Westmeath and Meath name teams for Leinster quarter-final
The Westmeath team for Sunday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final against Meath shows one change from the side which claimed a comprehensive win over Longford last weekend.
Milltown’s Conor Dillon, who scored three points off the bench against Longford, has been drafted into the starting team in place of Shane Ormsby.
Westmeath will again be without both Jonathan Lynam (The Downs) and Boidu Sayeh (Rosemount). Mark McHugh was glad to report no fresh injuries after the Longford victory, with the Westmeath manager having words of consolation for Lynam, who suffered the dreaded cruciate ligament injury in the last round of the league against Wexford.
“Johnny Lynam pulled up with a cruciate from the Wexford game, which was very unfortunate for him. He played on not realising it was done. I’m heartbroken for him," said McHugh.
"It’s not easy to tell a man his year is over, not only with the county, but probably for his club as well. He’s a machine, Johnny Lynam, and you know if there’s any man to get back early and do everything to the letter of the law, it’s him. He’s a big part of our squad and we wish him all the best.
“Boidu (Sayeh) picked up a very, very bad hamstring injury in that same game as well. He’s probably going to be sidelined for a while, and then we have other men out like Sam Smyth and Brian Guerin. We picked up a few injuries like every team, but we just have to manage them and get on with it,” McHugh continued.
McHugh was pleased with the impact off the bench against Longford, with the subs introduced contributing six points.
“I want to see boys taking their chances, and that is down to what they are showing me at training. Conor Dillon cut through them and that’s what you need, you need fresh legs when maybe people are starting to get a wee bit tired. He took the game to them and he puts himself in contention. I have a difficult job picking a team next week (for the Meath match), but I want people chomping at the bit, ready to go and ready to put on the jersey and fight for every position on the field,” added McHugh - see more in separate article here
Meanwhile, Meath manager Robbie Brennan has kept faith with the team which started their recent Division 2 league final victory over Cork.
The Leinster SFC quarter-final between Westmeath and Meath will take place at Glenisk O'Connor Park, Tullamore on Sunday at 2pm.
Westmeath (team vs Meath): Jason Daly; Daniel Scahill, Charlie Drumm, Tadhg Baker; Ronan Wallace, Shane Allen, Matthew Whittaker; Brían Cooney, Ray Connellan; Kevin O'Sullivan, Sam McCartan, Conor Dillon; Shane Corcoran, Luke Loughlin, Brandon Kelly.
Subs: Jack Connaughton, Adam Treanor, Tom Molloy, Robbie Forde, Senan Baker, Devin Hill, Shane Ormsby, Danny McCartan, Eoghan McCabe, Jack Duncan, Harry Niall. Standby players: TJ Cox, Stephen McGonagle, Eoghan Hogan, Conor McCormack.
Meath (team vs Westmeath): Seán Brennan; Seamus Lavin, Seán Rafferty, Brian O'Halloran; Donal Keogan, Seán Coffey, Ciarán Caulfield; Jack Flynn, Bryan Menton; Jack O'Connor, Ruairí Kinsella, Cian McBride; Jordan Morris, Eoghan Frayne, Aaron Lynch
Subs: Billy Hogan, Ronan Ryan, Killian Smyth, Cathal Hickey, Keith Curtis, James Conlon, Oisín Martin, Jason Scully, Adam O'Neill, Charlie O'Connor, Conor Duke. Standby players: Ronan Jones, Conor Gray, Ross Ryan, Cillian O'Sullivan.