‘Home town decisions’ irk O’Brien as Westmeath lose big lead in Navan

Westmeath U20 hurling manager Kevin O’Brien was convinced Rian Holding should have been awarded a free in the dying stages of the Leinster U20 hurling championship game at Páirc Tailteann, Navan on Saturday.

Holding came in for a hefty challenge as he went to gather the ball, but just like earlier tackles on Tom Flynn and Darragh McCormack, it was not considered a foul.

“For me, it was a free out. The referee played for the draw,” observed O’Brien with a hint of frustration.

His side led by nine points twice in the first half and failed to see the game out, so that will be the biggest cause for concern. They were unconvincing in key areas: ‘keeper Sean Jackson struggled both under the high ball and with his puck-outs. Meath’s midfield dominated and the inside forward line never really functioned.

“I don’t know if a draw was a fair result: I have a feeling we left it behind us to be honest. But it could have been worse,” said O’Brien.

“As I said to the players, we’d rather get out of jail now, and get a bad performance out of the system. Basically, they have to play Derry next week and we have to play them a week later (April 13). Two of the three teams come out of the group, so that’s where we are,” he pondered.

O’Brien accepted that his side played second fiddle after they went so far ahead.

“You’d have to give Meath credit; they were the hungrier outfit after our good start,” he remarked.

“They hunted in packs. They had our key men well marked. There were two men on David Williams all the time. I would question some of the decisions: home town decisions, but what can we do?

“It’s still in our hands: we have to play Derry in TEG Cusack Park and if we win that we come out of the group. It’s back to the drawing board.”

O’Brien said it was not a case of complacency being a factor as Westmeath were forewarned about the threat of their opponents.

“Westmeath got caught here in the minor championship three years ago, so they knew Meath would be tough opposition. David Williams and a lot of players were on that team and they were using that as motivation, but you could see there was a lot of good hurling from Meath,” he said.

“They have a lot of good, strong players. We strengthened things up in midfield and the three players who came in made a difference.”

Darragh McCormack returned and O’Brien was thrilled to see him playing his part after a long-term knee injury threatened his career.

“It’s great; he was out with a long-term injury. He’s a top class hurler, so it’s a case of slowly coming back into it from his perspective. Rian Holding, we dropped him to centre back and he was very good. He feels hard done by at the end, but we have a good group of players, 30-plus lads involved and they’re great to train," remarked O'Brien.