Crunch time for Westmeath ladies footballers

Westmeath and Cavan lock horns at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park on Sunday (1pm) in a battle to avoid relegation.

The winners of this TG4 All-Ireland SFC relegation play-off will play Senior Championship football again in 2023, with the losers heading to the Intermediate ranks.

Cavan lost all three of their group fixtures against Dublin, Mayo and Tipperary to finish at the bottom of Group A, while defeats to Kerry and Galway saw Westmeath prop up Group C.

Emma Morrissey’s late, late penalty goal was good enough for Tipperary to beat Cavan last weekend and the Breffni ladies must lift their heads quickly for this crunch tie.

Westmeath, meanwhile, were crowned Intermediate Champions last year and will be anxious to avoid an immediate return to that grade.

Cavan have made two changes in personnel to the team that started against Tipperary, with Elaine Walsh coming in between the sticks for Elaine Brady, as Áine Reilly replaces Geraldine Sheridan in attack.

There are two changes to the Westmeath team that started against Galway last time out.

Aoife Temple replaces Aoife O’Donnell in goal, with captain Ciara Blundell coming back into the side, as Kiara Giles drops out.

Sunday’s game will be available to view live on the LGFA’s subscription service.

Cavan v Westmeath; Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, Longford, 1pm – Live here

Cavan (v Westmeath): E Walsh; K McIntyre, S Lynch, E Longair; S Greene, L Fitzpatrick (capt.), M Sheridan; N Byrd, A Deneher; N Keenaghan, L McVeety, A Walls; A Cahill, Á Reilly, A Gilsenan.

Westmeath (v Cavan): A Temple; M Fagan, M Scally, A O’Malley; N Nolan, A Alford, F Coyle; V Carr, T Dillon; C Kelly, S Dillon, K Boyce-Jordan; C Blundell (capt.), K Hegarty, L Power.