“We just have to dig deep and go again” – Seoirse Bulfin

Westmeath hurlers under pressure in Div 1B

Gerry Buckley

“Every time you lose a game it’s disappointing, whether it’s home or away.”

Nobody would disagree with that initial line from Westmeath senior hurling manager Seoirse Bulfin after his charges suffered a third consecutive league defeat last Sunday in TEG Cusack Park, with the latest loss to Laois looking for all the world that it may prove fatal to the Lake County’s hopes of retaining Division 1B status. The losing bainisteoir continued: “The old adage that ‘goals win games’ was true today. Every time we seemed to get a grip on the game, they seemed to get another goal. It was bringing them back into the game or pushing them further ahead. It was that sort of a game - we were chasing the game for long periods. Players made mistakes for some of their goals, for sure, but that’s all part and parcel of sport. We’re not going to be blaming players for making mistakes.” Free-taking proved a real headache for the home team on the day, unlike their opponents in blue and white.

Bulfin concurred by saying: “Yeah, we missed a couple of chances as well, but we just have to dig deep and go again. I thought they got frees by times a little softer than us. But that’s neither here nor there, it didn’t have any major bearing on the result. At times, Laois did look sharper, but that’s something we have to work at in training this week. We win together and we lose together.”

With three games remaining – away to Offaly, at home to Waterford, and away to Carlow – the accumulation of relegation-avoiding points looks a tall order. Bulfin concluded as follows: “We have lads carrying knocks but we have crucial games coming up, starting with Offaly in a fortnight. We are trying to get game time into lads. It doesn’t get any easier in the league. But we are building for the Joe McDonagh Cup in April.”