Published: Wednesday, 10th February, 2010 5:00pm

Hackett hopes doubtful trio will be available for trip to Armagh

WESTMEATH manager Brendan Hackett is keeping his fingers crossed this week that three of his more experienced players will be fit in time to face Armagh in this Sunday's NFL Division 2 clash at Crossmaglen (2.30pm).

Both Kieran Gavin and Francis Boyle were named on the teamsheet to face Donegal in last weekend's league opener at Cusack Park, a game Westmeath lost by seven points (1-13 to 0-9), but picked up injuries during the pre-match warm-up and were unable to play.

Denis Glennon, Westmeath's top marksman on the day with five points, including four from open play, also limped out of the action with a shoulder complaint on 43 minutes, leaving Westmeath short on attacking guile for most of the remainder, although Glennon did return to the fray late on.

With the likes of Dessie Dolan, John Keane, Derek Heavin and Martin Flanagan currently unavailable to the set-up, Westmeath can ill afford to be without Boyle, Gavin and Glennon, all of whom are rated doubtful ahead of Sunday's trip to Armagh.

Gavin captained his club Mullingar Shamrocks to the 2009 U-21 FC title last Friday night, when they defeated neighbours St Loman's in the final.

Hackett is desperate to have Gavin, along with Boyle and Glennon, available on Sunday in order to provide some much-needed experience and quality to the side.

Speaking after last weekend's loss to Donegal, Hackett said: "My first thought is to recover and to get ready for Armagh, and we have to make sure we have Kieran Gavin back. Hopefully Francis Boyle and Denis Glennon will be okay, too, but it's a bit early to say."

Hackett said the trio will be carefully monitored and assessed throughout the week and that the panel will also watch a recording of last weekend's defeat at training on Wednesday evening.

The Westmeath manager said he was satisfied by Westmeath's performance during the opening 20 or 30 minutes, and hopes they can sustain that level of performance for longer periods in the coming weeks and months.

"I'm disappointed by the loss but I also have to be realistic. We only had six training sessions before the start of the league and that was the first time this team played together.

There were also a number of disruptions before the start with injuries to Francie Boyle and Kieran Gavin. They are significant players and people will say 'well, you started well', but these are significant losses and that eventually takes its toll on the team," said Hackett, who also pointed to the loss of leading forward Denis Glennon on 43 minutes as a major turning point in the game.

"Denis' loss meant we lost major firepower at a key point in the game, " said Hackett.

There were somewhat surprise inclusions in last weekend's panel for Athlone's Paul Bannon and Ger Egan (Tyrrellspass), who weren't named in the initial panel released ahead of the start of the league. Garrycastle's John Gaffey made his National League debut along with Egan, Castledaly's Tommy Warburton, Stephen Bracken (Coralstown-Kinnegad), Paul Greville (Killucan) and Gavin Hoey (Tyrrellspass).

Armagh are bound to be hugely difficult opposition for Westmeath on Sunday, with the Orchard County opening their Division 2 campaign with a narrow one-point defeat to Meath in Navan. In their last NFL meeting, Westmeath defeated Armagh two years ago in Mullingar; but repeating that feat away from home looks a very tall order.

Armagh selector Donal Murtagh said after last weekend's defeat to Meath: "We're disappointed surely.

We did enough to win the game and scored 13 points, and showed lots of hunger, passion and desire. There's a lot to work on there and we can iron out a few things. If the players give us that hunger and desire, we'll be happy men."

Kehoe Cup final

Elsewhere, the Westmeath senior hurlers will take on Kildare in the Kehoe Cup final this Sunday in Newbridge (throw-in: 2pm). The Westmeath All County Football Leagues also kick off this weekend. The meeting of current senior champions Garrycastle and 2008 winners Castledaly is the tie of the round in Division 1 (Friday, February 12, in Garrycastle at 8pm). Meanwhile, Athlone welcome The Downs to Páirc Chiaráin, while Maryland host Mullingar Shamrocks in Drumraney (both those games are down to start at 3.30pm on Saturday).

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