National Forum

Westmeath Football thread

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Replying To PowellJohn3:  "Will Dessie stick with the young side this week or bring back some of the heavier hitters, any news on Maguire, Lynch and Smith, talks they are not returning to the panel? i didnt get to last weeks game but reports on it said it was awful to watch and scoring only 7 points says enough.

Any News on U18s decision to be able to play senior yet or when does that decision happen? i know my club have 2 or maybe 3 at that age now that need to play Junior football and the club needs them and another year at minor wouldnt develop them especially if trying to break into a college team, adult team or U20s team.
Tadhg Baker, Corcoran and Adam keane were all U-18 last year and now playing senior football for westmeath if they didnt play club championship last year they wouldnt be in Westmeath setup at all this year."
Maguire has returned as far as I know. David lynch apparently abroad down under and I'm not sure on when he is to return and as of last week jack smith hadnt returned to the panel.

Re age grouping with minors not being allowed to play senior and I know this is the football thread but funnily enough Turin who are struggling at intermediate ranks in the hurling have 3 of the best young hurlers in the county and a couple more decent hurlers who would certainly strengthen them, at the county convention before Xmas were against the motion of allowing them play senior.
As another poster said the vote is next week on it and I think it is shaping up as 50/50.
Like your club our club could do with a few minors which are definitely good enough to step up but I think the grades should be left at minors not being allowed to play , they'll be playing adults level long enough

Westmeath213 (Westmeath) - Posts: 333 - 10/01/2024 21:23:50    2519496

Link

Replying To Westmeath213:  "Maguire has returned as far as I know. David lynch apparently abroad down under and I'm not sure on when he is to return and as of last week jack smith hadnt returned to the panel.

Re age grouping with minors not being allowed to play senior and I know this is the football thread but funnily enough Turin who are struggling at intermediate ranks in the hurling have 3 of the best young hurlers in the county and a couple more decent hurlers who would certainly strengthen them, at the county convention before Xmas were against the motion of allowing them play senior.
As another poster said the vote is next week on it and I think it is shaping up as 50/50.
Like your club our club could do with a few minors which are definitely good enough to step up but I think the grades should be left at minors not being allowed to play , they'll be playing adults level long enough"
Can't agree with you on the u18 thing. It's madness that a young has to wait untill he is 19 to play adult football or hurling . The reason the county board are using is player welfare , I'm fairly confident there is no more than a handful of u18 lads that are good enough to play first team football but the ones that are should be let play. Think of the u18 club player that has made his county u17 team last year , if that player is with a div2/3 minor club team , he has no incentive to play football , crazy but Westmeath seem happy to hold back our stronger players from developing. It's backwards our underage county teams are going

coffey (Westmeath) - Posts: 10 - 10/01/2024 23:49:10    2519517

Link

We reverted back to under 18 last year in Longford.
My local club reached their first senior final in 12 years last year with 4 minors on the starting 15 and another one filtering on from the bench.
Our club left it in the hands of the parents to decide if they wanted the young lands to make the move up to senior.
They asked 2 other minors into the panel who were of the later months of the year and the parents of both lads said they would prefer if they held out for another year.
The club were happy to do so and did not try and persuade the young lads to play.
I believe it is up to the parents to decide if they are old enough and fit enough to play senior football and not the GAA head honchos.

Frank74 (Longford) - Posts: 143 - 11/01/2024 08:30:56    2519529

Link

Replying To Frank74:  "We reverted back to under 18 last year in Longford.
My local club reached their first senior final in 12 years last year with 4 minors on the starting 15 and another one filtering on from the bench.
Our club left it in the hands of the parents to decide if they wanted the young lands to make the move up to senior.
They asked 2 other minors into the panel who were of the later months of the year and the parents of both lads said they would prefer if they held out for another year.
The club were happy to do so and did not try and persuade the young lads to play.
I believe it is up to the parents to decide if they are old enough and fit enough to play senior football and not the GAA head honchos."
You guys voted for Option 3 ,Westmeath clubs voted against it

Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 233 - 11/01/2024 12:44:39    2519588

Link

The county board are of the opinion that there are enough games for U18's in the club leagues and championships without that cohort playing adult as well. But for me the big driver for the county board is the fixtures. much easier for them to have decoupling. I'm note sure it's 50/50 amongst the clubs as suggested. A couple of the junior clubs are pushing it alright and understandably so but if it needs two thirds majority to remove decoupling at U18 then I cannot see it getting through.

BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1141 - 11/01/2024 12:56:37    2519593

Link

It's some myth that Tadgh Baker and Adam Keane and others are being spoken of as Westmeath senior footballers, we fielded an under 20 team last weekend and that's what these lads are, potential senior county players in 2-3 years, there are wing backs like Bracken from Kinnegad, Geoghegan and Whelan from Loman's, Mulvihill from Garrycastle and others who had far better senior campaigns last year at club level. There are two sides to the argument re decoupling but player welfare is an issue.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 11/01/2024 14:26:17    2519623

Link

Replying To Claretandblue:  "It's some myth that Tadgh Baker and Adam Keane and others are being spoken of as Westmeath senior footballers, we fielded an under 20 team last weekend and that's what these lads are, potential senior county players in 2-3 years, there are wing backs like Bracken from Kinnegad, Geoghegan and Whelan from Loman's, Mulvihill from Garrycastle and others who had far better senior campaigns last year at club level. There are two sides to the argument re decoupling but player welfare is an issue."
I dont disagree with you on the later in relation to bracken, geoghegan , whelan in and out of panels for years and mulvihill is on the panel as far as i know as if thats eoin Mulvihill your talking about. First part of the statement isnt correct, Baker and Keane started for the westmeath senior team in the O Byrne cup last saturday. The bench was made up of u20s but everyone on the starting team are part of the westmeath senior panel like it or not. Anyways having to wait until u-19 to play an adult competition is utter madness. Is u19s being reverted back to u-21 ? Madness in the first place ever making it u19.
Owness is on the club/Parents/player for welfare, each club has a player welfare officer and should be monitoring the players from 17-21 welfare if thats there job, why have one if dont use it.

PowellJohn3 (Westmeath) - Posts: 38 - 11/01/2024 14:56:36    2519638

Link

Clubs and in particular rural clubs need players coming through to their adult panels every year from minor and waiting for some of them to be well into 18 years old and nearly 19 isn't fair on either the player or club. Realistically most of them will only be squad players on their adult teams and it can only be beneficial for the players development to train at that level to acclimatise to adult football.

mintyfresh (Westmeath) - Posts: 218 - 11/01/2024 16:12:45    2519659

Link

I see Dessie has confirmed that Kevin Maguire and Jack Smith will be returning which is great news. Senior footballers play Louth this Sat 1pm in Kinnegad in the O'Byrne Cup Shield.

BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 1141 - 11/01/2024 16:30:55    2519662

Link

Replying To mintyfresh:  "Clubs and in particular rural clubs need players coming through to their adult panels every year from minor and waiting for some of them to be well into 18 years old and nearly 19 isn't fair on either the player or club. Realistically most of them will only be squad players on their adult teams and it can only be beneficial for the players development to train at that level to acclimatise to adult football."
It's all a joke, it's just a pity that the clubs on the fence wouldn't row in behind the clubs who are desperate for those few players, that could swing a vote. The bottom line is the county board don't want to have fixtures headaches. Anything else is just an excuse i.e burnout etc.

TigerWoods90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 146 - 11/01/2024 16:53:10    2519665

Link

Really hope the decision is reversed and u18s can play adult football next year.

Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 434 - 11/01/2024 16:55:09    2519666

Link

Replying To PowellJohn3:  "I dont disagree with you on the later in relation to bracken, geoghegan , whelan in and out of panels for years and mulvihill is on the panel as far as i know as if thats eoin Mulvihill your talking about. First part of the statement isnt correct, Baker and Keane started for the westmeath senior team in the O Byrne cup last saturday. The bench was made up of u20s but everyone on the starting team are part of the westmeath senior panel like it or not. Anyways having to wait until u-19 to play an adult competition is utter madness. Is u19s being reverted back to u-21 ? Madness in the first place ever making it u19.
Owness is on the club/Parents/player for welfare, each club has a player welfare officer and should be monitoring the players from 17-21 welfare if thats there job, why have one if dont use it."
Nine starters last Saturday were under 20 and we had 25 players togged out, another 28 players took part in training in Caulry and Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire and David Lynch were excused or unavailable, that's approx 56 players on the senior panel according to your claim.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 11/01/2024 18:42:48    2519685

