Westmeath underage hurling received a much-needed boost when the county under 16 team won the Plate Final of the Arrabawn Co-Op tournament in Tipperary last August. The victory atoned for a narrow defeat to Carlow in the All-Ireland 'B' championship a month earlier. The Westmeath under 16 hurlers achieved their most noteworthy victory in a number of years when they defeated Kerry by 2-16 to 2-13 in the Plate Final of the Arrabawn Co-Op Ltd tournament in Nenagh in late August. Organised by the Tipperary minor committee, the tournament was played between six counties in two groups of three, with the winners of each section progressing to the final. Westmeath beat Down and Meath to win out their section, while Kerry qualified for the decider on the back of victories over Kildare and Carlow. The final was an excellent game with Westmeath prevailing on a 2-16 to 2-13 scoreline. The victory went a long way towards atoning for the disappointment of a narrow defeat to Carlow in the All-Ireland 'B' championship a month earlier when the concession of three first half goals proved to be Westmeath's undoing. Considering the level of preparation that had gone into the All-Ireland 'B' championship, the loss to Carlow was a grave disappointment to Westmeath and their management team of Ger Jackson (Castletown-Geoghegan) and Barry Kennedy (Castlepollard). Much of the damage was inflicted in the opening 15 minutes when Carlow, playing on their home pitch of Dr Cullen Park, scored a hat-trick of goals to leave the visitors shell-shocked. Faced with a 10-point deficit at the interval, Westmeath showed considerable improvement in the second half but still succumbed to a 4-9 to 4-11 defeat. The Lake County resumed for the second half trailing by 1-4 to 3-8 and despite Niall Kilcoyne finding the net shortly after the restart, they continued to trail by 10 points, 4-9 to 2-5, at the end of the third quarter. But to their credit, they never lost heart and their perseverance was rewarded when Shane Egan and Kilcoyne added goals to leave just two points in it. However, time eventually ran out on them and so ended Westmeath's involvement in the All-Ireland 'B' championship for another year. The Arrabawn Co-Op tournament offered Westmeath the chance of redemption and after recording wins over both Down and Meath in Castletown-Geoghegan, the maroons travelled to Nenagh to face Kerry in a confident frame of mind. Favoured by a strong breeze in the first half, Westmeath got down to business straight away with points from Niall Kilcoyne (two), Thomas Gillen and Robbie Shaw helping them to an early 0-4 to 0-2 lead. By the 20th minute, Westmeath had opened up a 1-6 to 0-2 advantage after Alan Devine had goaled and Kilcoyne had added two points. Points from Gillen and Kilcoyne extended Westmeath's lead before James Flaherty fired over three points in quick succession to bring Kerry back into contention. However, another point from Alan Devine saw Westmeath take a 1-11 to 0-7 lead into the break. The Kingddom made a whirlwind start to the second half with two goals from Rory Morgan and Owen Murphy leaving the minimum between the teams after 41 minutes. But Westmeath responded magnificently with the outstanding Kilcoyne blasting to the net after a great solo run. Flaherty replied for Kerry with a pointed free to leave the score 2-13 to 2-10 after 47 minutes. Thomas Gillen kept Westmeath in the driving seat with two more points before a Seamus Skinner effort reduced the deficit for Kerry. Devine restored Westmeath's four-point advantage in the 59th minute and not even a late point from Horgan could save the Munster side from defeat. The Westmeath team which lost to Carlow in the All-Ireland 'B' championship was: Jimmy Greville; Darren Geerah, Gary Kelly, Graham Jackson; Ciaran Curley, Eanna Dollin, James Boyle; Eoin Price, Thomas Gillen; Robert Jackson, Conrad Reilly, Shane Egan; Alan Devine, Niall Kilcoyne, Noel Conaty. Subs used: Shane Brophy, Patrick Hannon, Shane Collins and Danny Maloney. Tweet

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