THE PRESS BOX in Wexford Park was packed with emotion yesterday afternoon as two local sports reporters from Westmeath embraced at the final whistle.
There were jigs, tears and racing hearts as they tried to process what had just unfolded before them.
Westmeath were trailing by 16 points, had only five points of their own on the board and were even 17 points behind in that opening half. For Gerry Buckley, who works for Midlands 103 among other local outlets, it was a disheartening sight.
And then there was a stir. Niall O’Brien got a goal a few minutes after the start. A clatter of points followed to put a gloss on the scoreboard. That would do, given where they had been. Then O’Brien grabbed a second goal later in the half. And then super sub Niall Mitchell added two more brilliant goals to help complete Westmeath’s epic turnaround.
Buckley threw his arms around fellow reporter Paul O’Donovan of the Westmeath Topic at the final whistle and let the emotions flow.
“Well I danced with Paul O’Donovan, and I made a beeline for any Westmeath man I could see,” Buckley tells The 42, the sense of disbelief still ringing in his voice 24 hours after Westmeath’s Wexford miracle. Understandably, the weight of emotion almost gives way to tears.
The last time he danced like this was when the Westmeath footballers overturned a similarly heavy deficit against Meath in the 2015 Leinster semi-final to pull off an unlikely surge into the final. On that occasion, Westmeath were 10 points down at one stage. They began their charge at around 50 minutes before eventually winning by four.
GAA historian Gerry Buckley celebrates Historic Westmeath victory against neighbours Meath #CrokePark #PressBox pic.twitter.com/SNn2lFMTAQ
— Eamon Carr OfficialCarrtogram (@carrtogram) June 28, 2015
“I was out on the pitch, dancing with all the players,” Buckley continues, bringing it back to Westmeath’s most recent rally from the depths. “We had a very small crowd of 2,500. I wouldn’t even say there were 100 people from Westmeath so there was only a few of us who could do the jigs. But the people that were there lapped it up.
“I’m getting emotional here, but it meant a lot to them. This is probably the biggest result in the history of Westmeath hurling. This wasn’t the Kehoe Cup or the Walsh Cup or a league match. This was a must-win game for Wexford in the championship in their own back yard. It’s a sensational result.
“I was crying writing up the match report this morning. I’d say 31 counties in Ireland were genuinely delighted for Westmeath yesterday.”
Westmeath are not strangers to the Leinster SHC, but they have yet to firmly carve out a spot in the top tier competition. They were winless going into this clash with Wexford and took heavy beatings against Kilkenny and Galway.
In last year’s fixture against the same opposition, Westmeath played out a draw in Mullingar.
Still though, Buckley did not see this performance coming. However, there were flashes in the second half where he felt Wexford looked fallible. Maybe they were even starting to crumble.
“I turned to Paul O’Donovan, and I said, ‘Wexford are panicking a bit here.’ With about a quarter of an hour to go, my target was that this was going to be respectable at least. We’d be going into the Antrim match with an air of respectability but it never entered my head that we were going to win until we brought on big Niall Mitchell who caused havoc for Wexford.
“Jack O’Connor hit a fairly tame penalty and Noel Conaty saved it. Noel had also saved a penalty from TJ Reid a few weeks back when we were annihilated so Noel had no bother saving it.
“At that stage, Wexford had gone for goals when maybe a cuter team might have just tapped over points. But there’s no point making a liar out of myself, I didn’t think we’d actually win it.
“And we were fully deserving winners; Wexford didn’t hit 25 wides or anything. They came to Mullingar last year and hit 18 or 19 wides. But we deserved to win this. The narrative has been a bit disappointing. Even on the Sunday Game last night, it’s all about poor old Wexford and ‘What’s gone wrong with Wexford?’ But I would ask, ‘What’s gone right with Westmeath hurling?’”
This week will be a tricky exercise for Westmeath manager Joe Fortune and his camp. It’s important that they digest the magnitude of this result, but they must also keep one eye on welcoming Antrim to Cusack Park on Sunday. Buckley notes that that final round against the Saffrons was a tie that Westmeath people were circling with red ink at the outset of this campaign. They always anticipated it as a crunch game that would define their season.
A draw or better will preserve Westmeath’s Leinster SHC status for 2024. Meanwhile, they will also be hoping that Kilkenny get a win against Wexford who will surely be rattled by that defeat to Westmeath. A win for Kilkenny would even be enough if Westmeath lose. If all the right results fall into place, then Buckley will have even more to dance about.
“It’s important to state that it’s not worth a bag of skins if we don’t stay up next weekend,” says Buckley, emphasising the importance of the mission that is still yet complete. “We’re all hoping that we get the same level of performance against Antrim next Sunday with hopefully a bigger crowd.”
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