Westmeath reaching the 2020 Joe McDonagh Cup final would be 'huge', says Aonghus Clarke

The truncated season has brought with it tweaks to the 2020 Joe McDonagh Cup competition.

Firstly, there will be no pathway through to this year's All-Ireland Championship - a route through which Laois shocked Dublin in 2019.

It comes as a blow to the sides competing, but Westmeath's Aonghus Clarke feels the qualifier game is just a "bonus" for the Joe McDonagh finalists.

"The big thing for winning the Joe McDonagh is getting to play in Leinster the following year. It is great to go through and play the qualifier game, but that's more of a bonus," said Clarke. The Lake County lost to Carlow and Laois in the competition's final over the last two years respectively.

"The big thing for teams is to win the Joe McDonagh and get up the following year.

"It's a little bit disappointing that we don't have the follow-through, but the year that's in it, the big thing is to win and get up for the following year. I don't mind too much."

There is an added incentive to reach the Joe McDonagh Cup final in 2020, with the decider being held as a double-header with the All-Ireland final.

"It would be huge [for Westmeath hurling]," Clarke said.

"We played the last two years in Croke Park before big games, so it's really just we want to win it this year, and get up to that Leinster Championship for next year.

"Just the profile of being up on that stage on the big day. Even this year, being up in Division 1 of the National League was a huge profile. It just encourages hurling around the county. It's fine for the players who are playing, but it encourages everybody to get behind it. And then youngsters are looking up. It's good long-term for Westmeath, for us to be at that level. There's a bit more excitement and enjoyment around it."

Playing against the big guns in Division 1A during the springtime brought Shane O'Brien's team forward.

"We definitely made progress," Clarke continued.

"Realising that you're in that league back in November and December, you realise you need to up your game. So the training is automatically more intense. And when you come to the game then, it took us a while. The first game against Galway, we were off the pace.

"The big thing is consistency. We did well against Cork and we did well against Limerick. Next year, if we can put a string of consistent performances together it would be great.

"I think it was definitely positive for the first year up there. And the fact that we won the relegation match against Carlow and got to stay up for next year was huge."