Joe's ‘very happy with the way things are going' in Westmeath
“I thought it was as good a game as I’ve seen this year, even comparing it to club matches in Limerick. Both sides went at it full tilt and I thought the intensity of the match was superb.”
High praise indeed for last Saturday’s Westmeath senior hurling championship final from Joe Quaid, a man who has played in two Liam McCarthy Cup deciders for Limerick (losing – sensationally – in 1994 to Offaly, and to Wexford in 1996) and was recently charged with guiding the small ball game in the Lake County to bigger and better things over the next few years.
The former Treaty County goalkeeper went on to say: “There were a lot of wides hit from both sides, but I thought it was a great finish. Clonkill probably deserved it, and probably by more than they won it. To be fair, there are really good hurlers in the county and there’s a nice blend of youth and experience there.
“The squad we are likely to end up with will have a nice balance. We are scouring the county at the moment for players and we are looking at as many as we can so that we don’t miss out on anyone. It might even be that a lad we see this year, we can keep an eye on him for next year, or the year after.”
Quaid laughed out loud when I put it to him that it is a pity that man of the match in the Westmeath Examiner Cup decider, Brendan Murtagh, is not a few years younger! However, while the Clonkill maestro will no longer will be wearing the maroon and white colours he adorned with such distinction for all of this millennium, the good news is that he has been recruited onto the new manager’s backroom team.
Another very familiar – and very welcome – face in Quaid’s entourage is highly respected coach, Johnny Greville from Raharney. Less familiar names in these parts are additions to his coaching staff, Shane O’Brien, Adrian O’Sullivan and Willie Banks (“a top class goalkeeping coach”). Ironically, given that the name ‘Quaid’ has been synonymous with outstanding Limerick cúlbáires for many years, Joe conceded:
“Would you believe, I wouldn’t have a clue how to do goalkeeping coaching myself - I never got coached in my life as a goalkeeper!
Mike Flynn has come on board in the area of performance analysis. In that regard, Quaid was pleased to report: “We met over 20 of last year’s panel last weekend for one-to-one meetings and the feedback was superb. Lads are mad keen to go. Obviously, anyone left in the championship we didn’t meet them. We’ll leave the Raharney boys alone for a few weeks. We want people in who are fresh and, over the next couple of weeks, we are hoping to get in a couple of trial matches. We are probably three to four weeks from getting a panel together.”
The former Kildare manager concluded: “We are very happy with the way things are going. The big thing is get a bit of silverware. The days of the moral victories are over - we spent 45 years in Limerick with them! We got the option to go into the Walsh Cup if we wanted, but the Kehoe Cup offers us an opportunity to try out more people.
“I mean no disrespect to either of them when I say they are just pre-season tournaments. We want to have a look at players in different positions, and to try and get a really good team together for the start of the National League. That’s our main aim and we’ll take every game next year as it comes.
“The Kehoe Cup starts in December, but it is not top of our priority list. It is just preparation for the league.”