A respectable end to a very respectable year for footballers
“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Yours truly has often borrowed that quote from the late American First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, when previewing David v Goliath clashes in sport, and I took the opportunity to send it in a ‘good luck’ text to Westmeath manager Jack Cooney last Saturday morning ahead of the ultimate Underdog v Unbackable Favourite match in Portlaoise that evening.
En route to the game from Dublin, a very pleasant garda on checkpoint duty spotted my maroon and white colours in the driving seat and quickly guessed my destination, stating that he had just stopped a prominent member of the Dubs’ gigantic backroom team. Clearly a fellow-culchie, and with a welcome sense of humour at what has to be a boring gig for our police force, we jovially ‘agreed’ that he would pull in any Dublin players he spotted and retain them for questioning until at least 6pm!
Ironically, US politics was the main topic when a handful of lucky scribes assembled in a crowd-less MW Hire O’Moore Park, with Joe Biden from Mayo or Louth, depending on whom you believe, having ousted (numerically, certainly, whatever about physically) Banner County fan, Donald Trump (a tremendous fan, the best fan ever), from the White House.
The presidential election had been a close call, but there was no doubt that Dessie Farrell’s troops would be the winners at the resplendent Laois GAA headquarters, with the victory margin the other real matter up for debate. The bookies’ big cars are funded by mugs thinking they will outsmart them, and the debate centred on whether a 14-point spread would prove to be spot on by the time Monaghan official, Martin McNally, blew the final whistle at around 7.45pm.
Even close on eight years since his untimely death, Páidí Ó Sé’s name often comes up in conversation when Gaels assemble (may I once again add that the lack of appreciation for the Ventry maestro’s achievement in 2004 among some Westmeath begrudgers utterly galls me). In a recent programme which I watched, his fellow-Kerryman, Daithí Ó Sé, recounted how his namesake had told him of his desire to beat Dublin in the Leinster SFC 16 years ago after the very difficult draw was made in October 2003 (riskily assuming that Westmeath could overturn Offaly in round one).
Of course, Westmeath famously defeated Tommy Lyons’ troops by two points en route to Delaney Cup glory. The next Leinster meeting was four years later (the 2006 clash was an All-Ireland quarter-final) and ‘Pillar’ Caffrey’s charges edged it by two points (I remain convinced that Westmeath would have won had Martin Flanagan been fit to start) with Tomás Ó Flatharta now wearing the maroon and white bainisteoir bib.
However, that was as good as it got for Westmeath as the Dublin juggernaut gathered full steam. The losses in 2009 (27 points), 2013 (16), 2015 (13), 2016 (15) and 2017 (31 – mega-ouch), work out at an average of over 20 points per game. Deep down, even the most negative of Westmeath fans expected a much ‘closer’ outcome than 31 points, especially given the wintry conditions and the absence of Dublin’s vociferous fans, albeit the injured Ger Egan’s loss was a major blow to Westmeath hopes, as the Tyrrellspass maestro is undoubtedly well fit to grace the pitch with even the greatest team of all-time as the opposition.
My own clearly-outlined target was “not to be the butt of jokes on the Sunday Game” (Tomás Ó Sé could have been kinder, as it transpired). On the night itself, an 11-point loss won the day for the spread-betters mainly due to a gutsy second-half performance against what is an awesome outfit in sky blue and navy. Stephen Cluxton remains imperious between the sticks and his ability to find a man from kick-outs has, inter alia, revolutionised the art of goalkeeping. Conversely, opponents – and Jason Daly is no different from countless other net-minders over the past decade in particular – find it very difficult to pick out a colleague given Dublin’s range of measures to prevent a team winning clean possession.
Sadly, the Leinster senior football championship has all but descended into farce during the aforementioned decade – but that is not the marvellous Metropolitans’ concern. I suspect that their next ‘victims’ Laois would take an 11-point loss if given the option now, while for all Meath’s annihilation of Wicklow being a signal that the Royals are heading in the right direction, Andy McEntee’s troops can expect no mercy in a likely Delaney Cup final shootout. Nor can Jack O’Connor if the Lilywhites win next weekend’s intriguing penultimate round clash.
It is not intended as a slight on Kieran Martin and his team-mates to opine that Dublin could have netted at least once via Ciaran Kilkenny (what a footballer he is) when happy to raise a white flag. If green flags are an option against Meath or Kildare, a green flag it will be.
It is a pity that Westmeath will not be given an opportunity to build on a very respectable year through the ‘back door’. Division 2 retention was the target in 2020 (before any of us knew how zany it would turn out to be). A similar target is likely in 2021, albeit the addition of Mayo, Meath and Cork especially, and to a lesser extent Down, to tier two of the Allianz Football League undoubtedly stiffens that challenge. And surely Lady Luck will dictate a kinder championship draw? Cooney was right to commend his squad for their huge commitment in the face of adversity. And so say all of us.
Westmeath are definitely out of the Leinster SFC, but the drama continues in Washington. I wonder will Melania Trump leave us with any nuggets to draw on in years to come?
Of course, if we had listened to her husband and injected ourselves with Dettol a few months ago, we could have had a full house in Portlaoise last Saturday night!
– Gerry Buckley