Joe McDonagh Cup Round Four: Westmeath v Antrim (today, Mullingar, 3pm)
JOINT manager Terence McNaughton has described Antrim’s Joe McDonagh Cup showdown with Westmeath this afternoon as their “most important game in years” as they aim to get back on track in Mullingar.
The Ulstermen suffered their first loss in the inaugural competition to bogey team Laois a fortnight ago and probably have to win their penultimate game today to keep alive their hopes of making the July 1 decider.
“I feel we have to win, to be honest,” said McNaughton.
“This is as important a game as Antrim have played in many years. One thing we can’t afford to do is hurl for 20 minutes – we have to do this for 70 minutes. Westmeath is a serious team at our level and they’re going to be very, very hard to beat.”
After impressive back-to-back wins over Meath and Carlow, the Saffrons were hoping to avenge their NHL relegation play-off defeat to Laois in Dunloy but lost by a single point.
Antrim’s downfall that day – as was the case in the relegation play-off tie - was their sluggish first half display which left them too much to do in the second period.
Antrim may have been battered and bruised from the previous week’s controversial win over Carlow that left Mickey Armstrong with a broken arm and Neil McManus with a brutal injury.
Impressive wing-back Joe Maskey also suffered a broken foot at Corrigan Park – but McNaughton was reluctant to use Armstrong and Maskey’s absences as an excuse for losing to Laois seven days later.
“I wouldn’t use the quick turnaround for us losing to Laois because they were in the same situation as ourselves. We didn’t perform in the first half and that’s the reality of it.”
Beaten in this year’s Division 2A final by Carlow, Westmeath have lived up to the tag of dark horses in the Joe McDonagh Cup. They’ve won their opening three games – beating Laois in their own backyard and overcoming Kerry and Meath.
If they beat Antrim today on their home patch, Michael Ryan’s men will be assured of a final berth and can also look forward to gatecrashing the All-Ireland series.
In that instance, Antrim will be hoping Laois do them a favour by beating Carlow today to stand any chance of making the decider heading into their last group game at home to Kerry next weekend.
Arguably Westmeath’s greatest strength to date has been their defensive meanness. They also have a goalscoring threat in Allan Devine who bagged 2-2 in their 13-point victory over Meath.
The in-form Aonghus Clarke is another one to watch after his stunning point-scoring exhibition against Meath.
In fairness, Westmeath struggled to get past Kerry in Austin Stack Park a couple of weeks ago but showed that they’re a team that goes right to the end, hitting three unanswered points to seal another precious win.
Ryan acknowledged afterwards he felt like a bit of a “lucky general”.
Despite Westmeath’s lofty position, they could still have their final berth snatched from them by Antrim and Carlow next weekend.
Even though they lost to Laois last time, Antrim are in good shape heading to Mullingar.
Ciaran Clarke is back in harness and will sharpen the Antrim attack. Neil McManus has been leading from the front all year and Nigel Elliott has shown glimpses of his talent in the campaign.
Simon McCrory and Eddie McCloskey were also persuaded to come back and bolster the county’s Joe McDonagh Cup assault and both played midfield against Laois.
Loughgiel man McCloskey commented: “I’ve been really impressed with some of the younger players since I came back and the team have a real system of play, very tactical.
“I think we’re more in tune than ever before. It’s just a matter of trying to hurl for longer than 15 or 20 minutes and trying to hurl for 70 minutes or more to win games. The potential is definitely there.”
You have to earn the right to hurl against Westmeath teams.
Antrim have found that out to their cost in recent years. Apart from the Laois blip, Antrim have made some telling advancements this year.
It is today they need to show hard evidence of their progress.
Antrim (v Westmeath): R Elliott; A Graffin, J Dillon, C McKinley; S McCrory, P Burke, D Kearney; J McNaughton, E Campbell; C McCann, N McManus, N Elliott; E McCloskey, C Johnston, C Clarke