Link

Replying To Claretandblue:  "Nine starters last Saturday were under 20 and we had 25 players togged out, another 28 players took part in training in Caulry and Jack Smith, Kevin Maguire and David Lynch were excused or unavailable, that's approx 56 players on the senior panel according to your claim."
Fantastic to see so many players getting looked at fair play to management having a bigger pool of players will only benefit Westmeath football overall. As for your opinion on Keane and Baker best keep that to yourself 2 fabulous players Westmeath gaa is moving in the right direction by bringing in youth

Undertheroad (Westmeath) - Posts: 37 - 12/01/2024 09:27:45    2519743

Link

Replying To Undertheroad:  "Fantastic to see so many players getting looked at fair play to management having a bigger pool of players will only benefit Westmeath football overall. As for your opinion on Keane and Baker best keep that to yourself 2 fabulous players Westmeath gaa is moving in the right direction by bringing in youth"
Seldom i agree with Claret but he sort of agreed with my earlier post , but he is correct ,we have a number of lads around the county that have played county minor,20's and are currently playing in top senior teams ,they are now in the 20-22 bracket. We seem to have forgotten them in favour of 18-19 year olds ,no one is saying they wont make county footballers but the are 2-3 years behind these other guys in development and experience. We played a poor Longford team and now lads are talking about lads that probably wont make this years 20's playing senior in the next two years . Those lads will come but if was are waiting for them to mentally and physically develop for the demands of county football its not going to be anytime soon . What was wrong with playing Seery ,Gahan ,Geoghan Quinn ,Gaffney ,Carr, Leech, Pierson, Hogan etc , and lads further down the road v Longford and see how they got on ,we went from one extreme to the other , no new blood or kids.

Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 233 - 12/01/2024 10:06:27    2519760

Link

Replying To Thechick:  "Seldom i agree with Claret but he sort of agreed with my earlier post , but he is correct ,we have a number of lads around the county that have played county minor,20's and are currently playing in top senior teams ,they are now in the 20-22 bracket. We seem to have forgotten them in favour of 18-19 year olds ,no one is saying they wont make county footballers but the are 2-3 years behind these other guys in development and experience. We played a poor Longford team and now lads are talking about lads that probably wont make this years 20's playing senior in the next two years . Those lads will come but if was are waiting for them to mentally and physically develop for the demands of county football its not going to be anytime soon . What was wrong with playing Seery ,Gahan ,Geoghan Quinn ,Gaffney ,Carr, Leech, Pierson, Hogan etc , and lads further down the road v Longford and see how they got on ,we went from one extreme to the other , no new blood or kids."
I raised this point a few days ago. There is a need for an u23 Development Squad for players u23 who might not be making the senior squad but it would be a pathway to making it in the future and more importantly ensures the potentially good ones dont fall through the cracks . Take the 2021 u20 team that played against the victorious Offaly team in Mullingar, only a handful have made to the senior set up. The team was : S Martin; J Gahan, C Drumm, Ciaran Daly; E Gaffney, D Seery, M Byrne; J Murtagh, Ciaran Daly; S Fleming, B Kelly, K O'Sullivan; J Torpey, B McGauran, D Hill. Subs: L Moran for O'Sullivan (28), S Baker for Murtagh (h-t), S O'Connor for Kelly (37), J McDonnell for Byrne (49), K Ruzzle for Ciaran Daly (corner back). Only one off the 2020 u20 team that was beaten by Laois on penalties is established at senior. T Martin; C Daly, C Drumm, S McGonagle; E Bracken, E Mulvihill, D Seery; A Flanagan, J Tumelty; J Murtagh, S Allen, S McCartan; S Maxwell, TJ Cox, J Nugent. No harm playing this yearsU20s in the O Byrne Cup (meaningless competition nowadays) , if we had an u23 Development Squad they could be playing in it.

