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Lomans easily beat Tyrrellspass who in turn beat Shamrocks in the quarter final. Shamrocks easily beat the Downs in their head to head, Also the Downs struggled against Athlone in their quarter final and given that the Downs were in division B which is steps below division A, I would expect lomans to win relative easily by more that 6 points.
Given the way they are playing Lomans have every chance to do well in Leinster which would in turn be great for Westmeath Football.

BarrRst (Westmeath) - Posts: 29 - 09/10/2024 14:55:13    2573902

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Replying To BarrRst:  "Lomans easily beat Tyrrellspass who in turn beat Shamrocks in the quarter final. Shamrocks easily beat the Downs in their head to head, Also the Downs struggled against Athlone in their quarter final and given that the Downs were in division B which is steps below division A, I would expect lomans to win relative easily by more that 6 points.
Given the way they are playing Lomans have every chance to do well in Leinster which would in turn be great for Westmeath Football."
Whoever wins on Sunday has massive chance of getting to a Leinster Club final.

Round 1 away to Meath champions. This will be the toughest test but Garrycastle, Lomans and The Downs have all beat Meath champions over the last 10 years.
QF Home to Wexford champions
SF Home to either one of Louth/Longford or Carlow champions.

Avoiding Dublin and Kildare champions is massive.

Its mad how 24 months ago when The Downs beat Lomans in county final people talked that The Downs would take over as Westmeath club kingpins but they havnt and its still Lomans. The Downs took the foot off the pedal last year and were punished. They have had good year without getting out of 2nd gear this year. I feel all there players are in prime shape now and I think they will beat Lomans again. Mitch and Luke to destroy Lomans full backline.

We are lucky that we have the best two teams in the county final.

Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 505 - 09/10/2024 15:31:54    2573912

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Replying To BarrRst:  "Lomans easily beat Tyrrellspass who in turn beat Shamrocks in the quarter final. Shamrocks easily beat the Downs in their head to head, Also the Downs struggled against Athlone in their quarter final and given that the Downs were in division B which is steps below division A, I would expect lomans to win relative easily by more that 6 points.
Given the way they are playing Lomans have every chance to do well in Leinster which would in turn be great for Westmeath Football."
Given the way they played against a Tyrrellspass defence with more holes than a block of Swiss cheese? St Loman's haven't got a snowball's chance of winning a Leinster title. The bottom line is that they're not good enough defensively to win Leinster. The shaky defence is Paddy Dowdall's Achilles heel. How many goals have St Loman's conceded in this championship again? And Sunday will be first time in which they encounter a team with a formidable forward line. Niall Mitchell, Luke Loughlin and Andrew Kilmartin is as good as what St Loman's have up top. I'm leaning towards The Downs.

iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 90 - 09/10/2024 16:00:48    2573920

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Replying To Gaaforlife2023:  "Lar wall with Buddha in backroom would work no?"
Lar has strong credentials for the job and is or at least has been in the running. Buddha was mentioned by someone on here.

iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 90 - 09/10/2024 16:03:52    2573921

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There'll be nothing in this final, kick of a ball either way. Lomans are favs based on the year but the Downs have a serious squad even if they've somewhat stuttered to a final. Think the downs are slightly worse than two years ago based on mark kellys absence. Lomans by 2 but downs could easily sneak it

Bluelake (Westmeath) - Posts: 166 - 09/10/2024 16:07:16    2573923

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Some variance in opinions here between some thinking Loman's are going to cruise to victory by six points or more while others reckon The Downs forwards will wreak havoc on the champions defence. Think it's fair to say The Downs haven't performed at their best in the championship but they only need to do so once to win the title. Revenge factor must be significant for Loman's given two years ago. Hard to see much in it, a draw along the lines of Loman's 1-13 The Downs 2-10.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1903 - 09/10/2024 16:27:26    2573928

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Replying To iarmhiabu:  "Given the way they played against a Tyrrellspass defence with more holes than a block of Swiss cheese? St Loman's haven't got a snowball's chance of winning a Leinster title. The bottom line is that they're not good enough defensively to win Leinster. The shaky defence is Paddy Dowdall's Achilles heel. How many goals have St Loman's conceded in this championship again? And Sunday will be first time in which they encounter a team with a formidable forward line. Niall Mitchell, Luke Loughlin and Andrew Kilmartin is as good as what St Loman's have up top. I'm leaning towards The Downs."
The St. Lomans team in 2022 is interesting to look at, lots of changes in that defence:

J Daly; P Dowdall, J Geoghegan, D Whelan; P Foy, K Reilly, C O'Donoghue; R Jones, S McCartan; F Ayorinde, R O'Toole, D McCartan; TJ Cox, J Heslin, S Dempsey.

