Westmeath
Tom Cribben used 30 players in this year’s league and he had 13 different scorers. After they were relegated Cribben called out some of the senior players who weren’t stepping up to the plate. They have responded by winning two Leinster Championship games, beating Louth in Drogheda and dispatching of Wexford by nine points.
Westmeath football is in a strange place right now. It is a young side, nine players from the U21 side that reached the Leinster final in 2010 have been named to start, three others played U21 this year. The quality is there, it is, but they have failed to show it over the past few years.
They have won just five of their last 15 championship matches dating back to 2010 and the last time they won more than two championship in the same year was 2008.
That 2010 season was a missed opportunity, Louth pipped them by two points in the Leinster semi-final. The following season was a write-off, a twelve-point defeat to Wexford, followed by a six-point qualifier loss to Antrim. They should have knocked Kerry out of the 2012 qualifiers, losing by a point in Mullingar. Dublin were of course too strong in 2013, before they blew it in injury-time against Fermanagh. Westmeath did not win a game in league or championship in 2014.
The thing is though, John Heslin, Paul Sharry, Ger Egan, Kieran Martin, Kevin Maguire, Paddy Holloway and James Dolan are a core of very good footballers under the age of 25. Add in the returning Kieran Gavin and Denis Glennon and Westmeath you would imagine should be very competitive, but they cannot just wait for it to happen. Beating Meath, a team they have never beaten before in Championship football, would be the perfect place to start.
Westmeath XV:
Darren Quinn
(5 apps)
Killian Daly - Kevin Maguire - John Gilligan
(9 apps) (9 apps) (7 apps)
Paddy Holloway - Kieran Martin - James Dolan
(9 apps) (9 apps - 3-06) (4 apps - 1-01)
Paul Sharry - Daragh Daly
(8 apps - 0-02) (7 apps - 0-01)
Ray Connellan - Ger Egan - Denis Corroon
(8 apps - 1-08) (9 apps - 1-10) (1 app)
Lorcan Smyth - John Heslin - Shane Dempsey
(9 apps - 0-03) (9 apps - 0-45) (7 apps - 1-12)
Meath XV:
Paddy O’Rourke
(8 apps - 0-06)
James McEntee - Conor McGill - Donnchadh Tobin
(4 apps - 0-02) (7 apps) (8 apps)
Mickey Burke - Donal Keogan - Bryan Menton
(8 apps - 0-01) (7 apps) (8 apps - 1-07)
Harry Rooney - Kevin Reilly
(3 apps) (3 apps - 0-01)
Graham Reilly - Padraic Harnan - Andrew Tormey
(8 apps - 2-13) (7 apps - 2-02) (5 apps - 1-14)
Bryan McMahon - Stephen Bray - Michael Newman
(4 apps - 0-03) (6 apps - 1-08) (7 apps - 1-31)
Meath
For the second year running Mick O’Dowd’s side have fallen just short of promotion into Division One. It is probably accurate in terms of where this Meath squad are right now, a season of heavy defeats in Division 1 would do no good. There is a core of quality footballers in the county, but a distinct lack of experience when O’Dowd has to dip into the second tier of player.
O’Dowd has done a lot to change the face of his squad since the 2013 season. Just four players who played in this year’s Leinster quarter-final win started a Championship match in 2012.
On paper the Wicklow score was pretty alarming. Finishing with 13 men, they hit 3-12 in Navan, enough to win most Championship games, 70% of the last 20 Leinster SFC ties in fact.
For Meath though, it was a game where a number of panelists got vital experience. There were six players blooded, the midfield pairing had one start between them and four of the back six were making their full Championship debuts.
For Sunday, there’s five changes and unsurprisingly three in defence. Menton and Burke return, while Conor McGill, minor captain in 2011 makes his debut at full-back. In midfield, Kevin Reilly replaces Adam Flanagan while Michael Newman comes in for Joey Wallace in the full-forward line.
While they fell just short of promotion, it was a solid league. O’Dowd used 30 different players and Meath had 19 scorers over the seven games. They finished with the best points difference in the division, mainly due to the fact they conceded less than anyone else. That settled defence that impressed in the league pretty much is back together for Sunday.
STAT: Westmeath don't have history on their side vs Meath this weekend http://t.co/hLPvhsrtg4 #offtheball #GAA pic.twitter.com/7RkzkSj5my
— Newstalk Sport (@NewstalkSport) June 25, 2015
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