Westmeath GAA discussion Thread

dr.kenneth noisewater

Was just wondering what peoples expectations/hopes for Westmeath are this year?

I reckon we'll do well to get 1 win in the league. But if we got a few hammering's in the league it could be a disaster for our championship prospects!

thinkstoomuch1

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Was just wondering what peoples expectations/hopes for Westmeath are this year?

I reckon we'll do well to get 1 win in the league. But if we got a few hammering's in the league it could be a disaster for our championship prospects!

Fair play for starting the thread.Every county should have one.

What do ye make yere team will be for us in two weeks.

Heslin is some player ,any time ye played cork in the league ye gave us hard games.

RegisteredMice

League prospects don't honestly look good. If one was to guess, we'd be the whipping boys of the group. Starting off with a team in transition, but unfortunately far superior than us and to make things worse an away game.
Sunday February 2nd: Cork v Westmeath
A bet which I hate writing is, Westmeath not to win a game in the league.

keane2097

If Westmeath are at full strength and interested from the off they could easily take a few scalps IMO. A lot of teams won't be full strength for the start of the year and even those who are won't be fully tuned in more than likely.

The likes of Tyrone and Kildare will be exceptions to that, but Kerry, Cork, Mayo and Derry are all possible marks for teams that play them early.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Also interesting to see Ken Casey transferring to St. Lomans! Should make them favourites this year IMO!

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Did I steal your name or did you steal mine?

Edit: While we're at it, I reckon it will be tough for Westmeath to stay in Div 1. FWIW I think it'll be Westmeath and Derry to go straight down. They ran away with Div 2 early on last year, but every game in D1 is tough and their home games are against Dublin, Kerry and Mayo. Big ask to stay up.

nice_guy80

Westmeath should forget about the league. Use it to get a settled team or try new players out.

They've been abysmal in the championship for the last few years and should focus on that

RegisteredMice

Team and panel to play Cork ...

Darren Quinn;
(Tyrrellspass)

Steven Gilmore, Kevin Maguire, Damien Dolan;
(St Lomans) (Caulry) (Caulry)

James Dolan, John Gilligan, Jamie Gonoud;
(Garrycastle) (Ballymore) (Tyrrellspass)

David Duffy, Denis Corroon;
(Shandonagh) (Mullingar Shamrocks)

Ger Egan, John Egan, Paul Sharry (capt);
(Tpass) (Athlone) (St Lomans)

Kieran Martin, John Heslin, Alan Giles.
(Maryland) (St Lomans) (Coralstown/Kinnegad)


Subs:
Stephen Gallagher, (St Lomans)
Kieran Gavin, (Mullingar Shamrocks)
Shane Flynn, (St Lomans)
Gavin Hoey, (Tyrrellspass)
Dessie Dolan, (Garrycastle)
Ray Connellan, (Athlone)
Dean McNicholas, (Tyrrellspass)
Seanie Daly, (Mullingar Shamrocks)
Denis Glennon, (Tyrrellspass)
David McCormack, (Rosemount)
Callum McCormack, (Maryland).

dr.kenneth noisewater

RegisteredMice wrote: »

Team and panel to play Cork ...

Darren Quinn;
(Tyrrellspass)

Steven Gilmore, Kevin Maguire, Damien Dolan;
(St Lomans) (Caulry) (Caulry)

James Dolan, John Gilligan, Jamie Gonoud;
(Garrycastle) (Ballymore) (Tyrrellspass)

David Duffy, Denis Corroon;
(Shandonagh) (Mullingar Shamrocks)

Ger Egan, John Egan, Paul Sharry (capt);
(Tpass) (Athlone) (St Lomans)

Kieran Martin, John Heslin, Alan Giles.
(Maryland) (St Lomans) (Coralstown/Kinnegad)


Subs:
Stephen Gallagher, (St Lomans)
Kieran Gavin, (Mullingar Shamrocks)
Shane Flynn, (St Lomans)
Gavin Hoey, (Tyrrellspass)
Dessie Dolan, (Garrycastle)
Ray Connellan, (Athlone)
Dean McNicholas, (Tyrrellspass)
Seanie Daly, (Mullingar Shamrocks)
Denis Glennon, (Tyrrellspass)
David McCormack, (Rosemount)
Callum McCormack, (Maryland).

