Bulfin upbeat ahead of crucial home clash against Laois

New Westmeath senior hurling manager Seoirse Bulfin is satisfied with the response he has received since taking over from Joe Fortune at the end of the 2024 season.

The Limerick native had the players together for a key in-house challenge game on Saturday which doubled as a charity event for Mullingar man Stephen Corroon, who suffered serious injuries following a fall in the Dublin Mountains on the May bank holiday weekend, 2024.

“It was a good workout and the culmination of what we have been working on in trying to get a panel in place for the league. It was an important day in terms of giving the players game time and of course from a logistics point of view for the management team,” remarked Bulfin.

“We have made a good start and there are a lot of players showing keen interest in playing for Westmeath, which is very positive. We can’t bring everyone, but we are hoping to have a development panel running that will expose players to a higher level and help prepare them for next year and the year after.

“I have an excellent team around me with the likes of David O’Reilly and Shane O’Brien and we are all looking forward to a busy season.”

An exciting league campaign is looming with big home games against Laois, Dublin and Waterford for hurling supporters to savour. Westmeath have a few important challenge games coming up against teams such as Tipperary, Wexford, Cork and DCU as they prepare for the first round in Division 1B against Laois on January 25 at TEG Cusack Park.

Following that there’s an away game against Antrim (Corrigan Park) and then a home clash with Dublin. “The first game against Laois a key fixture. If you win it sets you up nicely and if you lose you are on the backfoot in the division, so we know how important that first round is,” he remarked.

Offaly, Waterford and Carlow are also in Division 1B which looks very competitive. The top two will earn promotion, while the bottom two will be relegated at the end of the league, meaning there is a very fine margin for error.

Bulfin would have welcomed an opportunity to give players competitive games in the pre-season competitions, but the GAA has decided they will not take place in 2025 after the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) called for a rest period to give inter county players an opportunity to recover.

”It’s a tough league and it’s difficult to get players properly prepared with the limited time we have and this year there are no Walsh Cup games, which I feel is a disadvantage. The GPA wants to give players a break and that’s important, but the Walsh Cup would have given us a good chance to give fringe players some game time. Counties now have to arrange challenge games instead,” he observed.

Bulfin was thrilled to see Castletown Geoghegan enjoying a richly deserved victory over Kilkenny champions Thomastown in the Leinster Club Senior Hurling Championship and said he wasn’t surprised to see Alan Mangan’s charges make an impact.

“They’re an excellent side and I feel that the top four club teams in Westmeath are capable of competing with clubs in any other county. It was a phenomenal victory and they came very close to getting over the line against Kilcormac-Killoughey in the semi-final: had they done so, anything was possible,” he said.

While some players are unavailable for the early stages of the league, Bulfin and his management team will have a strong panel to choose from and he is enthused by the attitude of all involved thus far.

“It has been a positive start for us with the number of players we have seen and the focus now is very definitely on that first game against Laois,” he added.

The Following is the schedule for the 2025 National Hurling League Division 1B:

January 25: Westmeath vs Laois (TEG Cusack Park); February 2: Westmeath vs Antrim (Corrigan Park); February 9: Westmeath vs Dublin (TEG Cusack Park); March 2: Westmeath vs Offaly (O’Connor Park); March 9: Westmeath vs Waterford (TEG Cusack Park); March 22: Westmeath vs Carlow (Dr Cullen Park).