“It was important to retain our status” - O’Brien

By Gerry Buckley

“The London game was an important one to win to retain our status with a very young team. That was the big thing.”

That opening post-match salvo from Westmeath senior hurling manager Kevin O’Brien in Ballycran last Sunday afternoon was as accurate as it was pragmatic, following on from a ten-point loss to Down in a very low-key final round robin game.

Speaking specifically about the defeat by the Mournemen, the Clonkill clubman opined: “This is a tough place to come and we travelled up this morning. Sure, it was like a challenge match there at times. It was good to get game time into Eoin Aughey in goals and he did well. The same with a few of the younger lads who came on as well.

"Look, we maintained Joe McDonagh Cup status and we’ll build again for next year. We’re going to be playing Down in Division 2 and that’s what we spoke about the other night. That will be a big game for us next year. Down and Carlow will be our big games and we’ve to try and win one of them to get back to Division 1.”

Reflecting on this year’s tier two championship overall, he added: “I think about the Carlow game in the Joe McDonagh this year a good bit. At half-time, we went in level and, when we lost that by six points, it was kind of hard to pick the lads up. They kind of nearly knew then there was no final in it for us.

"Next year, they are bringing back a semi-final into it and that might make it a bit more exciting and they’ll be less of these dead rubber games. That’s what we’d be hoping for next year to get into that top three.”

As for adding to the squad in 2027, O’Brien concluded by saying: “We carried 38 players and there are some lads there and it might be a bridge too far for them yet. There are lads away and lads studying that we hope will be available to us next year. We will watch the Westmeath club championships and we are hoping to unearth a few gems from those.”