Jack Galvin in possession for Westmeath against Dublin on Sunday.
Westmeath senior hurling manager Joe Fortune was keen to put the Walsh Cup campaign behind him and focus on the upcoming National League after a disappointing defeat to Dublin last Sunday in Kinnegad.
Reflecting on the performance, the bainisteoir opined: “I thought we stood off Dublin an awful lot in the first half and we spoke about that now as a group. We went backwards an awful lot, rather than take the man on.
“In the second half, we showed a bit of courage and went to the ball, and pushed man-on-man on them. Dublin are a fit, young side and lads are all trying to impress their new manager [Micheál Donoghue].”
As was the case after the previous two games, the Wexford native emphasized the need to have a look at a range of players: “The idea of the game was to get more game-time into lads, as we’ve carried a few injuries and a bit of sickness for the past few weeks, and we wanted to make sure that we got some of them back on the field again. It was a good run-out, but we have an awful lot of work to do for two weeks from now (against Clare).”
He continued: “It’s been a big step-up from where we were last year in the Kehoe Cup when we were going out winning matches by 15 or 17 points. I don’t think you learn an awful lot about yourselves in those matches.
“On days like today where we didn’t perform well, you can sulk in the corner or reset tomorrow night in the gym and go back to training on Tuesday night. Everybody is allowed to ask the question, ‘what wasn’t good enough today?’, including management.
“The game in Ennis will be a massive step-up from today, both from a physicality point of view and standard point of view. Dublin would probably have had up to 11 of their starting team, and we tried to do the same in the second half as well.
‘It’s my job to make sure that the best team is on the field for Ennis. We have a lot of niggles and a lot of sickness going into it, but it was great to see Johnny Bermingham and Adam Ennis back today. We are waiting on the likes of Darragh Clinton to come back in. Jack Gillen will be back in next week.”
He concluded as follows: “We’ve put in a hard pre-season, and today in the first half we were just not us. But it’s the Walsh Cup and if I asked who won it last year, you probably couldn’t tell me!
“But even a loss in the Walsh Cup hurts that group because they are a proud group. The leaders like Tommy Doyle, Joey Boyle and Killian (Doyle) spoke very well after the game.
“We’ve got a lot out of the Walsh Cup, but now it’s over. Let’s see what the next few weeks bring.”