Lake County face Cavan in All-Ireland championship
Westmeath will host Cavan in the first round of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship following the draw on Monday at Croke Park.
The draw was conducted by GAA director general Tom Ryan and chairperson of the CCCC Brian Carroll. Westmeath will play Dublin in the Leinster final on May 17 knowing that they are guaranteed at least two further games in the championship. That was a big target for Westmeath at the start of the Leinster championship and victories over Longford, Meath and Kildare have made it possible.
Mark McHugh’s side will host Cavan at TEG Cusack Park on the weekend of May 30/31 and they will be reacquainted with former manager Dermot McCabe, who departed at the end of last season. Cavan defeated Westmeath by four points in the National League in February, 2025. The rest of the first round draw is Dublin v Louth, Cork v Meath, Monaghan v Mayo, Kerry v Donegal, Galway v Kildare, Armagh v Derry.
The eight winners of the Round 1 ties will be drawn against each other in Round 2A. The four winners from this stage progress to the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals. The eight losers of the Round 1 ties will be drawn against each other in Round 2B (knockout).
Mark McHugh said: "We’re facing Dublin in two weeks, and then two weeks after that we’ll have a home game in Mullingar (All-Ireland championship), and that’s where we want to be."
Seeing the Westmeath fans out in big numbers gave the team a big boost on Sunday, McHugh revealed, and a big following is set to head for Croke Park on Sunday week. After that, TEG Cusack Park will be host a bumper crowd for the meeting with Cavan.
“That’s probably the pleasing aspect, as a man coming into Westmeath, last year and this year the crowds weren’t great. And I think I said at the start of the year, in the O’Byrne Cup, we want to give the Westmeath people a team to support,” said McHugh.
“And I think after the Meath result they got out today and supported, and please God, in two weeks’ time, it will be an even greater crowd. I know you’re probably not going to outnumber Dublin, and Dublin haven’t been in a Leinster final in a year or two! But we’ll give it a good rattle in two weeks’ time,” he added.