THE WESTMEATH PLAYERS got the full experience on Sunday night, the walk across the county border with the Delaney Cup, the march down the main street of Kinnegad, the Mullingar homecoming.
It was bucketing down in Mullingar but no-one seemed to care. John Heslin was making his way through the crowd at one stage when a young man with a replica Westmeath jersey, wide-eyed, bellowed at him that he was the ‘goat’, the ‘f***ing goat’ no less.
Heslin, an agricultural science graduate from UCD, holds a PhD and an executive MBA, though the animal reference had nothing to do with his years of beef research at the Grange facility in Meath and everything to do with his status as a high king of Westmeath football.
Maybe even the greatest they’ve produced.
James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Marty Morrissey was down in the Westmeath town on Sunday night for the celebrations and, given Heslin’s background, we can only presume he took the opportunity to reprise his ‘there won’t be a cow milked in…’ spiel.
The town centre eventually cleared out in the early hours of Monday morning and the football championship being as concertinaed as it is, players and supporters were already beginning to talk about the next challenge.
That is their All-Ireland round one clash with Cavan in under a fortnight.
It’s a fixture to really focus the mind, not just because it is the beginning of the All-Ireland series but because the man in charge of Cavan, Dermot McCabe, will serve as a reminder of just how quickly heroes can turn to zeroes.
Dermot McCabe and Mark McHugh, pictured in January 2025 during a Westmeath game. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Under McCabe last year, Westmeath played 13 competitive games and lost nine of them, dropping out of Division 2 and falling at the first hurdle in the Leinster SFC. In the Tailteann Cup, they were mugged by Wicklow in Aughrim.
McCabe shifted sidelines after that to his native Cavan and, a few months later at the launch of the Dr McKenna Cup in December, he was asked what had gone wrong in Westmeath.
“Westmeath at the time were probably going through quite a bit of transition,” he suggested.
Six months later, they’re apparently done with whatever transition took place and ready now to take on all comers.
Advertisement
“We’re here to compete with anybody,” said Mark McHugh, McCabe’s successor, after Sunday’s epic provincial final win over Dublin. “We feel we have a dressing-room in there that’s fit to compete with anybody in Ireland.”
Westmeath manager Mark McHugh. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
McHugh had Matthew Whittaker by his side during the post-match press conference, and it was the wing-back, who struck four points in the historic win, that made the most powerful pitch for this to be a springboard win. A starting point instead of a job completed.
Whittaker’s cousin is Gary Connaughton, the Westmeath goalkeeper in 2004 when they won their only other provincial title.
Whittaker met Connaughton for a chat last Friday, a day after Connaughton had been at Croke Park for a media event to promote the final. All the talk in the build up to the game was about 2004 and Connaughton told Whittaker he’d had enough of reminiscing, that it was time for new leaders to create more history. And, crucially, for it to be something more sustainable this time.
“The big thing they probably said was that in 2004 they didn’t capitalise on it,” said Whittaker.
“Even in terms of development centres, somewhere to train. Like, it’s no secret that four or five months ago, we had nowhere to train. We had to drive to another county to train, which is nuts when you think about it.
Dublin's Charlie McMorrow and Westmeath's Matthew Whittaker. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“So my biggest message to the county would be to build on this. Don’t just be happy because an unbelievable manager has come in and got a squad together to believe and to push us on to do something great. The whole county has to capitalise on this now and really push on and set higher standards for ourselves and for the next generation coming through.”
To be fair to the Westmeath county board, they appear to be aligned with Whittaker’s thinking, and to share a similar vision.
On the issue of supplying a proper training centre, the board purchased almost 50 acres of land in Mullingar from the Health Service Executive for over €1 million in early 2024 with a view to developing a high-end training facility.
And whenever it opens they will fill it with talented players because a programme of underage development throughout the county is now paying off.
Sunday’s win over Dublin matched the provincial championship wins enjoyed by the county’s minor and U20 teams this season over the Sky Blues.
Westmeath's Conor Dillon celebrates. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
More significantly, on St Patrick’s Day, former Westmeath player Dean McNicholas guided a brilliant young Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar team to All-Ireland Hogan Cup success, beating Marc Ó Se’s Tralee CBS in the Croke Park final.
