Fortune urges people to get behind his young team

Joe Fortune has urged Westmeath fans to get behind his young team following another impressive performance against one of hurling’s giants.

Following their narrow defeat to Limerick in Cusack Park recently, Westmeath went down to the spiritual home of hurling, Semple Stadium in Thurles, and went toe to toe with Tipperary in Saturday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1B clash. With a few minutes remaining, there were only four points between the sides before an unfortunate own goal at the death gave the home side some much needed breathing space.

Speaking after the match, Westmeath manager Fortune praised his team for their efforts. “I am happy with the performance and again, there’s a dressing room that’s probably disappointed. You play Limerick and you play Tipp and you bring it down to the wire. There were two minutes left and there were four points in it. We conceded a really dubious goal at the end which kind of soured my taste a bit, but I am very proud of the endeavour.

“We’ve huge respect, coming down here to play against Tipperary. We were never going to lay down a red carpet for them either; we wanted to make sure that we did ourselves justice.”

After playing the strongest teams in the division (Galway, Limerick and Tipperary) in their first three matches, Westmeath’s last two clashes are at home against Antrim on March 9 and away to Dublin on March 17. Fortune wants his team to build on their performances against Limerick and Tipperary and to go into the final two rounds with confidence. He says that it’s important that the fans get behind his team.

“You would hope that the Westmeath people would come out for the Antrim game and maybe give us a chance and an opportunity. I know there was a lot of people there last year when we played Antrim and we probably let them down. We didn’t get the job done after a great performance in Wexford Park. I would urge the Westmeath people to get behind this young team. There’s a new team starting there along with some of the older guard that are there as well.”

While not downplaying the importance of the league, particularly in terms of team building, Fortune says that for him and his team “the bigger picture” is success in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

“I am trying to find young lads that I can bring into the group. You obviously saw Killian (Doyle) came back today. The likes of Davy Glennon being back, Aonghus Clarke being back, all that kind of stuff at the moment is really positive for us as a group.

“We’re training hard in the background and we’re trying to time this thing right as well so that we get the players ready for championship when it comes.”