“It’s full steam ahead for Ruislip” – Kevin O’Brien

Gerry Buckley

After his troops had recorded the easiest of easy wins in Castlebar last Saturday afternoon, Westmeath senior hurling manager Kevin O’Brien was putting a reasonably successful league campaign behind him and turning his thoughts to the championship.

The Clonkill man stated: “It was very comprehensive in the end. We were disappointed with ourselves after the Derry game and we felt we let ourselves down a bit towards the end of that. The boys wanted to put it right today. It’s fair scoring to get 2-37, but you’d have to also say that the opposition (Mayo) wasn’t great today. They looked like a team that was preparing for Division 3 next year. Unfortunately, today wasn’t enough to get promoted. We lost out on scoring difference to Kerry. That’s the league over and the focus now turns to the Joe McDonagh Cup, and we start in London in four weeks’ time.”

The withdrawal of two starters in the first half due to injury was an undoubted blow. In this regard, O’Brien updated the media as follows: “Unfortunately, I just got confirmation there that Dean Ennis broke his elbow. He’s been kept in hospital here and they may be operating on him tomorrow. Jack (Gillen) may have ligament damage to the ankle. We have to wait for the swelling to go down and have a scan. Jack had been playing very well. He’s one of the sweetest strikers of a ball anywhere in the country. Look, that’s just part and parcel of the game of hurling. You’re going to pick up injuries. Unfortunately, we’ve picked up a lot of them. On the plus side, Johnny Bermingham and Eoin Keyes will be fit in the next week to resume full training.”

The great display of Darragh McCormack was on the lips of everybody in the small crowd after the match. His bainisteoir opined: “It’s not off the ground he licked it! We knew one of these days he was going to explode and everything was just going to fall for him. That’s the nature of him. He’s an outstanding talent. I had him at U20 level and he’s great.

“These are the types of lad who are the backbone of this new Westmeath team.”

“We’ve a couple of challenges lined up, one against a Division 1 team and another against a Division 2 side. That’s going to be good preparation for Ruislip. It’s full steam ahead,” O’Brien concluded.