Bulfin knows Kildare clash is now win or bust
When he spoke to the media after his troops had been well and truly beaten by Laois in Portlaoise last Saturday, Westmeath senior hurling manager Seoirse Bulfin’s initial attitude was: “We’ve just got to regroup and go again next week.”
When it was put to him that Westmeath had been ‘outmuscled and outplayed in most departments’, he replied: “We started the game reasonably well. Then we had a goal opportunity (via Niall Mitchell) and it was saved, and they went straight down and got a goal (via Tomás Keyes). Momentum swung at that stage and we were struggling and chasing shadows for the rest of the game really. We didn’t win first-phase or the breaks. They got a run on us and it can be hard to stop that.
The bainisteoir was asked if his side was lacking the necessary fitness levels. He responded: “When you are chasing a game, the opposition always looks fitter. Laois are a good side and if they had taken their chances in last year’s Joe McDonagh Cup final, they would have beaten Offaly. We were under no illusions coming down about how good they were, but I’m still disappointed about how we performed having trained very well over the past 4/5 weeks since the Carlow game.
"We played a couple of challenges and they had gone reasonably well. We had a very good workout against Antrim seven or eight days ago. But today we were a little bit flat once they got the goal. Things turned at that stage, and we struggled to stem the flow for the rest of the game.”
Bulfin made a forced substitution early on and he also made three changes for the start of the second half. He clarified his thinking, as follows: “David Glennon got a finger in the eye early on and it seemed innocuous enough, but his vision was blurred and we brought Davy Williams on for him. That forced us to make a change earlier than we had planned. Davy’s still carrying a knock and is not fully fit. The same with Niall O’Brien who came on at half-time. They both tried very hard, and they did as well as anyone else did. Kevin Regan is just back a month or so.”
Westmeath have no time to feel sorry for themselves as they face Kildare in Newbridge on Saturday (throw-in 4.30pm). Bulfin concluded with his thoughts on that crucial fixture.
He said: “Sometimes the best way to get over a loss is to go again straight away. That’s the nature of the Joe McDonagh Cup. We’ll have to look back at the video and see why we were so flat today.
“We probably have to win from here on in to have any chance of getting to the final. So we know what’s ahead of us now. It’s one game at a time starting with Kildare. They’ll be itching for a game. They lost at home to Kerry (by a point) and they’ll be gunning for us.”