I'd have McCormack and Glennon in instead of Giles and Egan and Gavin instead of Gilligan.
Wouldn't be overly confidant going into the game but Cork are undergoing a major revamp with so many players retiring and a new manager so maybe this is the best time to play them!!

thinkstoomuch1

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

I'd have McCormack and Glennon in instead of Giles and Egan and Gavin instead of Gilligan.
Wouldn't be overly confidant going into the game but Cork are undergoing a major revamp with so many players retiring and a new manager so maybe this is the best time to play them!!

I see heslin is flying and got 6 from play and mcormack got two in the sigerson.

There the main lads I know of yere team.
Were strongest at full back and half back is full of pace and expect all 3 to bomb forward at every chance.

Our full forward line is full of scoring.Left corner back is suspectable ,what yere left corner forward like and midfield

RegisteredMice

Not a good weekend for the lads. Level pegging at half time [doesnt really give Cork credit, as they'd 11 wides] but at least we were holding our own. The 2nd half display was very poor, even though we had a gale-force breeze behind us.

The game as a whole wasn't great .. too many lads pussy-footing around with the ball rather than
(a) kicking it in side fast or
(b) taking the man on.

Things can can only get better .. Dublin I hope youre ready!!

dr.kenneth noisewater

Dublin game was very disappointing. We seemed to lack hunger from midfield up, I don't know how many times our defenders had the ball and looked up to see no midfielder or forward showing.
Heslin tried his best but he was being double marked and poor quality supply. Glennons days must be nearing an end, looked like he couldn't be bothered at times. Also didn't see the point in bringing in McCormack for a couple of mins at the end.

It was a game that could have went either way after the goal but it looked like the dubs woke up and relised they were in a fight.

Positives were Quinn in goals, Gilmore in defence and John Egan and Heslin when he got the ball. Sharry, Ger Egan and Dolan took to much outta ball every time. Also Kieran Martin is much better suited further out the field, wasted in the corner.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Not looking good for us so far anyway and I'd fear a serious backlash from Tyrone after they're defeat to Kerry last week!

dr.kenneth noisewater

Team to play Louth

Westmeath (SF v Louth): Darren Quinn; Damian Dolan, Kieran Gavin, Kevin Maguire; Ronan Foley, Paul Sharry (captain), James Dolan; David Duffy, Ray Connellan; Callum McCormack, Ger Egan, Kieran Martin; Denis Glennon, John Heslin, Dessie Dolan.

Hopefully we get the win, I reckon home advantage should see us win by 3/4.

iDave

I'm sure your a bit sick of playing Louth at this stage. Hopefully home advantage will get ye over the line.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Sad to see Dessie retire but he's been a great servant and probably Westmeath's best ever player. Pity he has to go out on such a low point after a disastrous year!

iDave

Is Bealin getting the chop?

Alfred Borden

iDave wrote: »

Is Bealin getting the chop?

Hopefully, should never have got the job

passremarkable

dessie was a class player.

bealin surely has to go, cheap option by county board?
surely there are better players in the county than recent showing against cavan.

beggars_bush

Hurling manager has resigned.

dr.kenneth noisewater

passremarkable wrote: »

dessie was a class player.

bealin surely has to go, cheap option by county board?
surely there are better players in the county than recent showing against cavan.