This time around I'd go with Darragh O'Keefe to full back, Jack Geoghegan is more experienced and far better player now to man mark Niall Mitchell. I'd go with Eoghan Hogan for Dowdall, Peter Foy to wing back all day. Sam McCartan is already the other wing back now as he's been brilliant there all year.

That's a more balanced defence with those players involved. Enda Gaffney to Midfield for Jones who hasn't featured all year. Centre back is an issue for Lomans because they play a sweeper style role from
there but I'd give Kelvin Reilly the nod instead of David Whelan who has been poor in the last few games.

The Downs would do very well to get more scores off that Lomans defence than Lomans would score themselves the other end and on Sunday.

WmeathWarrior (Westmeath) - Posts: 64 - 09/10/2024 18:02:14    2573946

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Not expecting a high scoring senior final. Dowdall has Loman's playing so defensively, obviously knowing it was a previous weakness. Lomans seem to have the better bench. Downs will miss the experience and physicality of Kelly but he's been out all season and Nolan has been one of their best performers this year.
I don't think its good to have a club dominating but you have to hand it to Lomans for being there every year. Yes they are big town team with a huge pick plus some controversial imports over the years but looking at the team now they are nearly all home-grown as such. They might be some jealousy out there but that's only natural given their dominance.
The Downs as a team need to notch up another championship to prove this group are not a once off - last year must have been massively disappointing for them. Hopefully football will be the winner on Sunday but I'm not so sure.

BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1160 - 09/10/2024 23:39:09    2573984

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Lomans by 4- cant see the Downs winning they drew with Athlone and beat Kinnegad who stumbled through to a semi final who have been pretty poor in the championship.
Miltown by 1- I think Garrycastle could fall short, Miltown building over the last 3 years, could be way off it on this one, hard to call, Gcastle have the experience but Tubberclare made them look very poor and Multy made them look very impressive so what garrycastle turns up. Milltown if they go up might stay up for a year or 2 but cannot see them doing much at senior level.
Junior hard to call, CFCW have won it maybe 3 times in the last 8 years so they know how to do it. can Josephs get over the line and there very well set up, I think this one will go to extra time. CFCW to win in extra time.

PowellJohn3 (Westmeath) - Posts: 58 - 10/10/2024 12:12:22    2574031

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Replying To Temple56:  "Manager to be announced early next week.

It's an outside manager with no experience as the main man in an inter county set up. Back room team being finalised.

Lar Wall was interested in the job but was never contacted by the committee.

I feel people will be left very underwhelmed with the appointment."
Still no word on manager

Mattyreilly (Westmeath) - Posts: 162 - 10/10/2024 16:40:12    2574082

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Replying To WmeathWarrior:  "The St. Lomans team in 2022 is interesting to look at, lots of changes in that defence:

J Daly; P Dowdall, J Geoghegan, D Whelan; P Foy, K Reilly, C O'Donoghue; R Jones, S McCartan; F Ayorinde, R O'Toole, D McCartan; TJ Cox, J Heslin, S Dempsey.

This time around I'd go with Darragh O'Keefe to full back, Jack Geoghegan is more experienced and far better player now to man mark Niall Mitchell. I'd go with Eoghan Hogan for Dowdall, Peter Foy to wing back all day. Sam McCartan is already the other wing back now as he's been brilliant there all year.

That's a more balanced defence with those players involved. Enda Gaffney to Midfield for Jones who hasn't featured all year. Centre back is an issue for Lomans because they play a sweeper style role from
there but I'd give Kelvin Reilly the nod instead of David Whelan who has been poor in the last few games.

The Downs would do very well to get more scores off that Lomans defence than Lomans would score themselves the other end and on Sunday."
O'Keefe is still not the answer at full back, Dowdall has flirted with starting the new lad Lally so maybe he will again. He's a better defender than O'Keefe. Geoghegan will probably play at 6 but Mitchell pushed him around too easy two years ago. 2 E Hogan 4 O Hogan 5 Sam McCartan 7 Gaffney and Whelan will play sweeper. Heslin and Regan 8 and 9. 10 Foy? 11 O'Toole 12 Flanagan 13 TJ Cox 14 Dempsey 15 Danny McCartan. Such a strong forward line but they will nearly all drop off when they don't have the ball as BigSur says Loman's are gone so defensive under Dowdall. It tells you all you need to know, they're so bad man v man.

iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 90 - 10/10/2024 21:16:47    2574114

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Replying To BigSur:  "Not expecting a high scoring senior final. Dowdall has Loman's playing so defensively, obviously knowing it was a previous weakness. Lomans seem to have the better bench. Downs will miss the experience and physicality of Kelly but he's been out all season and Nolan has been one of their best performers this year.
I don't think its good to have a club dominating but you have to hand it to Lomans for being there every year. Yes they are big town team with a huge pick plus some controversial imports over the years but looking at the team now they are nearly all home-grown as such. They might be some jealousy out there but that's only natural given their dominance.
The Downs as a team need to notch up another championship to prove this group are not a once off - last year must have been massively disappointing for them. Hopefully football will be the winner on Sunday but I'm not so sure."
Kelly done a decent job on Heslin two years ago but he's no major loss. I'd rather have a fully fit Darragh Egerton, he put O'Toole in his pocket and come to think of it so did O'Brien for Kinnegad last year. That's two finals Ronan O'Toole was marked out of it. Charlie Drumm wasn't starting. David Whelan is St Loman's best man marker. Would they sacrifice him in his current role to go on Luke again? The match ups will be key to the outcome of another low scoring, defensive struggle. It will be nothing different to the last two days finals.

iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 90 - 10/10/2024 21:52:09    2574116

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Replying To iarmhiabu:  "O'Keefe is still not the answer at full back, Dowdall has flirted with starting the new lad Lally so maybe he will again. He's a better defender than O'Keefe. Geoghegan will probably play at 6 but Mitchell pushed him around too easy two years ago. 2 E Hogan 4 O Hogan 5 Sam McCartan 7 Gaffney and Whelan will play sweeper. Heslin and Regan 8 and 9. 10 Foy? 11 O'Toole 12 Flanagan 13 TJ Cox 14 Dempsey 15 Danny McCartan. Such a strong forward line but they will nearly all drop off when they don't have the ball as BigSur says Loman's are gone so defensive under Dowdall. It tells you all you need to know, they're so bad man v man."
Going off the semi final line up, Kevin Regan will likely start wing forward; Sean Flanagan and Heslin Midfield. Fola will start also in place of TJ Cox I presume, or one of them will be held as an impact. I think they'll go with Fola to start. They'll have to start Foy in a final, so he will be the other wing forward. And the obvious choice then is Cox coming on for Fola if that's not working and moving Danny McCartan out to the wing forward and Foy to wing back. Kelvin Reilly, Nathan Lally, Conor O'Donoghue, Rory Sheehan are all the others that can come in and make a big difference. If Lomans can start this game with the strongest team they could have the game put to bed early. If The Downs get confidence and stay in the game early, Lomans will be in trouble in the final stretch and I fancy The Downs to win it from there. The start is huge and I think Lomans will have all the big guns on from the get go.

WmeathWarrior (Westmeath) - Posts: 64 - 11/10/2024 10:11:57    2574154

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Replying To GetBehindTheFight:  "Just a mention on the LGFA Finals. Well done to all in the Ladies Committee who are doing a fantastic job of promoting the game and empowering more and more women and girls every year to play competitive sport. Significant progress has been made in playing LGFA Club Finals in Páirc Uí Chíosóg and making them available to watch live on our streaming channel Iarmhí TV. It's unfortunate that there wasn't the same levels of knowledgeable and respectful Iarmhí TV commentary as is always provided for Football and Hurling during last Saturday's LGFA Club Finals. The two teams involved in the first game were consistently being put down by negative comments by a supposed journalist on co commentary. For example, "One of these are going to be Senior next year, whoever it is will revert straight back to Intermediate", "Neither are up to the standard of Senior", and, Michael Owen would love this one liner, "Neither side deserved to win, neither side deserved to lose". The refereeing was also slated and laughed at in the post match commentary, "[Name
, used the word dubious about some of the refereeing decisions, that's probably being very, very polite because I think there's probably a lot of other ways we could describe it". Absolutely disgraceful comments to make about an official from a journalist, of all people. Sure, this was a less exciting game than the Senior Final that followed. It mightn't have lived up to the co commentator's expectations, but there's a duty from the two commentators to inform and describe what is actually happening on the pitch for 60 minutes or longer. Thankfully, the said journalist was cut off co commentary in time for the Senior Final. The analysis for the Senior Final instead focused on the skill and competence of the players and teams involved which should have been the case for the Intermediate Final. Westmeath Footballer Fiona Coyle was a breath of fresh air on co commentary for the second game."]Its ironic that you post here as this type of commentary is common practice. Were all good at it behind a keyboard as long as its not personal .

