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Westmeath Hurling thread

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Who are the many players missing?

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 26/02/2023 19:38:13    2460433

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "Who are the many players missing?"
Aonghus Clarke, Cormac Boyle, Niall Mitchell, Josh Coll, Peadar Scally, Tommy Gallagher, Liam Varley etc
Missing a lot of Inter County standard hurlers.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 26/02/2023 19:48:55    2460438

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At least 3-4 of the players you named are no better than what's on the squad. Niall Mitchell is an undoubted loss.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 26/02/2023 19:55:07    2460442

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "At least 3-4 of the players you named are no better than what's on the squad. Niall Mitchell is an undoubted loss."
Aonghus Clarke, Niall Mitchell, Josh Coll, and Liam Varley particularly are better than the majority of what's there.
Niall O'Brien missing today also.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 26/02/2023 20:21:38    2460463

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Josh Coll has barely played any inter county hurling so hard to judge that, Liam Varley hasn't been part of the inter county set up in 3-4 years. Pointless lamenting their absences

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 26/02/2023 20:46:01    2460481

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Replying To Dheen:  "Aonghus Clarke, Niall Mitchell, Josh Coll, and Liam Varley particularly are better than the majority of what's there.
Niall O'Brien missing today also."
The reality is we have to work with the players we have.Coll and Varley have talent but right now lack the dedication.O Brien and Mitchell are big losses and Clarke needs a break after a decade and a half being our great hope. I hear Cormac Boyle will be back for Galway so thats good news.I heard the 20s lost narrowly to Laois yesterday any news on them and the minors.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1443 - 26/02/2023 20:52:09    2460486

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Replying To jobber:  "The reality is we have to work with the players we have.Coll and Varley have talent but right now lack the dedication.O Brien and Mitchell are big losses and Clarke needs a break after a decade and a half being our great hope. I hear Cormac Boyle will be back for Galway so thats good news.I heard the 20s lost narrowly to Laois yesterday any news on them and the minors."
Poster on the laois forum had it that Westmeath won at the very end and said it was last weekend not yesterday

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 26/02/2023 21:18:10    2460504

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Replying To Dheen:  "Poster on the laois forum had it that Westmeath won at the very end and said it was last weekend not yesterday"
thanks anything on minors?

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1443 - 27/02/2023 15:29:06    2460713

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "At least 3-4 of the players you named are no better than what's on the squad. Niall Mitchell is an undoubted loss."
Varley is loss in faorness mitchell and Clarke is great on his day do you not think so?

Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 212 - 05/03/2023 10:47:50    2461886

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What does everyone think about our chances of a victory tomorrow?

CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 11/03/2023 14:35:24    2463362

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Replying To CleanShoulder:  "What does everyone think about our chances of a victory tomorrow?"
Realistically nobody is expecting an upset, but if we put in a performance similar to the one vs Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, it would be great and show steady improvement.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 11/03/2023 15:09:48    2463372

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Replying To Dheen:  "Realistically nobody is expecting an upset, but if we put in a performance similar to the one vs Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, it would be great and show steady improvement."
I hope you are right.Our midfield will have to up their game hugely and the forwards will have to work harder.Its so hard against the likes of Limerick especially without Mitchell,O Brien,Clarke and Cormac Boyle.I hear Killian Doyle might not play as well.The backs have been excellent but face the best tomorrow.So a great opportunity for our lads to play against one of the greatest teams ever.All we can ask is 80 minutes of their best.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1443 - 11/03/2023 16:25:43    2463401

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Realistically we'll lose by 8-10 points, Limerick not the kind of team to go looking for lots of goals and a big win in a routine league encounter, they'll be content to chip over 23-25 points, the tight confines of Cusack Park and the prevailing weather conditions are in our favour, Limerick just back from a week's hard training abroad. Laois vs Antrim is a huge game as we'll face the losers in relegation play off.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 11/03/2023 17:20:26    2463408

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Very mixed day at the office. First half Limerick utterly dominated. We struggled in every sector, they were far superior physically and touch wise, our touch was disappointing and the movement of their forwards caused us huge problems. We improved significantly with some substitutes making a good case to start vs Laois, Eoin Keyes and Niall O' Brien looked threatening and we made the match a contest in the final quarter. Killian Doyle was a loss in attack and also without Niall Mitchell although Limerick rested 7-8 regulars. Galway next week is a dead rubber for us and likely to be similar for Galway so hopefully management try some squad players, it's last opportunity to see if squad players can contribute before Laois match and championship immediately afterwards, don't think sub keeper Bracken has seen any action in any game in 2023, Adam Ennis, Darragh Clinton, Johnny Bermingham, Eoin Keyes, Gary Greville and Mark Cunningham all need game time also.

