Westmeath prepare to take on Wexford again

Last May Westmeath stunned Wexford when they earned a draw against the Slaneysiders (2-15 to 0-21) at TEG Cusack Park, Mullingar and next Sunday the counties meet again at the same venue in Division 1A of the Allianz Hurling League.

Joe Fortune will lead Westmeath into battle once more against his native county, but he is under no illusions about the challenge that awaits following last weekend's heavy defeat by Clare.

“It was a disappointing scoreline. I thought for 20/25 minutes we were right in it, but then we conceded two goals from our own mistakes towards the end of the first half and our heads tended to drop. It’s very disappointing. We know the step-up that’s needed, but you don’t get time at this level to self-reflect for too long,” he reflected.

Fortune admitted his players were very disappointed with the outcome and realise they will need to perform to much higher level in this extremely competitive group.

"Our work rate dropped an awful lot in the second half. The quality of the players they were bringing in – let’s not be under any illusions about where we are coming from and what we have to do. But we’ll learn from today and move on,” he said.

When asked about the significance of Eibhear Quilligan’s great save from Niall O’Brien in the 16th minute, with Westmeath giving as good as they were getting at that juncture, and his team's lack of goals overall in 2023, the losing bainisteoir responded: “Yes, when you get to this level, you need chances like that to go in. It’s very disappointing not to be scoring goals, but it’s a reality.

“We have work to do on that. We’ve had chances. We had chances in Galway for goals, and against Antrim as well, and we just haven’t finished them. At this level, they’re not that easy to go in, but we are doing our best to work at that in training as well.”

It was put to him that his team’s display in the second half featured a lot of careless shooting, and he replied: “They realise that their second half wasn’t good enough. Some of the normal things that go well for us just didn’t happen today – our frees, our wide count. At this level, maybe the pressure is coming from a defensive point of view from opponents.

“We brought in four forwards to give them a bit of game time. We brought in young Mark Cunningham and we started young Owen McCabe. It was a big day for them. We are trying to look at younger players, but at this level there is pressure on your shooting all the time. They got a couple more goals in the second half. But they’re bringing in All Star players. It will be a learning process for us over the next few weeks,” he added.

Wexford lost to Galway in round one and will be keen to bounce back. Manager Darragh Egan has named Lee Chin as captain for this season.