Westmeath football championships heating up

The Westmeath Senior Football Championship will gather serious momentum this coming weekend as round three takes place, with quarter-final places still very much up for grabs.

Section ‘A’, which is home to the stronger senior teams, sees Coralstown/Kinnegad lead the way from St Loman’s Mullingar, though only on scoring averages, with both sides having secured a win and a draw from their opening two games. St Loman’s beat The Downs in the first round, but were held by Coralstown/Kinneagd in the second; the latter overcame Caulry in their opening match before securing a share of the spoils the last day.

Reigning champions The Downs are depleted in the absence of key players such as Niall Mitchell and Conor Coughlan and need a victory to reignite their campaign when they meet Coralstown/Kinnegad on Saturday evening.

Lar Wall’s charges are chasing a first win: they were held to a draw against Killucan the last day and lost to St Loman’s, Mullingar in the opening round. Ahead of Saturday's key derby encounter, they are some way off where they would like to be at this point.

By contrast, Paschal Kellaghan’s Kinnegad side look quite impressive having beaten Caulry and drawn with St Loman’s - the latter result achieved courtesy of a gritty second half display against the Flanagan Cup favourites.

St Loman’s meet Tyrrellspass on Saturday next at TEG Cusack Park and it’s a game the Mullingar men are fully expected to win. Tyrrellspass were beaten by Caulry the last day and while they did secure a 0-12 to 0-9 win over Killucan the first day, that kind of form doesn’t look strong enough to threaten Paddy Dowdall’s charges. Ronan O'Toole, John Heslin and Shane Dempsey give them a clear edge. Tyrrellspass will need Ger Egan, Kieran Geraghty and Dean McNicholas to inspire a big performance.

Elsewhere, Section ‘B’ sees some crucial games also down for decision on Sunday, in particular the meeting of Mullingar Shamrocks and Garrycastle: Shamrocks have a win under their belt, but are far from safe, while Garrycastle have lost their first two games and are slipping into the relegation zone, something that will certainly focus the minds.

The loss of marquee forward Alex Gardiner has been a major blow for the former kingpins and their resources are being stretched with injuries to other players.

Moate All Whites and Tang meet in a top of the table clash, while Athlone (also under severe pressure at this stage after two defeats) take on Shandonagh. Losing is not an option for either side.