Browne’s focus on ending Westmeath wait for Leinster title

On a personal level, next Sunday’s Leinster intermediate ladies football final will carry special significance for Westmeath manager Frank Browne as he tries to plot the downfall of his native Wexford.

As a former manager of the Mayo senior ladies team and a resident of Ballyhaunis, some people might predominantly associate Browne with the west of Ireland, but Frank clarifies that he was “born and raised in Wexford town”.

Frank played for the Faythe Harriers club, he’s a friend of ebullient former Wexford hurling star Larry O’Gorman (‘Brother’), while his niece, Aoife Sheil, played camogie for the county. But Browne’s current sporting focus is fully on the Westmeath ladies football team as they prepare to face the Slaneysiders in Sunday’s TG4 Leinster Intermediate Championship final in Portlaoise (throw-in 5.30pm).

Of course, the teams played each other as recently as last Sunday week when Wexford came out on top in Bellefield, near Enniscorthy (2-7 to 1-6). But that game was effectively a ‘dead rubber’ as it had already been decided that the two sides would contest the Leinster final. Sunday’s game will be a different affair with a Leinster title at stake.

“In our last league game against Kildare, it was a similar story; they were already through to the league final and we couldn’t go up or down. I won’t demean the competition by saying we used the last game against Wexford as a challenge match, but we used it as a chance to get game time into players’ legs and have a look at a few things. It was a long journey down to Wexford, and we wanted to be as competitive as we could and to get back safe and sound,” said Browne.

The winner of the Leinster final will, on paper at least, have a more favourable draw in the group stages of the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship. Understandably, however, Browne is not looking beyond Sunday’s game at Laois Hire O’Moore Park.

“Of course we’ve looked at the draw but all our focus at the moment is on the Leinster final. Westmeath haven’t won a Leinster final in 13 years so that’s a fairly long time to be waiting,” said Browne.

“Before the recent Connacht men’s final between Galway and Mayo, there was a lot of talk that the losers would have an easier draw in the All-Ireland group stages. But when it came to the match in Salthill, both teams went all out to try and win it.”

Browne was an interested spectator at last Sunday’s Connacht ladies finals in Kiltoom, which included Leitrim overcoming Roscommon in the intermediate decider. This means that if Westmeath win on Sunday, Roscommon will be one of the teams in their group in the All-Ireland series along with one of the defeated Ulster semi-finalists.

“Roscommon would have been hot favourites going into that final but they were beaten fairly and squarely on the day by Leitrim. There have been some surprises in general this year. Look at Wexford hurlers losing to Antrim and then beating Galway, and Carlow drawing with Kilkenny last weekend, so you just have to perform on the day,” Browne remarked.

Browne is wary of Wexford players such as Chloe Foxe (scorer of three points last Sunday week) and he described Lizzy Kent’s side as “a well drilled outfit”.

“They will have a definitive game plan and they will be hard to break down. We’re all watching videos and analysing opponents these days. Every team is trying to find weaknesses on the other side that they might be able to exploit. But still it often boils down to whichever team wants it the most on the day,” said Browne.

Westmeath crushed Wexford in the 2021 All-Ireland intermediate final (4-19 to 0-6) and while there has been a considerable turnover of players since then, Browne said the manner of that defeat will have left “a bit of hurt” on the Wexford side. “They will want to prove that they are a lot better than they showed that day,” he said.

“We have some good young players coming through, like Lara McCartan, Caoimhe Kilmurray and Pip Ruane. But we have a nice blend, and there are two survivors from the (All-Ireland winning) 2011 team in Kelly Boyce Jordan and Karen Hegarty. They’ll probably kill me for saying they were on the team back then, but they were very young in 2011!” said Browne with a laugh.

“We’re on a journey and it’s enjoyable, but it’s a results driven business and every team wants to win when they get to a final. People play sport or get involved in it because they are competitive animals, and we’re really looking forward to next Sunday’s game.”

Browne is reporting “a clean bill of health” ahead of Sunday’s final. “People say we’re lucky with injuries but we have great assistance in terms of our nutritionist (Alanna Kelly), physios (TJ Tully and Mark Byrne) and our strength & conditioning coach (Jack Greally). The girls are buying into the advice they’re getting and that’s keeping injuries low,” Browne added.

*See this week's print edition for player profiles of the Westmeath panel.