O'Byrne Cup ...

It's hard to believe that it was 31 years since Westmeath last won the O'Byrne Cup ... it seems that it is only possible when Mullingar Shamrocks are reigning county champions as three of the four wins have been landed when Shamrocks hold the Flanagan Cup (with one or two handles).

Shamrocks had yet to escape from junior in 1959 when Westmeath first won the cup. Westmeath again won in 1964 two weeks after Shamrocks won their first senior title with two of the Shamrocks half-back line, Frankie Connaughton and Kevin Higgins playing. Kevin Higgins was goalkeeper on that occasion when Westmeath beat Carlow and Frankie Connaughton was corner-forward. In 1988 Westmeath beat Laois with a young boy called Tom Ormsby captain and the only Shamrocks representative on the team. That was it until 2019 when Killian led the way.

A Shamrocks connection is obviously important for teams with designs on winning the O'Byrne Cup as back in 2012 DCU won the title. The DCU captain was Kieran Gavin with brother Davy making a significant impact when introduced to the game.