Hanley hails his troops following shock win

After watching his charges pull off a magnificent 0-14 to 0-12 victory in the Leinster SHC, Westmeath manager Brian Hanley was clear on his feelings about the result. "It's probably the best 70 minutes I've ever had in management, and I'm only at it a few short years," the Galway native said. "But that performance was in us, and I knew it Thursday night; we had a 15-a-side game, and I told the lads if they could keep up that determination and drive, we'd be in with a chance. Our fitness has been superior to every other team we've played. Our game plan was to put us in a position to win it with 20 minutes to go, and that's what we did." Trailing 0-8 to 0-3 at half time, Hanley was nevertheless confident that, even with 14 men, after Conor Jordan's dismissal for a second booking, Westmeath could grind out a result. "I didn't care if we had no score, as long as they weren't 12 or 13 points ahead of us. The fact that we were a man down didn't matter, with the style of hurling we played." When asked about the positive impact his younger players - including Niall O'Brien, and Aonghus Clarke - had on Westmeath's performance, Hanley said: "It's easier for a younger lad coming onto a senior team because there's more strength, more support, better knowledge of the game around them." With mighty Galway up next (June 3), Hanley is relishing a crack at his native county, now managed by former Garrycastle boss, Anthony Cunningham. "Anthony and I are great friends. I actually asked him to play corner-forward for us during the week, because he's living in Athlone, and we were down so many players!" he quipped. "I must say, I can't wait. He's a great man, and he's doing great work for Galway hurling, as are Mattie Kenny and Tom Helebert. Whether we're able to perform as good as we did against Galway last year, I don't know. But it's a mighty honour for me to be involved in Westmeath, and a mighty honour for those players to be playing Galway here in Mullingar."