Westmeath hurling boss Brian Hanley is hoping his side will be able to put it up to neighbours Offaly in Sunday's Walsh Cup opener against Kinnegad.

The former Athenry hurler said in the Westmeath Topic: "We must be competitive against Offaly, but overall I am looking at getting things right for the league matches. The end result is not important but we must be consistent. That is the vital thing, we have to be consistent.

"When you look back at last year's results, Westmeath would go to Clare or Limerick and give them a good game but then they would lose to teams like Laois or Kerry and there is just no consistency in those performances."

Hanley revealed how having to cut his panel from 47 players to 36 earlier this week was one of the most difficult tasks he has ever undertaken.

"Cutting the panel was the hardest thing I ever had to do," he continued.

"I am a long time in hurling and it really was difficult. I remember when we had a meeting on January 2, I told all the players to be there for the meeting at 9am. I arrived at 8.45am, and they were all there, all 47 of them. So to have to turn around and tell some of those players that they were dropped really, really was very difficult." Tweet

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