We will learn from playing big teams, says Greville
Unsurprisingly, Westmeath camogie manager Johnny Greville was in buoyant mood after his troops had defeated Dublin in Clane last Sunday afternoon.
At the outset, the Raharney man opined: “It’s fantastic. This group of girls are on the road since January 2017. People have to put in perspective where we are at.
“We have 14 or 15 clubs in Westmeath and only seven or eight of them are active, as such, at senior level where we can take players out of. Dublin have up to 60 clubs. They have a range of teams, but we are picking out of one pot.
“We were missing two huge players today, Meabh Scally and Megan Dowdall, who were in a final with Mullingar Rugby Club at 2.30 in Navan today. That’s the way it has been all year, we let them off and wished them the best of luck before their match, and we trusted our panel today.
“They will have two finals next weekend, an All-Ireland ‘B’ and a Division 2 league final. It will be a great weekend for Westmeath camogie.”
Cork will be Westmeath’s Division 2 final opponents in Freshford, Co. Kilkenny next Sunday. Greville was relishing the challenge. Greville stated: “We went down to Cork a few weeks ago and we were missing key players, but it shows you the depth of the panel because we got over the line again.
“We lost out last year by five points of a scoring difference to reach a Division 2 semi-final. We were disappointed with that and our goal this year was to make sure that didn’t happen again. We got there today and now we will take the Cork game as preparation for the championship.
“We have two massive games coming up, with Cork next Sunday and Kilkenny in the intermediate championship in Mullingar the following Sunday. We will learn from playing two big teams ahead of the game against Kildare on June 16/17 in the All-Ireland series.
“It’s all about development and progress, and making sure that we bring the players along in the right way to create the right environment to produce what they produced today.”
The bainisteoir’s sister Pamela was yet again her county’s leading scorer with a tally of 2-4. The manager praised her decision-making ability.
“She went for the goal from the penalty but missed it, and then for the free we let her make the decision. She felt confident, went for it, and got it,” Greville continued.
“We probably could have had a few more goals in the first half including when their ‘keeper dropped one out of her hands.
“For the likes of Pamela, winning the premier junior All-Ireland last year, the ultimate test for those players was to try and mix it at the next level. And look, they don’t look out of place.”