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Westmeath Football thread

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Westmeath football is in a dark place. The Downs won 6 meaningful championship matches by an average of over 12 points a match. So best team in Westmeath by a mile and lose easily at home to best team in Offaly. Westmeath lost 2 championship matches to division 4 teams this year and Ballinagore lost at home to team from Spain. Realistically Westmeath are closer to division 4 than to the top teams unfortunately. Blackjack (Westmeath) - Posts: 51 - 16/11/2025 20:41:30 2644859 Link
Replying To Iarmhisamhi: "The Downs showed a lot of frailties in the county final, where a team with belief would have put them away. They tend to play in fits and starts which was not sufficient for the Leinster championship. A little bit of arrogance as well was evident. Best team won today." What were the frailties which The Downs showed in the County Final? Bad day at the office today but they have been deserving champions. The lack of a competitive championship game in the county probably didn't help their cause. iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 279 - 16/11/2025 20:55:16 2644863 Link
Replying To Blackjack: "Westmeath football is in a dark place. The Downs won 6 meaningful championship matches by an average of over 12 points a match. So best team in Westmeath by a mile and lose easily at home to best team in Offaly. Westmeath lost 2 championship matches to division 4 teams this year and Ballinagore lost at home to team from Spain. Realistically Westmeath are closer to division 4 than to the top teams unfortunately." In the 3 grades, only 1 Westmeath Club has made a Leinster Final since St Loman's and Multyfarnham in 2017. iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 279 - 16/11/2025 21:04:22 2644868 Link
Replying To Persona: "My son is wondering what day the Downs will be stopping by his school St Colmans with the Flanagan Cup in tow. Does anyone know? It would be extremely unfair if they left out the other Mullingar schools. Schools visited so far The Downs N. S. Holy Family N.S. Loughegar N. S. Taghmon N. S Gainstown N. S Coralstown N. S" They are worse than Clonkill valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1919 - 16/11/2025 21:20:48 2644876 Link
They showed lots of frailties in county final, Kinnegad scored 1-15 and were unlucky to lose by 6. To suggest it wasn't an extremely competitive game shows a lack of knowledge. There was an expectancy among The Downs supporters today, seemed like they fully and easily expected to win. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2461 - 16/11/2025 21:43:27 2644885 Link
Replying To Blackjack: "Westmeath football is in a dark place. The Downs won 6 meaningful championship matches by an average of over 12 points a match. So best team in Westmeath by a mile and lose easily at home to best team in Offaly. Westmeath lost 2 championship matches to division 4 teams this year and Ballinagore lost at home to team from Spain. Realistically Westmeath are closer to division 4 than to the top teams unfortunately." I'm inclined to agree on the standard in Westmeath. Leinster is a different ball game. Probably a bit of complacency at play today but the fact nobody got near this downs team doesn't look good for the rest of Westmeath Bluelake (Westmeath) - Posts: 328 - 16/11/2025 22:08:31 2644888 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "They showed lots of frailties in county final, Kinnegad scored 1-15 and were unlucky to lose by 6. To suggest it wasn't an extremely competitive game shows a lack of knowledge. There was an expectancy among The Downs supporters today, seemed like they fully and easily expected to win." The Downs got goals at crucial stages of the county final. Kinnegad were right up there aS the entire game. Silly comments weve seen on here about Downs winning Leinster. Tullamore are a very good team. The Downs are able to get goals but seem to struggle to pick off there points. 8 points is a poor return in the game now. A_Chairde (Westmeath)** - Posts: 350 - 16/11/2025 22:50:10 2644901 Link
If you look at Westmeath senior championship how many teams are on the up? Probably not many; Loman's have dipped, Kinnegad were almost out in the group stage, Tyrrellspass have dropped off, Mullingar decent, Caulry probably at their limit, Athlone dropped down, Garrycastle who topped the B section are solid but I doubt there's another championship in them; Moate, Killucan etc all holding their own but not threatening the A section. So it's probably not difficult to see why The Downs ran riot in the county championship. Maybe Tullamore are just better; it doesn't have to be down to complacency or anything else; only one team can win on a given day. OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 167 - 17/11/2025 08:37:23 2644928 Link
