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Surprised with people writing off the Gaels already for next year after their excellent campaign. If they won the final on Sunday people would have said it was the fair result and deserved. Castletown will definitely be there next year in the mix up for the examiner Cup but I agree with Claret&Blue that Clonkill could see themselves in a battle and not for the trophy. A lot will hinge on Mitchell. Pollard will be have Darragh McCormack back, he's a match winner. In order for them to be in the running for the championship though they'd need David Devine to hang around plus David Higgins and Tommy Gallagher back from abroad which most likely won't be the case. Plunketts will give Pollard and Clonkill plenty of it, I think they'll be very competitive in that regard. For me it'll be Raharney Gaels and CTG come the crunch next year again. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 858 - 11/10/2023 10:22:06 2507828 Link 0 |
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Castletown will be in the final next year for me. They'll have Liam Varley, Mick Heeney, Conor Kane etc back from travels and I'd expect Sean Jackson and Peter Murphy to be promoted to the Senior team after their performances all year at intermediate getting CTG to the final. They'll be strengthened considerably. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 858 - 11/10/2023 10:26:31 2507829 Link 0 |
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Obviously Castletown will be stronger with the likes of Mick Heeney back, lads who are gone travelling is a different issue, no one knows what their plans are, similarly with 19 year olds like Darragh McCormack, Peter Murphy and Sean Jackson, the step up to senior championship hurling is a huge one at the top level in Westmeath, being a match winner at under 17 is no guarantee of senior success initially, Personally think Joey Williams and his selectors got a huge bounce out of the Gaels, they're definitely contenders now which wasn't the case in previous years, they beat good sides to reach the final and played particularly well in the semi final and the final, bar Derek Mc they've a young enough squad, Darragh Daly would be an addition and the likes of Thomas Kennedy and others will improve with an extra emphasis on conditioning, getting players through from their under 19 side with Na Piarsaigh will also help, I'd fancy them more next year than Clonkill although Niall Mitchell's presence would help them. The Clonkill manaagement have big decisions to make regarding the future of their team, three 40 something year olds in central positions doesn't work, they need to play the likes of Josh Murtagh, Darragh Egerton, Rian Holding, Andrew Shaw, Oisin Loughlin, Peadar Scally in the spine of their team, they somehow need to get a goalkeeper and trust one of their younger players as their freetaker, young players will make mistakes but long term it's their only prospect of success, their minor team last Sunday with the likes of Jack Murtagh, Conor Daly, Darragh Kenny and Ross Murray will then target involvement in a couple of years. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 11/10/2023 11:35:07 2507843 Link 0 |
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On the basis they avoid injury. That's what I posted.
Premier12345 (Tipperary) - Posts: 48 - 11/10/2023 12:22:23 2507857 Link 0 |
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Agree I actually think they could be relegated
DanGer966 (Westmeath) - Posts: 22 - 11/10/2023 21:49:30 2507962 Link 0 |
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Not a hope pollard will be relegated, they had a bad year with injuries. I actually think pollard could finish better than the Gaels next year. The Gaels were lucky this year that they every other team except from Raharney were riddled with players away
westmeathgaa11 (Westmeath) - Posts: 243 - 12/10/2023 12:44:13 2508019 Link 0 |
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Who were pollard missing with injuries this year? Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 12/10/2023 13:58:32 2508033 Link 0 |
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Apart from Daragh Mccormack,Tommy Gallagher and Joe Rabbitte i dont think they were missing key players.Plunketts like all of the Senior B winners will be favourites to go down but Pollards panel isnt deep enough to be out of the picture. As for the travelling players i dont buy that.There is a certain ex county player from Castletown who has been travelling for most of the last 5 years and Pollard have one supremely talented player now 30 who has contributed little to the club less to the county and a lot to the airline industry. So there is no guarantee any of these guys will ever return and as for commitment??? jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1542 - 12/10/2023 16:08:22 2508058 Link 0 |
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Add Ciaran Fagan to that, Gaels panel is also quite limited, they have 12 good hurlers and that's about it, 2 or 3 lads starting that wouldn't get a sniff in most clubs and same with the subs
westmeathgaa11 (Westmeath) - Posts: 243 - 12/10/2023 18:35:55 2508082 Link 0 |