Will Scahill, the younger brother of senior defender Daniel and a terrific young forward talent, scored the winning point that day.
Related Reads
'I don't think anybody will write us off as badly in the future' – Westmeath's day of glory
Westmeath see off Dublin after extra time to win stunning Leinster title
'You know the bloodline' - sons of All-Ireland winner vying to end Leinster famine
Criostóir Ormsby, brother of Shane Ormsby who came on against Dublin yesterday, was the midfield colossus. Michael Moloney from The Downs is another special talent from that Coláiste Mhuire group.
In February, they beat another Westmeath school, Marist College, Athlone in the Leinster final.
Darren Magee, the former Dublin midfielder, presides over the county’s underage coaching structure and can take a bow.
“At the moment, Westmeath is reaping the rewards of some of the stuff that has been done in the last number of years,” said Magee.
“It’s all a combination of the players, coaches, the clubs, and the buy-in factor of supporting what the county is doing, and the structures that have been put in place.”
Back in Magee’s native Dublin, they’re struggling to gain anything like the same sort of underage traction. Which must be a worry for them considering the strides Westmeath, Kildare, Louth and Meath have all been making.
The Westmeath players celebrate their Leinster final win. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
The challenge for Westmeath now is to stay ahead of the curve and to keep layering it on, little win after little win. That’s how McHugh has been going about his business with the seniors, starting out in 2026 by winning the O’Byrne Cup before ramping it up to summer success. But for Wexford’s remarkable late scoring surge in their final group game of the Division 3 campaign, Westmeath may very well have gone on to take that title too.
Connaughton will probably remind Whittaker when he’s next talking to him that, back in 2004, after that Leinster triumph under Páidí Ó Sé, they lost their next game, falling to an Enda Muldoon inspired Derry at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage.
Louth weren’t able to build on last year’s Leinster breakthrough either and lost three of their next four games.
“As I said, we feel as a group that we can compete with anybody in Ireland,” said McHugh. “That’s anybody. On any given day, we’ll compete with anybody. If we do the work and follow whatever game plan the management team has set for the players, we think we’ll be close.
“If we’re not, we’ll shake their hand and we’ll try to build on that over the next 18 months. There’s a good crowd of young players coming in. We’ve seen what the colleges have done this year, which gave us a massive boost early on.
“We’ve been inviting the U20s into training and they’re not looking out of place. So it’s a longer-term plan.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'Build on this' – Westmeath look to the future after stunning Dublin on golden Leinster day
THE WESTMEATH PLAYERS got the full experience on Sunday night, the walk across the county border with the Delaney Cup, the march down the main street of Kinnegad, the Mullingar homecoming.
It was bucketing down in Mullingar but no-one seemed to care. John Heslin was making his way through the crowd at one stage when a young man with a replica Westmeath jersey, wide-eyed, bellowed at him that he was the ‘goat’, the ‘f***ing goat’ no less.
Heslin, an agricultural science graduate from UCD, holds a PhD and an executive MBA, though the animal reference had nothing to do with his years of beef research at the Grange facility in Meath and everything to do with his status as a high king of Westmeath football.
Maybe even the greatest they’ve produced.
Marty Morrissey was down in the Westmeath town on Sunday night for the celebrations and, given Heslin’s background, we can only presume he took the opportunity to reprise his ‘there won’t be a cow milked in…’ spiel.
The town centre eventually cleared out in the early hours of Monday morning and the football championship being as concertinaed as it is, players and supporters were already beginning to talk about the next challenge.
That is their All-Ireland round one clash with Cavan in under a fortnight.
It’s a fixture to really focus the mind, not just because it is the beginning of the All-Ireland series but because the man in charge of Cavan, Dermot McCabe, will serve as a reminder of just how quickly heroes can turn to zeroes.
Under McCabe last year, Westmeath played 13 competitive games and lost nine of them, dropping out of Division 2 and falling at the first hurdle in the Leinster SFC. In the Tailteann Cup, they were mugged by Wicklow in Aughrim.
McCabe shifted sidelines after that to his native Cavan and, a few months later at the launch of the Dr McKenna Cup in December, he was asked what had gone wrong in Westmeath.
“Westmeath at the time were probably going through quite a bit of transition,” he suggested.
Six months later, they’re apparently done with whatever transition took place and ready now to take on all comers.
