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Westmeath Football thread

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Is Ray leaving the panel? Nowhere to be seen with players or the panel today. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 150 - 15/03/2026 13:48:37 2661255 Link
Replying To Wmeath2: "The first 3 rounds of the league have been a washout with so many games cancelled. This will inevitably lead to a backlog of fixtures needing to be finished in May before league finals in June. If the county board really want to reduce games on dual players the ACFL leagues should be reduced to 8 teams, or two groups of 6 with a semi final and final. 7 league games is plenty, start at the end of March when the weather has improved a bit and pitches are in better condition." Or reduce the ACHL number of games. OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 251 - 15/03/2026 16:03:39 2661276 Link
Replying To Fighting-Cocks69: "Is Ray leaving the panel? Nowhere to be seen with players or the panel today." You must be blind. Ray was there with the squad today! A good second half performance. Lynam had a very strong match. A lot of mistakes were made though and it's going to be very tough away to Wexford next Sunday. Massive improvement needed. Two of the goals conceded were very poor. Is Sam Smyth out injured for long? I didn't see Mitchell there today though and he was there for previous matches. Great to see Conor Dillon back on the pitch! Matthew (None) - Posts: 1114 - 15/03/2026 16:07:03 2661279 Link
Replying To Wmeath2: "The first 3 rounds of the league have been a washout with so many games cancelled. This will inevitably lead to a backlog of fixtures needing to be finished in May before league finals in June. If the county board really want to reduce games on dual players the ACFL leagues should be reduced to 8 teams, or two groups of 6 with a semi final and final. 7 league games is plenty, start at the end of March when the weather has improved a bit and pitches are in better condition." No way, if you reduce the league to 5-7 games per team and the championship is minimum 5 games, max 7 as well, then that means some players only get 10 fixed matches in a calendar year or 10 month season, challenge matches notwithstanding… the training to games ratio is already gone ridiculous, players want matches not endless training. The solution here is more midweek games when the evenings get longer and pitches get firmer, we are the only county I know that doesn't stage full rounds of league matches midweek. CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 414 - 15/03/2026 16:46:27 2661290 Link
Replying To Matthew: "You must be blind. Ray was there with the squad today! A good second half performance. Lynam had a very strong match. A lot of mistakes were made though and it's going to be very tough away to Wexford next Sunday. Massive improvement needed. Two of the goals conceded were very poor. Is Sam Smyth out injured for long? I didn't see Mitchell there today though and he was there for previous matches. Great to see Conor Dillon back on the pitch!" Great second half once again . First half riddled with silly mistakes which kept limerick in the game . Johnny lynam had a marvellous game. His work rate was immense. Brian cooney also had a solid outing . Ronan Wallace when we needed him did he always does and drive us on . Delighted to see conor dillon back today and in good shape . Ray will be back next Sunday which should release Sam to a more forward role . If I had one wish it would be that luke would be nearer to goal at all times . Wexford here we come mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 1941 - 15/03/2026 17:20:05 2661301 Link
Replying To OverTheHill85: "Or reduce the ACHL number of games." It may, but i doubt it have escaped your notice the footballers get 9 league games to the hurlers 7. So find another solution which is very simple reduce the divisions improve quality at the top and competition lower down. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1899 - 15/03/2026 17:21:56 2661302 Link
Ray Connellan on the pitch with the players before and after the game and also siiting with the subs/squad players in the stand.Comments like "he was nowhere to be seen" are idiotic and baseless. Job done today and a good spread of scorers so on to Wexford next week for a winner take all game.Great to see Conor Dillon back on the pitch. Bruno@1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 311 - 15/03/2026 17:45:26 2661310 Link
Replying To jobber: "It may, but i doubt it have escaped your notice the footballers get 9 league games to the hurlers 7. So find another solution which is very simple reduce the divisions improve quality at the top and competition lower down." Yes but it's only the hurlers that seem to complain. The footballers are happy with their 9 rounds. OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 251 - 15/03/2026 18:13:39 2661323 Link
Replying To CleanShoulder: "No way, if you reduce the league to 5-7 games per team and the championship is minimum 5 games, max 7 as well, then that means some players only get 10 fixed matches in a calendar year or 10 month season, challenge matches notwithstanding… the training to games ratio is already gone ridiculous, players want matches not endless training. The solution here is more midweek games when the evenings get longer and pitches get firmer, we are the only county I know that doesn't stage full rounds of league matches midweek." We don't Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18740 - 15/03/2026 18:44:38 2661340 Link
Replying To OverTheHill85: "Yes but it's only the hurlers that seem to complain. The footballers are happy with their 9 rounds." I am not complaining at all nor are the hurling clubs who have realised that good competition is more important than one sided games. I want to see a stronger Westmeath football team and i believe tougher games at the elite level will help that. jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1899 - 15/03/2026 18:54:10 2661343 Link
Replying To CleanShoulder: "No way, if you reduce the league to 5-7 games per team and the championship is minimum 5 games, max 7 as well, then that means some players only get 10 fixed matches in a calendar year or 10 month season, challenge matches notwithstanding… the training to games ratio is already gone ridiculous, players want matches not endless training. The solution here is more midweek games when the evenings get longer and pitches get firmer, we are the only county I know that doesn't stage full rounds of league matches midweek." Is a 10 month season too long? Who wants to be training in December, January & February? Some counties don't start their league until April (they probably have minimal hurling clubs). Wmeath2 (Westmeath) - Posts: 204 - 15/03/2026 21:51:27 2661386 Link
Louth Kildare game next weekend huge from a Westmeath perspective Iarmhisamhi (Westmeath) - Posts: 44 - 15/03/2026 23:01:36 2661397 Link
Replying To Wmeath2: "Is a 10 month season too long? Who wants to be training in December, January & February? Some counties don't start their league until April (they probably have minimal hurling clubs)." Yes a 10 month season is too long, but the reality is that the majority of clubs will start back some sort of s&c before Xmas and into January, before hitting the field in February. After that if you ask players if they'd rather get into playing games or continue training for weeks on end without them, what do you expect they'd choose. CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 414 - 15/03/2026 23:05:25 2661398 Link
Great win for the lads today. All about next weekend though and we don't tend to win tight matches, Sligo being the outlier. Brian Cooney has really stepped up this year into a certain starter. It's all about promotion regardless of whether we end up playing Sam maguire football or not. Have to be playing at division 2 minimum to be making progress Bluelake (Westmeath) - Posts: 354 - 15/03/2026 23:06:19 2661399 Link
Replying To Bluelake: "Great win for the lads today. All about next weekend though and we don't tend to win tight matches, Sligo being the outlier. Brian Cooney has really stepped up this year into a certain starter. It's all about promotion regardless of whether we end up playing Sam maguire football or not. Have to be playing at division 2 minimum to be making progress" 100 %. Promotion is the main aim and were one game away of achieving just that. Credit to Mark Mc Hugh and his team preparations havent been ideal trying to get pitches to train which clearly affected performances. Wexford are heading in the right direction and wont be easy getting the result we need. Its probably a 50 50 game. A_Chairde (Westmeath) - Posts: 375 - 16/03/2026 10:25:07 2661443 Link