PREVIEW: Connellan's return offers Athlone a Ray of hope

Ray Connellan could feature again when Athlone take on Mullingar Shamrocks later this evening (Wednesday) in their Westmeath SFC quarter-final replay (Tubberclair, 7.30pm).

The Town club were surprisingly able to call on Connellan - who sustained a broken leg in the Leinster SFC final in July - as a late substitute in last weekend’s drawn game against Shamrocks, as Tom Coffey’s Athlone came from behind to ensure a second bite at the cherry against the 2012 county champions.

Connellan had been thought hugely unlikely to play for Athlone again this year, as he continued to recover from the injury ahead of a move to the professional ranks of Australian Rules football later this month.

However, he managed to come on in the closing stages of Athlone’s draw with Shamrocks, and could also play some part this evening, said Tom Coffey, who was delighted to be able to call on the Westmeath forward.

“Look, we never expected to have Ray back in the fold, to be honest. But the Connellans are a great football family and one that’s very much dedicated to Athlone GAA.

“Ray, to be fair, was very anxious to be involved and you have to give credit to a lad like that, who really wants to be able to contribute in some shape or form.

“He wanted to play so much and that’s what the GAA should be about, so it was great to have him involved,” added Coffey.

The Athlone boss feels it would probably be asking too much of Connellan to start this evening’s replay, but it is likely he will see some action, added the Ballyfore native.

Aside from Connellan, Coffey is hopeful that a few extra days rest could see Noel Mulligan return to the side after a period of rest following concussion sustained in a recent Championship match against Caulry.

“Yeah, we think the few extra days might give Noel a good chance,” he said.

Coffey also said that John Egan and Stephen Ward, two players he stated as doubtful before the drawn match, had come through last weekend’s game without any real negative consequences and should play on Wednesday evening.

The former Tyrrellspass manager doesn’t expect that the replay will differ greatly to last weekend’s draw, saying that Shamrocks will once again deploy “a defensive system that makes it very hard for the opposition”.

“I wouldn’t see Shamrocks changing at this stage in the year. They’ve been playing defensively for some time and they’re good at it. It makes it very difficult for the opposition and we found that out last weekend.

“I felt it was a game we could have won but we played some nice football and were lively all day. The players also showed good spirit to come back from five points behind.

“But we know there’s a number of things we’ll need to do better to come through the replay, and that we need to find another level to get past a very tough team,” said Coffey.

The winners of the replay will progress to face Tyrrellspass in the semi-finals on October 16, with St Loman’s - the conquerors of Garrycastle in last weekend’s quarter-finals - playing against Killucan in the other last four bout.

Meanwhile, weekend victories for Rosemount and Tubberclair in the Westmeath Intermediate Football Championship semi-finals has set-up a fascinating county final, to be played at TEG Cusack Park on Saturday week, October 15

* See this week's Westmeath Independent for full coverage of county championship action in Westmeath and Roscommon.