Wary Westmeath know the score

WHATEVER about the message it sends out to Dublin, their opponents in the Leinster SFC semi-final on June 28 for the second successive year, Westmeath, accept the reality of their situation, facing up to the champions on the back of a disastrous League campaign and a display against Wicklow in Tullamore at the week-end that was anything but convincing.

Yet, manager Tomás O Flatharta’s post-match comment that ‘if you were a pundit you would not give them any chance’ hardly reflects his true feelings about taking on a team they defeated in the Division 2 League final last year and ran to two points in the championship.

The problem is the circumstances are quite different from the perspective of doing so badly in the premier division and having to deal with a succession of injuries, which were added to on Sunday when centre-back Derek Heavin, midfielder John Duffy and centre-forward John Smyth (who left the venue on crutches) were all forced off.