Bealin finds the positives as losing run continues

Despite the eventual Allianz NFL Division 1 defeat to Mayo last Sunday, Westmeath manager Paul Bealin was heartened with the way his charges responded to conceding two early goals.

Westmeath found themselves 2-4 to 0-1 in arrears after just nine minutes, but fought back valiantly and actually led 2-8 to 2-7 at half-time.

“We spoke about the game against Derry and said it’s important that we go man-to-man and deny them time and space on the ball. And then, four or five minutes into the game, they get two goals.

"But against Derry we seemed to lie down when they got the two goals and didn’t really rally. Before the game, we asked ourselves, 'if they bang in two or three goals, what are we going to do?’. I thought the reaction was really, really good in terms of the response from the players,” said Bealin, in the immediate aftermath of last Sunday’s game.

“We turned it around to go ahead and played a good brand of football. We needed to push on when we had control of the game. Half-time probably came a bit soon at a time when we were dominating. But it was good from the perspective that it was the first time that we got some decent scores against a good team.”

While the first-half tally of 2-8 was a major plus, Westmeath’s scoring rate dropped off markedly in the second period, during which only 1-1 was added.

“Around midfield, getting possession of the ball was a difficulty. It was a bit of a dog-fight there; they’re very strong in the middle,” Bealin remarked

“When we look at their bench and who they brought on, in contrast, we’re bringing on young fellas. They’re six years into a programme. They’re filtering players through and have been in all-Ireland finals. “

Next up for Westmeath is a daunting trip to Omagh to face a Tyrone team smarting from an unexpectedly heavy defeat to Kerry last Sunday.

“Every week we look at the next challenge and there’s absolutely nothing soft. Tyrone away, Kerry at home and Kildare away – they’re three difficult games. There’s still a bit of fight in those guys in there and they’ve worked hard,” said Bealin.

“At times we had the ball and gave it away stupidly, particularly from free kicks, and that gave them a bit of momentum and there was a huge crowd here from Mayo. We’ll go back to the drawing board and look at stats.”