Dillon delighted with promising start by minor footballers

New Westmeath minor football manager Mick Dillon was thrilled with the work ethic and overall performance of his side following Thursday’s first-round clash with Longford.

Traditionally a tough derby game at minor level, Westmeath produced the goods as the game progressed to put real daylight between themselves and the opposition by the final whistle.

“It’s a great start and we are very pleased. It’s been difficult to get going recently with the wet weather and we missed the Longford game in the Leinster League as pitches were unplayable, so we knew very little about them other than a lot of work was going on with the team,” he remarked.

“But to score 3-15 is really positive and gets us off on the right foot. The most pleasing thing is the way we took control of the game and we never really looked like being caught,” he said.

Alongside Dillon, Alan Mullen (Rosemount), Lorcan Dolan (Castledaly), Mark Samuels (formerly Athlone and Garrycastle, now Shannonbridge) and Ryan Jones (St Loman’s, Mullingar) have been working with the minor side.

“We have a good setup and we are getting terrific support from Patrick Doherty (Westmeath GAA’s Head of Operations),” said Dillon. “We are keen to build on what’s been happening at underage level in the county, especially with Coláiste Mhuire winning the Hogan Cup on St Patrick’s Day.

“We also had Marist College, Athlone, in the Leinster final (Br Bosco Cup) and we have a lot of players on the panel who have been exposed to some top-quality coaching. All of that feeds into what we are doing,” he added.

The three goals were crucial scores for Westmeath and Dillon was impressed with how the opportunities were created.

“One of the goals was superb, but there was great teamwork involved in what we did. Players worked hard to get the ball to the player in the right position; we have been working on that and it really paid off,” he said.

“These young players love feedback and you can see they just want to improve all the time. It has been a big step up for them moving into minor level where there is a greater emphasis on strength and conditioning and analysis work, but they have been great. For a lot of players, this was their first championship game and they excelled,” remarked Dillon.

Westmeath will face a very different challenge against Dublin before they meet Offaly a fortnight later, but the positive thing is that they have two home matches.

“We are well aware of the challenge, but a lot of these players have played at such a high level already and they will meet it head on. We treated Longford seriously and we’ll do the same with Dublin; after that we have a home game against Offaly. Aaron Claffey, captain of the side, couldn’t play this evening as he picked up an injury, but we’re hopeful he will return to action soon,” said Dillon.

Aside from Cleary and McWade, there are a lot of other players who were part of the Coláiste Mhuire success, including Aaron Connaire, Eoghan Daly, Louie Dillon, Tomás Brennan, Tristan Boyce Jordan, Hugo Corroon and Dillon Burke. It makes for a strong Westmeath squad.

“We are targeting a big performance against Dublin and the result will take care of itself. Every effort is being made to drive things on and make further progress, and we’re looking forward to Tuesday’s game,” added Dillon.