Westmeath make long trip north

While understandably pleased with Westmeath"s emphatic victory over Offaly in the Leinster U-21 FC last Saturday, Tomás Ó Flatharta has warned that Sunday"s NFL clash away to reigning champions Derry will be a very difficult game. Westmeath, who defeated Derry when the sides last met in the league (2007), face Damien Cassidy"s side on Sunday in Ballinascreen (2.30pm). Derry secured an away win over Mayo in their opening game (1-9 to 0-10), with Westmeath losing at home to Galway on the same day. While the U21 victory over Offaly is a boost to the whole Westmeath football scene, Ó Flatharta knows it will be have no bearing on Sunday"s clash with Derry. 'I suppose it"s very, very different. There are a few of the (U-21) lads on the senior panel as well. It"s a long trip up to Derry for us, I know that we won the last time we were up there. I think Derry are one of the teams who everyone will have to keep an eye on for this year. They had a great league campaign last year, the championship maybe not, but if they reflect on that, they will realise that they have some very good players. They"ve good forwards, a good midfield and some very experienced backs as well,' said the Westmeath senior and under-21 manager. 'We"re going to be up against it, but we just to keep improving ourselves. We only started four or five weeks ago and Galway showed a few weaknesses in us the last day and we"re trying to work on those.' On the injury front, Westmeath are set to be without Tubberclair"s Fergal Wilson for some time. 'Fergal is going to be out for at least another five or six weeks,' stated Ó Flatharta. On the positive side, he said David Duffy 'should be in contention' for a starting place at midfield, having been introduced as a substitute against Galway. Speaking about the U21 win over Offaly, Ó Flatharta said: 'I"m pleased enough with the performance. They moved the ball in quick to the forwards inside and I suppose they had plenty of opportunities when the ball was going in quickly. As a result, we put up a good score.' He agreed that good quality ball into the forwards played a key role in the victory. 'There"s two sides to that. The ball has go in quickly and they have to be showing for it as well. I think it worked at both ends, it was going in early and the boys were showing well. They were fairly sharp when they were in front of goal.' Ó Flatharta said he was unconcerned about his side"s inability to take some of the goal chances that came their way. 'We were creating chances all of the time, I would have preferred maybe if we went for points instead of goals on a couple of occasions (in the first half). It was the same straight after half-time, I think we hit the crossbar. Offaly, in fairness to them, did come back into it in the second half and they could have got in for a goal at any stage. There"s always a threat there, you"re never comfortable until the final whistle goes, but I think we finished strongly.' The Westmeath manager admitted he was expecting a much closer game in last Saturday"s local derby clash. 'I"m happy with the boys, they"re working hard for each other. They seem to be a fairly close knit group at the moment and they"re quite determined. Even though we did well today, we have a lot of work to do going forward.' Naturally, Tomás was pleased with the contribution of Athlone"s John Connellan, who finished with a tally of eight points. 'I think John played more of a team performance than anything else. It was good that he got individual scores, but it"s all about the team and it doesn"t matter who gets the scores - the guys who lay the ball on, or maybe the fellas who do the tackling at the other end, deserve just as much credit,' he added.