A_Chairde (Westmeath) - Posts: 190 - 12/01/2024 12:08:48    2519799

Link

Replying To Undertheroad:  "Fantastic to see so many players getting looked at fair play to management having a bigger pool of players will only benefit Westmeath football overall. As for your opinion on Keane and Baker best keep that to yourself 2 fabulous players Westmeath gaa is moving in the right direction by bringing in youth"
Reread my post, I praised Keane and Baker as future county players, will they be involved in this year's National league? I doubt it.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 12/01/2024 12:37:21    2519811

Link

Who would train an under 23 development squad and who'd pay for it? We're spending hundreds of thousands training Senior squads according to recent newspaper articles. The Chick's argument is correct, ignoring Whelan, Geoghegan, Carr, Gahan, Fleming, Quinn in favour of 18 year olds for the O' Byrne Cup is completely illogical. Some players who played O' Byrne Cup won't start in under 20 championship and that's not developing players.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 12/01/2024 12:42:10    2519812

Link

Enda Gaffney was outstanding for Loman's throughout senior championship campaign, how is he cast aside in favour of an 18 year old who has never played senior club championship? Explain that. The senior county manager clearly didn't want to play in the O' Byrne Cup. That policy will be fine if we gain promotion to div 2 but another year in the Tailteann cup will be regarded as failure.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1664 - 12/01/2024 12:46:43    2519815

Link

Replying To A_Chairde:  "I raised this point a few days ago. There is a need for an u23 Development Squad for players u23 who might not be making the senior squad but it would be a pathway to making it in the future and more importantly ensures the potentially good ones dont fall through the cracks . Take the 2021 u20 team that played against the victorious Offaly team in Mullingar, only a handful have made to the senior set up. The team was : S Martin; J Gahan, C Drumm, Ciaran Daly; E Gaffney, D Seery, M Byrne; J Murtagh, Ciaran Daly; S Fleming, B Kelly, K O'Sullivan; J Torpey, B McGauran, D Hill. Subs: L Moran for O'Sullivan (28), S Baker for Murtagh (h-t), S O'Connor for Kelly (37), J McDonnell for Byrne (49), K Ruzzle for Ciaran Daly (corner back). Only one off the 2020 u20 team that was beaten by Laois on penalties is established at senior. T Martin; C Daly, C Drumm, S McGonagle; E Bracken, E Mulvihill, D Seery; A Flanagan, J Tumelty; J Murtagh, S Allen, S McCartan; S Maxwell, TJ Cox, J Nugent. No harm playing this yearsU20s in the O Byrne Cup (meaningless competition nowadays) , if we had an u23 Development Squad they could be playing in it."
Exactly ,and i forgot S.Fleming. I know hes college tied but he wasn't even invited for a trial and neither were most of the others . Dan Leech ,Tuite, Gilmartin ,Joe Moran etc etc . How many would we be developing of the 20's played 20's challenges ,the 23's played the o Byrne cup and the seniors played their challenges . We have just dropped out a whole group . A lot of those lads i named played in Hawk field v Kildare, beat Wexford and in a tough match v Meath in Ashbourne ,8 months later not even worth a trial or a couple of O Byrne cup games to see what they are worth ,have we that many good lads in that age group ???

Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 233 - 12/01/2024 12:59:51    2519818

Link

Some updates from Siggerson Cup:

In last night's matches, Kevin O'Sullivan scored 1-2 in Maynooth University's 4-11 to 2-9 victory over MTU Cork. Shandonagh's Danny Scahill and Killucan's Seán Leech also started the match for Maynooth.

Caulry's Senan Baker introduced at HT and scored a second half point for DCU in their one point defeat to Queens.

In Dangan, St Loman's Danny McCartan, who made his senior inter-county debut at the weekend in Longford, was introduced from the bench to play his part in TUD's statement making 2-8 to 1-10 victory over a highly fancied University of Galway side.

Jack Torpey scored a precious winning goal for TUS Midlands to clinch a dramatic win that ensures their Sigerson Cup status next year. TUS took charge in the 18th minute when Matthew Whittaker's weak shot somehow squired through the hands of Carlow goalkeeper John Ball and they led 2-7 to 1-8 at the break. A mark and a free by Marren, either side of another long range effort from Farrell, gave them hope and they then sealed a dramatic win when Torpey linked up with Brandon Kelly before firing home a 60th minute winning goal.

JoxerDaly (Westmeath) - Posts: 22 - 12/01/2024 13:01:25    2519819

Link