Westmeath facing clash with All Ireland champions

Things are certainly not getting any easier for relegation-threatened Westmeath, with All-Ireland champions Tyrone set to visit Cusack Park this Sunday (2.30pm). With Tyrone having lost to Galway last Saturday night (their second defeat from three games), Mickey Harte"s team will be very determined to return to winning ways in Mullingar. A depleted Westmeath side lost to Mayo on a 1-13 to 0-8 scoreline at Charlestown last Sunday. The result - Westmeath"s third successive defeat - leaves the men from the Lake County rooted to the bottom of the Division 1 table (see page 35). 'It was a disappointing performance and the scoreline was disappointing as well, even though we had a lot of possession In the first half, we probably should have kicked a few more scores; we kicked a lot of ball into the goalie"s hands, even in the second half as well. We were left to rue a lot of chances and we probably held on to the ball a bit too long as well at times,' said Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flatharta last Sunday. It was a youthful Westmeath side which was on duty last Sunday, with six under-21 players tasting action over the course of the game. 'Yeah, we had a lot of new lads starting today, we"ve had a lot of injuries, but we"re not using that as an excuse, it"s an opportunity to try out new lads,' said Ó Flatharta, who agreed that Mayo"s greater experience had a significant bearing on the game. 'You have to realise that, for a lot of those lads, it"s their first game and some of them are only 18 years of age. In heavy conditions like that, it was difficult for them. But we can"t use those things as excuses. Mayo were the superior team.' Key forward Dessie Dolan, the versatile Donal O"Donoghue, Athlone"s Dermot Bannon and Keith Scally were all unavailable for last Sunday"s game due to injury, with Martin Flanagan and Fergal Wilson still on the long term casualty list. Worryingly, Ó Flatharta said he doesn"t expect any of those players to return to action for the Tyrone clash, although Dessie Dolan himself did not rule out playing some role in Sunday"s game. 'I"d be surprised if any of them will be back at this stage. They"re going to be out for another few weeks. It"s going to be tough for us next Sunday, coming up against the All-Ireland champions. It"s another chance for lads to show what they can do, if they get another opportunity,' said Ó Flatharta. 'Our options are very, very limited (at the moment) ... but we just have to keep going,' he added. However, John Smyth could return to the Westmeath team on Sunday after missing the Mayo game through suspension. The Westmeath defence was rightly lauded in 2008 for their capacity to make life very difficult for opposing attacks, but it"s been a very different story so far this season. And another soft goal, scored by Mayo centre-forward Trevor Mortimer, was conceded last Sunday. 'I suppose you have to look at that all through (the field), where does all that happen? It really starts in the forward line, where we start defending. Maybe it"s an area that we need to look at and see if we can bring improvement there,' remarked Ó Flatharta. When asked if there is any prospect of Westmeath avoiding relegation, the Westmeath said: 'For us at the moment, we have to look at areas where we can improve ourselves. We knew it was going to be tough in Division 1.' In last year"s All-Ireland qualifiers, Westmeath lost to eventual All-Ireland champions Tyrone by only four points in Omagh, despite playing a large part of the second half with just 13 men. But Ó Flatharta insisted that last year"s infamous game will have no bearing on Sunday"s encounter. 'What happened last year is last year, we have to move on from that, we had a completely different team out there (last Sunday). We just have to gather ourselves together and look forward to next Sunday.' After Dublin"s 0-12 to 2-5 victory over Colm O"Rourke"s Meath U-21 side in the Leinster quarter-final last Saturday, Westmeath will now face the Dubs in the provincial semi-final. The semi-final clash has been fixed for Saturday, March 21 at Parnell Park (2pm). With Westmeath facing an away clash with Kerry on March 22, Ó Flatharta is naturally unhappy over the timing of the U-21 semi-final. 'Those (U-21) lads have to play (for the seniors) next weekend; there seems to be a crazy fixture where we have to play Kerry on the same weekend that we have to play the Leinster U-21 semi-final. I don"t know how we"re going to come around that but it seems to be crazy, whoever made the decision, that the two of them will be on around the same time. We talk about burn-out and stuff but I think that"s going too far with it.' Meanwhile, Roscommon - who are now on top of Division 3 following last Sunday"s win over Longford (see page 33) - travel to Drogheda on Sunday to face Louth (2.30pm).