Players’ hunger and desire impresses McDonnell

Westmeath Assistant manager Emmet McDonnell hailed a “collective effort” as the Lake County powered their way into the Leinster SFC final after a dramatic victory over Kildare, achieved despite a growing injury list.

Attention now turns to a Leinster final clash with Dublin on Sunday week. McDonnell, who was part of the management team under Tom Cribbin in 2015 and '16, appreciates the scale of the challenge, but feels Westmeath can test the standard bearers.

“I heard Ciarán Kilkenny has 13 Leinster medals, so they will be aiming for number 14 for Ciarán, and the most important thing for us now is to reset, let the bodies rest and refresh, and we’ll start doing our homework for Dublin," he said, following Sunday's victory over Kildare at O'Connor Park, Tullamore.

The former Offaly supremo has a wealth of experience at this level and he also managed Tyrrellspass to a Westmeath senior football final in 2020. He believes the growing level of support for the current side can be

“That was very evident against Meath, and the Westmeath crowd was incredibly evident against Kildare. We could see the green streaming in the last time we arrived on the bus to face Meath, but last Sunday, we could see maroon and white everywhere, and it was just incredible, the support. If yourself (local media) and everybody can play a role to just get that support behind us, you never know where it can bring us in two weeks’ time,” he added.

McDonnell said he is extremely proud of what they players have achieved despite facing adversity. Injuries to key men could have derailed a team of lesser character.

“We knew Luke Loughlin went off against Meath and he had a hamstring injury, but he trained last weekend. We actually thought he was okay and it was only the MRI issues that ruled him out. People probably didn’t know that Matty Whitaker was really struggling for the last 10 days and we didn’t think we’d have him at all," he said.

“Great credit to him, he wanted to come back on in extra-time and he made a difference. Sam McCartan and Charlie Drumm were actually carrying knocks all week as well, so we were worried about the four of those players. The point we’ve been saying all along is it’s the collective. We’ve lost Johnny Lynam, we’ve lost Brian Guerin, Boidu and Sam Smith, and it’s the next guy in and lads putting their shoulders to the wheel,” he added.

McDonnell emphasised that mindset will remain unchanged heading into the Leinster final. “The next two weeks we’re going to be the exact same, shoulders to the wheel, try and get the bodies a little bit better. Again, we’re up against a very strong Dublin team, so it’s back down to earth over the next couple of days and see if we can get the bodies right,” he said.

He also pointed to the hunger and resilience within the panel, highlighting the impact of squad depth and difficult decisions on the line.

“We’re continuing to change the team and introduce different players. If I think about Eoghan McCabe there, we brought him on at the end of normal time, we made a tough call, we took him back off, but I was delighted for him to go back in and kick the second last point. They’re the margins and we’ve been consistent all year in that, so lads know we’re taking lads off and other lads will have a good day the next day, but just keep going the distance and stick together," he said.

"I suppose at the time we were probably criticised, but where a lot of this is coming from is coming from the day down in Wexford where we felt we prepared well, we felt we performed well, but in the last three minutes we didn’t manage the game well. That really hurt everybody that day. We met on the following Wednesday night, every single member of the management team, every single player turned up, we reset, and you know what, that has probably helped us get to where we are now today.”

Westmeath’s attacking threat has been a key feature of their campaign, and McDonnell pointed to their growing tally of goals.

“Coming into today it was 15 in the last four, so that’s 17 now in five. Brandon Kelly and Shane Corcoran and, up to today, Luke - there are goal threats up front, and Brían Cooney got a wonderful goal there today – himself and Brandon. The new game is helping our players on the hard ground and it suits the profile of players we have, versus the winter football,” he noted.

While Kelly earned the individual accolades, McDonnell was keen to spread the praise.

“Sam McCartan scored five points, playing with an injury, and missed a couple that is unlike him, but he was playing with an injury, and I thought Sam really contributed well in that game today, he made a lot of our offensive stuff happen. Shane Ormsby – his granddad died this morning – his granddad would be proud of him now today with that performance. But yeah, man to man they were excellent,” he remarked.