McKeogh: Examiner Cup decider ‘will be a tough battle’

One of the main talking points in Lake County hurling circles over the past few months has been the huge improvement in the performance levels of the Raharney senior team, after enduring what was a very disappointing 2020 campaign by that proud club’s exalted standards, writes Gerry Buckley.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner last Saturday night, this year’s newly-installed manager Brendan McKeogh expressed his satisfaction with how 2021 has gone so far, as he looks forward to wearing the blue bainisteoir bib in next Sunday’s eagerly-awaited Slevin’s Coaches SHC ‘A’ showdown with Castletown Geoghegan.

He reflected on their run to the final as follows: “I’m very happy with the way the year has gone. The lads have worked very hard. They put in a lot of pre-season work. The boys bought into it and we are where we are because of that.”

In relation to pitting his wits against his vastly experienced opposite number Pat O’Brien, McKeogh added: “It will be a tough battle. They are probably a little more experienced across their panel. It’ll be their third final in-a-row, so that’s probably going to stand to them a little bit. We’re up for the challenge though.

“We kept busy for the four weeks since qualifying for the final. We played a couple of challenges and we’ve done a bit of work on a few things that maybe we didn’t get to do during the summer when it was football (with Killucan)/hurling (with Raharney), week in, week out. That made it difficult to work on game plans and stuff like that. We used the four weeks wisely.”

Of course, one semi-final was played, with the Deelsiders having to wait to see who their opponents would be next Sunday. Naturally enough, the Raharney manager was in attendance that day.

“I was very impressed with Castletown Geoghegan and I was impressed with Clonkill too, to be fair,” he said. “Clonkill were massively experienced, but Castletown finished just a little stronger. The final will be the same as most games, they will have their key forwards and their marquee players, the likes of Niall O’Brien and Aonghus (Clarke).

“We’re under pressure to keep them quiet, but we have a few guys up front who’ll give them plenty to worry about too.

“In a lot of these encounters everyone will talk about the marquee guys, but I think that fringe players decide a lot of them. Probably the style of game that both Castletown and ourselves play is more suited to summer hurling. We play similar styles.”

McKeogh is hopeful that he can pick from a full deck, but he conceded that “we have a few niggles here and there.”

And what would it mean to Raharney to lift the Westmeath Examiner Cup for the first time since 2016? McKeogh replied: “It would mean a lot to everyone out here to be honest. As a club, we have people putting in massive time with underage. You have the likes of Sean Greville out mowing the pitch once or twice a week. Guys going round doing everything, the likes of Ken Fitzsimons. The committee is outstanding.

“Even our supporters have really got behind us this year I find too. There’s a good old buzz around here now. There are flags up everywhere and the place is awash with blue and white,” he concluded