Hurlers have golden chance at gaining promotion in NHL
Gerry Buckley
The weather may have been incredibly good and consistent last weekend but, despite two very welcome victories by Westmeath’s flagship teams on Saturday and Sunday, consistently producing good performances – not just from match-to-match, but within individual games – remains a problem for the players under the tutelage of both Joe Fortune and Jack Cooney.
A hectic sporting weekend for this scribe also took in my other great lifelong passion, the Republic of Ireland soccer team against something of a reserve Belgian side. Stephen Kenny looked like a dead man walking in his managerial role, especially after a horrendous home loss to Luxembourg, but he is now very much ‘flavour of the month’ with both his employers in Abbottstown and loyal Irish fans, whose hard-earned money pays his very reasonably-negotiated salary.
Messrs Fortune and Cooney both ‘had a Luxembourg’ in their round robin games in National League Division 2A (hurling) and 3 (football) respectively. Thankfully, the hurlers’ dismal showing in Carlow didn’t prove to be fatal, but the footballers’ poor display against Longford in TEG Cusack Park did. Both teams had an opportunity to recover. The small ball men did, albeit not over-impressively. The big ball men didn’t, and a real howler of a last-gasp goal miss against Fermanagh in Mullingar proved to be the final nail in our promotion prospects, as many of us feared it would be.
However, the past is the past is the past. The guaranteed future (if that is OK with you Mr Covid) is that the footballers must ply their trade again in the third tier next spring, with Cooney correctly opining post-match in Corrigan Park (where the first 50 minutes by the visitors was extremely ‘Luxembourgish’) that Division 3 may suit the grooming of up-and-coming players, as Division 2 – the Dubs et al – will be a tough port of call in 2023. Only picking up three points from a possible eight in the four games following two initial victories is simply not promotion form, and we have nobody to blame bar ourselves for not getting up.
Kenny’s ‘boys in green’ avenged their Luxembourg horror story with an away victory in the principality. Similarly, there will be no shortage of motivation for Cooney when Longford come to TEG Cusack Park on May 1. Billy O’Loughlin’s men ended up four points behind their south-western neighbours in the league table, but a highly creditable win in Portlaoise is a great foundation for the Delaney Cup for them. They will have absolutely no fear whatever heading to Mullingar four weeks from next Sunday. Much more about that, please God, ahead of that mouth-watering clash, where – lest we forget – the winners will be just one step – albeit a gigantic one in the likely shape of Dublin or Kildare or Meath in that order – from avoiding an unwanted entry in the record books for participating in the inaugural Tailteann Cup.
The hurlers have a far more pressing engagement, with a Division 2 final slot in Semple Stadium scheduled for 4.45pm on Saturday, the curtain-raiser to the Division 1 final between Waterford (could this be their belated Liam MacCarthy Cup coronation year?) and Cork. A well-intentioned sports fanatic friend of mine inadvertently referred to the latter match as “the senior game” in a text on Sunday. Incidentally, I advised said friend not to back Westmeath footballers to go unbeaten in the league – we’re both glad that he took my advice!
Well, our game is very much a ‘senior’ game, as you can’t get any more senior than 70-plus minutes’ action determining whether a county gets an opportunity to dine at hurling’s top table again next spring. This columnist has always preached that a few trimmings by the best in the land serves a team far more than operating at a lower level. Indeed, it’s not only my opinion – it’s a proven fact! Antrim hurlers have come on in leaps and bounds by producing very creditable displays in Division 1. And I see no reason why the Lake County can’t do precisely the same.
Of course, there was a time when Down were as strong – and occasionally stronger – than Antrim in Ulster hurling. Those of us who attended games in Portaferry etc will know how passionate the Mourne County hurling fraternity are about the game in a county where red and black-clad sides (their donning of black togs was considered very revolutionary in the 1960s) have often been at the very top of the football tree.
The two-point loss to Down earlier this month in Mullingar will be very fresh in the minds of Fortune and his backroom team ahead of the ‘trip to Tipp’. You would like to think that the return of Davy Glennon (whose introduction changed the pattern of the contest against Kerry last Saturday) and his fellow quality forward Niall O’Brien will greatly increase Westmeath’s scoring power in Thurles. Westmeath at their best will have regained Division 1 status come 6.15pm on Saturday. But only their best will suffice against a hungry Down side.
The teams and scorers from the round robin game on March 6 were as follows:
Scorers – Down: P Sheehan 0-10 (5f, 1‘65’), E Sands 1-3, O McManus 0-2 (2f), M Fisher, C Woods (f) and C Egan 0-1 each. Westmeath: J Gillen 0-7 (4f, 2‘65’), D McNicholas 1-1, J Boyle 0-3, C Doyle (1f) and K Doyle 0-2 each, T Doyle 0-1.
Down: Stephen Keith; Matt Conlon, John McManus, Michael Hughes; Liam Savage, Conor Woods, Caolan Teggart; Donal Hughes, Tom Murray; Ryan McCusker, Paul Sheehan, Chris Egan; Pearse Óg McCrickard, Eoghan Sands, Daithí Sands. Subs used: Marc Fisher for Egan (48), Oisín McManus for McCrickard (53), Jordan Doran for McCusker (60), Gerard Hughes for Murray (65), Conor Cassidy for M Hughes (67).
Westmeath: Noel Conaty; Darragh Egerton, Tommy Doyle, Conor Shaw; Aaron Craig, Tommy Gallagher, Aonghus Clarke; Jack Galvin, Ciaran Doyle; Niall Mitchell, Joey Boyle, Robbie Greville; Derek McNicholas, Jack Gillen, Killian Doyle. Subs used: Eoin Keyes for McNicholas (45), Johnny Bermingham for Greville (52), Eoghan Ahearn for Gillen (57), Darragh Clinton for C Doyle (70).