Geoghegan sees positive signs despite Leinster exit

Westmeath minor football manager David Geoghegan, reflecting on his team’s gutsy display in their Leinster quarter-final against Louth last week, praised his players’ battling qualities but felt they missed too many opportunities.

The concession of two first half goals left the Lake County facing a serious challenge, but they regrouped well before Louth took control in the third quarter.

“We asked the lads to go out and throw everything they had at it and have a go. Louth got off to a great start and they rattled off two or three points in a row. We were actually a point up when they got the two goals in the first half,” the manager observed.

“They got two fisted goals, but in the second half, we had one (chance) the very same and the goalkeeper didn’t know where it was. And the ball hit the post and came back into his arms. Some days those little things go off you, some days they won’t.

“We probably had four or five goal chances. A couple of times with the final ball into the forwards, we did ourselves no favours. It’s probably one that you think to yourself, it was left behind. Because we had enough chances. I’m not being hard on the lads,” he continued.

Westmeath were without two first choice midfield players due to injury and that was a factor, Geoghegan felt.

“They had a big man in the middle of the field there. He was getting under a lot of balls and the boys battled. Cian Fleming battled hard with him. The week before we played Meath we lost Rory Dolan, broke his ankle in training. Rory’s the biggest man we have, he would have been a first choice midfielder.

“Dillon Burke got injured for the hurlers. We brought him on, but he was not fully fit. They are big men, powerful men that we needed around the middle of the field.”

Despite the eventual defeat, he praised his side’s resolve. “The lads battle hard. They’ve done that all year,” he said.

Geoghegan felt nerves may have played a part in some of his side’s missed chances.

“The game could have been so much different. You’d definitely think, you’d like to play it again, put it that way. But at the end of the day, Louth got through. And they’re a good outfit, even when we played them earlier on; they’re big men and they move the ball well.”

Ultimately, the two Westmeath goals came too late to put a turn the tide. “Probably,” concurred Geoghegan. “If we’d have got one of them maybe five minutes after half-time, it might have had an impact. In the middle of the second half, we sort of lost our shape and our way a bit. They rattled off maybe three or four points. They were ten up and we brought it back to four. But we got it back to four a bit too late.

“And then, of course, we lost Will (Scahill) as well with ten minutes to go. He wanted to play on; he went back, but he wasn’t fit. We took him off. There was no point in ruining the player for the summer. We all want to win, but not at the risk of a young lad’s health.”

Overall, Geoghegan hopes the experience gained this year will stand to his young charges.

“We had a very positive league campaign; we topped a group that included Louth and Laois just beat us narrowly in a semi-final. I felt we played within ourselves against Meath; some players got stage fright and that will happen at U17 level. Against Kildare, we probably weren’t strong enough, physically strong enough around the middle. And today we had every chance of winning, but we didn’t take it,” he said.

“They gave it their all against a strong Louth outfit; they’re young players and hopefully they will go on to represent Westmeath at U20 level because that is the next step,” he added.