Páidí gets O’Byrne ‘wake-up call’

WE never thought we would find ourselves writing it, but the — wait for it — unique appeal of the O’Byrne Cup manifested itself in Cusack Park, Mullingar, yesterday.

A crowd of 10,121 found themselves sucked along by a cracking game. But never forget it's the O'Byrne Cup.

Micko and Páidí won't forget it, anyway. They never got too excited about the McGrath Cup back in the old days, did they?

"A wake-up call for us," is how Páidí described Westmeath's 0-17 to 0-12 defeat. "Our lads played very well, but I wouldn't be getting carried away," said Micko, for fear anyone thought he would. With leading players injured, club-tied, or in Hong Kong sipping exotically from drinks with umbrellas on top, both managers got a chance to throw in some contenders. The Laois hopefuls showed up better.

"A lot of young fellows played well. They are fighting for places, and the good young players in the county know they are going to get a fair crack of the whip," said O'Dwyer, doubtless aware that his words will be read with great interest by some of the team's elder statesmen.

"We have made a decision this year to try and win every game. Seventeen points was great scoring, so I'm very happy with them overall, but it is early days yet." The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Ó Sé speaks bluntly to his players, so much so they don't need any external messages via the media but Ó Sé is keen to set a new tone after the inevitable celebrations of last year's glory march. It's called getting back to terra firma. Hence his talk of a wake-up call. Hence his obvious championing of some of the newcomers. Hence his declaration that the next few weeks will see some, er, fine-tuning.

"We had problems. We have two weeks to the first round of the league against Offaly, and we will be working on the problems."

No one even bothered to mention the sin-bin. Has it bedded down already?