Tubberclair hope long wait won't take away their edge

At the second time of asking, Tubberclair will bid to host Dunlavin of Wicklow in the opening round of this year's AIB Leinster Club IFC this coming Saturday (throw-in: 2.30pm). Dreadful weather conditions during the latter part of last week meant last Sunday's scheduled meeting of the side's at Tubberclair had to be cancelled. And Westmeath and Tubberclair goalkeeper Gary Connaughton is unsure how last weekend's cancellation will hit his team mates heading into this weekend's rescheduled clash. "It's almost a month now since we won the Westmeath championship so you're never quite sure how certain lads will react to such a lengthy period without a game. It's not a question of lads losing fitness or anything, our players are in good condition at this stage of the year, but it can take away a bit of match focus and concentration. Hopefully we'll be fine and be fully tuned in," said Connaughton. The towering goalkeeper also praised the work carried out by club officials throughout last week to try get last weekend's game to go ahead. "It was very disappointing for the club and particularly those who worked tremendously hard to ensure the pitch was playable. There was a major effort put in to get it playable but sometimes there's nothing you can do about it. The weather was just terrible over the weekend and there was huge puddles on the pitch. There was no way the game could have went ahead last Sunday. We look forward to next weekend now," said Connaughton. Tubberclair, however, will be without promising young forward Ian Coffey through injury while Rory Walshe is also struggling somewhat with a calf problem. Robert Buckley was suffering from sickness last weekend and would have missed the match had it not been postponed but he looks set to play this weekend. Peter Evans, who is usually a substitute for Tubberclair, is also unavailable as he is out of the country this weekend. Speaking about Dunlavin, Connaughton admitted he's in the dark about the Wicklow men. "To be perfectly honest, and showing no disrespect whatsoever, we don't know too much about Dunlavin. It's always something of a trip into the unknown when you leave Westmeath and go into the national competition. You're never quite sure how good or bad a particular team is. But our manager Tom Lennon went to Wicklow to watch them and said they're a very physical and strong side. We can't focus too much on the opposition and need to fully concentrate on the good we can do," said Connaughton. He added: "It has been a very long campaign for us and it was fantastic to win the Westmeath championship. It would be very nice to get some sort of run in Leinster but it's always very difficult to do that. We played some brilliant free-flowing football in the Westmeath IFC final and I thought we were outstanding in parts. But it's a very different time of year now and pitches are becoming very heavy and tough to move about on. This time of year is never a great time for seeing good football and that could be the case on Saturday. But hopefully we have enough in our panel to see us through this test and reach the next round at least."