Westmeath ready to take on big guns

LEINSTER SHC FIRST ROUND

And Westmeath boss Brian Hanley is counting down the hours and minutes to throw in.

“This is a huge game for Westmeath, the Leinster championship. Being from Galway (Brian has three All-Ireland club medals with his native Athenry) I never fully appreciated what a provincial championship meant but I saw it when I came here two years ago. I couldn’t believe how much it meant to them. They have a real passion for it, feel so proud just to be in the same championship as the likes of Kilkenny.

“What really brought it home to me was when we beat Antrim last year (0-14 to 0-12, also the Leinster opener), that was probably the best day Westmeath hurling had enjoyed for many a year. Then afterwards they were back at the Annesbrook Hotel, our sponsors, absolutely roaring at the television watching Leinster beating Ulster in the Heineken Cup. They’re very proud Leinster men and I say this as a Galway man – we have no idea of the pride they take in that provincial championship. There’s talk now of taking us out of it – I believe that would do untold damage to Westmeath hurling.

“They feel very much a part of it and when Galway and Kilkenny met in the All-Ireland final last year they were proud to have played Galway earlier on in the championship (scored 4-12 but conceded 5-17 to on-song Galway). It’s a huge honour for them to play against those teams, that’s how they look at it. These lads have great pride in their own county and they’re training for the chance to meet a Kilkenny or a Galway or a Dublin, one of the big guns.”

The honour of taking part is one thing, but Hanley and Westmeath have bigger ambitions than that.

“I know people say this is a results-based game but sometimes you need patience — we’re not going to be winning titles in September, not yet anyway! But what I want to do is leave Westmeath hurling – whenever I leave it – in a far healthier state than the way I found it. It’s a three-to-five-year plan, a massive undertaking for Johnny Greville, Seamus Ennis and myself (management team) but we’re making progress and we have the full backing of Seán Sheridan (chairman) and James Savage (secretary) and the county board.

“In the last 18 months we’ve beaten Offaly, Laois and Antrim in competitive hurling. We played a league final against Carlow last year, played a league final again a few weeks ago and we had 11 different personnel. Even in the strongest hurling counties you can’t afford that kind of turnover in one year yet we still managed to get back to another league final. The average age of the team for Sunday is 21, seven or eight U21 players starting, another three or four who will figure at some stage. Give these lads another few years of that kind of development and there’s a realistic goal there of going at least one division higher in the league and be up against the likes of Offaly and Wexford. “If we get over Antrim we then have another game at home, against Laois. We’ve beaten them once at home this year and there is no reason we can’t do it again. After that it would be Carlow or London, the winners there playing Galway. It’s like the FA Cup, isn’t it? On any day a minnow can take one of the giants.”