Westmeath are rising from their grassroots
ROUGHLY an hour before throw-in at Cusack Park today, more than 100 of Westmeath’s best young hurlers will make the short walk across Mullingar from Oliver Plunkett’s ground, where four development squads from Under 13 to 16, will be meeting for a collective training session this morning.
The teenagers will sit together, supporting Westmeath in their Leinster SHC quarter-final against Galway, sharpening their own ambition and nourishing their dreams as a group.
‘It is such a great advertisement for these young players, to see their own county taking on last year’s All-Ireland finalists, one of the best teams in the country,’ explains James Heffernan, Westmeath’s games development administrator. ‘We are showing the kids that if they stick with this, they can be in Cusack Park in a few years’ time, playing against the likes of Joe Canning.’
Westmeath are growing comfortable in the company of hurling giants. The wider world may have been stunned 10 days ago when their Under 21s knocked Kilkenny out of Leinster but not those who have formulated a vision for the game in the midlands. They believe there will be a time in the not-too-distant future when that sort of result is no longer considered a shock.
Before that U21 win, Johnny Greville had played a part in the biggest result in Westmeath hurling history when his minor side went down to Wexford Park last year and beat the Slaneysiders in the Leinster championship. The two-point defeat did not go down well in Wexford with one local newspaper suggesting their county should never be beaten by Westmeath.
Greville is close to Westmeath hurling royalty. His father Seán was goalkeeper on the last great senior side produced by the county in the mid-1980s that took Kilkenny to the brink in a National League quarterfinal before it was ravaged by emigration. Two of his brothers will be on Michael Ryan’s team that take on Galway today.
‘Outside Westmeath, some might have thought those results, the win over Kilkenny or the win last year over Wexford, came from nowhere but that group of hurlers won three All-Ireland U16 B titles,’ Greville explains. ‘Some will say that it was only U16 B but that gave them confidence and belief and the structures are such in the county that they kept gaining confidence.’
All the good under-age results need to bear fruit at senior level, soon. Within Westmeath, they know the example of Carlow. A decade ago, Carlow produced a minor side good enough to reach a Leinster final. They also reached a Leinster U21 decider in the recent past. But this year, they have dropped back to the Christy Ring Cup.
Beating Offaly in the Championship for the first time in 40 years follows on from last year’s 17-point win over Antrim. The next step is a scalp of an elite side. ‘They are getting closer and closer to that breakthrough,’ Greville points out. ‘They were ahead of Waterford by a point in 2013, okay they ended up being well beaten, but they were within a few points of Limerick last summer too, with a couple of minutes to go.’
The feel-good factor in the U21 team has rubbed off on the seniors, ahead of today’s clash. U21 manager Adrian Moran is a selector on the senior team. ‘He is one of dozens of people who are triple-jobbing for Westmeath hurling,’ Heffernan explains. ‘Adrian is also involved with the U14 development squad.’
Manager Ryan is a selector with the U21s, too and at the start of the year, the decision was made to train both the U21s and seniors together. It meant sessions of 38 players, but it has worked – so far. Ryan also enlisted former Dublin and Cavan football manager Tommy Carr as strength and conditioning coach. Carr’s effect has been plain to see.
Westmeath hurling is still based around a heartland of 15 clubs in the north of the county, but through Heffernan’s hard work, the gospel is spreading. And there’s a more concerted effort that nobody gets left behind in those 15 clubs.
‘When you are working off such a small base, you need everyone rowing in. In my eight or nine years in this role, one of my great success stories has been that every hurling club in the county now has an U8 and U10 team. That wasn’t the case when I started this role.
‘Even with the U21 team that beat Kilkenny, eight different clubs were represented on the field. And 11 overall in the panel. So that is a good sign.’
Westmeath were easily the best team in the Leinster round robin group stages, although the vagaries of the draw meant the reward for that was playing Galway, rather than Laois.
However, backboned by Tommy Doyle at full-back, who is developing a reputation as one of the best hurlers in his position in the country, Westmeath have one of the meanest defences in the country and are surfing a wave of good feeling – and self-belief that comes from slaying the Cats.
‘Our aim is to make sure that Westmeath winning big hurling games is no longer considered a sensation,’ says Heffernan. A Westmeath win today would be an earth-shattering result but if their progress continues, there will come a time when it is seen as normal.