Wexford’s Paudie Foley is at full stretch trying to stop Westmeath’s Eoin Keyes during last Saturday’s Leinster SHC clash in TEG Cusack Park. Photo: John McCauley.

Positive result essential in huge Portlaoise showdown

By Gerry Buckley

In the days leading up to this then-hirsute scribe sitting the Leaving Cert in 1973, seven words from my weekly compulsory read of the ‘Aindrias O’ column still stick with me.

That must-read column was, of course, written by the late, great Paddy Flanagan. Incidentally, it deeply saddens me to type ‘late’, while I always wrote ‘great’ about the incomparable man known far and wide as ‘Mr Westmeath GAA’.

“It’s not worth a bag of skins”, Paddy opined, “if Westmeath lose to Meath in Cusack Park next Sunday in the championship after beating them a few weeks ago in the league.” Of course, Meath went on to win the championship match by a point (1-6 to 0-8), and regular sightings of the Royals’ goal-scorer Mattie Kerrigan that day in the Croke Park press area last Sunday again brought home that nightmare to me all of 49 years later. Others present in Mullingar will concur that Westmeath blew that game every bit as much as the horror stories of the early noughties.

Paddy’s line echoes my oft-quoted stance since last weekend’s magnificent draw by Westmeath's senior hurlers against Wexford, ahead of a must-not-lose clash against old rivals Laois on Saturday in Portlaoise (Westmeath's hurlers never seem to play the O’Moore County in Mullingar).

My take last week ahead of the clash with Wexford was: “Respectability is the Westmeath target against Wexford”. Boys oh boys, but a draw is one hell of a respectable result against one of the small ball game’s traditional powers, and it puts the Slaneysiders under enormous pressure to remain in contention for the Bob O’Keeffe Cup.

Of course, the reality is that from a Westmeath perspective even a near-unimaginable victory over Darragh Egan’s wasteful charges would have still meant that Saturday’s game in MW Hire O’Moore Park (throw-in 6pm) could not be lost due to the head-to-head rule in operation for two teams finishing on the same points.

Overall, Laois have won 18 and drawn two of the previous 27 championship games between the longstanding midland rivals. On current form, the visitors are entitled to be favourites to win (a draw will suffice), but Laois have developed an uncanny knack of defeating the men in maroon and white in both league and championship when it really counts. And boy, does it count on Saturday!

Indeed, as recently as ten months ago, ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett’s men came back in admirable style in Portlaoise to edge out Westmeath, then under the tutelage of Shane O’Brien, in a titanic National League Division 1 relegation play-off by 1-27 to 0-27, albeit the victors were aided by an unnecessary red card to the visitors at a crucial juncture. This was a real sickener, by any standards, as the recently-crowned Joe McDonagh Cup champions had played some absolutely splendid hurling to coast into a nine-point lead with just 28 minutes elapsed.

Naturally enough, most of the same players will be on duty next Saturday evening. Blue and white-clad fans always get behind their heroes in their home patch. It would be nice to think that hordes of Westmeath supporters will make the relatively short trip southwards as a reward for a marvellous display by Joe Fortune’s men last Saturday.

To repeat, the share of the spoils with the ‘Yellow Bellies’ will not be worth a bag of skins if the Lake County is in the draw for the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2023.

The teams and scorers from July 24, 2021 were as follows:

Scorers – Laois: PJ Scully 0-17 (10f, 4‘65’), R King 1-2, C Dwyer 0-3, W Dunphy and J Kelly 0-2 each, P Purcell 0-1. Westmeath: K Doyle 0-11 (7f, 1‘65’), N O’Brien 0-7, D McNicholas 0-3 (1 pen), C Doyle 0-2, N Mitchell, J Boyle, K Regan and A Clarke 0-1 each.

Laois: Enda Rowland; Donnchadh Hartnett, Matthew Whelan, Sean Downey; Podge Delaney, Ciaran McEvoy, Fiachra C Fennell; James Keyes, Jack Kelly; Paddy Purcell, Cha Dwyer, Ciaran Collier; Willie Dunphy, PJ Scully, Ross King. Subs used: Aaron Dunphy for Collier (29), James Ryan for Whelan (h-t), Ciaran Comerford for Keyes (58), Eoin Gaughan for A Dunphy (70), John Lennon for Purcell (70 + 3).

Westmeath: Noel Conaty; Darragh Egerton, Tommy Gallagher, Conor Shaw; Aaron Craig, Tommy Doyle, Aonghus Clarke; Cormac Boyle, Robbie Greville; Davy Glennon, Killian Doyle, Joey Boyle; Ciaran Doyle, Niall O’Brien, Niall Mitchell. Subs used: Kevin Regan for C Boyle (h-t), Josh Coll for J Boyle (h-t), Derek McNicholas for C Doyle (49), Shane Clavin for Shaw (56), Darragh Clinton for Coll (66), Shane Williams for K Doyle (70 + 2).

Tailteann Cup beckons

On the football front, last Monday morning’s draw for the inaugural Tailteann Cup paired Jack Cooney’s men with Laois - in Portlaoise! The bookies consider Westmeath to be one of the favourites to become the first winners of the latest senior ‘B’ football competition, and there is no doubt that Kevin Maguire (who played through the pain barrier last Sunday in a very acceptable team display against Kildare) and his merry men have the ability to win the new trophy.

A lot will depend on whether Westmeath are up for it, but Cooney was adamant in Croke Park last Sunday that there would be no need to motivate his troops. All of us would have loved to see Maguire heading a parade of maroon and white-clad players in Jones’ Road next Saturday week, albeit a reinvigorated Dublin would have been a daunting prospect in the extreme. We know now that this is not going to happen, so the next best thing is a return to GAA headquarters for a Tailteann Cup final in July.

A text received late on Sunday night from one young Westmeath scribe neatly summed it up to this whingy columnist: “While we don’t want to be in it, we may try and win it, to show we shouldn’t be in it!” And lest we forget, the outright champions are guaranteed Sam Maguire Cup status next year regardless of how their provincial campaign works out.