Berlin will stay until he's pushed id say. The worrying thing is that the team that played Cavan is near enough our best team, the talent just isn't there at the minute imo

Lemlin

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Berlin will stay until he's pushed id say. The worrying thing is that the team that played Cavan is near enough our best team, the talent just isn't there at the minute imo

I didn't think ye were that bad a team to be honest. Your management had certainly done their homework on our defensive style and shooting from afar worked well for ye in the first half. I feel we should have beaten ye by alot more though. We went 7 points up and were cruising and the goal rattled our lads who are low on confidence.

Westmeath were also playing a Cavan team without 7/8 regular starters. Fergal Flanagan suspended. Mackey, Alan Clarke and Keating not fit to start. KIllian Clarke and McVeety in America. Martin Dunne injured and suspended (!). Ronan Flanagan taking a while out.

Prop Joe

Bealin gone is a good move IMO had a shocking year

Front runners ?

James McCartan
Fergal O Donnell
Tommy Carr
Glen Ryan

Alfred Borden

Prop Joe wrote: »

Bealin gone is a good move IMO had a shocking year

Front runners ?

James McCartan
Fergal O Donnell
Tommy Carr
Glen Ryan

Tommy Carr appeals the most out of that list, would he take it though?

Prop Joe

Raf32 wrote: »

Tommy Carr appeals the most out of that list, would he take it though?

Jaysus really? I know he has done well with the minors but his spells in Cavan,Roscommon & Dublin were a disaster.

Glen Ryan i think would be a good shout,He did well in Longford while he was there

Alfred Borden

Prop Joe wrote: »

Jaysus really? I know he has done well with the minors but his spells in Cavan,Roscommon & Dublin were a disaster.

Glen Ryan i think would be a good shout,He did well in Longford while he was there

Ya i think he could do decent, but really any of the choices would be a big improvement on the last manager

dr.kenneth noisewater

Raf32 wrote: »

Tommy Carr appeals the most out of that list, would he take it though?

Tommy Carr would be a disaster as manager, most of the players don't rate him at all. I think we need to look at separate U-21 and Senior managers as well, at least it might give a youg good manager some inter county experience before stepping up to the big job in a few years like with Jim Gavin.

Always_Running

Raf32 wrote: »

Tommy Carr appeals the most out of that list, would he take it though?

Out of that list Carr would appeal the least.

Syferus

Raf32 wrote: »

Tommy Carr appeals the most out of that list, would he take it though?

Can't believe that baited so many. Well done, Raf.

On a serious note, FOD is likely either staying in the Roscommon minor job if he has time (a big reason he stepped away from the senior job in 2012) or is going to take time out. The last thing you'll see him doing is managing opposite Roscommon in D2 next year. The core of the Roscommon team are his own minors from 2006.

Always_Running

Hard to say no if senior management place is offered to O'Donnell. Would be ironic if he played a part in sending the rossies back to div 3.

Always_Running

Hard to say no if senior management place is offered to O'Donnell. Would be ironic if he played a part in sending the rossies back to div 3.

Syferus

Always_Running wrote: »

Hard to say no if senior management place is offered to O'Donnell. Would be ironic if he played a part in sending the rossies back to div 3.

You clearly don't know FOD.

nice_guy80

Syferus wrote: »

You clearly don't know FOD.

True.
Last time he was in charge Ros dropped to Division 4!

dr.kenneth noisewater

Mixed start to the year, good win over Laois(if we lost that it was straight to Div.3) and unlucky against Galway. Tough game against Kildare away next but good to see a few of the younger newer players from the past couple of years starting to come good.

Our underage teams are a big concern though, U-21's arent too bad but minors are supposed to be going very badly. We really need to start investing more in underage in the county especially with increasing number of teams struggling to field teams and looking to amalgamate

nice_guy80

What clubs are looking to amalgamate?

dr.kenneth noisewater

nice_guy80 wrote: »

What clubs are looking to amalgamate?

