Promotion achieved but vastly improved display now needed
By Gerry Buckley
At the outset, heartiest congratulations to Dessie Dolan and his troops on securing one of Westmeath footballers’ primary targets for 2024 by gaining promotion to Division 2 next spring.
As an astute young friend of mine pointed out, there will be only four counties plying their big and small ball trades in the top two tiers in 2025 – and Westmeath will be one of them. Given the county's small population, to be put in the same bracket as Dublin, Cork and Galway is a phenomenal achievement. Well done to all and sundry who have played parts, large and small, in this. The trick, of course, now is to be able to repeat these lines at the end of March 2025, please God, in relation to 2026.
However, a lot of balls remain to be kicked and sliotars pucked before next season’s National Leagues are contemplated. Indeed, the 2024 football version has another 70-plus minutes remaining for Kevin Maguire and his merry men. All roads lead to Croke Park next Saturday evening for a rematch with Down, just 13 days after the sides drew in TEG Cusack Park, an outcome deemed as fair by virtually everybody present.
Conor Laverty’s men defeated Clare by a lot more than many observers expected last Sunday, and I was one of said ‘many’. By doing so, Down gave Westmeath the help they badly needed, as a bitterly disappointing display in Markievicz Park had us all doing exactly what we hoped not to be doing on the long trip westward i.e. checking our phones for updates from Páirc Esler. This scribe had experienced a wonderful buzz at a family reunion the previous afternoon and was really hoping Westmeath could finish the deal themselves without ‘help’ from the men in the famous red and black outfit to round off a marvellous weekend.
Whether members of the losing team in Sligo were aware that things were going their way in Newry is unclear, but they were certainly outplayed and out-fought in the closing quarter of their final round robin game. Indeed, the home side could – and should – have won by more than the actual six-point margin shown on the electronic scoreboard at full-time.
Understandably, we were all trying after the game to focus on the many positives of what was, after all, a successful campaign, but there is no denying the collective feeling of disbelief that the Lake County display had been so flat. Dolan conceded afterwards that the display was flat and all Westmeath supporters will just hope it can be filed away under the ‘one of those days’ category.
Frankly, if that file is to be reopened in the upcoming weeks, 2024 may have several asterisks attached in the record books, as a repetition of the flatness shown in Sligo would mean that Down would beat us comfortably next Saturday and that Wicklow would fancy their chances eight days later in Portlaoise in the Delaney Cup opener. Certainly, any hope of qualifying for the Sam Maguire Cup by the only guaranteed route i.e. reaching a Leinster final (regardless of the Dublin juggernaut providing the opposition in it) would simply not happen.
However, nobody expects a repeat, and while very few Westmeath players played up to form last Sunday – the under-rated Andy McCormack was perhaps an exception – the positives included the return of a vital duo as subs, John Heslin and Jamie Gonoud, to bolster the attack and defence respectively. And they both need bolstering!
Two Sligo forwards scored five points apiece from play, while Westmeath were lucky that the winners’ first half display included some near-comical shooting. Also, they could have scored up to three other goals in addition to the rasper which they did.
It gives me great pleasure to again say how heart-warming it has been to see a very substantial maroon and white-clad following throughout the league, and home supporters were out-shouted in Markievicz Park two days ago. Westmeath's trips to Croke Park are rare, so it is to be expected that fans will travel in decent numbers for Saturday’s 7.15pm throw-in.
Fans have dug deep this year and deserve a big display this weekend. The prize for the winners could be a place in the Sam Maguire Cup. Regardless, it is absolutely imperative to get the memory of last Sunday’s untypically-inept showing out of the way. Some players looked tired, and the more one reflects on the ridiculous schedule imposed on amateur players, the more one realises that twigging is urgently needed to the fixtures schedule. Very urgently, Jarlath!
Previous Croker clash
It may surprise those who are less ‘anoraky’ than yours truly to read that Westmeath and Down have played a National Football League game in Croke Park once before. A divisional play-off resulted in a 2-7 apiece draw at GAA headquarters on March 1, 1970, with a star-studded Mourne County side winning the replay comfortably in Navan a week later.
The replay was the main match on a programme which started with my school at the time, pre-match favourites St Finian’s, being surprisingly well beaten by Franciscan College Gormanston in the Leinster Colleges senior ‘A’ final. My alma mater, who used to consistently dine at the top table in the province, have not featured in a decider since! Down star Joe Lennon coached the winning school ahead of a change of strip for the main game of the afternoon. The teams and scorers on Jones Road all of 54 years ago were as follows.
Westmeath: Carthage Conlon; TJ Finneran, John Noel Galvin, Christy Corroon; Mick Murphy, John Roche, Pat Bradley; Dom Murtagh (0-1), Sean Heavin; Pat Buckley (0-1), Mickey Fagan, Paddy Moran; Tommy Dolan (1-4), Mick Carley, Georgie Keane (1-1). Sub: Joe Carolan for Fagan.
Down: Danny Kelly; Brendan Sloan, Dan McCartan, Tom O’Hare (0-1); Hilary McGrath, Ray McConville, Joe Lennon (0-1); James Milligan, John Murphy (0-1); Mickey Cole (0-2), Brendan Neeson (0-1), James Morgan; Peter Rooney (2-0) Sean O’Neill (0-1), John Purdy. Sub: Paddy Turley for Neeson.