Westmeath face massive tasks vs Mayo and Cork next weekend

Gerry Buckley

The modern inter-county manager tends to trot out stats, stats and more stats. But this pragmatic columnist has long since opined that just one stat ultimately counts – whatever is logged on the scoreboard by Mick Moody in TEG Cusack Park, and his counterparts nationwide, at the end of games.

Using that ‘no grey area’ mindset, one could argue that Westmeath’s senior hurling and football teams had a very poor Sunday in Walsh Park and Páirc Tailteann respectively. Yes, the latter was a mini-disaster based on my intermittent viewing of GAAGO, listening to Midlands 103 Radio, and chats with some of the handful of spectators present in Navan, on the long road homewards from Waterford and later that evening.

For those of us who almost expected the events of June 28, 2015 in Croke Park to appear on RTÉ’s ‘Reeling in the Years’ programme last Sunday - the new series of which focuses on the ‘tennies’ - in truth, there were shades of old horror stories about Meath coming from four points down to edge their western neighbours by the bare minimum. No proud Westmeath man ever wants to witness Ollie Murphy-style snatch and grab raids by the Royal County again, especially in important championship encounters.

However, it wasn’t goals that undid Jack Cooney’s charges last Sunday, but the concession of avoidable frees. Modern backroom teams are laden with the aforementioned stats men. They surely also have an expert or two in the art of legal tackling. Their knowledge should be imparted to all and sundry, regardless of the players’ skill-set in other facets of the game.

It was galling to see two points being frittered away to Meath in a Division 2 North which seems stronger than its southern counterpart.

The bottom line is Westmeath are already in a dogfight to avoid a drop to Division 3 and the arrival in TEG Cusack Park next Saturday (throw-in 3pm) of Sam Maguire’s near-perennial bridesmaid, Mayo, in TEG Cusack Park looks an even more daunting prospect than it did when the truncated fixtures were announced.

James Horan’s men did something of a demolition job on Down in their opening game and it will take a massive performance from the men in maroon and white to put it up to the Connacht champions in Mullingar.

Westmeath were 7/2 to win in Navan and yours truly came within a click of a button from availing of what I felt were very generous odds. Just as well, as a losing docket would have added to the feeling of sheer misery on the last leg of the journey home from the sunny, but un-summery, conditions prevailing in the south east. Mayo are also certain to be very hot favourites for their trip to Westmeath on Saturday (throw-in 3pm).

A full 70 minutes-plus of the best parts of the display in Navan would ensure a closer contest than will be widely expected. Anything less and the visit of Down could be a dead rubber between the sides who will face relegation play-offs if Andy McEntee’s outfit defeat the Mourne men in Armagh next Sunday (Down’s training lapse in ‘lockdown’ means a neutral venue for this game).

Ironically, the Athletic Grounds in the Orchard County is now the last of the 32 county grounds in Ireland which this scribe hasn’t visited between scribe and pre-scribe days, with the regularly-attended Crossmaglen having been often used as the home pitch by the men in orange and white. Walsh Park was number 31 ticked off last Sunday and it almost became one of the most memorable of away trips, with Shane O’Brien’s troops an unrecognisable outfit from the side slaughtered eight days earlier by Galway.

For that improvement we are all grateful, albeit a preventable goal and several avoidable frees – see above for footballers – proved very costly. A sensational win was a distinct possibility late on against an understrength side in white and blue. The return of Aonghus Clarke – a home fan, a son and namesake of the late Westmeath football goalkeeper, Brendan McCann, opined to me at the break that the Castletown-Geoghegan man was the best hurler on show – immediately bolstered the defence.

Shane Clavin, unlucky skipper Cormac Boyle, and Killian Doyle, despite some trademark magic in spots, all need game time to return to their best form, but a far more balanced side is likely to compete in the Joe McDonagh Cup – in the view of most Westmeath hurling supporters a must-win competition in 2021.

The two teams considered to be the biggest obstacles to maroon and white ribbons being placed on the second-tier cup, Carlow and Kerry, both had disappointing league results on Sunday. In the Kingdom’s case, an unexpected hammering by Offaly was an eye-catching outcome. Of course, the green and gold jerseys made famous by the footballers from the south-west (did you ever see anything like David Clifford’s third goal against Galway? – I doubt if Stephen Kenny has as good a finisher in his ranks) will almost certainly not come on to Westmeath’s radar if the visitors to Netwatch Cullen Park emerge pointless on July 3 or 4,

The daunting visit to Pairc Uí Chaoimh next Sunday (throw-in 3pm) will be another learning curve for the Lake County lads in pursuit of secondary silverware.

Nobody is expecting a Westmeath victory, but a very acceptable bar was set in Waterford and another very gutsy display will be required to keep the outcome respectable. Cork have been flying in their opening two league fixtures and are now being spoken of as genuine Liam MacCarthy Cup contenders. Their opponents by the banks of the Lee on Sunday are up against it, but the mood in the Westmeath camp is sure to have lifted after frightening the living daylights out of the Déise men.