Westmeath face long trip to Kerry

Despite the undoubted heartbreak of watching his charges being denied a landmark victory by a late, late Tyrone goal, Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flatharta was in an upbeat mood in the immediate aftermath of the Lake County"s fourth consecutive NFL Division One defeat in Cusack Park last Sunday. 'Maybe we came out the wrong end of it as regards the result, but that"s not always what counts ... it"s the performance, the attitude of the players and the work-rate. I thought we saw that in abundance today and I"m very pleased with that,' Ó Flatharta stated. Ultimately, however, as former Irish soccer supremo, Mick McCarthy once famously said, 'management is a results-driven business', and Tomás was asked specifically about the crucial dropping of two more league points when victory was there for the taking. 'Oh, points would have been fantastic and the lads themselves realise that and they"re gutted inside there (in the dressing-room) at the moment. We got a goal in the 69th minute and you felt that we had it at that stage. Maybe a few things went against us in the last second or two, but you know that"s the game and it"s never finished till he (the referee) blows that little whistle that he has,' the Kerry native opined. He was, naturally enough, keen to look on the positives and reiterated: 'I would just like to go back to the performance - I felt it was very encouraging. When you consider that there"s a lot of those lads who are only 18 years of age and putting in a performance like that against the All-Ireland champions, that to me is very positive.' When asked by the by-now standard question about his injury list, the former Kilmacud Crokes man stated: 'We would hope to have Dessie (Dolan) back soon. Donal O"Donoghue probably won"t be back for another few weeks. That"s about it, I suppose,' he concluded, with his post-comment sigh an indication of his justifiable frustration in this regard. It is non-stop action for Ó Flatharta at the moment and, wearing his under-21 bainisteoir"s bib, he will patrol the line on Saturday afternoon next in Parnell Park as his young troops face Dublin in the Leinster semi-final (2pm). 'We have about five or six of those lads (the seniors) who will be playing in that and we have to pare them down a small bit this week. Then we have Kerry the following day (in the fifth game of the NFL) and we have to travel down to Tralee on the Saturday night. 'Next Saturday is very important as regards the future of Westmeath. Again we"d want to put in a good performance. I"ve seen Dublin play there two weeks ago. They"re a very strong, physical, big team and we"ll be up against it. They"re playing in their back garden as well, so it"s going to be a big challenge for us.' Unfortunately, that squad has not been free of injury concerns either and Tomás confirmed the rumours that marquee forward John Connellan 'fell off a horse a week ago and he"s very doubtful at this stage'. However, it seems that the initial doom and gloom in 2009 of all Westmeath Gaels has abated somewhat after a recession-beating performance last Sunday against the best in the land. Maybe, just maybe, the county"s senior footballers have got over their early-season fall and are metaphorically regaining control in the saddle again.