Bealin rules out lack of fitness for Westmeath’s woes
EMBATTLED Westmeath boss Paul Bealin has rubbished suggestions that a lack of physical conditioning was the reason for his side’s dramatic second-half collapse against Mayo on Sunday. Trailing by nine points after just 10 minutes, Bealin’s charges rallied to lead by the minimum at half-time in their Division 1 clash against the Connacht champions at Mullingar on Sunday. A pointed free by John Heslin within two minutes of the restart doubled the home side’s advantage on the restart but they played second fiddle after that with Mayo galloping to a 2-17 to 3-9 success. James Dolan’s second goal of the contest putting a veneer of respectability on the final scoreline. ‘Obviously it was very disappointing that we failed to drive on after our very good performance over the last 20 minutes of the first half,’ said Bealin, whose charges are now pointless after four top-flight games. ‘But I’m convinced the fact that Mayo got well on top in the second half had nothing to do with a lack of fitness on our part. ‘It was more to do with the fact that Mayo have a very strong bench. When they bring guys in of the calibre that they have it just goes to show where Mayo are at. ‘Mayo dominated around the middle of the field — the possession stats were 30-15 in their favour — and as a result we found it very difficult to get the ball into our forward line in the second half. ‘Mayo are there in terms of Connacht titles and they’re four to five years into a programme. But we’re chasing at the moment and trying to develop that kind of situation. ‘However, we fought right to the end of the game and it was a big improvement on the way we performed against Derry. We seemed to give up too easily against Derry.’ With four defeats from as many outings, Bealin is well aware that promoted Westmeath face an uphill task to avoid making a rapid return to Division 2 but he remains optimistic. ‘We have only three games left and all of them are very difficult,’ pointed out the former Dublin midfield star, whose side face Tyrone at Omagh next Sunday before a home tie against Kerry and an away test against Kildare over the following weekends. ‘If we get six points, we have a chance of staying up. It’s a tall order but we haven’t given up, and we’ve used the League to give a chance to a lot of players who haven’t played for Westmeath before. ‘Winning the three games would mean we wouldn’t be depending on teams to be beating other teams (for us).’