Tight battle expected between Tubberclair and Tang

With local pride, bragging rights and a place in the Westmeath Intermediate Championship final at stake, this Saturday's clash between Tang and Tubberclair in Pairc Chiarain (5pm) is likely to be a tight and tense affair. Tubberclair qualified for this stage by virtue of topping their group, while Tang withstood a late rally by Ballinagore to successfully emerge from their quarter final at Cusack Park. With the two meetings between the teams this year resulting in a win apiece, neither manager is expecting an easy passage to the final. "A game like this will come down to the basics and it could be decided by the kick of a ball," said Tubberclair boss Tom Lennon. "At this stage of the championship everyone knows that if you lose then you're gone for another year and nobody wants that. It's easy to focus lads at this time of year." Because they topped their group, Tubberclair's last competitive game was over three weeks ago, while Tang's quarter final was played on the weekend before last. "That's one of the downsides of getting through at the group stage. Tang had a tough quarter final against Ballinagore and now they're coming into this game with momentum because of that. From our point of view you try to build momentum with training and challenge matches but it's not the same," said Lennon. Tubberclair expect to be without David O'Brien and Thomas Doogan, who are both in training but have not fully recovered from recent injuries. Meanwhile Ian Coffey has been carrying a calf injury in recent weeks but Lennon is hopeful that he'll play a part in Saturday's encounter. At the time of going to press there were no injury concerns in the Tang camp. Manager Sean Burke said that, while his players sat back a bit more than he would have liked towards the end of the Ballinagore game, he has been pleased with the team's championship progress to date. "At the start of the year we set ourselves a target of reaching the semi final but now that we're here we'd like to go a bit further," he said. Both managers spoke about the difficulties of training and playing championship football during the wet and miserable summer, but Burke hoped that the possibility of a dry spell in the lead-up to Saturday could result in a faster game. Asked about Tang's prospects, he said: "We feel we have a good, solid team. Tubberclair are very experienced so we know we have a battle on our hands on Saturday. It'll depend on who goes out and plays well on the day. But we're quietly confident. We certainly won't fear them anyway." Lennon pointed out that there's been little to separate the teams in several of Tubberclair's outings this year and he predicted Saturday will be no different. "Everyone wants to get to a county final, and derby games like this are always tense. There are bragging rights at stake but we'll have no excuses. We'll give it everything we have, and hopefully that will be good enough." The other semi final takes place at Lakepoint Park at 7pm on Saturday, and it sees Ballynacargy face Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall.