Some loyal Westmeath servants possibly facing ‘last hurrah’ on home soil

By Gerry Buckley

“It’s déjà vu all over again” is a comical sentence attributed to the late and hugely-respected New York Yankees baseball player, Yogi Berra.

Well his doubling up of the same term seems an appropriate place to start as Westmeath’s senior footballers repeat two thirds of their 2023 Sam Maguire Cup rota by welcoming Galway to TEG Cusack Park next Sunday (throw-in 3pm) eight days after an opening loss to Armagh. The recent ‘group of death’ draw decreed repeat fixtures with the Ulster runners-up and Connacht champions respectively for Dessie Dolan’s charges, with a similar third game on the agenda also a fortnight later at a neutral ground against an Ulster giant.

This year’s Ulster giant is Derry, following on from Tyrone last year, and the reigning Division 1 National Football League champions have already lost to next Sunday’s visitors to Mullingar in round one in Salthill. Mickey Harte’s men are pointless with a minus five scoring difference, identical to their Lake County counterparts after Westmeath’s 0-16 to 0-11 defeat in the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds last Saturday evening.

A delightful occasion attending my beloved grandson’s First Communion prevented a trip to the Orchard County, pretty much exactly 12 months on from a galling one-point loss to Kieran McGeeney’s troops at the same venue. This year, there was very little trauma based on listening to Gerry Russell and Alan Mangan on Midlands 103’s coverage, with four early and unanswered points in the second half setting up the men in orange for a relatively comfortable win.

Unfortunately, my aforementioned grandson has shown zero interest in sport to date, whereas yours truly was already besotted with Westmeath football and hurling teams at his age. During my six decades’ passionate support I have not seen a better full back than the current incumbent of the number 3 jersey, Kevin Maguire, but it is worrying that the Caulry maestro was joint-top scorer from play in Armagh with two points. In a nutshell, Westmeath are not scoring enough and unless one or two (is three rimming it?) of the roughly 11/12/13 scores generally accumulated by Westmeath are followed by green flags, the team will struggle to win games against meaningful opponents.

The fellow-maroon wearers Galway fit very comfortably into the ‘meaningful opponents’ bracket, and the team likely to wear a largely white strip will be widely expected to defeat their green and maroon-coloured opponents next Sunday.

The opening quote above would suggest Yogi’s command of English was suspect. His maths seem to have been dodgy also based on this other gem: “Baseball is 90 per cent mental. The other half is physical.”

Ironically, a lot of Westmeath’s preparation would now appear to be mental, and it is to be hoped that the management can instill belief into the home players’ psyche ahead of what may well be the last inter-county appearances in their home pitch for a number of stalwarts.

All reports indicate that this scribe’s particular pet hate was very much on show in Armagh i.e. balls being dropped into the grateful arms of the opposition's custodian. With TEG Cusack Park very familiar to all the Westmeath players, it is reasonable to expect an improvement in that regard.

It was also frustrating to listen to the squandering of three chances from ‘45’s in quick succession in the second half. I often recall the enormous value Westmeath accrued from two near-nonchalant strikes from the ground from the 45-metre line by Paul Sharry in that astonishing Leinster SFC comeback win against Meath almost nine years ago. Nowadays, a la '65's in hurling, '45's in football are expected to be scored at adult level.

These are certainly areas within Westmeath’s control which could make for a very tight encounter next Sunday. Last year’s contest was close until Ray Connellan’s red card and the springing of the virtually unmarkable Damien Comer from the Tribesmen’s bench.

If this is indeed to be the ‘last hurrah’ in Mullingar for a few loyal Westmeath servants, what a way it would be to bow out with a sensational win over a side regarded as just outside the more or less annual ‘big two’ of Dublin and Kerry in the quest for Sam. Unfortunately, Kevin Maguire will not be lifting the blue riband trophy in Gaelic games at the end of July in Croke Park, but a really top-class performance from the home team next Sunday could prolong Westmeath’s involvement in the peripheral championship race.

Last meeting – teams & scorers

The details of last year’s 0-20 to 0-12 win for Padraic Joyce’s men against Westmeath follow.

Scorers – Galway: P Cooke, S Walsh (3fs) 0-4 each, D Comer 0-3, J Heaney (1m), C Hernon 0-2 each, P Conroy, C Sweeney, M Tierney (‘45’), I Burke, J Maher 0-1 each. Westmeath: J Heslin (1f), R O’Toole, L Loughlin 0-2 each, J Smith, R Wallace, R Connellan (m), S McCartan, S Smith, E Mulvihill 0-1 each.

Galway: Connor Gleeson; John McGrath, Seán Kelly, Jack Glynn; Cian Hernon, John Daly, Cillian McDaid; Paul Conroy, Peter Cooke; Matthew Tierney, Cathal Sweeney, Johnny Heaney; Ian Burke, Robert Finnerty, Shane Walsh. Subs used: Tomo Culhane for Finnerty (inj., 7 mins), John Maher for Culhane (46), Damien Comer for Burke (55), Paul Kelly for Walsh (inj., 69), Seán Fitzgerald for Hernon (70+3).

Westmeath: Jason Daly; Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire, James Dolan; Jamie Gonoud, Ronan Wallace, Andy McCormack; Sam Duncan, Ray Connellan; Sam McCartan, Ronan O’Toole, David Lynch; Luke Loughlin, John Heslin, Stephen Smith. Subs used: Jonathan Lynam for Duncan (inj., 20 mins), David Giles for J Smith (inj., 47), Senan Baker for S Smith (48), Eoin Mulvihill for Gonoud (55), Conor Dillon for McCormack (64).