Westmeath manager, Tom Cribbin, was satisfied with the Midlanders’ important Allianz Football League Division Four win over Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds.
Ger Egan netted a penalty as Westmeath eventually overcame Limerick on a 1-18 to 0-12 scoreline. Following the opening weekend draw with Carlow, Cribbin was encouraged with how Westmeath’s players delivered against Limerick.
“They worked very hard. They were disappointed with last week, the manner they let it slip,” Cribbin commented in an interview with Midlands Sport 103.
“We didn’t play well and I’m not really sure why. We are trying to work on consistency, we realise that if we are to go anywhere this year you have to get very consistent in every game. Obviously we want to get promotion too so it is very important that every day you go out you show respect to the opposition, you get yourself up for that game and you deliver a performance every time.”
Carlow were stunned by London on Sunday, a result which confirms how tricky Division Four can be according to Cribbin.
“It is a real dogfight to get out, if you look at the results, Carlow losing at home to London, I wouldn’t have thought that because they are a very big, physical team,” he said. “They worked extremely hard for each other last week, so I definitely thought they’d take points. Maybe they got complacent after getting a point away from home last week. That is what happens with teams, they get complacent if they get a good result.”
Buccaneers rugby player, Alan Gaughan, made a significant impact for Westmeath which pleased Cribbin.
“Both teams are very important to Alan, he stressed that from the very start because he had given a commitment to Buccaneers when we asked him,” he said. “We know we have to manage him well, the good thing about it is Alan is qualified in strength and conditioning and fitness himself so he knows how his body is and the way he is feeling, when he needs to take a break and when he can push on.
“I’ve no doubt we will show him that respect. I’m certain Buccaneers will too and that is why he is able to help both of us in such a capacity at the moment and do so well for both teams.”
Another factor which enthused Cribbin was how so many players contributed handsomely to the victory over Limerick.
“We knew after last week that it was a huge game for us and if we didn’t win it was probably taking us out of the picture. We wanted to be there fighting towards the end anyway, we knew we had to win, we just had to win, as much for the supporters. It was imperative that we won.
“We need to work a bit on our kickouts, because of all the stats in the game, the one thing we struggled on was winning our own kickout. Three lads came in, they worked very hard.
“Luke [Loughlin] scored a great point, Shane Dempsey scored a point, Denis Glennon did great damage when he went on, it was great to see and to have a decent bench.
“It is great to be going in undefeated, three points is good. We dropped a point last week, but that is the way it is going to be in Division Four. It is going to be very tight until the end, as long as you have no losses on the board you are in with a huge shout still.”
