Cavan rematch a crucial opening tie
By Gerry Buckley
“Tús maith leath na hoibre” is a very pragmatic Irish saying, and it is extremely apt in relation to what I have consistently labelled a likely ‘dog-eat-dog’ National Football League Division 3 in 2023.
With Westmeath’s participation in the shambolic O’Byrne Cup prematurely ended, attention is now firmly focused on a third tier from which Westmeath are widely tipped to be promoted.
A narrow loss with a scrap team to Louth in Darver and a comfortable win with a strong team against Wexford in The Downs has not really told us much about what initial plans Dessie Dolan has in his much-anticipated role as bainisteoir for the county he served with incredible distinction as a player.
Perhaps the abandoned game against Kildare would have given us a better idea what team the Garrycastle maestro was planning to field when Cavan come to TEG Cusack Park next Sunday (throw-in 2pm). In truth, however, almost all of the players listed hereunder who started the inaugural Tailteann Cup final just over six months ago seem likely to start next Sunday, with the injured duo of Jack Smith and Ray Connellan – two big losses, let me hasten to add – notable exceptions. Similarly, Mickey Graham will probably line out his charges pretty close to how they fielded in Croke Park on July 9 last.
Very few people would have predicted that this great victory on Jones’ Rd would be Jack Cooney’s last game in charge. But so it transpired, with the affable Coralstown/Kinnegad man moving on to a full-time coaching role with the GAA. The smooth handover of the bainisteoir’s bib to one of his selectors would appear to make a lot of sense, albeit Dolan has very limited managerial experience on his otherwise-glittering CV. Of course, his status as arguably the county’s best-ever player more than compensates for any inexperience.
Yours truly was a vocal ‘Doubting Thomas’ about the Tailteann Cup and was only too pleased to see how popular and well-marketed it turned out to be. Of course, second-, third- etc season syndrome will be the litmus tests of the prestige of the tier two championship, and it has – yet again – to be stressed that none of us want to see Westmeath competing in it at any stage, with Sam Maguire Cup participation the minimum annual goal for any remotely ambitious county.
It was relatively easy for throngs of people to turn out in ‘rent-a-crowd’ fashion for a free-of-charge balmy summer night’s homecoming in the centre of Mullingar, but it is a different kettle of fish altogether when people are asked to pay in to a league match in icy-cold January conditions a few hundred yards away in TEG Cusack Park.
Indeed, in this regard, I exchanged texts with a pal last week as follows. Pal: “Wonder will we see a huge crowd at it? Big interest last year which stunned me.” Me: “Hard to know. We have watery fans.” It would be wonderful if lots of the ‘watery’ ones have miraculously turned into ‘winey’ ones (and not ‘whiney’ ones!), as it would be a major boost for the maroon and white-clad men to be greeted by a great roar as they come on to the pitch next Sunday.
Once-mighty Cavan are always well supported, home and away, and it has been truly galling over the past decade to see Westmeath consistently out-supported on their home patch – and in both codes to boot.
Cavan’s aforementioned mightiness meant that they have a very strong record against their southern neighbours over the years. Westmeath has only won four (1960, 1962, 1973, 2008) and drawn one (2011) of the previous 25 NFL encounters. Indeed, Cooney’s visiting team blew the last fixture in Kingspan Breffni Park, a matter of weeks before Covid struck in early 2020.
Dolan will be mustard keen to start the league with a morale-boosting victory. Garnering full points will take a massive effort from the home team. Promotion hopes will already be severely dented if at least a draw is not secured ahead of six other ‘banana skins’.
The teams and scorers from Westmeath’s 2-14 to 1-13 Tailteann Cup final win follow:
Scorers – Westmeath: R O’Toole 0-5, S McCartan (1‘45’) and J Heslin (1f) 0-3 each, L Dolan and K Martin 1-0 each, L Loughlin 0-2, R Wallace 0-1. Cavan: P Faulkner 1-0, G Smith, G McKiernan (1f) and P Lynch 0-3 each, J McLoughlin, O Kiernan, J Smith and S Smith 0-1 each.
Westmeath: Jason Daly; Jack Smith, James Dolan, Kevin Maguire; David Lynch, Ronan Wallace, Jamie Gonoud; Sam Duncan, Ray Connellan; Sam McCartan, Ronan O’Toole, Jonathan Lynam; Lorcan Dolan, John Heslin, Luke Loughlin. Subs used: Ger Egan for Lynam (58), Kieran Martin for L Dolan (60), Alex Gardiner for Loughlin (70).
Cavan: Raymond Galligan; Niall Carolan, Killian Brady, Padraig Faulkner; Conor Brady, Conor Moynagh, Jason McLoughlin; Killian Clarke, Thomas Galligan; Oisín Kiernan, Gearóid McKiernan, Gerard Smith; Paddy Lynch, James Smith, Cian Madden. Subs used: Stephen Smith for Madden (h-t), Martin Reilly for C Brady (51), Luke Fortune for Moynagh (66), Cormac O’Reilly for K Brady (70 + 1), Conor Madden for Clarke (70 + 1).