Darragh Clinton and Josh Coll walk off the field at TEG Cusack Park after their defeat to Limerick last month.
By Kevin Egan
The 2021 championship season isn’t yet two weeks old, and already it has thrown up one game that will live long in the memory of anyone lucky enough to see it.
Tuesday’s Leinster U-20 hurling championship clash between Laois and Westmeath had everything, and plenty more along with it. James Duggan’s incredible diving catch and score while striking on his knees has already went viral, but that was just one moment in a match that saw Westmeath come from 15 points behind to lead in the dying minutes. A free sent the game into extra time, Westmeath again hit the front, but Laois came with a late surge to win by 4-33 to 4-27, the latter almost certainly one of the largest losing totals ever recorded in an adult hurling match.
Westmeath’s strong performance in that game wasn’t something that previous minor results would have predicted. Neither Westmeath nor Laois pulled up any trees in the 2018 minor championship, but the two sides met twice in 2019, with Laois winning by 20 points the first day, and 33 the second.
There were heroes all over the field on Tuesday, none more than senior star Josh Coll, who shot 2-2 from midfield, including an incredible run and finish for a goal that put them a point up after 58 minutes.
Now the Delvin hurler has to bounce right back, not just from that reverse but from the difficult league campaign that he and all his senior colleagues endured in the elite company of Division 1A of the Allianz league. Tomorrow they face Carlow in what will effectively be a do-or-die Joe McDonagh Cup fixture, and the parallels with Tuesday are easy to see. Now they have to bounce back from a harrowing season of losses, then they had to come back from conceding two early goals and falling 15 points behind. In both cases, keeping the faith and learning from what’s gone before will be crucial.
“We had a few tough games in the league, that’s for sure” said Josh.
“As a group we were happy with some of our performances, especially in blocks of half an hour, 40 minutes. With the last game against Limerick we put in a good 50-55 minutes and maybe just died off a bit in the end against the All-Ireland champions, so we still can take positives throughout. That’s something management instilled in us, telling us these are the games you want to be playing in at the top level so we think hopefully that will stand to us”.
Josh Coll attempts to break through two Cork tacklers at Páirc Uí Chaoimh earlier this year.
For long stretches of their clash with Waterford at Walsh Park, it looked like they might do even more than simply be competitive. In the end, the win eluded them as the home side prevailed by three points, but it’s games like that which have fuelled Coll’s belief that in terms of performance and quality, Westmeath are ready to hurl at a high level in the Joe McDonagh.
“We had a great performance against Waterford, they are the teams to be playing.
“Waterford have been going close to All-Irelands the last few years. If we can get to that standard of hurling that will stand to us in the Joe McDonagh. It’s about not changing our mindset or our approach now.
“Whoever plays us, we have our own style of play and I don’t think the opposition should change that. Try and put in a good performance and the rest will fall in to place”.
2020 was another difficult year for Westmeath hurling, as they also lost their five 1A league games but saved their status thanks to a relegation win over Carlow, and then underperformed in the Joe McDonagh, winning just one game out of four. As a teenager, Coll was drafted into the panel and made his full debut in Semple Stadium against Tipperary, though he lasted just 23 minutes.
What followed was to be an early indication of his resilience. The following week he came off the bench at half-time against Limerick and scored two points, and over time has earned the trust of manager Shane O’Brien, and thus a regular starting spot
“I went straight from underage hurling in to senior hurling so you notice the difference especially when you are playing Division one hurling. The speed and the physicality were probably the main things that you had to adjust to, especially when you’re coming rom underage. You can be going in to play lads who are five or ten years older than you, who’ve done a lot of hurling at the highest level”.
And does he feel it stands to him?
“Oh definitely, 100%. Playing the last year has been unbelievable, marking lads who have All Stars and All Irelands medals, it’s things you dream of. You are watching these lads and then you are playing against them or alongside them”.
Josh Coll in action for Delvin hurling club in the 2020 Westmeath SHC.
Like Westmeath, Coll alternated between impressing against elite opposition and struggling to keep pace throughout the league. At Páirc Uí Chaoimh he was at his best, fearlessly taking on the Cork backline and racking up a final tally of 0-5 from play, and Westmeath will need him to show the same sense of leadership and self-belief if they are to secure the win they need at Netwatch Cullen Park.
Beat Carlow, and then a draw (or possibly even a narrow defeat) in their home game against Kildare would be enough to see Westmeath into the 2021 McDonagh Cup final. Twice already (2018, 2019) the Lake County have got that far, without closing the deal. Coll however, knows what it’s like to win a national elite competition, and it’s a memory that he treasures and values as he develops his intercounty career.
St. Ernan’s of Westmeath are one of just two clubs from outside the Liam MacCarthy Cup counties to have won the Christy Ring cup, awarded to the National Féile na nGael Division One winners. An amalgamation of Brownstown and Delvin (his home club), Josh played midfield for the group that beat Kilmacow 2-4 to 1-2 in the 2015 decider at Owenbeg, and he credits the naivety of youth for their approach to that tournament.
The St. Ernan's team that won the 2015 Féile na nGael Division One hurling title. (Josh Coll back row, on the right of the two players holding the trophy).
“We went up for the experience and then one game leads on to the other, when you are that age you don’t know who you are marking or playing” he recalls.
“You are not in awe of who you are playing, not as much as when you get a bit older. Going into a final and playing a team from Kilkenny and you wouldn’t think twice about it.
“We would have been a weaker club at underage and historically we never would have been one those that was expecting to win county championships. We just happened to have a good group so our main focus was just to win the Féile within the county.
“We just happened to be getting on really well and we knew what to expect. The year before, which would have been my first year U-14, we qualified for Féile as well, we loved the format of the Féile and once we went in to the second year we had an idea what to expect.
“I don’t know if it would give you confidence, but the club would be buzzing. We definitely got a lot more lads up to senior and we lost less than any other year group would have. A lot of lads that came up with me are still playing senior for the club. It definitely helped, it made everyone love the game a bit more and it kept our lads together”.
Savouring the good days, and developing from the tough ones – whatever life and hurling throws at the NUIG student from Delvin, he’ll make it work for him. And right now, after enduring one more tough defeat this week, he’s ready to try and turn the corner this weekend and start building some positive momentum for Westmeath hurling.
“This year in the Joe McDonagh, every game is a final. If you lost a game last year you could still reach the final. We know we have to win every game this year.
“We are definitely confident in our own ability. We have been working on this style of play. We feel good about it and we feel we are starting to reap the rewards of it. The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together”.
