Westmeath face Louth as huge challenge awaits hurlers
By Gerry Buckley
For four days last week, most Irish people basked in the success of the visit of President Joe Biden to the land of his forefathers.
Last Wednesday evening the inclement weather in Dublin - which necessitated the USA’s number one citizen to travel by car rather than the planned helicopter to Co. Louth, thereby completely messing up my travel plans from Dublin to Ardee - prevented my witnessing a bitterly disappointing display by Westmeath's minor footballers against the Wee County.
Coming less than 24 hours after a talented, if injury-ravaged U20 squad, had bowed out tamely in Ashbourne to Meath, April 11 and 12 were unquestionably a double-whammy blow for football in the Lake County.
Accordingly, a senior championship win against an ever-improving team in red and white would be just what the proverbial doctor ordered next Sunday in Navan (throw-in 2pm).
Mr Biden would have been well versed on the so-called Sam Maguire curse which has afflicted Mayo, the main Irish county with which he is associated. Indeed, it seems ironic that he is distantly related to a family called Blewitt, as green and red-clad teams undoubtedly ‘blew it’ with Sam at their mercy in recent years!
The White House occupant is likely to be less clued into Louth football and their upcoming Delaney Cup encounter with the native county of his singing pal Niall Horan.
Sentimentality was a big theme of the presidential visit last week, but sentimentality plays no hand, act or part in championship football, and for Dessie Dolan and Mickey Harte the game in Páirc Tailteann will be a cut-throat affair, both managers under pressure to make the penultimate round and be then just a winnable game against Meath or Offaly away from a rare Leinster final appearance (for now, we’ll ignore the almost-certain prospect of the Dublin juggernaut awaiting).
Louth put behind a sluggish start to their Division 2 campaign to come quite close to promotion, despite the loss of two huge players in Sam Mulroy and Ciaran Byrne. Westmeath had a topsy-turvy seven-match run in Division 3, mixing the good with the not-so-good, but the stark fact that their last game against Tipperary was a dead rubber has to have been a massive disappointment for all involved. This coming on the same day that Louth faced Dublin with the winners guaranteed top-flight football next spring.
This comparison entitles Louth to the favourites’ tag, but there is no doubt that the men in maroon and white at their best are capable of winning next Sunday’s game.
The teams have met on 19 occasions in championship football, and Westmeath have won on just six occasions. The teams are tied at three-all in their six 21st century encounters. Five of these matches took place between 2010 and 2015, as follows.
Recent meetings
7/7/2001, Navan, Westmeath 1-13 Louth 0-13 (Qualifier)
27/6/2010, Croke Park, Louth 1-15 Westmeath 2-10
20/5/2012, Navan, Louth 2-9 Westmeath 0-14
30/6/2012, Cusack Park, Westmeath 1-15 Louth 0-12 (Qualifier)
17/5/2014, Cusack Park, Louth 1-14 Westmeath 1-9
17/5/2015, Drogheda, Westmeath 3-14 Louth 0-16.
Kilkenny v Westmeath
It would be lovely to say that “the men in maroon and white at their best are capable of winning next Saturday’s game” in Nowlan Park. However, such is not the case, sadly. If Westmeath overturn Kilkenny in their own back yard (throw-in 6pm), it will rate as the biggest hurling championship shock in decades. If not of all-time!
President Biden was treated to the usual ‘Oirish’ tradition of showing a visiting dignitary the skills of hurling, and his Secret Service entourage must have squirmed when a sliotar struck by a youngster in Farmleigh House whizzed by him.
While a superb Limerick side are undoubtedly the kingpins of the small ball game in recent years, Kilkenny are never far away and the current crop in black and amber may well take out their frustrations on Joe Fortune’s charges after a comprehensive National League final defeat by the Treaty Men two weeks ago.
Unlike football, last week was quite a satisfactory one for Westmeath underage hurling, Andrew Dermody’s men beating Meath very comfortably and they will now face Laois in Portlaoise (Westmeath just never seem to play the O’Moore County in Mullingar!) on Friday evening in buoyant mood. Pat Clarke’s minors stayed with Leinster champions Offaly for over half the game, and can be happy overall with three earlier championship wins.
Fortune and his management team could hardly have been dealt a harder opening hand than to travel to the home of the Cats. Any hopes of running Derek Lyng’s men close (I almost wrote Brian Cody!) would appear to have evaporated by the loss through injury of All Star nominee Killian Doyle. With Niall Mitchell only making his way back to fitness, and doubts over some other regulars, the object of next Saturday evening’s exercise in the Marble City is respectability.
This was undoubtedly achieved last year in TEG Cusack Park, and Liam MacCarthy Cup status was ultimately retained with a great win against Laois, while a wonderful share of the spoils against Wexford was thrown in for good measure. This year, Laois have ‘become’ Antrim, and May 28 in Mullingar when the Glensmen come to town is the red letter day for Lake County hurling. The key in the opening four matches is to improve the skills needed to overturn the saffron and white-clad outfit.
For the record, the details from the championship game in TEG Cusack Park last year were as follows:
16/4/2022, TEG Cusack Park, Kilkenny 5-23 Westmeath 1-19
Scorers – Kilkenny: A Murphy 0-7 (6fs), TJ Reid 1-4 (0-2fs, 0-1‘65’), W Walsh 1-2, B Ryan, J Maher 1-1 each, P Walsh 0-4, A Mullen 0-2, C Kenny, E Cody 0-1 each. Westmeath: K Doyle 0-14 (11fs), O McCabe 1-0, J Boyle 0-2, D Egerton, D Glennon, N O’Brien 0-1 each.
Kilkenny: Eoin Murphy; Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor, Tommy Walsh; Mikey Carey, Paddy Deegan, David Blanchfield; Cian Kenny, Adrian Mullen; Walter Walsh, Pádraig Walsh, Eoin Cody; Billy Ryan, Martin Keoghan, Alan Murphy. Subs used: John Donnelly for Keoghan (34), TJ Reid for Kenny (h-t), James Maher for Murphy (46), Conor Browne for Blanchfield (59), Shane Walsh for Ryan (66).
Westmeath: Conor Bracken; Darragh Egerton, Tommy Doyle, Conor Shaw; Aaron Craig, Robbie Greville, Jack Galvin; Cormac Boyle, Kevin Regan; Joey Boyle, Davy Glennon, Niall Mitchell; Killian Doyle, Derek McNicholas, Niall O’Brien. Subs used: Eoin Keyes for O’Brien (50), Ciaran Doyle for McNicholas (55), Tommy Gallagher for Craig (62), Owen McCabe for J Boyle (68), Alan Cox for Regan (70).