A_Chairde (Westmeath) - Posts: 239 - 11/10/2024 10:24:01    2574158

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Replying To iarmhiabu:  "O'Keefe is still not the answer at full back, Dowdall has flirted with starting the new lad Lally so maybe he will again. He's a better defender than O'Keefe. Geoghegan will probably play at 6 but Mitchell pushed him around too easy two years ago. 2 E Hogan 4 O Hogan 5 Sam McCartan 7 Gaffney and Whelan will play sweeper. Heslin and Regan 8 and 9. 10 Foy? 11 O'Toole 12 Flanagan 13 TJ Cox 14 Dempsey 15 Danny McCartan. Such a strong forward line but they will nearly all drop off when they don't have the ball as BigSur says Loman's are gone so defensive under Dowdall. It tells you all you need to know, they're so bad man v man."
Incredible that the highest scoring team in the county over the past two years plays such defensive football and that a team with such bad defenders is again in the county final!!! Doesn't say much for the rest of the teams

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1903 - 11/10/2024 10:26:09    2574159

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "Incredible that the highest scoring team in the county over the past two years plays such defensive football and that a team with such bad defenders is again in the county final!!! Doesn't say much for the rest of the teams"
I'd say St Loman's score difference was +50 plus last year. They're nowhere near the same heights this year, +28 actually. St Loman's are getting more and more defensive under Paddy Dowdall.

iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 90 - 11/10/2024 12:51:42    2574184

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Replying To WmeathWarrior:  "Going off the semi final line up, Kevin Regan will likely start wing forward; Sean Flanagan and Heslin Midfield. Fola will start also in place of TJ Cox I presume, or one of them will be held as an impact. I think they'll go with Fola to start. They'll have to start Foy in a final, so he will be the other wing forward. And the obvious choice then is Cox coming on for Fola if that's not working and moving Danny McCartan out to the wing forward and Foy to wing back. Kelvin Reilly, Nathan Lally, Conor O'Donoghue, Rory Sheehan are all the others that can come in and make a big difference. If Lomans can start this game with the strongest team they could have the game put to bed early. If The Downs get confidence and stay in the game early, Lomans will be in trouble in the final stretch and I fancy The Downs to win it from there. The start is huge and I think Lomans will have all the big guns on from the get go."
Fola has offered very little since his goal in the league final and is liable to do something stupid. TJ Cox only needs one chance, far better forward than Fola. He's a very clever player. Foy definitely won't start wing back, he's their most effective substitute and I'd have him to come with 20 minutes to go when the game is in the balance. St Loman's overall do have better options from the bench than The Downs.

iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 90 - 11/10/2024 13:10:09    2574186

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Replying To iarmhiabu:  "Fola has offered very little since his goal in the league final and is liable to do something stupid. TJ Cox only needs one chance, far better forward than Fola. He's a very clever player. Foy definitely won't start wing back, he's their most effective substitute and I'd have him to come with 20 minutes to go when the game is in the balance. St Loman's overall do have better options from the bench than The Downs."
I do agree there. All 3 of Fola, Cox and Foy would start ideally but they all have the potential to change a game as an impact for the last 20/25 minutes. Too much pace and quality to be dealt with that late in a game from the Downs who don't have the same luxury. It will be very interesting to see who starts. The start will be vital so I'd lean towards Cox starting and as you say, one chance is all he needs to get a goal. Fola and Foy as the impacts coming in. Whatever option they go with, they have the better bench and getting that part right wins it for Lomans.

WmeathWarrior (Westmeath) - Posts: 64 - 11/10/2024 13:41:02    2574193

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Did anyone watch "up for the game"? What did the "experts" have to say?

Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 505 - 11/10/2024 22:35:29    2574271

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Not a lomans clubman but my god they get some grief on this. They are in there 10th final in a row I think, unbelievable consistent. They are the standard bearers in westmeath at the minute and it's up to other teams to catch them. Why they don't get the credit, I don't know. O'keefe gets alot of negative comments also, can't see that either, he does his job very well, of course he is going to concede scores, he plays full back fgs. on paper it's a lomans win but it's a county final and anything can happen. Could the downs turn them over, yes of course. If they play very well and lomans have a bad day. It could be a great game. Best of luck to both sides. Two great clubs.

Upforthegame23 (Westmeath) - Posts: 102 - 12/10/2024 16:52:59    2574367

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