Westmeath to face familiar foes in All-Ireland football qualifiers

Westmeath have been drawn at home to Armagh in the first round of the All-Ireland senior football qualifiers.

It will be a repeat of last year's second round meeting when the Orchard men eliminated Westmeath in a fractious encounter at TEG Cusack Park.

The counties also met in this year's Allianz Football League Division 3, with Armagh winning comfortably in Mullingar (2-17 to 1-11). Armagh went on to secure promotion, also defeating Fermanagh in the Division 3 final. However, Fermanagh overturned that result in the Ulster championship, 0-12 to 0-7, in a game where Armagh performed way below expectations.

Following their very disappointing 4-13 to 1-12 defeat to Laois in last Saturday's Leinster quarter-final, Westmeath now face a very difficult task in lifting themselves for the clash with Kieran McGeeney's charges.

A significant statistic from the Laois game was that nine players who started last year's match against Armagh were not part of the starting XV last weekend.

The first round of the qualifiers are due to take place on June 9-10, with Westmeath's game against Armagh likely to be played on Saturday, June 9.

Confirmation of venues, times and dates for all fixtures will be confirmed following a meeting of the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) tomorrow (Tuesday).

The stand-out game in the draw is surely Meath's clash with Tyrone in Navan. Elsewhere, Derry take on Kildare, Offaly have been drawn at home to Antrim, while 2017 All-Ireland finalists Mayo are away to Limerick.
 
All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round 1
(Home team named first)
Derry v Kildare
Meath v Tyrone
London v Louth
Wicklow v Cavan
Offaly v Antrim
Limerick v Mayo
Westmeath v Armagh
Wexford v Waterford