O'Brien offers no excuses as Dublin prove a superior side

Westmeath U20 hurling manager Kevin O’Brien said he was disappointed at the outcome of Sunday’s game against Dublin. While there was a feeling that Westmeath were disadvantaged by having senior hurling on the Saturday, followed by U20 the following day, O'Brien felt some players lining out for both was insignificant and had no bearing on the outcome.

“We have no excuses. We were only four points down early in the second hand and thought a big effort was going to come, but Dublin were physically stronger and they found the extra gear. Their strength and conditioning was ahead, but there is no way we are that far off them either,” he said.

The Clonkill man felt that the final scoreline (1-31 to 1-14) is very harsh on Westmeath who put a great deal of effort into this year's competition.

“It’s not a fair reflection of where we are, but unfortunately we have been beaten and we are out,” he remarked. Unlike the U20 footballers, there is no back door for O'Brien's charges.

The manager agreed that Dublin’s impressive start gave them the platform.

“They played with the wind and got a great start. Their shooting was unbelievable; I don’t think they hit a wide. Maybe we started slowly, but we never really recovered. They always had that cushion,” he observed.

O'Brien felt Westmeath were still in with decent chance at the interval (Dublin were leading by 0-15 to 1-6), especially with the advantage of the lively breeze in the second half.

“We told the players at half-time that it was a strong enough breeze and to use it. On another day those shots would go over: we were trying to get Dublin to doubt themselves as they came in here without winning a game whereas we came in without losing one. We tried to use that, but it didn't work," he said.

O'Brien praised the Westmeath players and vowed to continue working at trying to develop them and increase the county's chances of making progress.

“The players are great and have given us a huge effort. We are here to support them; they will go back to their clubs and give it a rattle again,” he added.