LAKE COUNTY SEEK AN OASIS OF CALM
Kelly’s men want to put turbulent League record behind them
‘You have to earn the right to move up’
IF Westmeath footballers secure promotion this Sunday, it will cement their status as the game’s ultimate yo-yo force They are the county that can never stay still. Promotion from Division 3 can be sealed with a win over Longford at Pearse Park and a favour from Armagh, who need to beat Fermanagh, to ensure that the Lake County move up a division.
And if it comes to pass it will mean that Westmeath’s League status will have changed for a 10th time in 11 years since the Allianz League was streamlined into four divisions of eight teams.
They were promoted to Division 1 in that first season, suffered back-to-back relegations in the following two years before bouncing back to Division 2 in 2011.
They took time out for a breather in 2012 — the solitary season when there was no movement — before promotion to Division 1 in 2013, was followed by plunging trough a trapdoor that took them to Division 4 inside three years.
Now, in Colin Kelly’s first season in charge, they are on the brink of back-to-back promotions, but it raises an obvious question.
What is the value of promotion if it is just an extension of a permanent state of flux rather than a building ground for stable incremental improvement?
Their plunge from the top tier to the bottom was every bit as brutal as it sounded — they failed to win a single game when dropping from Division 1 to Division 3 — and raises questions about their capacity to cope at a higher level.
For Kelly, who is chasing a third promotion in a row having led his native Louth from division four to two in the previous two seasons, Westmeath’s failings of the past will not be allowed to colour the future.
‘I am not into the history of it,’ Kelly told Sportsmail yesterday.
‘The past is the past. I am interested in this present Westmeath team and this present League campaign and it is about accumulating as many points as we can and see where we end up.
‘If we get enough points to get into Division 2 then it goes without saying that we are good enough to play there but you have to earn the right to play up there and that is what we are trying to do.’
They have been doing it in some style too. Their only blip to date was a Round Two defeat to tabletoppers Armagh, but their fate will ultimately be determined by the outcome of this Sunday’s clash with Longford, who trail Westmeath by a single point.
However, it was the manner in which they took a wrecking ball to Fermanagh’s 100 per cent record last weekend, coming from four down with 10 minutes remaining to win by two, that suggests the force is with Kelly’s team.
‘I never questioned the resolve of this group but it was the quality they showed to close out the game in which there was some fantastic moments of individual skill that was very impressive.
‘We stuck the course so it was very pleasing and I was very proud to stand on the line and watch the boys produce in that kind of pressured environment. ‘Fermanagh are a good side and to kick 12 points against them again underlines the quality that is in the group.’
That quality is summed by John Heslin, without doubt the most celebrated talent in the League’s lower tiers.
He top-scored in the county’s Division 4 promotion drive last year and he has already racked up 1-31 this spring.
Kelly is appreciative of Heslin’s quality, but is adamant that this is no one-man team.
‘He is a very, very talented fellow. He puts high demands on himself but he has the commitment levels to meet those demands.
‘He kicked two points off his left foot last Sunday that were just exceptional scores and we are lucky to have a talent like John Heslin.
‘But there are a lot of talented guys in that squad and John can’t play on his own.
‘He needs 14 other boys with him, six more coming in as sub and 34 turning up for training.
‘He is very talented and we are very lucky to have him. From my point of view, it is guys with that level of skill that you want to be coaching.’