Westport heroes savour the moment

DRIVING ON Westport’s James Walsh goes past St Colmcille’s Jack Reynolds at Croke Park last Sunday. Pic: Sportsfile

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Edwin McGreal

IT’S Monday afternoon in Toby’s Bar on The Fairgreen in Westport and the victorious All-Ireland Intermediate club champions are in high spirits.
Most of the players are watching the game back via the LocalStreaming.club service and every score is being cheered with gusto.
Anyone who gave a missed pass is being let know about it too!
Man of the match Shane Scott and dynamic wing-back James Walsh step out to chat with The Mayo News and there’s no fear Scott will be allowed to get any ‘notions’.
We compliment the midfielder’s three points from play only for Walsh to interject: “He dropped a few short as well!”
You can tell from the group that there’s a warm, jovial camaraderie among them.
County men Kevin Keane and Lee Keegan arrive and fit right in, just two of the gang, ready to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labour.
But you wonder did Scott and company worry when Keane, a huge leader in the team, went off injured after just 11 minutes?
“That was our sixth player that went this year, all with knee injuries,” explains 25 year-old Scott.
“Lewis [Cawley], Liam Ketterick, Gary Keane, SeΡn Brogan, Colm Higgins and Kevin.
“They were all starting at the start of the year. If there was five gone and we coped well, we knew if there was six gone, we’d cope well again. It shows the depth throughout the squad.”
Half-time came and Walsh recalls ‘a bit of a grilling’ from management for taking ‘the foot off the gas’ towards the end of the half.
Their fallen leader, Kevin Keane, crutches in tow, then took the floor.  
“You could see it in eyes, he was psyched. You could see how much it meant to him and that definitely spurred us on,” recalls Scott.
“He was saying it wasn’t about him, it was about the panel, it was about the team,” adds Walsh. “And that was proved yesterday, six lads missing and six lads came in and proved themselves. Davy Horan came in and played an unbelievable game. As good as a full game, coming in after ten minutes.”
Westport’s wing-back is full of praise for the young guns in the squad, particularly their teenage full-forward line.
“They’re class,” exclaims Walsh. “Just lump the ball into them and they’ll win it. Every day they deliver, it’s unreal. Oisin [McLaughlin] should have got man of the match, not this fella,” he adds with a smile, pointing to Scott.
The Westport midfielder actually nods in agreement. He admits he was worried late in the game though, and says ‘relief’ was his dominant emotion at the end of the game.
“We were afraid of getting extra time again, the legs were gone, thank God it didn’t go to that,” he admits.
But their high-octane play was, says Scott, reward for the efforts they put in running on the nearby Greenway twelve months ago.
“We started off in January/February last year, just up here besides at Lambert’s Hill, up the hill, down to the Quay, all the way back in, trying to keep with [Brian] McDermott,” recalls Scott.  
“You started off a bit shaky, the rest of us started off all right,” interjects Walsh.
No egos, although the homecoming they got on Sunday night would swell even the most modest of heads. Between 3,000 and 4,000 people turned out to show their support.
“The scenes when we came home yesterday … we got off at the Courthouse and there was people everywhere going mental. It was unreal, savage,” says Walsh.
A fitting end to the club’s greatest day.