
Football
Share
Published 18:03 27 Mar 2017 BST
Explore more on these topics:
Tom Cribben and the Lake County have quickly gone about rectifying their slide though. After an opening day draw with Carlow, they've shot the lights out of the rest of the division, winning their next five games with 55 points to spare.
On Sunday, a win over a weakened Wexford side confirmed their promotion back to Division Three and it means that, for a sixth consecutive season, Westmeath will be playing in a different division than the campaign previous.
The man leading that charge back up is of course, John Heslin. He's hit 3-48 in six games, a modest enough return. But he's not someone who has been looking to make excuses or make Westmeath out to be better than they are.
In a fascinating interview on The GAA Hour, Heslin was having none of Colm Parkinson's claims that Westmeath are too good for Division Four or that they should be "embarrassed" by being there.
"We're in Division Four for a reason," the forward said. "We obviously deserve to be there. We weren't hand-picked and put in Division Four. Likewise, when we got to Division One, we deserved to be there because our results got us that promotion. And it was the same with the relegation. "The big thing this year is that we have more options. It's all well and good saying, 'Oh, you went defensive against this team and that team,' but maybe we didn't have the strength and depth in the panel at the time. "This year, a lot of guys have committed to the inter-county scene who wouldn't have done so in years gone by and we have bigger and stronger bodies. They've brought training onto another level and even yesterday [against Wexford], we had two or three lads start who didn't play at all last year."Wooly, of course, pushed him a little more.
"Is it embarrassing being in Division Four? It's more embarrassing playing in Division One and losing every game. That's difficult. Would I rather be in Division One and lose every game or be in Division Four and win every game and play well... each has an individual answer there."Listen to the full interview (from 56:00) below. It's definitely worth it.
Live sport on TV in Ireland this weekend – Football, GAA, Rugby – April 24th to 26th
Some huge clashes! The ultimate TV guide for live weekend sport in Ireland is back! It’s another huge week in the Premier League with Arsenal hosting Newcastle, there are a host of massive inter-county championship matches in both hurling and Gaelic football, and there is an intriguing Irish derby in the URC to look forward […]
Football
6h
Waterford legend slams GAA over hurling final change in sensational rant
He did not hold back in the slightest! Five-time All Star John Mullane let his feeling be known on the GAA’s idea to change the date of next year’s National Hurling League Division 1A final. According to reports, the proposal has a strong chance of coming to fruition, and would see the final played at […]
Football
1 day ago
Live sport on TV in Ireland this weekend – Football, GAA, Rugby – April 17th to 19th
Football