Westmeath Vs Carlow - Mullingar

[Croí na hÉireann]

Jazes stevecw

That's a depressing post for sure. Carlow gave Meath a good run last year but a year is a long time in a small footballing county.

Maybe the lads will rouse themselves and gave Westmeath something to think about, but it would seem unlikely.

Well its depressing but sadly very true.
Last year we had a manager in Luke Dempsey who knew how to get the best from a limited bunch of players. We had 1 drop out. Gave Meath a serious game 1st day out...sadly we were down a few players for replay cos of 2 red cards and injuries. In qualifiers, we lost to Laois away by 4 pts after kicking 15 wides I think!!

This year is different story altogether, there is easily another 15 in Carlow who wud beat that team that will play on Sunday. Bet of the year is 6/5 Westmeath -6 I guarantee it. Wmth will win by at least 10 and probably more

It was a depressing post, but I knew what was going to happen. I put 150 on wmth -6 and got back 330. 180 profit...it was like printing money sadly. Carlow football is at an all time low with a clueless young manager. He just stood there all game and did nothing. Our best mf in ff, our best fwd as a 7th back, our best fb as corner back etc and so many more...ah its seriously frustrating

Fair play to yourself and all the other die hards who travelled to see that steve. I agree with everything you said there, I thought Carlow's warm up and drills were poor for this level and couldn't understand the logic of playing Murphy in full forward. Well if he had quality ball kicked in to him it mightn't have looked so bad as he did well with the 2 deliveries at the start of the second half. Showed what was missing out around the middle towards the end, a quality player.

I thought we were poor enough ourselves in the middle although it turns out Heslin was carrying a shoulder injury, some great frees from him btw. Dessie was class and can still lead the way at this level. Two of our best performers were lads in relatively new positions, Gaffey and James Dolan. Everyone else was fair to middling. Coroon had a pep in his step when he came in and Kieran Martin must be looking over his shoulder at him now.

We need to move up into a whole new level though if we are gonna keep up with the Dubs. Still it's nice to have a comfortable enough win in Leinster for the first time since 2008.

[Rossfan]

Very poor crowd going by the official attendance 3,080.
Do Leinster people only turn out on the big days?

[Croí na hÉireann]

Very poor crowd going by the official attendance 3,080.
Do Leinster people only turn out on the big days?

Certainly looked to be more than that in the ground. Game was held up for 10 mins due to crowd trying to get it. Turns out the reason was that there was only one ticket van where you could get a ticket. 

[Shamrock Shore]

What is it about getting into the park in Mullingar? Nearly always for a big and perhaps no-so-big game there is chaos getting in. I know having the pitch almost in the centre of town is not ideal but with only 3,000 punters surely it could have been handled better. Should there not have been ticket sellers all over the routes into the ground?

I fancy Westmeath to give the Dubs a game. Whether they can cause a surprise is doubtful but they'll have nothing to lose to give it a fair auld lash.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Wouldn't have mattered what park it was SS with only one ticket van giving out tickets. Remember playing against Mickla in O'Connor Park in 2010 and there was a crazy queue down the street to one van. Another crazy queue across the road into the center where they were also selling tickets. The GAA needs to revise this arrangement.

We'll need everything going in our favour to give the Dubs a game, no fisted efforts going wide like Sun, no crazy goals conceded, in fact no goals conceded at all, a very strong ref and a large slice of luck. Like you said the pressure's off and we've nothing to lose.

[Lone Shark]

Very poor crowd going by the official attendance 3,080.
Do Leinster people only turn out on the big days?

There's no way there was only that in the ground - if that's the case then the Stadium's capacity would be less than 5,000.

One ticket van was shocking though, should have been way more. The ability to buy tickets in Centra and Super Valu is a step in the right direction, but there really should be more ways of getting tickets on the day.

I wonder would specially purposed vending machines work?

[macdanger2]

As far as I know, the vans don't take cards either - a bit odd for this day and age

[Dont Matter]

They don't include the kids that get in for free in official attendances.

[stevecw]

There was a lot more that 3000 there on Sunday.
Most of stand was full, and the far side was packed too.
I had a player pass, and so do families of all the squad.  Free tickets were being given in competitions on radio and in the local paper in Carlow. These all add up. Kids prob aren't included as was said. When attendance of 3080 was announced most around us just laughed, and 90& of them were from Westmeath who wud know in their own ground how much were approx there!

Easily 5000 i'd say.

[Croí na hÉireann]

There was a lot more that 3000 there on Sunday.
Most of stand was full, and the far side was packed too.
I had a player pass, and so do families of all the squad.  Free tickets were being given in competitions on radio and in the local paper in Carlow. These all add up. Kids prob aren't included as was said. When attendance of 3080 was announced most around us just laughed, and 90& of them were from Westmeath who wud know in their own ground how much were approx there!

Easily 5000 i'd say.

I would have thought so. The 11 Westmeath season tickets and the 1 Carlow wouldn't have been included either as it was just a shout in the name job, no scanner.

[AZOffaly]

Might have been the Thurles syndrome. Lads very slow letting the foot off the turnstile 'clutch'. I was at a game there a few years ago. It was hilarious. Crowd announced as 15k or something while the terraces were packed and the new stand overflow had to go over to the old stand. At least 30k there. Everyone just laughed when it was announced. Not much returns to the Munster council that day.

[Shamrock Shore]

Unlike olden days there is little scope for 'two' tills. One for the Leinster council and one for the local county hosting the game (which was a total scam but shure nobody personally profited so it's grand!).

Leinster council sends out spotters to make sure all monies collected get officially returned. However WH may have a few questions to answer if the crowd officially returned don't come close to what the eagle eyed spotters reckon should have paid in.

[shark]

Also doesn't include my old man who went in for free through the gates at half time. On his bicycle!!

[Jinxy]

This has been going on for years.
I always enjoy playing 'guess the official attendance' when I'm at a championship match in Pairc Tailteann.
You look at the % of the ground that is full, work out roughly how many people that equates to, then you subtract 4,000.

[Maroon Heaven]

Very poor crowd going by the official attendance 3,080.
Do Leinster people only turn out on the big days?

I'm sure for the Taxman 3,080 was the figure.

Westmeath could only beat what was put in front of them. I think its worth noting the tankings Armagh & Galway took on Sunday. Shows the standard in Div 2. Whatever happens in Croke Park I hope we don't take a tanking. Stay close to Dublin and if we don't beat them - lift ourselves up and look for a good run in qualifiers