'It was a really strong performance' – Joe Fortune
By Gerry Buckley
“We saved the best performance of the league till the final against Down, and we saved the best performance of the championship till this evening’s make-or-break game against Laois”.
Westmeath senior hurling manager Joe Fortune was absolutely spot on in his opening salvo to the assembled media around 7.45 pm in Portlaoise last Saturday, after a really splendid performance from his charges had blown the home team away and ensured another Liam MacCarthy Cup campaign for the Lake County in 2023.
The Wexford native continued: “We really went at this Leinster championship. Every day from the first day against Kilkenny, where we ran them for 35/40 minutes, we tried to go at every match. We had a good result last week (a draw with his native county), but last week meant nothing to Westmeath people unless we put Laois away today. Laois are proud hurling people as well. It’s 1968 since Westmeath beat Laois in knockout hurling and I’m very proud of them today. It was a really strong performance.”
Looking back on 2022 as a whole, the manager reflected: “We had poor days during the year against Down and Carlow. The lads locked themselves into a room after those games, not the management locking themselves in despite what was being said. There was one dark night in Brownstown after the Carlow game when a lot of home truths were spoken. There was some stuff written that I wasn’t happy about and I pinned it up on the wall. But I knew the Westmeath heart, the croí na hÉireann, would come out at some stage.
“They wanted to push on from winning the Joe McDonagh Cup last year and be a competitive team in Leinster. I think they showed today that they deserve to be in the Leinster championship. The lads go back to their clubs now and then reset for a big year next year. It’s huge for Westmeath hurling to be playing Division 1 in the league and also be in the Liam MacCarthy Cup,” he added.
As ever, the Malahide-based teacher was keen to share the glory with his many helpers, stating: “I take the interviews, but it’s my backroom team that does so much work behind the scenes. It’s colossal. That group have put so much work in as a unit since last October. Also, if people only knew what we had to do in October, November and December to get pitches. I do want to thank all the club people in Westmeath as well, and the county board. Today epitomised what a good, solid group of players we have. We need to push through some of the U20s who pushed Wexford for 35/40 minutes recently. There were some good minor teams that beat Dublin as well. We need to develop those hurlers as well as soon as possible.”
Many approving eyebrows were raised at the great display of Raharney’s Eoin Keyes, previously a fringe panellist. His bainisteoir was not surprised, however. He opined: “Teams are picked on training. There are lads in the stand today who are not even in the 26 who were probably on the team in recent years. I don’t pick the team on last year. I pick the team on who’s going well this year. Eoin sat down for many a day in the stand and he deserved that display today. He showed a lot of hunger. He’s a good young lad. Jack Gillen had a great start to the year as well. He’s not forgotten either and I said to him before he came on today that if he trusts this process, he’ll hurl for Westmeath for the next ten years.”
An overjoyed Fortune concluded with a wry smile by saying: “I’ll take a few weeks to recharge the batteries now. Because I need to!”