Westmeath looking forward to testing day as champions Limerick come to town

Noel Conaty was working in Dublin on Thursday, which was handy given the Westmeath hurlers trained in Abbotstown that night.

For most of his Westmeath teammates though, after finishing work in the midlands, they had to hop in their cars and head towards the capital for training. The handful of floodlit pitches in Westmeath are in demand, and the footballers tend to get first dibs.

Cusack Park has no floodlights and while a Westmeath Centre of Excellence has been in the pipeline for some time, players can’t train on a pipeline.

Limerick also went on their training travels recently – to a warm-weather camp in Portugal. On Sunday, the All-Ireland champions will be in Mullingar, freshly bronzed and laden down with silverware. The teams might be competing on the same pitch, but it is far from a level playing field.

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Conaty, Westmeath’s goalkeeper, will be his county’s last line of defence. Limerick are 1-100 to win, the bookies deeming the maroon and white barricades about as indestructible as one of those run-through crepe banners held aloft prior to AFL games.

“We don’t look upon it that way, as a daunting game. I’ve seen the hard slog hurling in Division 2A, 2B, Christy Ring, Joe McDonagh, all of that,” says Conaty, who pulled off several fine saves against Cork last time out.

“The players involved now, we are in a very privileged position to be playing in Division One. It’s what you want, to test yourself against the best.”

This is Joe Fortune’s second year at the helm. The Dublin-based Wexford man led the Dublin minors to a Leinster Championship in 2007, the capital’s Under-21s to a provincial crown in 2016 and more recently steered Ballyboden to a Dublin SHC in 2018.

In his first season with Westmeath, they achieved promotion to Division One and ultimately preserved their Leinster SHC status for 2023.

“You have the All-Ireland champions coming to Cusack Park, I can’t guarantee my panel of players if they will ever get that opportunity again,” says Fortune.

“It’s a special day, we’re looking forward to it. The step up to Division One has been a real learning curve. This time last year we were preparing to play Down in the league, now we are playing the All-Ireland champions.

“I love going training with this group, they are a special bunch, they are self-motivated, and they are really proud Westmeath men.”

Conaty epitomises that pride – how many intercounty hurlers or footballers coach their county’s next generation while still playing?

He was Westmeath minor hurling manager between 2020-22, having worked with the latter batch of players from under-14. In 2020, Westmeath advanced to the Leinster minor semi-finals.

Trying to juggle life outside of hurling and his job as a senior Sustainable, Environmental and H&S Consultant with CG Business Consulting, while playing intercounty hurling and managing the Westmeath minors was quite the feat in logistical gymnastics.

“I always said, if I’m able to add something to it, which I think and hope I did, then I’ll offer it, because ultimately you want what’s best for Westmeath,” he adds.

It’s a call Conaty has answered many times. He did not spend his playing days between the posts for Westmeath – in fact for most of his intercounty career he operated as a forward.

But he wasn’t involved during Joe Quaid’s tenure in 2019, with a knee injury threatening to end his career. It still does. He has no cartilage in one of his knees and surgeons have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get him under the knife for several years.

“Because once I get it replaced, that’s it, hurling is gone,” reasons Conaty.

When Shane O’Brien took charge of Westmeath for 2020, the feelers went out to see if Conaty might return. He’d played some underage hurling as a goalkeeper and during Covid he started to train locally with some Lough Lene Gaels clubmates, who were on the Westmeath squad.

“I thought, ‘I’ve nothing to be at, so I might as well go training.’”

Conaty started his first game as Westmeath senior goalkeeper during the 2021 league, against Tipperary. His second experience was against Limerick at Cusack Park a week later, when the visitors ran out 3-26 to 0-18 winners – though their first goal only arrived on the hour mark.

“I remember Nickie Quaid coming out roaring, ‘Who put f**king astroturf on the goal?’ So, in my head straight away I’m thinking, he hates this place, this is a horrible place for them to have to play,” says Conaty.

“Look, they are one of the greatest teams ever, obviously they expect to win this weekend, it’s not that they have no respect for us, more they have no regard for us, I suppose. They’re expected to win.”

Fortune is realistic about his team’s chances, but they have no intention of merely playing the part of roadkill for the monster truck that is Limerick hurling.

“My job is to develop a group of players in the context of what is really achievable,” he says. “It’s about our performance and building every week. Since I’ve been involved, this group has never let me down.”

Westmeath’s league campaign will not be judged on Sunday. It’s likely they will play Laois or Antrim in a relegation playoff at the end of the month. That will be their judgement day.

But before that, there is this, Limerick in town. After the sides met in 2021, Conaty dissected the footage.

“I learned so much from their movement,” he recalls. “You have to be like a sponge, try learn from them, it’s like playing the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid at their peak, you’re trying to see what makes them great.”

What has allowed Westmeath operate at this altitude over the years has been a staunchly resolute group of believers, spearheaded by a core of families – Seán Greville, Richie Shaw and Tommy ‘Jogger’ Doyle all played in a famous 1985 league win over Tipperary in Mullingar. They have sons on the current panel. Noel Conaty’s dad Matty has served as Westmeath hurling board secretary and chairman. All kept the flame alive.

“You try stay in your own bubble as much as you can, but you always get chatting to somebody about hurling,” continues Conaty. “And they will say stuff like, ‘sure why would you want to be playing them, they’ll only bate the sh**e out of ye!’

“I’d turn it around, it’s not that you don’t care about the result, of course you do, but it’s more important to get the kids to Cusack Park. They’ll remember us playing Limerick, they’ll remember Gearóid Hegarty or Tom Morrissey signing their hurl afterwards. They mightn’t remember the result, but they’ll remember the occasion.”

Wouldn’t it be quite something if Westmeath gave them reason to remember both.