Positive vibes on player development in Westmeath

The Extra Mile column

It was great to see Westmeath hosting a very successful evening on player development during the week and the Mullingar Park Hotel had a great attendance for the occasion. The work ongoing is considerable.

However, during the week, the Westmeath minor footballers suffered another defeat when they lost to Longford in the Seamus Heaney Cup. It means they have failed to win a competitive game and when you’re looking for progress, that’s not an inspiring statistic.

The players representing Westmeath are making great sacrifices and giving a huge amount to the game, but we do yearn for progress and the challenge for the weaker counties is to carry it forward to minor level. Here’s hoping Westmeath can do that in the coming years as there was great enthusiasm about last week’s event and there is a positive vibe in the underage scene now.

Stones brothers, Michael and James, who run MJS Building Development in New York have invested money in the underage scene and it’s terrific to see the young players all togged out in the new gear, supplied by KC Sports, Mullingar. It will create a good environment and that is important.

A Centre of Excellence must be the next step

After the great showing with the young players, Westmeath will surely look at facilities again. Some county sides are struggling to find venues for training: the Westmeath camogie team has no home, for example, and the senior hurlers regularly travel to Abbotstown (the GAA's National Games Development Centre) for training.

A centre of excellence would be just the boost the county needs, but there is still no positive news in that regard. It could be years away. The county certainly missed a golden opportunity after the 2004 Leinster success and that will be two decades old next year. With that in mind, some kind of progress in relation to facilities would be very welcome. Other counties have theirs: Offaly, for example with the Faithful Fields and the aforementioned Louth, who have Darver.

Facilities won’t decide everything, but they will certainly give things another much-needed lift.

Penalties decide Ulster final

The Ulster football final was the one saving grace from a rather forgetful provincial series as Derry denied Armagh after a penalty shoot-out in Clones. The traditional GAA people will rightly question whether penalty kicks is the way to decide games and this is the first time we have ever seen a provincial final decided in such a manner.

But for drama and excitement, it was brilliant. One suspects that a replay would not have failed in that regard, though and it’s a pity that Armagh lost a provincial final in this manner. The new condensed season has taken out the time for replays and in doing so, is eroding the importance of the provincial championships: some would quite rightly say that the lack of competition in Leinster, Munster and Connacht is doing that all on its own.

Dublin ran away with the Leinster final, making Louth look quite ordinary. Westmeath fans looking on might have hoped the county’s senior side was ready to take their place in the final, but when we saw how utterly dominant Dublin were, we wondered had we saved ourselves another bad Leinster final experience?

How to make progress is now the key and Westmeath will look to do so when they take on Armagh in the first round of the All-Ireland series, but it will be a tough assignment, especially away from home. Westmeath will also have games against Galway (TEG Cusack Park) and Tyrone (neutral venue) and these will be just as tough for Dessie Dolan’s side, but it’s only by playing the top sides that you can really measure yourself and improve.

Getting back to the Ulster final, and it was interesting to note that Derry had to start extra-time with 14 players following the black card to Brendan Rogers. Had Rogers picked up a straight red card for his troubles, Derry would have been able to begin the extra-time period with a full 15. It’s one of those little intricate rules and if you think about it deeply enough, it might make sense. Yes, Rogers would not have been able to return in a red card scenario, but were his team disadvantaged more by him having to sit out a crucial period of extra-time?

You have just got to love the GAA!