Magnanimous in defeat, Pat O’Brien bows out

“I’ve given over 30 years’ service to Westmeath and Castletown, and I’m not able to give any more. I need a break now. I can always sit in the stand and watch it!”

So said an emotional Pat O’Brien after his charges had come up agonisingly short for the third year running in the Slevin’s Coaches SHC ‘A’ final last Sunday in TEG Cusack Park, on this occasion losing out by three points to Raharney.

The defeated manager was magnanimous in defeat, stating: “Heartiest congratulations to Raharney. They are a proud hurling club with some great quality players and they contribute big-time to Westmeath hurling.

“From underage up, Raharney have passion. BJ (McKeogh) is a very passionate fellow and he’ll drive all that on. Credit where credit is due, they are a good outfit and they hurled well today.”

O’Brien conceded: “My lads are gutted, but at the end of the day it’s a game of hurling. It’s very difficult losing for a third year in-a-row after coming so close in the last two finals, and now being so close as well.

“But you have to give great credit to my lads at the end of the day. They are a resilient bunch of gasúns. They just came up a little bit short. We made a few mistakes here and there, and got punished by a good team.

“Raharney were doing at the finish what we hoped we would be doing, just holding out the avalanche. We just couldn’t get in for that goal.

“In saying that, we’ve gone through our last four championship matches without conceding a goal. Still, we haven’t got the trophy today.

“Yes, we lost a certain amount of possession in the first half and contributed to our own downfall, like losing short puck-outs, but normally we’re very astute at that. Maybe it was nerves, being a bit jittery on the big occasion. Lads have to learn from that.

“There’s no point in changing from what you’ve been doing all year on the day of a final. We got overturned, but they had quality in key areas,” he concluded.

– Gerry Buckley