Michael Ryan has organised Westmeath’s defence ahead of Kerry game

It might be stretching matters to posit that the game of the weekend is happening in Tralee on Saturday but the simple fact of the matter is nowhere will there be more on the line.

Kerry host Westmeath in the second round-robin game of the Leinster championship and the winner will be more or less assured of a place in the knockout stages. Just as crucially, avoiding defeat will take the prospect of relegation to the Christy Ring Cup out of the equation.

That said, Westmeath’s hammering of Offaly last weekend has more or less insulated Michael Ryan’s side from that fate already. Ryan knew his team were in decent fettle heading into the game but admits the weight and heft of what transpired confounded him as much as it did the rest of us.

“I saw the performance coming, from the point of view that our training was very, very good. But I certainly in no way saw that margin of a win. Nobody in our camp predicted that final score or anything like it. That was a big surprise to us.

Attitude and spirit

“We felt going in that we were in a good place, that our tactics were good, that our training was going well and our hurling and our attitude and our spirit was all good. But having said that, we were very surprised by the scoreline.”

Westmeath’s league campaign had been notable for the fact that through eight games, they only conceded a single goal – and that on their first day out. No other team in the country were anywhere close to being that parsimonious. Offaly did manage one last week but it’s an aspect of Westmeath’s resurgence that they’ve worked particularly hard on. Circumstances demanded it.

“We had seven clean sheets in a row and no goal until last Sunday. We had to take a look at the whole thing because last year in the league final [against Kerry] we conceded five goals in the first half, including three in five minutes. There’s no point scoring 20 points if you’re conceding five goals because you can’t win like that.

“We put a good deal of work into our defence after that. It’s all about organisation and it’s all about positions on the pitch and getting everybody to buy into a system. Even though I don’t like using the word system but you’ve got to organise it some way.

“First and foremost, when we don’t have the ball, everyone is a defender. We have to work hard right throughout the pitch. A lot of goals are scored by the quality of the ball coming in from out the pitch. It’s not always the full-back line’s fault.

‘Earn the right’

“But look, it was Division 2A. We’re having to go at it at a higher standard now. If we want to be there we have to earn the right to be there.”

Early prices show Kerry as an 8 to 15 shot for Saturday’s encounter, with 7 to 4 available about Westmeath. Ryan, naturally enough, is more than happy to allow the view to percolate that this is Kerry’s to lose.

“In Division 1B, you get five quality games and you have to play for your life to stay in it. The biggest thing about being in that division is that it improves the speed of your hurling. That’s what Kerry have had in playing against the likes of Clare and Limerick. We played them twice last year – we went down to Kerry and beat them well and then they subsequently turned us over in the league final. They’ve shown themselves to be a really good team. Not only did they beat us, they went on to beat Antrim to be promoted and then they won two games in Division 1B.

“This is big stuff. The winners will probably be qualified – probably, not certainly. Both teams are coming in with a win each so it’s a big game.”