The Westmeath county hurling team represents

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and is governed by

Westmeath GAA The Westmeath County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Westmeath GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Westmeath. The county board is also responsible for the ...

, the

county board A county board is a common form of county legislature, particular of counties in the United States. Related forms of county government include: * Board of Supervisors — a form of county legislature in some U.S. states * County commission, ...

of the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

. The team competes in the

Joe McDonagh Cup The Joe McDonagh Cup () is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The cup forms the second-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is the first-tier t ...

and the

National Hurling League The National Hurling League is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition featuring teams from Ireland and England. Founded in 1925 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation within the l ...

. Westmeath's home ground is Cusack Park,

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midland Region, with a population of 22,667 in the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census. The Counties of M ...

. The team has never won the Leinster Senior Championship, the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League. The team is nicknamed the Lake men.

History

The Westmeath hurlers experienced a successful period in the mid-1930s, when they won the Leinster League twice in succession, the Junior Championship in 1936, and beat

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

to qualify for the 1937 Leinster Senior final. Rickards town's John 'Jobber' McGrath, who played for the county in the 1950s and 1960s, is regarded as Westmeath's greatest hurler, and as one of the greatest players never to have won an All-Ireland senior hurling title. Westmeath played in the first division of the

in 1985–86 and were the only team to beat

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

in an 18-month period. This team included the three Kilcoyne brothers and produced an All-Star award for David, who was the team's free taker and top scorer in 1986. The first All Star award for any Westmeath player in hurling or football. In 2005, the county won the first

Christy Ring Cup The Christy Ring Cup () is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The cup forms the third-tier of Hurling for senior county teams (the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is the first-tier trophy). It is ...

and thereby gained promotion to the 2006 Liam McCarthy Championship. In 2006, they beat

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in the first round of the

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship The Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hur ...

before losing the semi-final to

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

by 14 points. They then lost to

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

and, disappointingly,

before tamely losing a relegation playoff against

on a scorching July day in

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midlands Reg ...

. Despite progress made in 2006, the GAA condemned the county's hurlers to the

- this time without the prospect of promotion. Further rule changes and a Christy Ring win in 2010 allowed Westmeath back into the 2011 Liam McCarthy. Further progress came on 20 April 2008 with victory in the NHL (Division 2), winning the final against Carlow. That day also saw their footballing counterparts move into Division 1 of the NFL also, with a win over Dublin. In 2015, the Westmeath minor hurlers surprised heavy favorites

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

by two points in the Leinster quarter-final, the win has been regarded by the manager as the 'biggest result in history of Westmeath hurling'. The senior hurlers beat

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

by two points in the Leinster Qualifier group and extended their winning run beating favorites, Antrim 1–21 to 0–7. Westmeath achieved a famous victory over near rivals

Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain ...

in May 2016 during the Leinster Championship. Westmeath led by some distance for the entire game before winning 2–21 to 1–10. In September 2019, Westmeath announced Shane O'Brien as new manager after

Joe Quaid Joseph M. Quaid (born 10 April 1972) is an Irish hurling manager and former player. He was the manager of the Westmeath senior team in 2019. Born in Feohanagh, County Limerick, Quaid was introduced to hurling by his father, an All-Ireland me ...

's departure. Westmeath staged a remarkable 16-point comeback to achieve their first ever championship victory over Wexford in the 2023 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship. Following Joe Fortune’s departure as manager in June 2024 after three years, Seoirse Bulfin was confirmed as the new manager in July 2024 before announcing his departure on 10 June 2025 after one season.

Panel

^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Management team

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

: Vacant *Head Coach: Shane O’Brien *Defensive Coach: David O’Reilly *Forwards Coach: Fergal Lynch *Strength and Conditioning Coach: Michael Frawley *Goalkeeping Coach: David Bulfin

Managerial history

* Michael Cosgrove:1999-2001 * Michael Conneely: 2001-2003 * Tom Ryan: 2003-2005 * Séamus Qualter: 2005-2007 *

Johnny Dooley Johnny Dooley (born 7 October 1971 in Clareen, County Offaly) is an Irish former hurling manager and player. He played hurling with his local club Clareen GAA and was a member of the Offaly senior inter-county team from 1991 until 2002. Doole ...

: 2007-2008 * Eamonn Gallagher: 2009 * Kevin Martin: 2009-2011 *

Brian Hanley Brian Hanley (born 1974) is an Irish people, Irish hurling coach and former who played as a midfielder for the Athenry GAA, Athenry senior hurling team. Hanley enjoyed a successful playing career at club level with Athenry GAA, Athenry at the ...

: 2011-2014 * Michael Ryan: 2014–2018 *

: 2018–2019 * Shane O'Brien: 2019–2021 * Joe Fortune: 2021–2024 * Seoirse Bulfin 2024-2025

Players

Notable players

Captaincy

* Cormac Boyle: 2021

All Stars

Westmeath has 1 All Star. 1986: David Kilcoyne

Honours

National

* All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship ** Winners (3):

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship was a hurling competition organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland. The competition was originally contested by the second teams of the strong counties, and the first teams of the weaker ...

** Winners (1): 1936 *

** Winners (1):

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

** Runners-up (2):

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

** Winners (3):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

** Runners-up (1):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* National Hurling League Division 2A ** Winners (3):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* National Hurling League Division 2 ** Winners (1):

* All Ireland Minor B Hurling Championship ** Winners (2): 1999, 2010 * All-Ireland Under-21 B Hurling Championship ** Winners (2): 2000, 2003

Provincial

** Runners-up (1): 1937 *

Leinster Junior Hurling Championship The Leinster Junior Hurling Championship is a junior "knockout" competition in the game of Hurling played in the province of Leinster in Ireland. The series of games are organized by the Leinster Council. The winners of the Leinster Junior Hurli ...

** Winners (3): 1912, 1936, 1963 * Walsh Cup ** Winners (1): 1982 *

Kehoe Cup The Kehoe Cup ( ; ) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Leinster GAA, Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA) since 1977 for second- and third-tier inter county, inter-county teams in ...

** Winners (9): 1993, 1996, 1998, 2004,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Westmeath beat Antrim in Kehoe Cup final shoot-out
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The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

References

{{GAA National Leagues County hurling teams