For so long in the doldrums, Westmeath hurling received its biggest boost in years when Seamus Qualter's charges became the inaugural winners of the Christy Ring Cup. For experienced full back Christo Murtagh, the success provided a career highlight. Even in the dark days, and there were many, Christo Murtagh never lost hope of winning a major hurling title with Westmeath in Croke Park. And that long-held ambition finally became a reality last August when the Lake County defeated Down to become the inaugural winners of the Christy Ring Cup. Success in the new second tier hurling competition looked a long shot for Westmeath following the resignation of manager Tom Ryan just weeks before the campaign began. Not for the first time, Westmeath hurling was plunged into crisis. But out of the crisis emerged a team that was to defy all the odds. Under the guidance of caretaker manager Seamus Qualter, they cast aside their difficulties and took the Christy Ring Cup by storm. The final, which was shown live on RTE, proved to be an enthralling contest filled with splendid scores, and the Lake County deservedly emerged victors on a 1-23 to 2-18 scoreline. "It was a marvellous feeling to go up the steps of the Hogan Stand and collect the Christy Ring Cup," says Murtagh, who is Westmeath's second longest-serving player after corner forward Barry Kennedy. "When I first came on the Westmeath team in 1994, we had a decent side and the likes of David Kilcoyne and Pat Clancy were still playing. In the National League that year, we ran Kilkenny close and Clare, who went on to win the All-Ireland the following year, only beat us by two points in Ennis. But things started to go downhill after that and it took the appointment of Tom Ryan to turn things around. "Tom put the structures in place and got us to the Division 2 final at the first attempt. We lost that final heavily to Down, but we knew that there wasn't that much of a gulf between the teams and I think that was proven in the Christy Ring Cup final. The big difference was that we believed in ourselves and expected to beat them. That wasn't the case before," he adds. Westmeath were besieged by off-the-field problems in the early part of the year and Tom Ryan had threatened to quit on at least two occasions before he finally walked away just weeks before the start of the Christy Ring Cup. Selector Seamus Qualter agreed to fill Ryan's boots until the end of the season and what an impact he made. "Tom had become disillusioned with the whole thing and I wouldn't blame him because he wasn't getting the response from the players," Christo recalls. "After Tom stepped down, we had a meeting among ourselves and the question was put to the players if they would be prepared to give it everything in our bid to win the Christy Ring Cup. They gave a commitment that they would and we never looked back after that." Putting their difficulties behind them, Westmeath trounced Roscommon 4-19 to 0-11 in their opening game at Cusack Park. The outcome was never in doubt with goals from Andrew Mitchell, Barry Kennedy, Derek McNicholas and Joe Clarke propelling Westmeath to a facile win. Having beaten Meath in the National League, Westmeath were confident of chalking up their second win at Pairc Tailteann, but the Royals had other ideas and emerged as comfortable 3-16 to 2-10 winners. Meath led by just a point at the interval, but the introduction of Joey Toole enabled them to move up a gear and they ran out easy winners in the end. Westmeath backs were now firmly against the wall and any further slip-ups would put an end to their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages. In their next outing against Derry, they looked to be coasting to victory when leading by 0-10 to 0-2 at the break, but the Oak Leafers swooped for two late goals and Westmeath were left hanging on for a 1-14 to 2-8 victory. That left the midlanders needing to beat Down - who had already qualified - in their final group match at Newry to reach the semi-final. As it transpired, Westmeath produced one of their best performances in years to win by 3-21 to 3-14 and that set the scene for a semi-final meeting with Kildare, who had topped the other group. Westmeath started positively and a ninth minute goal gave them a five-point cushion. Kildare fought back but a second goal gave the men in maroon a 2-10 to 0-7 interval lead. The Lilywhites tried to get back into contention in the early stages of the second half, but Westmeath kept them at arm's length and in the final quarter, they rattled in five goals to run out emphatic 7-14 to 1-12 winners. Despite their earlier victory over Down and the landslide win over Kildare, Westmeath entered the final against the Ardsmen as underdogs. It was a role that was to suit them, however, as they played the better hurling to secure a historic win. In what was a great advertisement for the new second tier competition, the sides were level on seven occasions and the first 20 minutes alone saw 17 scores and only one wide. The scoring became less frequent in the lead-up to half-time but late scores from Andrew Mitchell and man of the match Enda Loughlin saw Westmeath lead by 0-12 to 0-9 at the break. Down levelled matters with three points inside the first five minutes of the second half and they looked to be taking a grip on proceedings when Gareth Johnson shot to the net in the eighth minute. But Qualter's charges remained unruffled and Mitchell converted three frees to edge them back in front. Then, in the 54th minute, John Shaw put four points between the teams when he seized on a rebound and drove the ball to the net. Further scores from Brendan Murtagh and Mitchell looked to have made victory safe for Westmeath with eight minutes remaining, but despite having a goal controversially disallowed for a square ball infringement, Down stormed back with an unanswered 1-3 to level proceedings. A replay looked on the cards, but Westmeath weren't finished and injury-time points from Loughlin and 18-year-old full forward Killian Cosgrove copper-fastened Westmeath's win. "We were thrilled with the win - it was the biggest thing to happen to Westmeath hurling in 20 years," Murtagh claims. "Looking back on the campaign, I think the turning point was our win over Down in Newry. We needed to win that game and to do so by seven points was a terrific confidence booster. It gave us the confidence to go on and win the competition outright." A timekeeping error by Limerick referee Denis Richardson led to calls from Down manager John Crossey for the final to be replayed. The controversy threatened to overshadow Westmeath's great win, and Murtagh was understandably pleased to see nothing come of it. rly, but we were in the ascendancy at the time and it probably affected us more than Down. We wouldn't have pursued the matter if Down had won and from talking to some of the Down players afterwards, they accepted that they had lost to the better team and they weren't in the least bit interested in looking for a replay," the Lough Lene Gaels full back says. Westmeath will now compete in the Liam McCarthy Cup and Murtagh is hoping that they can at least consolidate their position among the top 12 hurling counties. "It will be a big step-up, but we're hopeful that we'll be able to hold our own. We feel that we are every bit as good as Dublin and Laois, and we wouldn't fear playing the likes of Offaly either. We have good young players coming through and encouragingly, most of them are forwards which we had been lacking in previous years. "Winning the Christy Ring Cup is a huge boost and you now have situation where youngsters from all over the county want to play hurling for Westmeath. It has had a similar impact to when the footballers won the Leinster title and that's a great thing to be able to say." Tweet

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