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Westmeath Football thread

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Replying To Claretandblue: "The recent presentation to the county board delegates by the coaching officer doesn't bear out your claim that GAA is more popular in Athlone than soccer. There is one active soccer club in Mullingar town, Mullingar Athletic, a very successful and well organised club. In Athlone there's St. Joseph's, St. Francis, Monksland, Hodson Bay, Athlone Town and Willow Park, that's six active soccer clubs and possibly there's more. Surely if Gaa was more popular in Athlone than soccer then the likes of Garrycastle, Athlone and Southern Gaels would have more teams at underage level?" Mullingar Athletic-Mullingar Town-Mullingar Celtic are soccer clubs in Mullingar and im sure they are all active Bruno@1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 254 - 01/04/2025 20:41:42 2600025 Link
Replying To OverTheHill85: "Fundraisers in Mullingar hotels, all county board meetings in Mullingar, Golf Classic tends to be North Westmeath, Underage county games in North." Since you mentioned fundraisers, I think another issue that contributes to the gap between North and South Westmeath is that the vast majority of our sponsorships-both big and small-come from North Westmeath. Some of the current and former sponsors include TEG, Writech, Shay Murtagh, O'Brien Motor Group, and the Greville Arms. Even Stone Construction, which is based in New York, is connected with North Westmeath clubs i think. On the other hand, when it comes to South Westmeath, the only sponsor I can think of is the Radisson Blu Hotel Group, which used to sponsor underage teams. I'm open to hearing if anyone knows of more South-based sponsors, but it does seem like a bit of an imbalance. That said, I agree that we should definitely hold more events in South Westmeath. The past few fundraisers-like the 'Quid Games' event-were held at the Park Hotel, so spreading out future events could help build more community involvement and support. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 01/04/2025 21:14:10 2600030 Link
The issue is the % of the county population living in two big towns that don't have enough gaa clubs to cater for the young population valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1902 - 01/04/2025 21:26:25 2600033 Link
Replying To Fighting-Cocks69: "Since you mentioned fundraisers, I think another issue that contributes to the gap between North and South Westmeath is that the vast majority of our sponsorships-both big and small-come from North Westmeath. Some of the current and former sponsors include TEG, Writech, Shay Murtagh, O'Brien Motor Group, and the Greville Arms. Even Stone Construction, which is based in New York, is connected with North Westmeath clubs i think. On the other hand, when it comes to South Westmeath, the only sponsor I can think of is the Radisson Blu Hotel Group, which used to sponsor underage teams. I'm open to hearing if anyone knows of more South-based sponsors, but it does seem like a bit of an imbalance. That said, I agree that we should definitely hold more events in South Westmeath. The past few fundraisers-like the 'Quid Games' event-were held at the Park Hotel, so spreading out future events could help build more community involvement and support." So North Westmeath companies giving more of their hard earned money to Westmeath GAA than South Westmeath companies is unfair on South Westmeath. I've heard it all now. Jack_Sparrow (Westmeath) - Posts: 1035 - 01/04/2025 22:04:51 2600040 Link
Replying To valley84: "The issue is the % of the county population living in two big towns that don't have enough gaa clubs to cater for the young population" Not enough Gaa clubs in the Mullingar region? Six across both codes would be most people's opinion, four football and two hurling, hardly a similar sized town in Ireland with as many clubs, Portlaoise, Naas and Tullamore each has one football and one hurling club. Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2091 - 01/04/2025 22:43:34 2600046 Link
Replying To Jack_Sparrow: "So North Westmeath companies giving more of their hard earned money to Westmeath GAA than South Westmeath companies is unfair on South Westmeath. I've heard it all now." Fair play Jack you've completely and utterly missed the point Iakecounty90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 4 - 01/04/2025 22:44:55 2600047 Link
