The writing was on the wall for quite some time now, but last weekend’s home defeat to Donegal confirmed Westmeath’s return to division two of the National Football League for 2010. Meanwhile a disappointing defeat to Carlow last weekend means that our hurlers face an uphill battle to remain in division two, with two games remaining.
Our footballers are pointless after 6 games. An away game to Dublin on Sunday week will bring to an end an eminently forgettable league campaign. Pat Gilroy’s men, with only four points out of six outings, desperately need to win to avoid the drop. Judging on their vastly improved showing against Kerry last weekend, they seem to be hitting form at the right time and look set to justify warm favouritism for the clash on Sunday week.
While relegation from division one is disappointing, it’s far from the end of the world. Division two is still a high standard to be competing in. If anything, it will suit Westmeath better, because it is a fairer place to blood new players rather than in the ultra-competitive world of division one.
The likes of Kerry, Tyrone, Derry, Dublin, and Galway have a larger pool of players to draw on than Westmeath, and can therefore cope better than the likes of Westmeath when missing a number of their regulars during the league.
With a full hand to choose from, things would be a lot different for the Lake County, but with so many of our main players unavoidably absent through injury, we were always going to struggle to stay up this year. As results have shown we are not well equipped to compete without the likes of Martin Flanagan, Dessie Dolan, Donal Donoghoe, and Fergal Wilson, Dermot Bannon as well as Damien Healy.
Many of this year’s championship side, which will hopefully include all of the above named (except Healy who remains on his travels ), have been on the scene for the best part of a decade now and cannot be expected to serve for much longer. Therefore next year’s league campaign could be an important ‘blooding’ ground for potential replacements. Division two, although very competitive, will be a more forgiving environment in which to introduce players to big time football.
Indeed as bad as things appear when one looks at the league table, there are a number of positives that can be taken from this league campaign. Quite a few new players gained valuable experience, even if it takes a few years for them to come through. Young Thomas McDaniels in particular showed that he has much to offer to the maroon and white cause in the coming years, even though I feel he would be better off concentrating on u21 for the next two years. Kieran Martin also fits into this bracket.
David Duffy, although hampered by injury for much of our league campaign is showing signs that he can nail down a midfield spot. Niall Kilcoyne, particularly against Tyrone, showed he has potential, but still has a bit to learn.
Doran Harte was in my opinion the most improved player in Westmeath last year, and he has picked up this year where he left off. Despite chipping in with a point in each of the last two games, I feel his future lies at wing back, thereby allowing Michael Ennis to be deployed at wing forward.
On the face of it, our scoring average of -43 ( a whopping 30 points worse than our nearest rival ) after six games is a damning statistic. If one didn’t know different, it would indicate a porous defence. The truth is that we are still strong at the back. Between now and championship, the challenge facing Tomas and his selectors is to sort things out at midfield and more particularly up front.
If that can be done there is no reason why 2009 cannot still be a successful year for our footballers. After all, championship is what really defines a season. At this stage everything should be focused on meeting and beating the winners of Longford and Wicklow on June 13. After that the winners of Dublin or Meath await in a Leinster semi-final and why shouldn’t every Westmeath man relish that challenge.?
Backs to the wall for our hurlers.
Despite impressive performances against Antrim and Wexford in recent games, Westmeath’s hurlers face into their final two outings in division two staring relegation in the face. With only one point in the bag they travel to Kerry this weekend desperately seeking a win. If they can bag two points in the Kingdom then they are safe (Kerry are pointless at present and only one team drops down ). However should they lose, they will need to take something from the last outing against Laois, which considering it has been half a century since we have beaten them, would not be an ideal situation.
Kerry scored 4-14 in their last outing away to Antrim where they lost out by two points, so will be no pushover. They too are fighting for survival.
Westmeath’ s cause will not be helped by the fact that six or seven of the senior panel will be in action against Meath on Saturday in Cusack Park at 2pm in the Leinster A Championship.
Yet with their backs to the wall, I have a feeling that Westmeath’s fighting spirit will suffice to avoid a do-or-die battle against Laois.
