McHugh gives thumbs up to O'Byrne Cup

Westmeath senior football boss, Mark McHugh and his Offaly counterpart, Mickey Harte have given their firm approval to the return of the pre-season competitions.

While there is speculation that the GAA may put them on hold again for five years, both managers felt they have a valuable role in the context of preparing for the National Football League.

On the future of pre-season competitions, McHugh described them as imperfect but necessary. “It is a broken competition, there’s no point in saying any different, with your colleges and stuff like that, but it is important,” he said. “They’re controlled challenge matches. If they’re not on, there’s going to be challenge matches when we don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors.”

Drawing on personal experience, he added: “I enjoyed playing in the McKenna Cup all my life. I think I have two of those medals somewhere in the house and they’re important; medals are important.”

McHugh acknowledged concerns around player overload but stressed that games will be played regardless. “People are still going to be training, people are still going to be playing games at this time of year. It’s just a wee bit controlled in this manner and it gets people out to watch games. It’s important for the spectacle and for spectators to see how their team’s going prior to the league.”

Mickey Harte, joint-manager of Offaly alongside Declan Kelly, feels the pre-season competitions have a place on the calendar.

“I've always been a fan of the pre-seasons. I think it's good for players to get a run out and teams to get themselves organised for the upcoming league. It's a good place to be. I'd hate not to have them because if you haven't got them, people are looking at challenge matches and you don't know what strength of a team you're playing against, or you don't know whether that team's interested in winning the game, or just trying totally out. It is good to have them and I hope they stay,” he said.

Westmeath will meet Kildare in the final of this year's O'Byrne Cup this Friday at 7.30pm in Newbridge, a game that will be televised live on TG4.