Fortune upbeat despite heavy defeat by Galway
Gerry Buckley
Despite his injury-ravaged side having lost by 34 points to Galway last Saturday evening in TEG Cusack Park, Westmeath senior hurling manager Joe Fortune remained optimistic that his troops can retain Liam MacCarthy Cup status for 2024.
At the outset, the Wexford native stated: “The lads who put on the jerseys are proud to represent Westmeath and I’m proud to put them on the field, but we find it very hard when we are missing the players that we are, through no fault of their own. One of the players said to me on Tuesday night that we started championship in January. We can’t have phases. We needed to survive in Division 1 to progress Westmeath hurling and we did that, but it is taking its toll at the moment.”
He continued: “I thought we were poor in the first half when we stood off Galway. The amount of ball that was being pinged in was putting us under pressure. The second half was a bit better, but you are probably grabbing at percentages there. Galway are in the top three or four in the country and we are fighting on the flat of our back to survive in Liam MacCarthy, to stay in the Leinster championship.
“But, to a man, they tried hard. We picked up knocks after the Dublin game and that was hard to take. We have a week’s break and I think we need it. Psychologically and physically, we need it. It’s a tough place to be in the Liam MacCarthy for the likes of Westmeath, Antrim, and Laois, when a top team cuts loose. We felt we let ourselves down in the first half. Our tackling and aggression wasn’t there.”
In relation to his most recent injury absentees, the Malahide-based teacher clarified: “Jack Galvin has a hamstring twinge; Niall Mitchell’s back went into spasm; Darragh Egerton the same with a hip flexor problem; and Ciaran Doyle had tight calves during the week. We’re putting the strongest team out. I can’t rest any players.
“These lads have shipped beatings like this before, but they have reacted. For ourselves, it is tough to take when you concede six goals against Galway, but it is against Galway. They are ruthless. If I offered the opportunity to the lads to go and play in Division 2 or Division 3 instead, they wouldn’t take it. They want to be here. There are kids coming across the field to get jerseys signed because they think the world of Tommy Doyle, whether they concede a goal or two or not.
“And we’ll keep fighting. These boys won’t give up, I’ve no doubt about that. It’s a tough station for me now and it would have been an easy thing to walk away last October, but my job over the next few weeks is to make sure we put in a better performance against Wexford and the best performance of the year against Antrim. In three weeks’ time we’ll be ready to take on Antrim here,” Fortune concluded.