'We didn't see footballs for a good while': Gruelling pre-season standing to Westmeath

FEELIN' STRONG:  Ronan Wallace says the hardest pre-season of his decade-long county career has stood to Westmeath. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon

Ronan Wallace says the hardest pre-season of his decade-long county career has stood to Westmeath, one of just two unbeaten teams left in the Championship.

The Leinster champions were pushed hard last winter by new boss Mark McHugh, running lap after lap in Athlone IT or lugging heavy logs up a local hill to build stamina and character.

It's paid off because Westmeath have won each of their last three games after extra time and know they will have the legs again if Sunday's All-Ireland SFC Round 2A clash with Galway goes the distance.

Asked if it was the hardest pre-season he's experienced, Wallace nodded.

"I'd say so, yeah, definitely. He had us slogging it out for a good few months. We didn't see footballs for a good while. He had us out on the track and out on the pitch, or running around trail runs. It's definitely stood to us.

"Tom Gribben is the strength and conditioning coach. He's really put us through our paces and it's standing to us, to go three games in a row over 90 minutes, it's not really heard of in the GAA.

"He had us running around the track in AIT. And he brought us to Mullaghmeen Forest, he had us running a 10k trail run up and around it, carrying logs and all sorts.

"They put us right to the test, they really did. There was no easy session. The boys were coming off battered and bruised."

Former All-Ireland winner McHugh, a Westmeath coach under ex-manager Dermot McCabe, experienced gruelling pre-season sessions himself when playing for his native Donegal.

"He showed us what they did in Donegal," continued Wallace. "They were doing mental running and that's what he was saying, 'This is what it takes to win big trophies'. We just knew we had to go to the well to get it in the legs, to get the mileage up and be ready to go for when the season started."

Westmeath have captured the O'Byrne Cup and Leinster titles so far. They were only denied promotion to Division 2 by a last-gasp goal against Wexford in their final group game.

Wallace maintained they want to push on now and to establish themselves as a top-tier team.

"We had Damien Healy from the 2004 Leinster winning team in chatting to us," said the half back. "He said their team did not really kick on after they won Leinster and he did not want that happening for us.

Ciaran Caulfield, Ronan Wallace, Tadhg Morley, Diarmuid Murtagh and Aidan Forker. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon.

"So we knew we had to get the result the last day against Cavan. We played well for periods of that game but then the emotions and the celebrations from winning the Leinster final took its toll near the end when we got a bit leggy and Cavan got their momentum going.

"We showed serious character to come back and grind out the win. That just shows the belief in the group that Mark has instilled."

It's some turnaround on 2025 when, under McCabe, Westmeath suffered relegation from Division 2, made no headway in Leinster and crashed out of the Tailteann Cup after losing to Wicklow.

"We put in relatively good performances, we just could not get the results," said Wallace of 2025. "Lads were coming to the end of their careers, the likes of James Dolan, Ronan O'Toole went away travelling, John Heslin retired.

"We knew there were players coming through and thankfully Dermot bred a lot of new lads into the county setup and got them playing Division 2 football. That has stood to lads this year because they were able to meet the physicality of it, the pace of it."

Wallace has emerged as a two-point expert for Westmeath and struck one of the four they registered against Cavan in Round 1. Galway, meanwhile, have a team littered with long-range shooters, meaning it could be a high-scoring epic on Sunday in Salthill.

"We'll have to be wary obviously with Shane Walsh, Rob Finnerty, Paul Conroy, all these guys," said Wallace. "They do like shooting so we'll have to be on their boots. As Mark says, if you're not diving on a boot, you're letting your team down."