2007 proved to be another disappointing year for the Westmeath minor hurling team whose championship interests were ended by defeats to Meath and Laois. The heavy loss to Meath highlighted just how much underage hurling standards have slipped in the county in recent years, but with a renewed emphasis on coaching, a revival is expected in the near future. Back in 1999, Westmeath came within a puck of a ball of recording a sensational victory over Kilkenny in the Leinster minor hurling championship semi-final. In the same campaign, they had beaten Offaly and Dublin. The future never looked brighter. But eight years on, Westmeath minor hurling is back in the doldrums. The achievements of the 1999 team are but a distant memory after one disastrous campaign after another. Last year saw little improvement in this regard. The campaign couldn't have started much worse, with the Lake County crashing to an embarrassing 12-point defeat to Meath at Cusack Park. Westmeath produced a much better performance in their second outing against Laois, but were still beaten by nine points, and so ended their championship interests for another year. Team manager James McGrath and his selectors John Weir and Tommy Keegan certainly couldn't be blamed for Westmeath's poor showing as they had spared no effort in preparing the side. The reality is that the quality of minor hurler Westmeath has been producing of late isn't up to the required standard. Thankfully, this hasn't been lost on the Westmeath minor board which has placed a renewed emphasis on underage coaching. Great work is now being done at under 12, 13, 14 and 15 level and two years ago, the Westmeath under 14 team was victorious at the prestigious Tony Forrestal Hurling Tournament in Waterford. It will take another year or two for this work to manifest itself at minor level, but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel. Turin clubman James McGrath, who is fast gaining a reputation as one of the country's top hurling referees, was under no illusions about the task which he faced when he agreed to succeed Noel Boyce in the managerial hot seat. Early training sessions were well attended and the team had some useful workouts against the likes of Galway and Laois in challenge matches. As part of the team's championship preparations, the GAA's Director of Hurling, Paudie Butler, took one of the training sessions. D-Day arrived for Westmeath on April 21 when they faced Meath in their Leinster championship opener at Cusack Park. Traditionally, Westmeath have had the upper hand on their neighbours but on this occasion Meath were vastly superior and their ability to pick off points from long range was a big factor in their emphatic 2-19 to 0-12 victory. From an early stage, the Royals stamped their authority on proceedings and they had established a commanding 1-12 to 0-5 lead by half-time. Westmeath had wind advantage in the second half, but only the most fervent of supporters could have envisaged a comeback as Meath were dominant in virtually every sector. On what was a glorious day for hurling, Meath were first off the mark when wing forward Philip Garvey pointed from an acute angle. Daniel Riggs quickly levelled before Barry Slevin put the visitors back in front. Then, in the sixth minute, Meath corner forward Michael O'Grady diverted Michael Lynch's centre to the net to give the Royals an early four-point cushion. This was a clear setback to the home side's chances and had a visible effect on the team's wavering confidence. Meath tagged on four more points without reply to move eight clear, 1-6 to 0-1, by the end of the first quarter. Westmeath briefly rallied with points from Darren Kilcoyne and Mark Keegan, but these were quickly cancelled out by the visitors. Shane Power landed a '65', but a slicker Meath team had eased into a 1-12 to 0-4 lead before Colin Murtagh brought the first half scoring to a close. Westmeath resumed with points from Murtagh and Noel Mulligan, but Meath again stemmed the tide with full back Michael Dunne converting a '65'. And whatever hopes the home side had of making a game of it were dashed in the 35th minute when a mistake by full back Jamie Ward was capitalized on by Meath's David Kennedy, who gave Andrew Doyle no chance in the Westmeath goal. Westmeath responded with points from impressive substitute Derek Hourihane and Noel Mulligan to trail by 0-9 to 2-15 at the end of the third quarter. Mark Keegan, Hourihane and Shane Power managed three further points late in the game, but Westmeath were a badly beaten team by the final whistle. Westmeath had the chance to redeem themselves against Laois at Cusack Park two weeks later, and they salvaged some pride by producing a strong finish to the game. However, Laois never looked in any danger as they ran out comfortable 3-13 to 3-4 winners. With rumours of player apathy overshadowing Westmeath's build-up to the game, it was quite an achievement for James McGrath to evoke a strong second half performance from his team, but there was still no disguising the fact that the Lake County looked out of its depth in this championship. Laois flew out of the starting blocks and went on to lead by 2-7 to 1-1 at the interval, with 11 first half wides severely undermining Westmeath's prospects of victory. Early strikes from George Lanham, Tom Delaney, Joseph Phelan and Neil Foyle had Laois four points to the good after 10 minutes. Andrew Collier made it 0-5 to 0-0 before Daniel Riggs brought the home side back into it with a goal which was created by centre back Christopher Flanagan and midfielder Darren Kilcoyne. But that score, which came after 14 minutes, failed to lift Westmeath and when Laois corner forward Joseph Phelan goaled six minutes later, the gap was pushed back out to five points. A Noel Mulligan '65' reduced the deficit before disaster struck Westmeath a second time when full forward Foyle batted home the O'Moore County's second major. Tom Delaney and Joseph Phelan added points to leave Westmeath with a mountain to climb in the second half. Points from sub Gary Brophy and Collier extended the visitors' advantage before Kilcoyne got Westmeath's first score of the half in the 38th minute. Laois remained in the ascendancy, however, and points from subs Eddie Dwyer and Ray Delaney were followed by a third goal from the latter. When George Lanham pointed to make it 3-12 to 1-2, Westmeath were staring at another crushing defeat but, to their credit, they battled to the end and late goals from Derek Hourihane and Darren Kilcoyne, combined with points from Hourihane and Christopher Flanagan, helped to put a more respectable look on the scoreline. The Westmeath team which lost to Laois in the Leinster minor hurling championship was: Kieran Duncan; Sean Scally, Jamie Ward, Mark Conroy; Noel Mulligan, Christopher Flanagan, John Gilligan; Derek Hourihane, Darren Kilcoyne; Shane Power, Neal Rattigan, Seamus Savage; Colin Murtagh, Mark Keegan, Daniel Riggs. Sub used: Killian Murphy. Tweet

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