2008 was another busy year for Westmeath's football and hurling development squads. Here, we look back on the progress of each squad between the under 13 and 17 grades. The next generation of Westmeath footballers and hurlers acquitted themselves well in the many underage blitzes and tournaments which took place throughout 2008. In football, Westmeath fielded under 14, 15, 16 and 17 teams, while in hurling, the Lake County competed at under 13, 14, 15 and 16 level. All teams enjoyed a degree of success, with the under 17 footballers and under 14, 15 and 16 hurlers faring best. In a change from previous years, the long-running Gerry Reilly football tournament in Oldcastle moved up a grade from under 16 to under 17 level. Against the odds, Westmeath reached the final, only to lose heavily to Dublin for a second time. After beating Meath and losing to Dublin in their first two outings, John Fagan's charges returned to Oldcastle on July 26 still in with a chance of winning the competition. But due to clashes with club intermediate championship games, holidays and work, it was a depleted panel of 17 players who travelled to the North Meath venue. In spite of this, the players present turned in a sparkling performance against Louth, particularly in the first half, when they outscored the opposition by 1-11 to 1-1. Anchored by an excellent midfield of Ger Egan and Shane Flanagan, Westmeath moved the ball fast and showed great accuracy in attack. In the second half, Westmeath protected their lead and won by 1-13 to 2-1 to qualify for the final against Dublin, who had defeated Meath. However, Westmeath's lack of numbers mitigated against them as Dublin, who had a panel of 30 players, were far too fresh for a weary Lake County outfit who crashed to a 0-5 to 6-8 defeat. This competition has been organised very efficiently for the past 20 years by the Oldcastle club as an under 16 tournament. But due to new GAA rules, it was changed last year to under 17 and run in a blitz format, which created huge organisational difficulties. The under 16 Fr Manning Cup has traditionally been contested by counties Longford, Westmeath, Roscommon, Sligo, Cavan and Leitrim, but last year Westmeath were unable to take part due to a clash with the Leinster blitzes. They enjoyed good wins over Offaly, Longford, Laois and Wexford, but lost to Dublin and Kildare. At under 15 level, Westmeath fielded two teams from opposite ends of the county which were managed by Eddie Bouabbse, Des Doolin, Peter Tormey, Mark McCormack, Jack Murray, James Durkan and Eddie Whyte. Both teams gave good accounts of themselves in blitzes which took place in Meath, Carlow and Westmeath during the summer. In one of those blitzes, in Dunganny near Trim, Iarmhi (North Westmeath) lost to Louth by 1-5 to 0-11 but defeated Meath 2-4 to 1-4. Their performances bode well for the future of Westmeath football. Westmeath also entered two teams in Leinster under 14 blitzes in Kildare, Longford, Dublin, Wicklow, Offaly and Westmeath. This again proved very successful with Westmeath and Iarmhi performing well in their respective groups. David Prendergast and Gary Quinn were in charge of the south-based side, while the northern selection was managed by Ned Flynn and Michael McHugh. In under 16 hurling, Westmeath had the honour of hosting the All-Ireland 'B' championship for the second year running, which was played over one day in a blitz-style format. Twelve teams took part with Cusack Park, Robinstown and Kinnegad playing host to the games. Pat O'Brien's side were drawn in Group 3 and played their three qualifying games in Kinnegad against Meath, Mayo and An Ghaeltacht (Galway). The home side won all of their group matches, culminating in a 1-11 to 1-8 victory over neighbours Meath. Westmeath then travelled to Robinstown where they defeated Wexford 'B' by 2-8 to 1-4 to set up a final showdown with Kerry at Cusack Park. The visitors got off to the better start with Shane Dunne netting early on. The Lake County stayed in touch thanks to the accurate free-taking of wing back Philip Reilly, but a second Kerry goal from Danny Casey left them four points adrift at half-time, 0-7 to 2-5. The Kingdom extended their lead in the second half and looked to have victory wrapped up when Luke Fitzell added their third goal close to the end. But a brace of stoppage-time goals from John Heslin