Westmeath boss hits out over fixture congestion

Westmeath senior hurling manager Joe Fortune has blasted the fixtures congestion which saw the county’s U20 team forced to play a Leinster championship knockout game less than 24 hours after the Joe McDonagh Cup clash against Offaly.

Westmeath U20 duo David O’Reilly and David Williams started the senior match against Offaly, with two more players (Peter Clarke and Conor Gaffney) introduced as substitutes, a day before the U20 game against Dublin.

Offaly won the McDonagh Cup fixture by six points in Tullamore on Saturday, while Dublin claimed a comfortable win in the U20 match on Sunday, in what was a bitterly disappointing weekend for Westmeath hurling.

“I have a huge problem with how congested this thing is for players, not for me; my job is to manage the team. I don’t think it’s right what is happening; I don’t think the congestion is right,” said the Westmeath manager, after his side’s match last Saturday.

“It’s okay for some of the other counties not to play certain players. I can’t afford to do it; it’s for no other reason except that I want the best team to represent Westmeath.

“The lads spoke to me during the week; they want to play senior for Westmeath and they want to play for the U20s. If I could have taken them off earlier, I would have. What are we doing putting on two games within 14 or 15 hours of each other?”

“I would have loved not to play the U20s,” continued Fortune, pointing to their” big game” the next day, but added that “the quality and endeavour they brought to the game was huge”.

“I feel for the U20 players and for Kevin O’Brien (U20 manager) because you want your players as much as possible,” said the Wexford native.