Interesting Mullingar derby ahead in senior football championship
With two fixtures remaining in the group phase of this year's Westmeath senior football championship, an opportunity to claim the Flanagan Cup remains a live prospect for a number of clubs.
The Downs appear to be heading for top spot in Section ‘A’ and a place in the semi-final, but who joins them is very much in the balance. One of the biggest games this weekend is the Mullingar derby at TEG Cusack Park on Sunday (6pm). Although losing to Athlone in the previous round, Mullingar Shamrocks remain a threat and if they win on Sunday, they will move above their neighbours.
However, St Loman’s, Mullingar, will be keen to recover from their heavy defeat against The Downs last time out and the return of Sam McCartan will be a boost. John Heslin is battling with injury, though and that is an obvious concern for manager Paddy Dowdall.
Mullingar Shamrocks, who suffered a humbling experience against Coralstown/Kinnegad in the previous round, will need big displays from Darragh Daly and Conor O’Brien at midfield, and Paddy Fagan and Dean Moore in attack. They are an improved outfit despite the recent loss and it makes for a very interesting contest with the reigning champions not quite at their best.
Elsewhere, Tyrrellspass, without Nigel Harte, face a big task against Jack Cooney’s Coralstown/Kinnegad side.
Athlone - despite their surprise loss to Tyrrellspass in round three - are placed second in Section A which, if held at the conclusion of the round robin games, will see the Shannonsiders advance to the semi-final stage of the competition.
Athlone face The Downs, who have comprehensively dispatched all opposition to date in the championship. The game will take place in Rochfortbridge on Sunday with a 3pm throw-in. A return to winning ways for Athlone would go a long way to ensuring Eoin Jordan's team feature in the knockout phase of this year's competition, but with the Section A table so congested, a loss would have Athlone fearing a drop to Section B for the 2026 championship.
All teams in Section A have claimed at least one championship victory to date and will be optimistic of their chances of knockout phase progression.
Meanwhile, Garrycastle continued their unbeaten start to life back in the senior championship, with a comprehensive defeat of St Malachy’s last Sunday week.
With three successive wins, Gary Dolan's team are primed to advance to the quarter-final stage of the competition where, on current form, they will be a match for the third or fourth place finishing team in Section A.
Caulry provide the opposition for Garrycastle in TEG Cusack Park on Saturday at 4.30pm.
The Mount Temple/Baylin club followed up their opening fixture loss to Killucan with wins over St Malachy's and Tang and a third successive win over Garrycastle would place Pat Flanagan's team in a strong position to advance to the quarter-finals. Caulry will play Moate All Whites in their closing Section B game.
Moate All Whites continue to impress on their Flanagan Cup journey. Comfortably dispatching Killucan in their second round robin fixture, with strong performances from the in-form Robbie Forde and Daragh Lowry, they will be favourites to see off the challenge of St Malachy’s when the teams meet in TEG Cusack Park on Saturday at 6.15pm.
A win for Val Daly's team would, similar to Garrycastle and Caulry, put them in a strong qualification position and set up the tantalising prospect of a potential ‘winner takes all’ final round clash with Caulry as Section B draws to a conclusion.
Tang remain winless from their opening three fixtures. Having held a five-point lead at half-time in their recent championship encounter against Caulry, they must win their next outing against Killucan to have a realistic chance of avoiding the drop to intermediate championship football in 2026. This game takes place as in Rochfortbridge on Sunday at 1.30pm.