Westmeath slam Kilkenny's refusal to fulfil Walsh Cup game, Derek Lyng says player safety number one.

Cats management took decision not to play Sunday's game on 3G pitch

4 January 2026; Referee Rory Hanley, left, Westmeath manager Kevin O'Brien, centre, and Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng walk the grass pitch that was deemed playable, but unavailable, before the cancelled Dioralyte Walsh Cup First Round match between Westmeath and Kilkenny at St Loman's GAA club in Westmeath. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Westmeath have reacted angrily to Kilkenny’s “clear refusal” not to fulfil Sunday’s Walsh Cup fixture in Mullingar.

On the advice of their medical team, the visitors chose not to play the game after it was rearranged for the 3G pitch at St Loman’s Lakepoint grounds as the original venue, The Downs’s Breedon Kevin Molloy Park, was unplayable.

As per the competition regulations, a coin toss decided the outcome of the game and Westmeath advance to the next stage of the Walsh Cup while Kilkenny going into the shield competition this coming weekend.

However, Westmeath were compelled to release a statement on Sunday night outlining their frustration at Kilkenny’s decision not to play the Round 1 game.

The lengthy press release read: “On Saturday 03/01, Westmeath GAA, as the home county, formally nominated Dovida Lakepoint Park (3G pitch) as the alternative authorised venue for the above fixture, in the event that the originally designated venue, Breedon Kevin Molloy Park, was deemed unplayable due to prevailing weather conditions.

“Following an assessment at 12 noon, Breedon Kevin Molloy Park remained unplayable as a result of frozen conditions. In accordance with competition regulations and standard fixture protocols, the match venue therefore defaulted to the nominated alternative venue, Dovida Lakepoint Park (3G).

“Kilkenny arrived at Dovida Lakepoint Park at the appointed time. However, their management subsequently decided not to fulfil the fixture, declining to warm up or commence the match and withdrawing from play.

“As a result of Kilkenny’s failure to fulfil the fixture at the nominated authorised venue, the match did not take place. Westmeath trained and completed an in-house challenge game in adherence to match-day preparation requirements.

“In accordance with competition regulations and standard fixture protocols, the match venue therefore defaulted to the nominated alternative venue, Dovida Lakepoint Park (3G)."

The statement continued: "Westmeath GAA considers Kilkenny GAA’s actions to constitute a clear refusal to play a properly scheduled and authorised fixture, despite every reasonable and practical effort having been made by Westmeath GAA to facilitate the game in difficult weather conditions.

"Westmeath GAA rejects any suggestion that responsibility for the non-fulfilment of fixture rests with the organising authority or with Leinster competitions, and reserves the right to seek clarification, outcome determination, or further review under the relevant competition regulations.” 

Speaking to the Kilkenny People Podcast on Sunday, Cats boss Derek Lyng explained the reasoning for the game not going ahead. 

"The 3G there is quite bare, it's not great for an inter-county match. It's fine, you could do a few drills there, but speaking to our medical team and taking the advice on board, number one is player safety.

"These lads are after putting in a huge effort and I didn't want to be going home here today with a couple of injuries and lads losing out in the next couple of months after all that.

"I'm hugely disappointed for the players, they were hugely looking forward to today, as I was and everyone involved was but we had to make that decision and player safety is number one."

Lyng felt the Loman’s grass pitch would have been a suitable choice for the match to go ahead.

"Kevin [O'Brien], the Westmeath manager, and I went out to the (grass) pitch there and inspected that just to see if that was playable and we deemed that much safer.

"I'd a good discussion with the referee, he completely agrees and the decision has been made. We were all happy to go on the pitch but seemingly the club decided that the pitch wasn't going to be made available, for what reason I don't know. That was their call, we were willing to play it on it."

The Westmeath-Kilkenny game was one of three Walsh Cup matches that didn’t go ahead this past weekend. Offaly and Galway won the coin tosses to remain in the Walsh Cup after their respective fixtures against Antrim and Kildare could not go ahead due to the weather conditions.