The Westmeath senior footballers ended their long losing streak in style, with two good victories in the O’Byrne Cup this week. Last Wednesday they defeated a fancied DCU side at Kinnegad, while on Sunday last, Tom Cribbin’s charges travelled to Ballymahon and recorded a seven-point victory over neighbours Longford.
The Clane man has realised the importance of getting some competitive wins under his belt before the start of the National Football League on 1 February (Westmeath play Laois in round one at Cusack Park).
“Challenge matches are one thing, but competitive games do mean something and in particular derby games, where there’s always a bit of an edge. The people of Westmeath wouldn’t thank you if you let Longford, our near neighbours, beat them. It still meant something to both teams,” he said, following Sunday’s 2-11 to 0-10 victory.
Goals from Lorcan Smyth and Kieran Martin propelled Westmeath to their second win in five days and it was a welcome change in fortune, with a tough Division Two league campaign on the horizon.
“When you start getting a win and a bit of confidence, all of a sudden things start falling into place for you, and the bit of luck goes with you. Definitely, without a shadow of doubt, the goals we got today were lucky for us,” acknowledged Cribbin.
A strong level of work rate impressed the new manager and it’s something he will be instilling in the team for the season ahead.
“We worked really hard; we turned over the ball an awful lot and if you keep working like that, these little bits of luck are inclined to go your way,” observed Cribbin.
There have been plenty of new faces in the Westmeath side during the O’Byrne Cup campaign, which must be viewed as productive, even allowing for the first round defeat by Meath.
“It was good to get another win and even from Wednesday, we had to make three or four changes. They were forced on us,” remarked the new manager.
“I played some lads out of position a bit to try and get a balance in the team. It kind of didn’t work like we thought it would, but we had to be fair to our students and some other lads who were smothered with sickness. It was good for others to get a run out,” he noted.
Frank Boyle, David McCormack, John Connellan, Ger Egan, Brian Slevin and Gary McCallon were all introduced during Sunday’s game on a heavy pitch. Kieran Martin impressed in the centre forward position (he played at centre back against DCU) and Paul Sharry performed well at midfield.
“It wasn’t that I wanted to move Kieran (Martin) up to centre forward, but I just needed a bit of strength there. Ger Egan was sick and we had an abundance of backs; I was trying to get the balance right and get them ready for the league,” he added.
Laois were much improved last Sunday, pushing Dublin to a point (1-12 to 1-11) in their final O’Byrne Cup outing.
