Westmeath’s James Dolan making his way through a forest of Offaly defenders during the recent Tailteann Cup semi-final in Croke Park. PHOTO: JOHN MCCAULEY

Westmeath need to capitalise on momentum, says Dolan

Win or lose, Westmeath’s inter-county football season comes to an end after today’s inaugural Tailteann Cup final. But for Garrycastle’s James Dolan, it feels like it’s only beginning.

Dolan started 2022 nursing a groin injury and missed the entire National Football League Division 3 campaign, as well as the Leinster SFC opener against Longford.

“I came on for the last 15 minutes against Kildare. I tore my adductor tendon, which is what attaches the groin to the bone,” he told the press in TEG Cusack Park last Tuesday evening. “It was a slight injury, but the lay-off was long.

“My age is a factor, but where it was it was a slow injury anyway. I was told not enough blood goes down there to the tendons. It was a pain, but I got there in the end.”

It won’t be the first outing in Croke Park for the now recovered Dolan, an experienced campaigner for Garrycastle and Westmeath.

“I played a good few finals in Croke Park,” he said. “We won Division 3 and 4 league titles. Division 4 and 3 were in Croker, and I also played Division 3 against Louth years ago. I played Division 2 against Derry years ago and we both went up to Division 1.

“Finals in Croke Park are few and far between. I played in two Leinster finals. We got well beaten by that great Dublin team. So we’ve done alright as regards getting to finals – but winning them is a little bit different.”

With the first ever Tailteann Cup decider on the horizon however, Dolan says that spirits in the Westmeath camp are high.

“That’s the difference between the Tailteann Cup and the championship proper, I suppose. Coming into those Leinster finals against Dublin, of course you think you can win it – but there’s a realistic element as well, and then you go out and get beaten by that great Dublin team who have beaten every county along their way to success. This is a bit different,” Dolan remarked.

“We’re playing a very good Cavan team, but we’ll go into thinking we can win it. And so will they. It’s a different prospect. It reminds me of those league finals that you go into, where you’ve played a team earlier on in the year and you can think you can beat them, or get one over on them if they’d already beaten you in the league.

“In terms of finals in Croke Park, it’s certainly one that’s achievable for us.”

The run of victories in the new competition, culminating in the superb semi-final display against Offaly, has, Dolan says, given Westmeath much-needed momentum ahead of the decider.

“I think those games after you lose a championship game, the next game is quite pivotal, and sometimes they’re slow to get going. Laois had lost their game and they had a couple of weeks break until that game against Westmeath; we lost against Kildare, and had three weeks’ break until that, so we were a bit slow to get going,” he explained.

“We were doing okay against Laois; we were 0-5 to 0-2 up against the wind, and doing well, and then Kevin [Maguire] was sent off. And of course he’s been a pivotal player for us in the last couple of years. At that stage it becomes a lot more difficult to win against a really good Laois team with some really good forwards.

“It wasn’t going so well for us until Sam McCartan got that goal that turned the tide, and we won the game. Then that’s a stepping stone. We went to Carlow then and performed better. Away to Carlow is always a hard game to win. Again, that’s another stepping stone.

“Then we met Offaly on the big stage in Croke Park, and we put in a really good performance. That’s only stepping stone number three, and number four is the final.

“We’re looking to raise our game and win again, and put our best performance of the year on show in a final. We let ourselves down against Kildare in the Leinster semi-final I feel, so it would be really nice to put that right in a final in Croke Park.”

With defenders like Dolan, Jack Smith, Ronan Wallace and even full back Kevin Maguire unafraid to get forward against Offaly, Dolan was asked if Westmeath supporters can expect a similarly swashbuckling display against Cavan today.

“Each game is different. We always look to get support runners up with the ball carrier, and in some games it happens more easily than others,” he explained. “That game was especially open the last day against Offaly, and whether that’s going to be the same case against Cavan remains to be seen.

“If it’s open we can play like that. But if it’s a bit tighter, the tactics will be different. It’s too early to say. The weather is also a factor. If it’s raining, Croke Park doesn’t play well; the ball will be slipping and sliding like a bar of soap. On a nice day, you can play better football.

“All of that remains to be seen, and we’ll have to do our homework on Cavan, see how they play and set up, and set up against that and decide whether we kick the ball or run the ball.”