Hard luck to the downs, they'll be back competing again in Leinster no doubt. I'm sure they will have multiple players now turning their attention to joining up with county squad. Imagine they're back this month…Any interesting new names asked in to panel? Lakecounty94 (Westmeath) - Posts: 83 - 17/11/2025 09:53:58 2644938 Link
Nothing about the embarrassment in St Loman's yesterday, our Junior Champions losing to a team that plays most of their matches 11 a side using rugby goals. The bizarre decision to move the game to a 3G pitch didn't help Ballinagore, Barcelona Gaels would be more used to this type of surface. iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 279 - 17/11/2025 10:14:03 2644949 Link
Replying To OverTheHill85: "If you look at Westmeath senior championship how many teams are on the up? Probably not many; Loman's have dipped, Kinnegad were almost out in the group stage, Tyrrellspass have dropped off, Mullingar decent, Caulry probably at their limit, Athlone dropped down, Garrycastle who topped the B section are solid but I doubt there's another championship in them; Moate, Killucan etc all holding their own but not threatening the A section. So it's probably not difficult to see why The Downs ran riot in the county championship. Maybe Tullamore are just better; it doesn't have to be down to complacency or anything else; only one team can win on a given day." The Downs, St Loman's and Kinnegad, it's going to be 1 of those teams for the next 3 years. iarmhiabu (Westmeath) - Posts: 279 - 17/11/2025 10:17:32 2644952 Link
Fair to say Tullamore were the better team & fully deserved to win. Joseph Moran & Conor Coughlan were huge losses for Downs not to mention Niall Mitchell although they didn't have Mitchell for the county final. Hopefully Tubberclair can keep the flag flying for the county. It has been a very poor Leinster campaign by all hurling & football teams apart from Tubberclair but maybe its a reflection on the standard in general. Left Full (Westmeath) - Posts: 270 - 17/11/2025 10:57:23 2644965 Link
Replying To Left Full: "Fair to say Tullamore were the better team & fully deserved to win. Joseph Moran & Conor Coughlan were huge losses for Downs not to mention Niall Mitchell although they didn't have Mitchell for the county final. Hopefully Tubberclair can keep the flag flying for the county. It has been a very poor Leinster campaign by all hurling & football teams apart from Tubberclair but maybe its a reflection on the standard in general." Agree well beaten in all that said downs came back but game was over early. Ctg pushed clough could have won but didn't ye disappointing campaign for all Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1090 - 17/11/2025 11:14:41 2644977 Link
The Downs hugely frustrating yesterday, i could not believe how bad they were at times, Tullamore deserved it and looked like a well drilled outfit with Stephen Rotchford on the line. Some players who had brilliant championships looked so flat and leggy. Barcelona Gaels were a very good outfit and played Ballinagore off the pitch for 40 mins, Mcdaniels wasnt himself and Barcelona had him well wrapped up, No.6 for Barcelona was brilliant, i wouldnt be surpised if they go further but the travelling might tell its tale there. Tubberclare game was farcical but they looked very impressive in saying that, only for the St>MArtins Keeper it would 6/7 Goals. They are the onlys one left now, We talk about how good our club football is but this isnt a great reflection. nadunta2025 (Westmeath) - Posts: 5 - 17/11/2025 11:28:04 2644983 Link
Disappointing performance yesterday by The Downs. They really were asleep for the first 40 minutes. Leinster club games require a different mindset and clearly the Downs were not tuned in yesterday. Thats not to take away from Tullamore, they are a quality outfit and have been on the road for 3 years, you could really see they were fully dialled in yesterday. Club championship is a completely different ball game and its about been mentally ready as much as anything else. A lot of doomsayers on here saying Westmeath football is in a bad place, I disagree we have quality footballers its all about belief and confidence. I'm really looking forward to 2026 and what we can achieve. FrMick (Westmeath) - Posts: 24 - 17/11/2025 11:46:42 2644990 Link