‘Nearly men’ no longer

EVER since their breakthrough in the 2001 qualifiers, Westmeath have laboured under the image of a side that folds with the finishing line in sight.

That’s no longer the case, according to selector Tomas Ó Flatherta.

Three years ago, the county twice had neighbours Meath by the scruff of the neck, only to let the opportunity slip.

The greatest trauma followed two years later when Dessie Dolan missed a last-minute free that could have finally broken their drought against Meath in championship football.

2004 has been different. A hard-fought win against Offaly was a breakthrough in itself for Páidí Ó Sé’s side and that was quickly followed by the memorable success against Dublin in Leinster’s last eight.

Sunday’s success again demonstrated the more resilient backbone girding Westmeath’s challenge this year. Having raced into an eight-point first-half lead, they withstood a determined Wexford fight-back that brought Pat Roe’s men to within two points with more than 25 minutes to go.

Yet within five minutes that gap was back to six and the greatest danger was averted. Proof, were it still needed, that this Westmeath side is determined and able to shed the ‘nearly men’ tag.

“Wexford kept coming back at us, even though we went nine points ahead at one stage,” Ó Flatherta said.

“They really came back at us, but these lads in Westmeath are very mature and they have a bit of belief in themselves. They wanted to win it.

“We’re delighted to be in the final. We knew that we would get a tough game from Wexford. We looked at what they had done this year. They had performed very well in the league and the championship so far.

“They have some very good forwards and some very good half-backs, which they proved against us. They had some great play through Redmond Barry and a few more of them, especially in the second-half when they really came back at us.”

Corner-back John Keane is the perfect barometer of just how far Westmeath have come in so short a space of time.

Having been skinned for four points from play by Jason Sherlock in the first-half of their win over Dublin, the Rosemount player has grown more and more into the season.

Marking Mattie Forde two days ago was undoubtedly the shortest of short straws and although the Wexford man managed three points from play, Keane was hugely impressive in restricting the Kilanerin forward to just that amount.

“Yeah, if you look at it the last day, John was put under a lot of pressure from Jason Sherlock so he had a point to prove against Wexford. John played very well, even though Mattie Forde got a few points. He always will though, he’s one of the top forwards in the country.”

Westmeath’s progress to the final this year has drawn obvious comparisons with Laois’s campaign under Mick O’Dwyer last summer and the similarities don’t end with the Kerry connection or the momentum and feel-good factor built up along the way.

Last year Laois consistently called on replacements from the bench who went on to make huge contributions day after day. Joe Fallon and David Mitchell did likewise for Westmeath against Dublin and on Sunday it was Shane Colleary who ditched the tracksuit to score the first goal that stopped Wexford’s comeback in its tracks.

“We had to make a few changes to make the few scores and some of the subs that came in did very well,” said Kerry native and Kilmacud Crokes clubman Ó Flatherta.

“Shane Colleary in particular got a great score when he came in and a few more did as well. It’s good to be scoring so much, but every day is different. Some days you’ll get those, others you won’t. It’s the amount of scores you concede that worries you also.”

The biggest test is yet to come, of course. Laois may represent their toughest assignment so far, but O Sé, Ó Flatherta and company haven’t lost too much sleep over their battle of wits with Micko just yet.

“We’ve concentrated so much on the Wexford game the last few weeks that we haven’t even thought of the Leinster final. We’ll have to sit down and think very hard about that now for the next few weeks. Laois are a very good side, we’ve all seen what they achieved last year and again this year. It’ll be another test for us.”