Glennon eyes Dubs duel after Longford triumph

WESTMEATH’S reward for beating Longford on Sunday is a Leinster quarter-final meeting with Offaly in Tullamore, but Dennis Glennon’s eyes are already being drawn towards the last four and a possible meeting with Dublin.

The Lake county were the last side to defeat the Dubs in the provincial arena, their two-point win in the 2004 quarter-final proving the launch-pad for their first ever senior Leinster championship title.

Before that, another local derby stands in Westmeath’s way and, seeing as he is currently stationed in Tullamore, Glennon is in for a colourful four weeks before the next game at O’Connor Park.

“I’m working in Offaly as a guard so I suppose I will get loads of it off the other boys. The only thing is, we are going very well and if we keep going the way we are we can hopefully get the result we want and then we would have the Dubs where we want them.”

The victory two days ago was Westmeath’s first in the provincial championship since they claimed the trophy back in 2004. Defeats to Kildare, Offaly and Longford followed and Glennon admits it was a wound that needed dressing.

“It was something that was held over our heads by our own crowd and we wanted to put it right. It was a mental barrier that we had to get over and hopefully now we can go from strength to strength.”

The past three years weren’t all doom and gloom for the county. An All-Ireland quarter-final was reached in 2006 but experienced wing-back Damian Healy believes Sunday’s win was a more important breakthrough for the current side.

“There was a lot of guys on the team who had never won a Leinster Championship match and it is great for them to get that win under their belt.”

As Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flatharta said after the game, they have work to do between now and the tie in Tullamore after having an eight-point lead whittled down to two at one point on Sunday.

The 1-10 conceded to Luke Dempsey’s side was the largest concession of scores Westmeath have allowed since an O’Byrne Cup game against Dublin in mid-January. The goal they coughed up was the first since mid-February.

“We were disappointed with the second-half performance, we were well up on them but let them back into it,” said Glennon. “In the second-half, for maybe 15 minutes, we were back to our own habits of kicking the ball away, not tracking back and doing other things we weren’t supposed to do. Relieved with the win, but that’s about it.”