An eventful week for Westmeath footballers culminates this Sunday with the ‘Tailteann Trail,’ which sees the team take the Tailteann Cup on a walking relay through the county to allow supporters meet players and see the trophy.
On Thursday, the team of the year in the competition was announced and six of the county’s players were included in the selection. They included captain and full back, Kevin Maguire, who has been one of football’s most effective defenders for a number of years.
“It was a nice way of finishing it off,” he said. “We’ll have a good night out and bring along the wives, girlfriends and families.”
As inaugural winners of the Tailteann Cup, Westmeath put in an impressive effort from the start to the final victory over Cavan. The finalists had been obvious favourites for the competition at the start but the big question amongst football supporters was the extent to which counties would engage with a Tier 2 championship given the historic mixed reception such competitions had had in the past.
“As soon as we lost out in the Leinster championship to Kildare, the Tailteann was being launched in the days that followed. We went straight from losing the provincial semi-final to training for two or three days. We talked through the opportunity it offered and the chance of silverware.
“There are a lot of good footballers on our team, who have been training for a while – as well as some younger lads – and it gives them an opportunity to play some competitive games, get into Croke Park and win something. When you’re training that long, at that level, I mean you love it but it’s great to get your hands on silverware.”
There was consequently no chance that Westmeath would be half-hearted about the task.
“To be honest,” he says, “the sessions we had for the Tailteann Cup were some of the toughest and best I’d ever had.”
As the holders of the trophy, they are the only Leinster county guaranteed a place in next year’s Sam Maguire – because of the unique situation that sees no Leinster county in the top division of the AFL.
There followed a lot of speculation about the county taking a Tier 1 spot off another county if they weren’t to secure promotion from Division Three.
Maguire is slightly incredulous at the notion that his team won’t be going hammer-and-tongs at winning their way back to Division Two after a two-year absence, having been unluckily relegated in 2021 mainly because of three defeats by a cumulative five points. Inconsistency prevented a swift return earlier this year, which still bothers the captain.
“We’d a lot of close games last season in the league and one or two of them we let go by and missed out on promotion. We think we’re a good team and in the top half of teams in the country so we’d like to be represented there. If you want to build success – you see it in the teams that are winning All-Irelands – you need to play at that level. That’s where we want to get so 100 per cent, we’ll be focused on promotion in the league.”
He is aware of the commentary surrounding the guaranteed progress of a Division Four county in Connacht, given the way the draw turned out, but he empathises with the ambitions of counties like Sligo and Leitrim to reach a provincial final.
“There’s still a lot of value for a team in getting to a provincial final and I think that’s where their focus will be, rather than on the All-Ireland series. We’ve reached Leinster finals and for us to win one would be a dream come true. Every year if the draw is a little bit more favourable to you, that’s a big motivation.”
Sunday’s trail will begin in Páirc Chiaráin, Athlone at 7.50 on Sunday morning and proceed through the county in relays, reaching Kinnegad at 5.30. Players can be sponsored at Westmeath Senior Footballers Tailteann Trail, organised by Westmeath GAA and the proceeds go directly to the holiday fund for the team
