the players for the remainder of the championship and so it proved. A mauling by Kilkenny in a challenge match did nothing to raise spirits as Westmeath prepared for their next assignment against Offaly in Birr. In reality, Westmeath never stood a chance as Offaly turned on the style to inflict a crushing 30-point defeat on them, 4-25 to 1-4. The body language of the Westmeath players suggested that they were a beaten team before the ball was ever thrown in. It was all Offaly from the start and a brace of goals from Daniel Currams had them perched on a 2-3 to 0-1 lead after just eight minutes. A third major from Odhran Kealy eased the Faithful County into a 3-5 to 0-1 advantage by the end of a torrid opening quarter for the visitors. Diarmuid Horan continued the Offaly scoring spree with a well-taken free, which was added to by another great score from the impressive Currams. Points from Owen Price and Niall Kilcoyne temporarily lifted the siege, but Mark Egan replied with three frees to send Offaly in at the break leading by 3-10 to 0-3. It continued to be one-way traffic following the change of ends with Kealey, Egan and Currams all increasing their personal tallies. When Currams scored a fourth goal to complete his hat-trick, Offaly were 4-16 to 0-3 to the good. The rampant home side tagged on a further five points without reply before Niall Kilcoyne scored a consolation goal for Westmeath. Owen Price added a point, only for the Faithful County to finish with four more points. To add insult to injury, Carlow also performed a demolition job on Westmeath at Dr Cullen Park in their final game of an entirely forgettable campaign. The home county, who had beaten Laois by a point and lost to Offaly by the same margin in their previous outings, were complete masters from start to finish, leading 2-8 to 0-1 at the break. Half-time substitute Padraig Amond made a real impact, scoring 3-1 in the second half as Carlow ran riot. Both of Carlow's corner forwards, Paudie Kehoe and Denis Murphy, chipped in with 1-4 as the Barrowsiders cruised to a ridiculously one-sided 5-14 to 0-2 victory. What last year's results highlight is the dreadful state Westmeath minor hurling finds itself in at the moment. It will take a long time to recover from the drubbings of last April and perhaps Westmeath should concentrate their efforts on the 'B' championship in 2007. The Westmeath team which lost to Laois in the Leinster minor hurling championship was: Jimmy Greville; Christopher Flanagan, Ciaran Curley, Darren Geerah; Tommy Gillen, Eanna Doolin, James Boyle; Stephen Conway, Alan Giles; Eoin Price, Shane Egan, Jamie Shaw; Alan Devine, Robbie Jackson, Niall Kilcoyne. Subs used: Shane Boyce, Shane Collins, Gerry Rynne and Christopher Harten. Tweet

Most Read Stories