Is there any hope for Westmeath as annus horribilis continues?

 

GERRY BUCKLEY reflects on what has been a hugely disappointing 2014 season for Westmeath inter-county teams so far and tries to find some crumbs of comfort.

This is an era in the GAA when a plethora of stats are thrown around by managers and their assistants-laden backroom teams. Nowadays, various men and women scurry around pitches nationwide armed with more multi-coloured pens, folders and clipboards than would be seen at an annual stocktake in a major retail outlet.

There is one unassuming man whose name never makes a match programme in Cusack Park. His name is Mick Moody. “Mick who?”, you may well ask, but Mick is the affable gentleman who meticulously keeps the scoreboard ticking over for every game played at Westmeath GAA headquarters.

My point in all this – and I am adamant about it – is that the only stat that actually counts is what Mick flashes up on the right hand side of the electronic scoreboard at the canal end of Cusack Park, and occasionally on a smaller version thereof at the Dunnes Stores end.

Thankfully, after a truly dismal 21 weeks for Westmeath GAA fans (we have extremely fickle supporters in this county, so fair play to the hardy diehards), the senior hurlers got over the line last Saturday against a decent London outfit and now have a one-off match away to the Christy Ring Cup champions (as-yet unknown, very possibly Kerry) on June 14 to preserve top flight championship status in 2015.

Kerry, or similar, in their home patch will probably have a 55/45 chance of preventing Brian Hanley’s men from having a slip of paper with ‘An Iarmhí’ typed on it in a little container in October when the draws for next year’s premier senior championships are made on television.

Indeed, at this point it is probably useful to clarify that the county who played (albeit dismally – see later) in maroon and white last Saturday week against Louth in the Leinster SFC is called Westmeath (An Iarmhí as Gaeilge). Ciaran Whelan (despite being married to a Westmeath lady) and Kevin McStay both called the county ‘Meath’ in their summary of the team’s generally weak efforts against the Wee County – and were allowed to do so by host Des Cahill.

The proud Lake County men among us were already down in the dumps after a ‘weekendus horribilis’ which featured a dreadful display by the minor footballers, a not-much-better one by their senior counterparts, and a reasonable (but losing) one by the senior hurlers.

The upshot of that most unwanted hat-trick was that when the iconic James Last tune was being piped into tens of thousands of homes around the country to herald the first Sunday Game of 2014, Westmeath was the only dual county to have been already knocked out of the provincial championship in both codes. Out of contention, by two, while all the talk (about the ‘real’ Meath etc!) was of the hopes and expectations of counties in the summer months to come. How depressing was that feeling.

A search for positives on the football front is not very encouraging. To use the John Giles line of “I can only go on the evidence in front of me”, a run in the Qualifiers seems highly unlikely. Indeed, even one win in the ‘back door’ looks a tall order, while the possibility of an embarrassment looms large.

The Paul Bealin era has, to date, been nothing short of disastrous – 11 competitive games played, 11 straight defeats. His post-match talk ten days ago of “a lack of leadership” merely deflected blame from the management and is most unfair on players like Kevin Maguire and Ger Egan, in particular, who burst a gut in pursuit of a much-needed victory. All county players are leaders of sorts with their clubs, producing displays which merit (in the vast majority of cases) their selection for the maroon and white jersey.

Certainly, Westmeath’s slide down the footballing ladder has to be stopped. And quickly. Whether that is under the current incumbent, or a replacement, is a decision not of this columnist’s making. However, the warning signs have been flashing in our faces with a vengeance this year and only a totally unforeseen Qualifier run will rescue what has been a dreadful 2014 at minor, U21 and senior level.

Westmeath’s midfield problems since the halcyon days of Rory and ‘Shaugho’ (as good a pairing as there was in the land in the first half of the ‘noughties’) have been well highlighted. But, in desperately seeking a few crumbs of comfort, the performances of David McCormack in the second half of the drawn U21 game in Newtowncashel, and Fergal Hynes in the minors’ loss to Kildare, at least suggests that weaknesses in that vital area could be rectified before the decade is out.

To be fair, the county’s senior hurlers have never lacked spirit since the horror show against Derry three months ago. Indeed, a little cuteness and experience could even have seen Brian Hanley’s charges reach a Leinster quarter-final tie next weekend, rather than an agonising three-week wait for a must-win game against the tier two champions.

While Westmeath have some talented young hurlers and the manager has stuck with them, talk of building a team via the Christy Ring Cup next year makes zero sense to me. I am often quoted for my remark in 2005 when John Shaw lifted that particular trophy: “This is wonderful, but I never want to win it again.” And my case rests in that regard.

The U21 hurlers face Carlow on June 4 in Cusack Park. A splendid display by many of the same players almost unseated the provincial champions-in-waiting last summer in Wexford Park. Let us hope that the only statistician who matters, the aforementioned Mick Moody, has a favourable stat for us in eight days from now.

An Iarmhí (as distinct from An Mhí, dear Ciaran and Kevin) abú!