Replying To Fighting-Cocks69: "Since you mentioned fundraisers, I think another issue that contributes to the gap between North and South Westmeath is that the vast majority of our sponsorships-both big and small-come from North Westmeath. Some of the current and former sponsors include TEG, Writech, Shay Murtagh, O'Brien Motor Group, and the Greville Arms. Even Stone Construction, which is based in New York, is connected with North Westmeath clubs i think. On the other hand, when it comes to South Westmeath, the only sponsor I can think of is the Radisson Blu Hotel Group, which used to sponsor underage teams. I'm open to hearing if anyone knows of more South-based sponsors, but it does seem like a bit of an imbalance. That said, I agree that we should definitely hold more events in South Westmeath. The past few fundraisers-like the 'Quid Games' event-were held at the Park Hotel, so spreading out future events could help build more community involvement and support." Micheal stone largely associated with castletown which not north westmeath?? Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 661 - 01/04/2025 23:19:53 2600049 Link
Replying To Jack_Sparrow: "So North Westmeath companies giving more of their hard earned money to Westmeath GAA than South Westmeath companies is unfair on South Westmeath. I've heard it all now." Come here, I'm sure you've heard it all yes indeed, but if you read the report Damien Maher wrote on Westmeath inter-county expenditure, you'll see they received €254,212 in sponsorship, which is massive. This includes the companies I mentioned earlier, plus Clarke's Bar, Slevin Coaches, KC Sports, and Mullingar Autos. i was just pointing out majority is coming from one part of it. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 02/04/2025 00:06:10 2600055 Link
Replying To Jack_Sparrow: "So North Westmeath companies giving more of their hard earned money to Westmeath GAA than South Westmeath companies is unfair on South Westmeath. I've heard it all now." I don't think the point was about being unfair at all, it just highlighted how sponsorship from the North of the county may lead to more Mullingar orientated events. I'm convinced people on this forum read a post, misinterpret it and provide an angry response. i thought bringing the 20s and U17s to Athlone would have helped and it was an ideal opportunity to do so. Would almost all of our key administrators be from the north; I'm sure it's more convenient for them to host events and meetings in Mullingar. OverTheHill85 (Westmeath) - Posts: 46 - 02/04/2025 07:02:25 2600060 Link
Replying To Gaaforlife2023: "Micheal stone largely associated with castletown which not north westmeath??" To be honest, I always thought that all the clubs from Ballinagore, Loughnavalley, Castletown/Malachys, St. Joseph's Streamstown, all the way to Kilbeggan Shamrocks, were considered part of North Westmeath. I could be wrong, but that was the general impression I had. now i know you can say Kilbeggan is basically touching Offaly how could it be in the North of Westmeath. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 02/04/2025 12:04:58 2600089 Link
Replying To OverTheHill85: "I don't think the point was about being unfair at all, it just highlighted how sponsorship from the North of the county may lead to more Mullingar orientated events. I'm convinced people on this forum read a post, misinterpret it and provide an angry response. i thought bringing the 20s and U17s to Athlone would have helped and it was an ideal opportunity to do so. Would almost all of our key administrators be from the north; I'm sure it's more convenient for them to host events and meetings in Mullingar." Oh, definitely. you'd definitely say for Mullingar Autos and O'Brien Motor Group, being able to showcase their cars at the golf classic or other events without having to drive them all the way to Athlone Golf Club or say hodson bay hotel or example just taking them to Mullingar Golf Club or park hotel instead would save a lot of time and hassle. That could be one of the reasons, who knows Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 02/04/2025 12:10:46 2600090 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "Not enough Gaa clubs in the Mullingar region? Six across both codes would be most people's opinion, four football and two hurling, hardly a similar sized town in Ireland with as many clubs, Portlaoise, Naas and Tullamore each has one football and one hurling club." Agreed- off topic but Naas is in huge need of another competitive club, or Kildare club hurling will become less and less competitive as the years go on. If you look at the Kildare minor hurling panel, 15 of the 34 players are from Naas Mullingar is doing very well for its population. Fighting-Cocks69 (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 02/04/2025 12:15:15 2600091 Link
