Westmeath’s under-21’s have demonstrated in the last two years that they’re a hurling county on the rise. Their seniors went and confirmed this with a heroic display against Tipperary on Saturday.
When the qualifier draw was made on Monday last, Tipperary’s draw with Westmeath was seen as the most foregone conclusion of them all.
Westmeath GAA supporters would’ve been forgiven for feeling sorry for themselves, on the back of a 31-point hammering to All-Ireland football champions Dublin, they probably thought their hurlers were in for a similar fate.
Tipperary are All-Ireland champions, they have an unrivalled attacking threat that has the ability to wipe the floor with any side.
With this in mind, they were expected to make light work of Westmeath in front of a home Semple Stadium crowd.
That was exactly how the first 18-minutes of the game went, with the Premier County racing into a 1-9 to 0-4 lead and looking just as far superior to their opponents as you would have expected.
Westmeath’s hurlers are made of stern stuff, however, and they displayed all the fight, drive, skill and determination that their footballers were so obviously lacking in their annihilation at the hands of Dublin last weekend.
While their whole team deserves credit, one man stood tallest as he embodied every single one of the above attributes and more. Tommy ‘Jogger’ Doyle is a man who has been long touted as a full back who would make it into any team in the country.
On Saturday, Doyle proved that the so-called weaker counties can produce a few gems of hurlers.
He gave a relentless, classy display of full-back hurling that any of the great full-backs would’ve been proud of.
He kept Tipperary’s Seamus Callanan as quiet as a mouse, and saw the Drom-and-Inch man substituted early in the second half. Tipperary’s talisman didn’t register from play and was put under serious pressure from Doyle any time he got near the ball.
By the 45th minute, Michael Ryan had realised that it wasn’t Callanan’s day and called him ashore for an early shower.
The Lake County fought hard to narrow the gap to 1-10 to 0-9 at half time. They wanted it way more than a lifeless Tipperary.
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Still, they were playing with a strong wind in the first-half, and surely Tipperary would, spurred on by a few undoubtedly choice words from manager Michael Ryan, assert their superiority.
It seemed there was only one Michael Ryan listened to at half-time, and that was the Westmeath one.
Westmeath, spurred on by their resolute full back, continued to pluck away at the Premier men for a further 20 minutes in the second half. With 52 minutes gone, they were only trailing the Premier by three points.
Westmeath 0-15 Tipperary 2-18 at full time. Very determined performance against the reigning All Ireland Champions
— Westmeath GAA (@westmeath_gaa) July 1, 2017
Tipperary eventually produced the goods and a late rally saw them drift into a lead that they wouldn’t surrender.
Substitute John McGrath netted a late goal to save some of the his sides’ blushes, and to see them run out 2-18 to 0-15 victors.
Westmeath’s loss wasn’t due to a lack of heart, guts or passion, however, all of which were embodied by their ferocious full back.
