Westmeath’s Kieran Martin primed for revenge mission

Goals win matches, and when Kieran Martin recalls the goal that cost Westmeath a qualifier win over Fermanagh two years ago he shakes his head in disbelief.

“Things just didn’t go our way,” he says. “Gary Connaughton let a goal in over his head, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It just happened to be one of those days (Westmeath lost by a point, 3-10 to 1-15). But Fermanagh are going well again this year. They’re fit. They’re physical. And they know what they have to do to win. And to win will be no easy task.”

Truth is not many people expected either Westmeath or Fermanagh to be in this position. Westmeath’s hopes suffered a setback this week with the news John Heslin will miss out with a foot injury, and while Saturday’s qualifier comes with the bonus/booby prize of playing All-Ireland champions Kerry in the quarter-final, Martin is relishing the task at hand.

Complete annihilation

Defeat to Dublin in the Leinster final wasn’t exactly what Westmeath expected either, although at least it wasn’t the complete annihilation some people feared: now, says Martin, comes the chance for some redemption.

“We actually did take the night off to enjoy ourselves,” he says. “It’s not too often you get to a Leinster final, so you just have to enjoy it with your family, and everyone else. And there was a big crowd there when we go back, even though we lost, to cheer us on. The whole county was happy for us. There were over 20,000 Westmeath fans in Croke Park that day. I don’t think there has been that nearly all year.”

Things have picked up in the meantime, at least for Martin, as he was named GAA/GPA Opel Footballer of the Month for June, for his performance in Westmeath’s epic defeat of Meath in the Leinster semi-final last month: there, he showcased his exceptional versatility, switching between defensive duties and attack and, while not nearly as prolific against Dublin, Martin admits to enjoying this versatility.

“Well I don’t even know my best position myself,” he says. “I would be switching as well with the club, centre back, midfield, and probably centre forward. I don’t mind. Once I’m on the pitch I’m happy. You could see with the subs or the lads who couldn’t even tog out for the Leinster final, how disappointed they were.

“But against Meath, that switch wasn’t planned. We had to just go for it. Ten points down, we had nothing to lose. So we just went for it. And on that day it worked. But Dublin knew exactly where I was going to go, the last day, and they had a system worked out how to stop it. So we know we’ll have to work on other ways to beat the big teams too.”

Fermanagh travel to Breffni Park on Saturday buoyed up by their third round qualifier win over Roscommon, and although hardly a secret anymore, Martin admits they’re still a bit of an unknown entity.

“You saw they beat Roscommon, who are a Division One team now in the league. And they probably will be defensive, so we will have to find a way to work around that, and try to rack up a big score.

“Because you can see that they have a few scoring forwards who are taking goals and points and we just have to find a way to win the game.”