Proposals are in to amalgamate a few clubs underage, not sure if this is just a suggestion or going to be implemented

Tubberclare/Maryland/Tang and Rosemount/Castledaly are now amalgamated at underage and there looks like more teams could follow

dr.kenneth noisewater

Championship Draws for 2015

Senior

Group A
Garrycastle
St. Lomans
Tyrellspass
The Downs
St. Malachys
Killucan

Group B
Mullingar Shamrocks
Kinnegad
Maryland
Caulry
Castledaly
Bunbrosna

Intermediate

Group A
Rosemount
Tang
Moate
Ballynacaragy
Ballinagore
St. Marys

Group B
Athlone
Tubberclare
Miltownpass
Ballymore
CFCW
Shandonagh

Junior

Group A
Ballycomoyle
Delvin
Loughnavalley
kilbeggan
Milltown
Multyfarnham
St. josephs
St. Pauls

Group B
Athlone
Kinnegad
Garrycastle
Killucan
Caulry
St Lomans
St. Marys
Tubberclare
Mullingar

dr.kenneth noisewater

Predictions

Senior

Lomans , Garrycastle and Tyrellspass from A in this order
Mullingar, Kinnegad and Maryland from B in this order

Lomans to win it with The Downs or Castledaly to go down

Inter
Rosemount, Tang and Ballynacaragy from A in this order
Athlone, Milltownpass and Tubberclare from B in this order

Athlone to go straight back up with Ballinagore finally going down

Junior

Mullingar to win it

Hammer Archer

Gary Connaughton back between the sticks for ye on Sunday. Good to see him back. Do ye think he's still good enough for intercounty? Despite winning an All-Star, I still feel he was criminally underrated as a keeper.

Orizio

Anyone have the U-21 team/panel for tonight?

dr.kenneth noisewater

http://hoganstand.com/westmeath/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=233090

nice_guy80

same story, different year at U21
county board to blame for the balls up with management

dr.kenneth noisewater

fairly young team with alot of guys underage the next year or 2 so hopefully the experience will stand to them. Hopefully its a better result Sunday!

nice_guy80

Big wins for the hurlers last week.

How will the footballers go?

iDave

Very quiet in here. How you feeling about Sunday lads?

dr.kenneth noisewater

Suppose most would be confident after the last round of games but we were very poor against Meath in the league. However theres nothing to fear from Meath so reckon we could sneek it by a point or 2.

RegisteredMice

Does this game really matter?
Okay, yeah great to (1) win a championship game and (2) beat Meath – but really do we want to win this and get smashed against Dublin in a Leinster final (and Westmeath or Meath will) and then go out into an All-Ireland quarter final and get absolutely smashed again.
Win on Sunday and take a drumming in your next two games.
There’s only a couple of teams with a capabilities to win the All-Ireland and Dublin are one. Westmeath/Meath are a country mile from this; both teams are very poor. Westmeath beat Louth and Wexford (struggled big time here, even-though the final score didn’t reflect how close it actually was)
Meath struggled against Wicklow, but were missing 3 or 4 regulars.
As mentioned above, Meath gave us a good game in the League and beat us fairly easy.
But championship is championship and anything can happen.
My prediction, Meath will take this by 4+ points (Please God I’m wrong)

RegisteredMice

Wow!!!
What an amazing game-9 points down and looked dreadful to come back and win by 4.
Feck, I still can't believe it!!

N20

Great scenes of joy in Croke Park - delighted for Westmeath

Hopefully ye can build on the momentum

mickmackey1

N20 wrote: »

Great scenes of joy in Croke Park

Never seen so many turkeys celebrating Christmas :pac:

patmac

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Never seen so many turkeys celebrating Christmas :pac:

A lot of posts on here about how Dublin are going to hammer us and how we would be better of losing to Meath etc. supporters outside of Westmeath do not understand the significance of this result and the pain we have had to endure from our grander more arrogant neighbours. This was our All-Ireland, much like Laois hurlers vs Offaly and Sligo footballers vs Roscommon, anything else from here on in will be a bonus.
But we will enjoy the present.