“We’re here to compete with anybody,” said Mark McHugh, McCabe’s successor, after Sunday’s epic provincial final win over Dublin. “We feel we have a dressing-room in there that’s fit to compete with anybody in Ireland.”
McHugh had Matthew Whittaker by his side during the post-match press conference, and it was the wing-back, who struck four points in the historic win, that made the most powerful pitch for this to be a springboard win. A starting point instead of a job completed.
Whittaker’s cousin is Gary Connaughton, the Westmeath goalkeeper in 2004 when they won their only other provincial title.
Whittaker met Connaughton for a chat last Friday, a day after Connaughton had been at Croke Park for a media event to promote the final. All the talk in the build up to the game was about 2004 and Connaughton told Whittaker he’d had enough of reminiscing, that it was time for new leaders to create more history. And, crucially, for it to be something more sustainable this time.
“The big thing they probably said was that in 2004 they didn’t capitalise on it,” said Whittaker.
“Even in terms of development centres, somewhere to train. Like, it’s no secret that four or five months ago, we had nowhere to train. We had to drive to another county to train, which is nuts when you think about it.
“So my biggest message to the county would be to build on this. Don’t just be happy because an unbelievable manager has come in and got a squad together to believe and to push us on to do something great. The whole county has to capitalise on this now and really push on and set higher standards for ourselves and for the next generation coming through.”
To be fair to the Westmeath county board, they appear to be aligned with Whittaker’s thinking, and to share a similar vision.
On the issue of supplying a proper training centre, the board purchased almost 50 acres of land in Mullingar from the Health Service Executive for over €1 million in early 2024 with a view to developing a high-end training facility.
And whenever it opens they will fill it with talented players because a programme of underage development throughout the county is now paying off.
Sunday’s win over Dublin matched the provincial championship wins enjoyed by the county’s minor and U20 teams this season over the Sky Blues.
More significantly, on St Patrick’s Day, former Westmeath player Dean McNicholas guided a brilliant young Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar team to All-Ireland Hogan Cup success, beating Marc Ó Se’s Tralee CBS in the Croke Park final.
Will Scahill, the younger brother of senior defender Daniel and a terrific young forward talent, scored the winning point that day.
Criostóir Ormsby, brother of Shane Ormsby who came on against Dublin yesterday, was the midfield colossus. Michael Moloney from The Downs is another special talent from that Coláiste Mhuire group.
In February, they beat another Westmeath school, Marist College, Athlone in the Leinster final.
Darren Magee, the former Dublin midfielder, presides over the county’s underage coaching structure and can take a bow.
“At the moment, Westmeath is reaping the rewards of some of the stuff that has been done in the last number of years,” said Magee.
“It’s all a combination of the players, coaches, the clubs, and the buy-in factor of supporting what the county is doing, and the structures that have been put in place.”
Back in Magee’s native Dublin, they’re struggling to gain anything like the same sort of underage traction. Which must be a worry for them considering the strides Westmeath, Kildare, Louth and Meath have all been making.
The challenge for Westmeath now is to stay ahead of the curve and to keep layering it on, little win after little win. That’s how McHugh has been going about his business with the seniors, starting out in 2026 by winning the O’Byrne Cup before ramping it up to summer success. But for Wexford’s remarkable late scoring surge in their final group game of the Division 3 campaign, Westmeath may very well have gone on to take that title too.
Connaughton will probably remind Whittaker when he’s next talking to him that, back in 2004, after that Leinster triumph under Páidí Ó Sé, they lost their next game, falling to an Enda Muldoon inspired Derry at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage.
Louth weren’t able to build on last year’s Leinster breakthrough either and lost three of their next four games.
“As I said, we feel as a group that we can compete with anybody in Ireland,” said McHugh. “That’s anybody. On any given day, we’ll compete with anybody. If we do the work and follow whatever game plan the management team has set for the players, we think we’ll be close.
“If we’re not, we’ll shake their hand and we’ll try to build on that over the next 18 months. There’s a good crowd of young players coming in. We’ve seen what the colleges have done this year, which gave us a massive boost early on.
“We’ve been inviting the U20s into training and they’re not looking out of place. So it’s a longer-term plan.”
*****
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Breakthrough GAA Leinster Westmeath