Ronan Wallace of Westmeath, Aidan Forker of Armagh, Tadhg Morley of Kerry, Diarmuid Murtagh of Roscommon and Ciaran Caulfield of Meath during the launch of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship at Trim Castle. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Westmeath set for Salthill invasion

Damien Maher

Published: Wed 3 Jun 2026, 3:20 PM

Last updated: Wed 3 Jun 2026, 3:50 PM

Westmeath will face Galway in their All-Ireland SFC round 2A clash on Sunday, June 14 at Pearse Stadium, Salthill.

The All-Ireland SFC Round 2A showdown is listed for a 2pm throw-in.

Pearse Stadium has a capacity of approximately 27,000 so there will be concern among the growing fan base. Over 20,000 supporters travelled to Croke Park and Westmeath heavily outnumbered Cavan at TEG Cusack Park last Saturday. Thousands of Westmeath supporters will be heading to Salthill for the big game.

Tickets will be released for sale on the GAA's ticketmaster site (on gaa.ie) at 12 midday on Thursday.

The game will be shown on the GAA's streaming service, GAA+.

The winner of the Pearse Stadium encounter will advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The last time Westmeath reached that stage was in 2006 and, interestingly, the Lake County men did so thanks to a famous win over Galway in Salthill.

Westmeath were defeated by Galway (the other county who wear maroon and white) in round robin games in both 2023 and 2024.

The loser of the Galway vs Westmeath game will still have another chance to reach the last eight as they will meet one of the round 2B winners in the third round.

Westmeath captain Ronan Wallace said the team re playing with great belief and they will be ready for Sunday week’s clash.

“It’s a tough draw, but any team you are going to face at this stage will be tough. We have had a couple of battles with them in 2023 and '24, so we know what they are about. They have a great forward and a great defence. They’re obviously going well under Padraig (Joyce) - they are probably one of the top two or three teams in the country at the minute,” he remarked.

“So, we will need to be at our very best, but I know we’ll go down there with full belief that we can get the result.”

All-Ireland SFC fixtures

Saturday, June 13

Round 2A: Donegal v Cork, MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey, 3pm.

Round 2B: Monaghan v Roscommon, St Tiernach's Park, 4.30pm (GAA+); Kildare v Kerry, Cedral St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, 5.30pm; Derry v Meath, Find Insurance Celtic Park, 7pm (GAA+).

Sunday, June 14

Round 2A: Louth v Armagh, Páirc Grattan, Inniskeen, 1pm (RTE); Galway v Westmeath, Pearse Stadium, 2pm (GAA+); Tyrone v Mayo, O'Neill's Healy Park, 3.30pm (RTE).

Round 2B: Cavan v Dublin, Kingspan Breffni Park, 2pm.