and Jamie Gonoud left them hanging on for a 3-7 to 2-9 victory. Earlier in the year, Westmeath took on Kilkenny South in Conahy - the home of outgoing GAA president Nickey Brennan - and produced an encouraging display to run the home side to just a couple of points. At half-time, the visitors led 1-8 to 2-3, but Kilkenny South rallied in the second half to eventually win by 3-10 to 1-14. The under 15 hurlers, who won Division 2 of the Tony Forristal tournament in 2007, enjoyed another successful year. Managed by Ray Gavin, Martin Carey and Paul Moore, they started the year with a trip to Croke Park in May. The activities for the day consisted of a tour of the stadium and they then played games on the hallowed turf against Laois, Carlow and Meath, which all resulted in victories. They defeated Carlow and Laois again in the Leinster League, as well as Kilkenny North, before going on to compete in the Michael Foley Cup in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. In their opening game, the Lake County ran out emphatic 7-17 to 1-2 winners over Laois with David Fennell, Conor Slevin, Joe Boyle, Niall Leonard, David Higgins, Paul Fennell and Aonghus Clarke among the goal-scorers. Westmeath started their next outing against Wexford poorly and trailed by 0-5 to 2-5 at half-time. However, they rallied strongly in the second half to draw 1-9 to 2-6, and as their scoring difference was superior to the hosts', they progressed to a semi-final meeting with neighbours Offaly. Once again, Westmeath were slow out of the blocks and had conceded 3-1 by half-time. But they fought back to take the lead before Offaly pulled it out of the fire with two late points to snatch a 3-4 to 2-6 victory. The Faithful County went on to lose the decider to North Kilkenny by a point. In under 14 hurling, Westmeath won the prestigious Team of the Tournament award at the DJ Carey School of Hurling, while Niall O'Brien was also named Player of the Tournament. On their arrival at St. Joseph's College in Kilkenny, Westmeath defeated Wicklow and Offaly, and drew with Kilkenny. Later in the week, they staged a great comeback to beat Kilkenny South by 3-11 to 3-7. In between, they received expert coaching from National Hurling Coordinator Paudie Butler and the great DJ Carey himself. The squad was coached by Pat O'Toole, Frank Reid, Jody Murray, Kieran Williams and Susan Murray. Westmeath travelled to Waterford with high hopes of retaining their Sonny Walsh trophy (Division 2), but failed to come out of a section that included Laois - the eventual winners - Kerry and Waterford 'B'. The under 13 hurlers also performed very well throughout the year with excellent turnouts for training and matches. The Westmeath team that contested the All-Ireland 'B' under 16 hurling final was: Trevor English; Jordan Cassidy, Aaron Craig, Paddy Layde; Dermot Garvin, Davey Davin, Philip Reilly; Kelvin Reilly, Shane Fagan; Jack Kennedy, Anthony Price, Glen Flynn; Jamie Gonoud, John Heslin, Niall Dowdall. Sub used: Darren Ruane. The under 14 hurling squad which took part in the DJ Carey School of Hurling was: Jack Clarke, Joey Dugdale (Brownstown), Tommy Gallagher, Michael Murray (Castlepollard), Alan Clarke, Niall O'Brien (Castletown Geoghegan), Thomas Egan, Jack McGrath (Clonkill), Mark Browne (Crookedwood), Pierce Shaw (Cullion), Ian Mc Cormack (Delvin), Brendan Doyle, John Egan (Lough Lene Gaels), Jason Gorman, Robbie Greville (Raharney), Emmett Corrigan, Shane Craig (Ringtown), Oisin Donoghue (Southern Gaels), Ian Hyland, Steven Keegan (St. Brigid's). The Westmeath under 17 football panel for the Gerry Reilly Cup final was: Mark Gorman, Paul Carey, Kevin Maguire, Darren Malynn, Adam Price, Liam Fitzpatrick, Ben Hogan, Shane Flanagan, Ger Egan, Ger O'Toole, Cormac Boyle, James Geoghegan, Eoin Gorman, Christy Grimes, Barry O'Meara, Ciaran Kelly and Trevor McCormack. The under 15 hurling squad which competed in the Michael Foley Cup in Wexford was: Paul Fennell, John Mangan, David Higgins, Cormac Foley, David Fennell, Paul Poynton, Simon McCarthy, Ross Daly, James Moore, Sean Carey, Conor Slevin, Aonghus Clarke, Joe Boyle, Dermot Judge, Mark Glennon, Cathal Scally, David McCormack, Darragh Kelly, Thomas Doyle, Dean McDermott, David Lynch, Jack O'Kelly-Lynch, Niall Leonard and Brendan Melligan. Tweet

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