Whittaker not looking back in anger over 2022 final

Matthew Whittaker hopes his injury problems are behind him as he bids to help Tubberclair win the Westmeath intermediate football title. Shandonagh stand in Tubberclair's way in tomorrow's final at TEG Cusack Park (Saturday, 3.30pm), in what is a repeat of the 2022 decider.

Whittaker made an impressive impact for Westmeath this year under Dermot McCabe, having been brought into the squad by previous manager Dessie Dolan. No doubt, new Westmeath boss Mark McHugh will be looking for more of the same from Whittaker next year.

However, injury problems have hampered Whittaker this year and he was sorely missed in Westmeath’s Tailteann Cup quarter-final defeat to Wicklow.

“I actually tore a tendon in the back of my knee against Limerick in the Tailteann Cup and then obviously we played the following week against Laois. Not knowing it was actually torn, I just kind of played through painkillers and stuff. I found out the following Tuesday that I had torn it worse than the original tear,” recalled Matthew.

Having missed about 12 weeks of action, Whittaker admitted the injuries have been “challenging”, but he is now hopeful for better fortune. “It was good to get it cleared up. I was itching to get back especially when you’re seeing the results and how well things have been going with Keith (Higgins) and Daniel (Sammon).”

Whittaker returned to championship action for Tubberclair against Multyfarnham, and also played the group game against Saturday’s final opponents Shandonagh. He went on to score 2-1 in the 3-12 to 1-10 semi-final win over Milltownpass, with his two superb goals lighting up a contest which ended with some unruly scenes following the dismissal of a Milltownpass player.

“I think the semi-final will definitely stand to us as were probably nervous going into it,” said Matthew.

“The fact that Milltownpass had obviously beaten almost everyone so comfortably, we were probably worried about the scoring power they had up front and if we could stop that. But it was all about putting a game plan in place. The lads (the management) did that fantastically as they have done all year and, ultimately, we were able to carry it out and get over the line.”

This is Matthew’s fifth year on the adult Tubberclair panel and, interestingly, the last time the club contested the intermediate final in 2022, his dad Graham was part of the squad. Indeed, Graham came on as a temporary sub in a thrilling drawn final, but it was Shandonagh who came out on top in the replay.

Yet Whittaker dismissed the notion that revenge is on the agenda for Tubberclair after losing out to Shandonagh in that 2022 decider.

“We’ve talked about it, and I don’t really buy into the whole thing of ‘you owe them one for 2022’ as the teams are so different now. They have new players and we have new players,” said the 22-year-old.

“We’re a bit older, a bit more mature. At the end of the day, they will have a game plan and we’ll have a game plan and it’s about who carries it out the best. It has nothing to do with 2022 or the group game that happened a few weeks ago,” he continued, adding that his side needs to be “fully focused” on their own performance.

Since that 2022 defeat to Shandonagh, Tubberclair have been knocking on the door in the intermediate championship but were unable to reach the final again until this year. The Glasson outfit was edged out by eventual winners St Malachy’s in their 2023 semi-final and lost out to Multyfarnham on penalties at the quarter-final stage last year.

Despite those disappointments, Whittaker believes “great progress” has been made “from a club point of view and a personal point of view” in the last few years.

Matthew understands why people say the Tubberclair team is maturing in general, but he also points to the influx of young players in this year’s panel.

“It’s funny. We’re probably saying we are more mature, but if you look at the age profile of our team, we’re probably by far the youngest team in terms of the senior and intermediate teams. I think we had six or seven lads who are still under-20 that started the last day, and a lot of lads are only two or three years older than that,” he said.

The village of Glasson and surrounding areas is once again festooned with green and gold colours as the build-up to Saturday’s final gathers pace.

“I suppose there is a good buzz around the place. We have unbelievable support from our club and our community,” said Matthew.

“There’s a lot of good stuff happening there with the land development (the club has purchased a field adjacent to their pitch as part of plans to improve facilities), so that’s exciting. The under-20s are in the final as well so there’s just a good buzz around the place in general and hype around the intermediate final,” he added.

Shay Murtagh Precast Westmeath Intermediate Football Championship final

Saturday, October 25: Tubberclair v Shandonagh, 3.30pm, TEG Cusack Park, Barry Pierce. Standby referee: Enda Kelly. Linesman: Ken Gunning. Fourth official: Shane Carroll.