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 12/03/2023 18:01:38    2463563

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "Very mixed day at the office. First half Limerick utterly dominated. We struggled in every sector, they were far superior physically and touch wise, our touch was disappointing and the movement of their forwards caused us huge problems. We improved significantly with some substitutes making a good case to start vs Laois, Eoin Keyes and Niall O' Brien looked threatening and we made the match a contest in the final quarter. Killian Doyle was a loss in attack and also without Niall Mitchell although Limerick rested 7-8 regulars. Galway next week is a dead rubber for us and likely to be similar for Galway so hopefully management try some squad players, it's last opportunity to see if squad players can contribute before Laois match and championship immediately afterwards, don't think sub keeper Bracken has seen any action in any game in 2023, Adam Ennis, Darragh Clinton, Johnny Bermingham, Eoin Keyes, Gary Greville and Mark Cunningham all need game time also."
Agree a mixed day but lets take the positives.Despite immense pressure and no lack of intent we confined a magnificent team to 1 goal.Hats off to goalkeeper and backs. From 8-15 was were where we struggled badly but the good news is there are some solutions begining to appear.Eoin Keyes and Niall O Brien made a big difference as will Kilian Doyle and hopefullty Owen Mccable if his injury isnt too bad.Johhny Birmingham although still a bit erratic improved midfield.I can see Gary Greville or even Adam Ennis played in defence and Jack Galvin moved up.
One thing division 1a hurling teaches is no matter how skilful a player is without serious mobility they just wont add to the mix.If we could get Clarke,Mitchell and Boyle back fit for the championship and avoid injuries I would be hopeful we can do even better than 2022 but first Laois.

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 1443 - 12/03/2023 19:08:35    2463582

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Minor team named to play Meath tomorrow.
Missing a few big players, most notably Mulvaney of Raharney who is a talented forward.
Should hopefully have enough to see off Meath though.
Best of luck to all involved.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 17/03/2023 10:11:42    2464316

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Nice spread of players on tomorrow's team, three from Na Piarsaigh, Clonkill, Oliver Plunketts, Raharney and two from Castletown and one Fr. Dalton's. No one from Clann Gael which is surprising, Mulvany from Raharney a loss as he's away with his school, Meath considered very strong based on their opponents in challenge matches, travelled to Cork and Tipp recently, Laois beat Westmeath comfortably in a recent challenge. Hard to see us winning. Hopefully a few prospects emerge for the future

Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 1477 - 17/03/2023 20:41:20    2464401

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Absolutely beggars belief that the senior hurling management see fit to draft back in a retired 39 year old whilst dropping one of the top young talents at the same time. Don't get me wrong, McNicholas has given tremendous service and for a long time was one of our finest but his day is well and truly done, which is a pity as we could do with more like him in his prime. But what message does this send out to the rest of the squad or younger players coming up? Same thing happened with Murtagh a couple of years back and that turned out to be a terrible decision as well. It really doesn't bode well for either short term or long term prospects if this is deemed the way forward!

CleanShoulder (Westmeath) - Posts: 268 - 17/03/2023 20:49:23    2464407

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Replying To Claretandblue:  "Nice spread of players on tomorrow's team, three from Na Piarsaigh, Clonkill, Oliver Plunketts, Raharney and two from Castletown and one Fr. Dalton's. No one from Clann Gael which is surprising, Mulvany from Raharney a loss as he's away with his school, Meath considered very strong based on their opponents in challenge matches, travelled to Cork and Tipp recently, Laois beat Westmeath comfortably in a recent challenge. Hard to see us winning. Hopefully a few prospects emerge for the future"
True and one thing I've noticed is a lot of players still u16 like McNamee, Kenny, Corrigan and Meehan which is a good sign but I'd say we'll be a bit on the light side. Going off the way things have been going in underage recently, it's next year and the year after that which will see us with competitive teams at this grade. However hopefully this group can impress.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 18/03/2023 11:11:09    2464421

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Replying To CleanShoulder:  "Absolutely beggars belief that the senior hurling management see fit to draft back in a retired 39 year old whilst dropping one of the top young talents at the same time. Don't get me wrong, McNicholas has given tremendous service and for a long time was one of our finest but his day is well and truly done, which is a pity as we could do with more like him in his prime. But what message does this send out to the rest of the squad or younger players coming up? Same thing happened with Murtagh a couple of years back and that turned out to be a terrible decision as well. It really doesn't bode well for either short term or long term prospects if this is deemed the way forward!"
Which of the young lads were dropped?
I agree with you completely, sending out the wrong messages to our young players coming through. Maybe that's why we aren't seeing the likes of Coll and Hickey come on board.

Dheen (Westmeath) - Posts: 768 - 18/03/2023 11:14:48    2464424

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