McCabe seeks balance between attack and defence in Kildare showdown

Dermot McCabe is preparing for his first championship game in charge of Westmeath, against Kildare, this Saturday, and be hopes some painful lessons from a difficult league campaign will stand to his team.

Although there were several positives in Westmeath’s performances in Division 2, ultimately the campaign ended with no wins and relegation, with the only point gleaned from a draw versus Roscommon.

“We have to look at all aspects. We can’t have rose-tinted glasses and just look at the positives,” said McCabe, when he met the media before training at TUS Midlands in Athlone last Thursday evening.

“We have to look at things that are not going well for us and see if we can improve on those. That is our training model; we try and set up different scenarios so that we improve. We have reviewed what has gone well for us and what has not gone well.”

In a strange quirk, despite Westmeath suffering relegation, only two teams (Division 1 champions Kerry and Division 2 winners Monaghan) scored more over the four tiers. On the other hand, Westmeath conceded more than anyone else.

“We have to try and find that balance. It could be said that defensive shapes are built over time. We have a lot of new defenders getting to know each other,” said McCabe, who went on to mention the “fine line” involved in striking a balance between attacking and defending. “We need to make sure we work as a collective,” he said.

With blanket defences in vogue for the last number of years, some observers believe man-to-man defending has become something of a lost art. The new Gaelic football rules, including the stipulation that teams must have a minimum of four players in their own half, have dramatically altered the landscape.

“There is definitely more man-on-man situations and some scary situations happening close to goal for all teams; normally it would be your desire to prevent those situations. I guess that was the idea behind the changes brought in by the FRC. It’s about getting the balance right,” McCabe remarked. “In some of the games, we actually did quite well for long spells and yet still conceded a big total by the end. In one of the league finals, the first half went on for 41 minutes and the second half went for 44 minutes. It’s very hard not to concede high scores over 85 minutes.”

Asked for his assessment of Kildare and the threat they will pose, McCabe said: “Kildare are a big, strong and physical team. If you talk about kickouts, they have a lot of big men in that area and that’s going to be a difficult challenge for us. They have been putting up good scores. They have a lot of experience players and some guys coming back from injury at the right time from their point of view. They are going to be a huge challenge and will probably have 80 per cent of the support in their grounds.”

Although urging as many Westmeath supporters as possible to make the trip to Cedral St Conleth’s Park, McCabe is naturally focusing on what his players can control. “Hopefully the lads will be focused on what they are doing so that whatever is happening in the stands is immaterial. At times we’ve kicked some great scores and scored some great goals, which the lads have been excited about, and hopefully there will be plenty of Westmeath supporters there in support.”

As to the injury situation, McCabe provided the following update. “The likes of Senan (Baker), Sam Smyth and Johnny Lynam are coming back from injury or from travelling. There would be a concern that this game will come a bit too soon for them. Brian (Guerin) got injured following the Louth game and he had been going very well for us. Unfortunately, he’s not back to full training and would be a major doubt.

“Jack (Geoghegan) is new to this level and he had been going extremely well. He has done damage to his knee and ankle, and is waiting on the result of a scan to see what the severity is. Nigel Harte got 35 or 40 minutes against Roscommon, he had no ill effects from that and he has trained. It’s just a case of game time and with the quick turnaround, it’s very hard to get game time, but we’d be hopeful that he would be available for selection.”

A win against Kildare on Saturday evening would not only secure Westmeath senior footballers of a place in the Leinster semi-finals; it will keep alive Westmeath's hopes of competing in this year's Sam Maguire Cup. A defeat and the Tailteann Cup beckons.

"I would like to think I'm quite a competitive person so, regardless of that situation, our aim is to win the game no matter who the opposition is," manager Dermot McCabe replied simply, when the issue of a double incentive is raised.

"From talking to some of the lads individually, they feel they've had disappointing results (in the Leinster championship) over the past two years. They want to right some wrongs in relation to that. We want to correct that, and we are working hard to try and do that," remarked the former Cavan star.

Kildare secured promotion from Division 3 year and are therefore going in the opposite direction to Westmeath in terms of league status. Yet McCabe hopes that playing at higher altitude in the spring will prove beneficial to his side.

"We'd hope that it would be. The Division 2 league final was a high standard game with a very high standard performance by Monaghan, the eventual winners. We were competitive with those teams and we're hoping that we will have learned from those games. But when you go up against Kildare and a huge crowd in Newbridge, unless you keep your head in the game, those type of things go out the door," he added.