Since the final whistle went in TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon, I feel like I’ve gone through many emotions, ranging from mental replays of great hurling days for Westmeath to the despairing ones, to the ones where you just struggle to fathom how it happened. But something that has stuck with me also was in the post-match interviews when Westmeath manager Joe Fortune said, “We’re not better than this level.”
I think that statement says a lot about where things really are. After the expected hefty defeat in Salthill in the opening round of the Allianz National Hurling League several weeks ago, Fortune asked that the media encourage supporters to back the team and that, despite the mismatch on the day, the players wanted to be building their game against the best in the land. Rightly so.
