Athlone and Garrycastle pitted together in Westmeath SFC draw

The line-ups for the football and hurling championships in Westmeath were made at last Thursday’s Westmeath county board meeting - with the attractive meeting of Athlone and Garrycastle taking place on the first weekend of fixtures.

Champions St Loman’s – boasting a magnificent full-forward line which now includes talented Offaly attacker Ken Casey, as well as Westmeath star John Heslin – face Killucan in the opening round.

Fixtures secretary Pat Reilly informed clubs that full fixtures booklets will be distributed to clubs in the first week of March. He said that the first round of fixtures has been provisionally fixed for the weekend of June 7/8, with the first round of football championships pencilled in for the weekend of June 14/15.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Westmeath’s senior footballers are knocked out of the first round of the Leinster SFC, however, this arrangement will be reversed - with the first round of the football championships running on June 7/8, and the hurling on June 14/15.

The full programme of structural and first round draws for the various club championships is as follows:

Senior football championship
Section ‘A’: St Loman’s Mullingar, Mullingar Shamrocks, Maryland, Castledaly, Killucan, The Downs.
Section ‘B’: Tyrrellspass, Garrycastle, St Malachy’s, Bunbrosna, Coralstown/Kinnegad, Athlone.

First round fixtures: ‘A’ – Mullingar Shamrocks v The Downs, Killucan v St Loman’s, Castledaly v Maryland. ‘B’ – Garrycastle v Athlone, Coralstown/Kinnegad v Tyrrellspass, Bunbrosna v St Malachy’s.
The top team in each section qualifies directly for the semi-finals, with the second playing third (from opposite sections) in the quarter-finals. The bottom teams from ‘A’ and ‘B’ will contest the relegation playoff.

Intermediate football championship
Section ‘A’: Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall, Ballynacargy, Ballinagore, Ballymore, Rosemount, Tang.
Section ‘B’: Milltownpass, Caulry, Tubberclair, Mullingar Shamrocks, Shandonagh, St Mary’s Rochfortbridge.

First round fixtures: ‘A’ – Ballymore v Ballynacargy, Tang v Ballinagore, CFCW v Rosemount. ‘B’ – Mullingar Shamrocks v Caulry, St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge v Tubberclair, Milltownpass v Shandonagh.
The top team in each section qualifies directly for the semi-finals, with the second playing third (from opposite sections) in the quarter-finals. The bottom teams from ‘A’ and ‘B’ will contest the relegation playoff.

Junior football championship
Section ‘A’ (sole junior clubs) first round fixtures: St Paul’s, Clonmellon v Multyfarnham; Milltown v Loughnavalley; Moate All-Whites v Ballycomoyle; Kilbeggan Shamrocks v St Joseph’s; Delvin a bye.
Section ‘B’: Tubberclair v Coralstown/Kinnegad; Garrycastle v St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge; St Loman’s, Mullingar v Athlone, Killucan v Caulry.

Knockout draw is as follows: Quarter-finals – 1. Section ‘A’ 3rd v Section ‘B’ 2nd. 2. Section ‘A’ 4th v Section ‘B’ 1st.
Semi-finals – 1st in Section ‘A’ will play the winner of quarter-final 1; 2nd in Section ‘A’ will play the winner of quarter-final 2.

Senior hurling championship
Open draw, eight teams playing each other across over rounds. First round of fixtures: St Oliver Plunkett’s v Lough Lene Gaels, Castletown-Geoghegan v Raharney, Castlepollard v Delvin, Clonkill v Crookedwood.

Semi-finals: 1 v 4, 2 v 3. Bottom two teams play off, and will be relegated to intermediate in 2015.

Intermediate hurling championship
Open draw, ten teams playing each other over nine rounds. First round of fixtures: Ringtown v Raharney, Fr Dalton’s v St Brigid’s, Turin v Castletown-Geoghegan, Clonkill v Southern Gaels, Cullion v Brownstown.

Semi-finals: 1 v 4, 2 v 3. Winner promoted to SHC for 2015 if a sole intermediate club. No relegation.

Junior ‘A’ hurling championship
Open draw, six teams playing each other over five rounds. First round of fixtures: Castlepollard v Lough Lene Gaels, Clonkill v Crookedwood, St Oliver Plunkett’s v Raharney.

Semi-finals: 1 v 4, 2 v 3. Bottom two teams in relegation playoff, with the loser relegated to Junior ‘B’ for 2015.

Junior ‘B’ hurling championship
Open draw, seven teams playing each other over six rounds. First round of fixtures: Brownstown v Fr Dalton’s, Delvin v Turin, Cullion v Southern Gaels, Ringtown a bye.

Semi-finals: 1 v 4, 2 v 3. Winner promoted to Junior ‘A’ for 2015.