Former Westmeath hurling star Ger Jackson believes it is a travesty that the likes of Brendan Murtagh and Darren McCormack will not be displaying their skills on the big stage this year, while Galway and Antrim play in the Leinster championship. It's fair to say that the decision taken at last year's Special Congress to admit Galway and Antrim to next year's Leinster senior hurling championship hasn't been well received in Westmeath. While Galway and Antrim can look forward to big days out at Croke Park this summer, Westmeath have been effectively barred from competing in their own province. Instead, they will be plying their trade in the relative backwaters of the Christy Ring Cup. Having played senior hurling with the Lake County for more than a decade, Ger Jackson is furious that the GAA authorities have allowed it to come to this. "Like most Westmeath hurling people, I am disgusted with this new arrangement. I can't figure out why Galway and Antrim are allowed to play in Leinster and we're not," he says. "Are we not part of Leinster anymore? It proves the GAA are only paying lip service to the Westmeaths of this world. If Westmeath hurling is to progress, it's vital that we are allowed to compete in our own province and at the top level. You will learn more from losing to the strong teams than beating the weak teams. I played with Westmeath in the old All-Ireland 'B' championship a few times and I can honestly say we never gained anything from it. The records show that. "A lot of work has been done in recent years to promote hurling and bring new players through in Westmeath, and I don't think it's right that the likes of Brendan Murtagh and Darren McCormack are being denied the chance to play at the top level. Brendan Murtagh is as good a hurler as I've seen in the last few years, yet outside of Westmeath he's not that well known because of the way the competitions are structured." Ger enjoyed a long senior career with Westmeath which spanned from 1978 to '84, and from 1988 to '91. A tall and stylish centre half, who also regularly featured at midfield, he never missed a National League game during his first spell on the team, during which he made 39 consecutive appearances. Like so many of his team-mates, Jackson was forced to emigrate to the US in 1985 before returning home three years later and resuming his inter-county career which culminated in him winning an All-Ireland 'B' medal in front of over 60,000 spectators at Croke Park. "It was a nice way to bow out," he recalls. "We beat Carlow in the All-Ireland 'B' final which was played before one of the big Leinster football championship games between Meath and Dublin in 1991. I remember coming out for the second half and the place was almost full. Even though I broke my jaw 10 or 15 minutes in, it was still an incredible experience to play in front of a big crowd like that and something I will never forget." Ger is a member of a renowned Castletown-Geoghegan hurling family, and is the club's current chairman. One of eight children, there was a 20-year age gap between Ger and his famous brother Pat, who sadly passed away in 2007. "He made his county senior debut in 1959, the year after I was born," Ger says of the man who was a revered figure in Westmeath and Leinster hurling circles during the 1960s. In all, six of the Jackson children played senior hurling for their county. Ger explains: "Liam, Frank, Michael and Brendan also played for Westmeath. Another brother, Noel, was away in London so he didn't play, while Maura was the only girl. "But both Noel and Maura's kids have played for Castletown. And my own lad, Robert, has played senior county for the past few years. As far as I know, the first Jackson to play hurling was my cousin Willie, who is now 84. He played minor in the late 1940s before emigrating to London, but is now back living in Castletown." Ger first pulled on the Westmeath jersey at under 14 level against Offaly in 1972. Three years earlier, he had been a sub on the Castletown-Geoghegan team which won the under 14 championship. In the years that followed, he suffered a run of final defeats to Turin at under 14, 16 and minor level. But Jackson fared much better at under 21 level, winning three championships in-a-row between 1973 and '75. In 1976, he was named Westmeath Minor Hurler of the Year. Jackson was just 16 when he made his senior debut for the black and ambers in 1974 against Clonkill. He went on to play in eight championship finals - 1977, '79, '82, '84, '89, '90, '93 and '96 - winning three of them. Castletown defeated Raharney in '79 and '90, and Brownstown in '82. Ger was captain for both the '82 and '90 triumphs. Although he officially retired in 2005, Ger played for the Castletown juniors up until last year! He was involved in the management set-up in 2002 when the black and ambers suffered an agonising county final loss to Lough Lene Gaels, while two years ago, he succeeded the late Finbarr Clarke as club chairman. Jackson's first championship start for Wesmeath in 1978 ended in disappointment when the Lake County suffered a one-point defeat to Laois at Tullamore. He quickly established himself at centre back and captained his county to a Walsh Cup success over London in 1983. At that time, Westmeath had been making steady progress in hurling and would peak some years later when Ger was in the US. "That team probably peaked in 1986 or '87," says the affable carpenter, who also won two Kehoe Cup medals. "A lot of good players came together at the same time and we suddenly started to move up the rankings. There was no hype about the team until 1982 when we beat Dublin in the Leinster championship at Croke Park. And even though we got a bit of a hiding from Kilkenny after that, we continued to improve and had a great win over Tipperary in a league game at Cusack Park in 1983. "We won the All-Ireland 'B' in 1984 before going on to give Galway a big fright in the All-Ireland quarter-final. I left for New York shortly after that, but the team continued its improvement over the next few years. They beat Galway a couple of times and lost narrowly to Kilkenny in the 1986 National League quarter-final after Mick Cosgrave had a late goal harshly disallowed. "But then the emigration really began to bite hard and you soon had a situation where many of our best hurlers were in New York." Such was the increase in the number of Lake County natives moving to the Big Apple that it led to the reformation of the Westmeath club. Ger played a central role in reviving the club which went on to become one of the strongest in both hurling and football on the New York GAA scene. "We lost the 1986 hurling final to Tipperary, but the club had a lot of success after that and won the senior hurling and football championship double in 1996. The likes of Willie Lowry, Mick Dalton, Gerry Gillen, and Seamus McKeogh were all in New York at the same time as I was. If those lads had been back in Westmeath, the county could have a made a breakthrough like Offaly had done five or six years earlier." Ger also played in three successive senior football championship finals with St. Malachy's. They defeated Athlone in 1981 before losing to Athlone and Moate respectively in '82 and '83. Despite the recession and the Westmeath's continued presence in the second tier hurling championship, Jackson is optimistic about the future. "Underage hurling in Westmeath is as strong as it has been for a long time and you'd have to be hopeful. I still love the game and would like nothing better than to see Westmeath doing well," he concludes. Tweet

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