Louth Westmeath Preview

Sunday 3.30pm Drogheda

our old foes Westmeath come into town.

It is all about championship.
Every player knows it, every supporter knows it.

It may not be fair but it’s championship.

A championship win is your big break, it covers over all your faults be it in the past or present or how you are determined in the future.

Sundays game, Leinster championship game rather, means a hell of a lot to both relegated counties.

It will literally make or break 2015 for both teams, managers, both sets of county boards and supporters.

With that in mind, forget the hype about Donegal and Tyrone, for intensity Drogheda at 3.30pm is where you should be.

Now that we’ve established the poor form of both sides in the spring, it can’t be overlooked that Westmeath will have faced higher quality of opposition and that will stand to them but other than that there looks to be very little between the sides.

Midfield is our problem area and theirs too, by the looks of things.
Both teams enter the game with new midfield pairings for the first time. Huge gambles by both managers but there is no reward without risk and one of them will be rewarded Sunday evening.

John Heslin will be the best player on the field Sunday, he’s named at full forward but will dip into midfield depending on how the midfield gamble goes. Limiting his influence on proceedings will take more than his UCD teammate Paddy Reilly. He will kill us from free’s alone if we are indisciplined in the tackle.

We look to have more natural scorers on the field than them so that gives me confidence that if the game is tight we will have enough firepower to come through and come off the bench too.

Though modern day football teams don’t necessarily need a team full of footballers to get the win. It is more about attrition and organisation. That is my only worry.

Otherwise, we shouldn’t fear Westmeath, we’re on home soil and pride in the red jersey has to spur us on.

It is championship after all.

Interesting Fact: This will be Louth’s 1000th competitive game in our history!

Things to Expect:
The Mullingar Shuffle
Derek Maguire Goal
A Decky Special
John Heslin Black Card
Bressie half time show
Derek Crilly and Eoin O’Connor?
A good crowd!