Westmeath Mourne loss to Meath ahead of Sunday’s dead rubber

Gerry Buckley

Many of us watching the Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision Gimmick Contest?) last Saturday night were somewhat puzzled by the second part of the scoring system in Rotterdam, following which Italy were crowned winners after seemingly coming from nowhere to win courtesy of the hard-to-understand public vote.

This scribe was suitably impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities in the revamped Páirc Uí Chaoimh the following afternoon, in my mind’s eye envisaging a thronged arena for a Munster football, or hurling in particular, decider. Please God, our mutual enemy Mr Covid will wander off to torment some other planet sooner rather than later and allow such a scenario become a reality.

Of course, technology is still run by human beings and the scoreboard operator was having trouble with his task (our own Mick Moody in TEG Cusack Park is always on top of his game) and, early in the second half with Cork firing in goals and points with annoying rapidity, constant double-checking of tallies with fellow-hacks was adding to my anguish.

In a rare light moment, I turned to a fellow-Westmeath man nearby with this tongue-in-cheek suggestion: “Maybe the public sympathy vote might add a few scores to our half of the scoreboard!” An embarrassment of James Newman and Royaume Uni proportions some 16 hours earlier looked very much on the cards.

Not that there was anything un-embarrassing about a 33-point hammering, but the aforementioned Westmeath man and I were genuinely fearing that the Guinness Book of Records statos would be honing in to the truly resplendent ground by the banks of the Lee to update their longstanding and world-renowned bible of facts and figures.

Cheap swipes at young men who give freely of their spare time to represent the county I love is not my modus operandum, but it is hard to fathom what was gained from last Sunday’s annihilation. Indeed, Cork players who made eye contact with me as the media dispersed from what are still strange and eerie surroundings were almost apologetic for their part in the rout. However, they are playing for their places and can’t be expected to be overly merciful. Tipperary and Limerick hurlers are likely to be similarly ruthless in TEG Cusack Park in the weeks ahead. Neither game is an appetising prospect.

In truth, next Sunday’s football game against Down (throw-in 1.45pm) is also in the un-appetising bracket after Meath upped the ante considerably from their one-point win against Westmeath a week earlier to defeat the Mourne men with quite a bit to spare in Armagh last Sunday. A dreaded dead rubber fixture awaits Jack Cooney and Paddy Tally in Mullingar, with both sides now facing into win-or-bust relegation games against the bottom two in Division 2 South. One or other will face Laois, the team Westmeath will definitely face in the alleged ‘race’ for the Delaney Cup (Cluxton Cup?) while the identity of the other potential opponents (Clare, Cork or Kildare) will not be clarified until next weekend’s matches are concluded.

Cooney’s men have a very respectable score difference of minus four after their opening two defeats, while the men in the famous black and red colours are on minus 20. Despite producing a very commendable display against Mayo – lest we forget James Horan’s charges went toe-to-toe for long stretches with the Dublin juggernaut in last December’s delayed Sam Maguire Cup decider – the bottom line is we have the dreaded nul points on the board (sorry James Newman).

In truth, a galling loss in Páirc Tailteann has come back to haunt Kevin Maguire (wasn’t the Caulry man just superb on Cillian O’Connor three days ago?) and his merry men. From cursory glances at the game in Navan en route home from a very creditable performance by the hurlers against the Liam MacCarthy Cup runners-up from 2020, and reports from the handful of people present in the Royal County capital town, there is no doubt but that the men in maroon and white left a bare minimum of one precious league point behind them last Sunday week.

With the championship looming large, Cooney will certainly want a morale-boosting win when the five-time All-Ireland champions come to town. However, it certainly seems like an ideal opportunity for the management to try out a number of fringe players with one eye on the play-off and the other on the Laois game in Tullamore.

Sam McCartan put in a tidy shift against the green and red-clad outfit and looks likely to keep his place. His St Loman’s, Mullingar colleague Fola Ayorinde must be worth a run in and around the midfield area which remains troublesome. Livewire forward Tommy McDaniel gets rave reviews in Dublin club football where he plies his trade with Castleknock, with Brandon Kelly is deserving of a longer stint in attack also.

In defence, The Downs’ Conor Coughlan is another who has warmed the subs bench patiently and may well be rewarded with the number 5 or 7 jersey. However, these are, of course, Cooney’s calls to make, but Joe Public would certainly like a good look at some new faces in what is an ideal setting.

The third of the aforementioned five Sams won by Down came in 1968 and Westmeath fans of a certain vintage will never forget an outstanding Lake County side dethroning them as league champions on one of the coldest days that God ever inflicted on amateur players on the eve of St Patrick’s Day in Carrickmacross in 1969.

Overall, the two counties have met on 14 occasions, with Westmeath winning four times and drawing once. The last defeat in Newry in 2019 (a ‘normal’ year when the National Leagues were played in the spring!) was entirely avoidable.

The details of the matches to date follow:

16/3/1969, Carrickmacross, Westmeath 0-13, Down 1-8

1/3/1970, Croke Park, Down 2-7, Westmeath 2-7 (draw)

8/3/1970, Navan, Down 1-13, Westmeath 1-7

10/3/1974, Newcastle, Down 1-10, Westmeath 0-8

7/11/1976, Newcastle, Down 2-17, Westmeath 0-8

6/11/1977, Cusack Park, Down 2-7, Westmeath 1-6

15/11/1992, Newry, Down 1-4, Westmeath 0-6

15/10/1995, Newcastle, Westmeath 1-7, Down 0-9

27/10/1996, Cusack Park, Down 0-11, Westmeath 0-10

22/4/2001, Navan, Westmeath 0-20, Down 2-5

25/2/2007, Cusack Park, Westmeath 0-9, Down 0-7

28/3/2010, Cusack Park, Down 2-15, Westmeath 0-8

15/3/2015, Cusack Park, Down 2-17, Westmeath 0-10

9/2/2019, Newry, Down 0-10, Westmeath 0-9