Westmeath sharpshooter John Heslin reveals one of the GAA’s ultimate tricksters

“He knows the run of the game, he knows how to pull a trick or two.”

Westmeath secured promotion back to division 3 football after an emphatic win over league leaders Wexford at the weekend, one of the men to play in that game was their star John Heslin who tucked away a tidy 1-10 in their 3-24 to 0-09 victory. There was more than meets they eye though in the encounter with Wexford ringing in the changes from their previous game, after securing promotion they are due to play Westmeath again in the league final in Croke Park on April 8 and with this knowledge Wexford manager Seamus ‘Banty’ McEnany rung in the changes for the clash.

“Banty’s been around the block a long time…he knows the run of the game, he knows how to pull a trick or two” said Heslin

  But the 24-year-old did not completely write off his Wexford counterparts saying that many teams are more than capable of competing even when their first team may not be fielded

“I suppose a lot of inter-county teams these days the strength and depth is there to an extent. "So you have to put things into perspective, Dublin in division 1 they have strength and depth in that they have two teams who can compete in division 1, where as other teams say with Westmeath at the moment we have strength and depth in our panel to compete at the level we’re playing at, so the fact that Seamus McEnany made 12 changes, them lads they’re not too far behind what’s starting there”

You can listen to his interview with Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour below (from 56:00). https://soundcloud.com/sportsjoe-gaa-hour/john-heslin-interview-tyrones-groundhog-day-and-bantys-mindgames Heslin also criticised the length of the break between league and championship

“From the end of the league until our first game in championship this year I think is 9 weeks so essentially that is a whole new season, it’s not something that I or any other intercounty player would really be in favour of but it is what it is”

He was also bullish about the chances of someone snapping Dublin’s record winning streak

“Dublin are there and they have to be beaten sometime, they’re on a great run and credit to them. They’ve been a phenomenal team and they are a phenomenal team but all good things come to an end and they’ll be beaten sometime.”

Westmeath will need everything going their way if they were to halt Dublin in their tracks, this summer, but when Heslin is in top form they'll always have a fighting chance.