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Daire Daly was on the subs bench? Not sure how that could be considered a loss
westmeathgaa11 (Westmeath) - Posts: 243 - 13/10/2023 13:34:14 2508171 Link 0 |
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Daire Daly a proven senior hurler for a number of years surely can be considered a loss especially when you're listing lads with a handful of minutes in senior championship as a loss to Castlepollard. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 13/10/2023 15:07:37 2508212 Link 0 |
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Dan Higgins for the Gaels, probably the best defender in the championship this year. Stood out every game. Would have potential as a county corner back maybe. Very composed, always out in front and very good on the ball. He done very well on Killian Doyle in the final, and Niall O'Brien in the semi final. If he can consistently tie up players of that calibre, I don't see why he couldn't be considered. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 858 - 13/10/2023 17:39:25 2508247 Link 0 |
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I'm just not sure how someone can be considered a loss when they're an unused sub, it would be different if he was injured or missing? The Gaels management just obviously didn't see him as part of the plans
westmeathgaa11 (Westmeath) - Posts: 243 - 13/10/2023 21:57:55 2508277 Link 0 |
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Daire Daly injured before county semi final. Obviously wasn't fit enough to play part in the final. Amazing how a deluded all the castlepollard fan club are did joe rabbite not play 3 games out of the 5 doing his knee against the Gaels ? There year was over at that point he wouldn't of been a 10 point difference which was what the Gaels won by. It will take darragh McCormack and while to get back up and running acl innurys aren't just as straightforward as doing the recovery and then your back the same as ya were before. Clonkill are a team who need to transition and fast and get rid of the deadwood as good a servant as paddy Brendan and the 30+ club were it's time for them to start building again. Ctg as always will be there or there abouts. LLG have a serious chance again next year but it's up to them with how they deal with this years dissapointment it will go either one of two ways. Raharney lucky to be champions this year but the again credit to them for never throwing in the towel & as for plunketts giving any of those team and game … good joke Westmeath213 (Westmeath) - Posts: 333 - 14/10/2023 10:07:21 2508306 Link 0 |
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Daire Daly wasn't injured so I'm not sure where your sources are coming from Ctg and Raharney next year for me westmeathgaa11 (Westmeath) - Posts: 243 - 14/10/2023 16:09:07 2508342 Link 0 |
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Don't think raharney were lucky winners. Missed a peno and had a ball clear off the line in fairly last ditch defending. For me llg don't have a squad to come back. They were fairly hammered by raharney in the group stage and got a last second goal to beat ctg. Premier12345 (Tipperary) - Posts: 48 - 14/10/2023 16:49:29 2508350 Link 0 |
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Regardless whether he was injured or not he was a loss to the Gaels, you disputed that despite earlier claiming that Pollard's season was ruined by injuries which in effect amounted to Darragh McCormack, a teenager who has played 2 senior championship matches ever and Ciaran Fagan. Pollard's only decent win was against a Raharney side minus 4-5 experienced inter county players. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 14/10/2023 16:54:14 2508351 Link 0 |
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In fairness one of those two championship games Darragh McCormack played was against the Gaels where he gave a masterclass on the Jogger. He was a massive loss despite only being a teenager. Some of the posters here are coming across sour that the Gaels actually went against the script almost and did deserve to win the final. If Killian Doyle didn't come up with a moment of brilliance, the trophy would be sat in Collinstown today. The Gaels will be in the mix up next year. Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 858 - 14/10/2023 17:04:11 2508354 Link 0 |
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And when push comes to shove it will all come to naught when the Leinster club championship kicks off and the Westmeath team can't get past the 1st round. 35OLT (USA) - Posts: 95 - 14/10/2023 23:47:04 2508391 Link 1 |
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For the good of Westmeath hurling I hope you are correct and the same goes for Daragh Mccormack recovering from his injury a young man with huge potential.We have had problems with a shortage of ball winning forwards at the highest level for a while now but young players like him Mcgrath of Raharney and O Reilly from Castletown could make a massive difference. Could we put David Williams in that category. Our under 20 team has real potential.Any word on a manager? jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1542 - 15/10/2023 09:34:30 2508406 Link 0 |