The Westmeath county hurling team represents Westmeath in

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

and is governed by Westmeath GAA, 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 team competes in the

Joe McDonagh Cup The Joe McDonagh Cup is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It forms the second tier of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and is the second highest level of inter- ...

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. The team's manager is

Joe Fortune Joseph Fortune (born 1979) is an Irish hurling manager and former player, who is the current manager of the Westmeath senior hurling team. He is a former player with various club sides in Wexford and Dublin. Playing career Fortune's club car ...

. 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 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 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. Originally introduced as a second-tier competition, it is currently the third tier overall in the inter-county hurling championship system. Eac ...

and thereby gained promotion to the 2006 Liam McCarthy Championship. In 2006, they beat Dublin in the first round of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship before losing the semi final to

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

in Mullingar by 14 points. They then lost to Waterford, Galway and, disappointingly, Laois before tamely losing a relegation playoff against Dublin on a scorching July day in Tullamore. 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 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 Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

by two points in the Leinster Qualifier group and extended their winning run beating favorites, Antrim 1–21 to 0–7. A famous victory over near rivals Offaly was achieved in May 2016 in 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 meda ...

's departure.

Current 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.

Current management team

:''Ratified on 23 September 2021:'' *

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Managerial history

Michael Ryan Michael or Mike Ryan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Michael M. Ryan (1929–2017), American actor best known for his role as John Randolph on ''Another World'' * Rocky Ryan or Michael Ryan (1937–2004), British media hoaxer * Michael R ...

: 2014–2018 *

: 2018–2019 * Shane O'Brien: 2019–2021 *

: 2021–

Players

Notable players

Captaincy

* Cormac Boyle: 2021

All Stars

Westmeath has 1 All Star. 1986: David Kilcoyne

Honours

National

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

**Quarter-finalists (1):

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 Southeast A ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

**Preliminary quarter-finalists (2):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship The All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship was an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association between 1974 and 2004 for the so-called 'weaker' hurling teams in Ireland. The teams now play in the Joe McDonagh Cup (Tie ...

** Winners (3):

* All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship ** Winners (1): 1936 *

** Winners (1):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

** Runners-up (2):

** Winners (3):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

** Runners-up (1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* 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

* Leinster Senior Hurling Championship ** Runners-up (1): 1937 * Leinster Junior Hurling Championship ** Winners (3): 1912, 1936, 1963 * Walsh Cup ** Winners (1): 1982 * Kehoe Cup ** Winners (9): 1993, 1996, 1998, 2004,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Westmeath beat Antrim in Kehoe Cup final shoot-out
'' The Irish News''

References

{{GAA National Leagues County hurling teams