Search Results for 'Dessie Dolan'

This weekend sees the quarter-finals of the Westmeath senior football championship down for decision. Cusack Park will host a double header on Sunday evening with the prize on offer a place in the semi final where Garrycastle and St Loman’s lie in wait.

I don’t think Paddy Power has as yet offered outright odds on the Westmeath senior football championship but even if he had he would probably be paying out on Garrycastle at this stage. I felt Mullingar Shamrocks were the only side capable of stopping Anthony Cunningham’s men from completing the hat-trick. Last weekend however the reigning champions had little difficulty in seeing off the rather tame challenge of an underwhelming Shamrocks side. That they did this without the services of Dessie Dolan, Paul Dillon, and Shane Mulvihill up front is all the more noteworthy. While the sides could yet contest the decider it is difficult to see how Shamrocks could reverse the result.

After a break of almost two months the Westmeath football championship springs back into action this weekend with a full set of third round games down for decision. In recent years we have seen a number of teams struggle to maintain form after the extended break while others come back with all guns blazing. With the big guns on both sides of the draw set to go head to head, it is at the bottom of the table where the most intriguing clashes will take place.

Lightning isn’t supposed to strike twice but unfortunately for Westmeath footballers their dismal showing in Wexford was repeated in Casement Park last Saturday as they were put to the sword by an Antrim side.

The score line says it all. Wexford were simply in a different class to a Westmeath side which had no answer to the movement and scoring power of their opponents. With a few notable exceptions Westmeath were outclassed in almost every sector of the field.

Westmeath footballers have a glorious opportunity of reaching this year’s Leinster decider despite a tough opener away to Wexford. The provincial draw has been very kind to them as they avoid the big guns of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Laois. If they can clear their first hurdle in Wexford Park tomorrow evening (Saturday) then they will face either Louth or Carlow in a semi-final. It is hard to look beyond a Louth win over Luke Dempsey’s men in that one and they would hardly instil fear in Westmeath.

Westmeath learned their opposition for their upcoming Leinster quarter-final when Wexford easily brushed aside the challenge of Offaly in Tullamore last Saturday. I fancied Offaly to prevail on home turf but in truth they were no match for a much slicker and sharper Wexford outfit. Westmeath must now make the long journey to Wexford Park for a 5pm throw-in (the powers that be must think nobody works on a Saturday) and the game will be followed by the meeting of Kilkenny and Wexford in the Leinster hurling semi-final.

By Tríona Doherty

Westmeath footballers will be hoping it’s a case of third time lucky when they take the field against Louth in Croke Park this Saturday evening at 7pm. Louth came out on top when the sides met in the championship last summer and again in the first round of this year’s league campaign.

If Carlsberg did league fixtures they couldn’t have organised it any better than the way this year’s final round of league games has panned out. There will be plenty of excitement and drama up and down the country this weekend as the final pieces in the promotion/relegation jigsaw are put together. Cusack Park, Mullingar will host the mouth-watering clash of old rivals Westmeath and Offaly in what is essentially a winner takes all contest. Whichever side wins gains promotion to division two, though a draw would also suffice for Offaly.