Footballers in urgent need of morale-boosting victory
“The table makes for grim reading. Now down to fifth and with the top three teams left to play, albeit a surprise top three.”
Many of my friends received the above self-explanatory text last Saturday night as the reality of a truly dismal National Football League Division 3 display against Longford hours earlier sank in even more. Indeed, the only thing that was missing was to remind people that Billy O’Loughlin has had to play recent games without a third of his likely first-choice team (had they made themselves available), and that Jason Daly had played exceptionally well as Westmeath goalie.
Many hardened observers of Lake County football teams were lost for words as they trundled out of TEG Cusack Park around 3.45pm on Saturday, some talking about “the worst display in ten years”. After a promising opening to the campaign – albeit, in hindsight, the start against a mediocre Wicklow team was very poor – Jack Cooney’s troops now face a massive battle to regain Division 2 status, a scenario everybody expected when a win in Portlaoise followed the first day victory against the Garden County.
However, it now has to be said that the absolutely unthinkable is not beyond the bounds of possibility i.e. relegation to Division 4. The aforementioned Wicklow, who lost the services of former Westmeath boss Colin Kelly only last week after a mere four games in charge, seem sure to fall through the trap door, but the Lake County have now been dragged into the bottom four.
With a hard core of players in their early 30s having been key to the county’s steady performances over the past decade – when, lest we forget it, a couple of Delaney Cups may have been won but for the Dublin juggernaut then in situ – a drop to the basement division would have an enormous detrimental effect on Gaelic football in the county.
Incidentally, I have a confession to make – I backed us to win this year’s Leinster SFC after Dublin lost their opening three league games. It now looks like folly on my part after consecutive losses to Louth and Longford, counties which I respectfully opine would have very little money backed on them to win the Delaney Cup in rich bookies’ offices by even their most ardent fans.
The return of Ger Egan and James Dolan, two veterans from the aforementioned ‘hard core’, would be a major boost ahead of Longford’s return to Mullingar on May 1 for a Leinster championship opener. And here’s a second confession – I recently booked a ten-day holiday in the USA that allows my return in time for the Leinster semi-final on May 15. That will give excellent all-rounder Mickey Quinn (whose participation last Saturday due to a possible suspension was in doubt right up to the 11th hour) and his colleagues a good laugh!
As oft stated, nobody takes any pleasure in knocking players who make huge sacrifices to represent their county, and this million-miles-from-county-standard columnist has certainly no entitlement to have a go at individuals. However, there a number of key men on the team under-performing of late, and a couple of others who may be devoid of the skill-set necessary to play at this level.
And those of us who left Ardee asking each other, ‘what happens if John Heslin is curbed?’, got our answer loud and clear six days later. Despite rallying displays from the likes of Ronan Wallace and Sam McCartan, one would have to concede that the hungrier team won last Saturday’s local derby, with Cooney also describing it as the “worst performance” in his 3.5 years at the helm of a county he has always clearly cared for passionately as a player, selector and manager.
Last Saturday is now history, and a trip to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick next Saturday is a mystery. A tiny proportion of the supporters who famously thronged the stadium on May 15, 1999 will make the long journey to the banks of the Shannon for a 7pm throw-in. The green and white-clad footballers have lived in the shadow of their all-conquering hurlers in recent years, but the Treaty footballers now sit proudly on top of Division 3, their six-point haul just ahead of Westmeath’s other remaining opponents on five points each, Fermanagh (home on March 20) and Antrim (away on March 27).
It goes without saying that this is an extremely tough run-in and that nothing short of huge all-round improvement will suffice to garner any points in Limerick, thereby maintaining our proud unbeaten record against them (see below – ten wins and a draw in the previous 11 clashes).
I often use the line trotted out by Irish soccer legend John Giles (he is missed on the RTÉ panel), “I can only go on the evidence in front of me”. The evidence from the Louth and Longford defeats suggest that a win in Limerick is unlikely. However, we all know that Westmeath at their best can get back on the promotion rails on Saturday evening.
The loss to our blue and gold-clad neighbours (one well-intentioned observer thought that their flag in TEG Cusack Park was in sympathy with the poor people in Ukraine – a desperately sad scenario which, of course, puts sport in perspective) was followed by an equally dismal and unexpected hurling defeat at the hands of Down a day later. It made for an entirely forgettable weekend for those of us who wear our hearts on our sleeves in such matters.
A win in Limerick would lift all boats. It can certainly be achieved.
— Gerry Buckley