There are some great points regarding sponsorship. A significant portion of county boards' sponsorship comes from businesses based in Mullingar, so why is this the case? There are large companies in Athlone that support local teams. For example, AirCoach sponsored Athlone GAA last year, and now they are sponsored by Dead Centre Brewing. Ganly's Hardware has been sponsoring Garrycastle for years, while Caulry has Egans Pub, Tubberclair has Spollens, and Castleday has been sponsored by both Heavins and Duffy Contractors in recent years. Do TUS Athlone (formerly Athlone IT) sponsor Westmeath GAA at all? When looking at Carlow GAA, their main sponsor is SETU Carlow (formerly Carlow IT). If TUS were based in Mullingar, there would likely be a strong connection between the college and the county board. So, why can't that happen since it's located in Athlone? Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 544 - 02/04/2025 12:32:36 2600094 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "The recent presentation to the county board delegates by the coaching officer doesn't bear out your claim that GAA is more popular in Athlone than soccer. There is one active soccer club in Mullingar town, Mullingar Athletic, a very successful and well organised club. In Athlone there's St. Joseph's, St. Francis, Monksland, Hodson Bay, Athlone Town and Willow Park, that's six active soccer clubs and possibly there's more. Surely if Gaa was more popular in Athlone than soccer then the likes of Garrycastle, Athlone and Southern Gaels would have more teams at underage level?" One active soccer club in Mullingar? Mullingar town and Mullingar Athletic is two active clubs in the town. Outside of town there is the very active Raharney United. Hodson Bay is in Roscommon, Kiltoom to be precise, in the middle of St. Brigids GAA country and Monksland is in Clann na Gael territory also in Roscommon.....There are no Westmeath based Athlone players in either club. Chops (Westmeath) - Posts: 787 - 02/04/2025 14:10:57 2600121 Link
Let us know when Mullingar Town's underage system gets underway so. Must be twenty years since they had a team Claretandblue (Westmeath) - Posts: 2091 - 02/04/2025 15:14:01 2600135 Link
Replying To Chops: "One active soccer club in Mullingar? Mullingar town and Mullingar Athletic is two active clubs in the town. Outside of town there is the very active Raharney United. Hodson Bay is in Roscommon, Kiltoom to be precise, in the middle of St. Brigids GAA country and Monksland is in Clann na Gael territory also in Roscommon.....There are no Westmeath based Athlone players in either club." Ac celtic, Temple Villa, Ballihanown and St. Peters to the list with a lot of ex county players playing. PowellJohn3 (Westmeath) - Posts: 75 - 02/04/2025 15:20:53 2600138 Link
I don't think there is much point in arguing ,the field of excellence is going to be in Mullingar we were looking for a place for a long long time, we should be talking about how we are going to raise funds for the future of Westmeath GAA, we could have two golf classics one in Mullingar and one in Athlone Mick1234 (Westmeath) - Posts: 19 - 02/04/2025 15:27:10 2600141 Link
Does anybody know when tickets will be available for the first round of the championship? Mick1234 (Westmeath) - Posts: 19 - 02/04/2025 15:28:31 2600142 Link
Replying To PowellJohn3: "Ac celtic, Temple Villa, Ballihanown and St. Peters to the list with a lot of ex county players playing." Grange United, Inny FC, Kinnegad Juniors, RFA Swans ExiledCuCu (Cavan) - Posts: 253 - 02/04/2025 15:40:35 2600146 Link
Replying To Claretandblue: "Let us know when Mullingar Town's underage system gets underway so. Must be twenty years since they had a team" It got underway last week. They have 2 U-12 teams one playing Div1 and one playing Div3, also U-13, U-14, U-15 all played games last weekend in the combined counties leagues. But sure what would I know.... Chops (Westmeath) - Posts: 787 - 02/04/2025 15:54:07 2600147 Link