Wexford 'not world beaters' insists Flanagan

Westmeath's Leinster championship campaign gets underway with what manager Pat Flanagan describes as "a difficult assignment" away to Wexford on Saturday (5pm, Wexford Park). Dessie Dolan has been struggling with a hamstring injury in recent weeks, but Flanagan said he was hopeful that the experienced forward would be in a position to return for this weekend's clash. Fergal Wilson and David Duffy are serious injury concerns, with Duffy's chances of playing rated "50-50" by the manager. Michael Ennis, who had been a long-term absentee, returned to inter-county in the recent challenge match against Galway. He picked up a slight knee injury against Galway, which is separate from his previous injury, but is expected to take a place on the subs' bench. The Westmeath boss recently dashed from his team's drawn challenge match against Roscommon to watch Wexford make an ideal start to their championship journey, defeating Offaly by a 14-point margin in Tullamore. Asked for his impressions of that encounter, the Offaly native replied: "Wexford are an impressive team. They're big, they're fit and they can certainly play. I was a bit disappointed with Offaly's performance on the day. "But we know we have a difficult assignment ahead of us, particularly given that the game is in Wexford." "The fact that they have a championship game under their belt is always an advantage. "They're a fairly well-settled team with the same manager in place for a few years, so they'll be looking at this as a great opportunity to progress. "We're a young side with a lot of new lads coming through. From our point of view, I think our away victory in the league against Limerick is one to look at. "That was probably the highlight of our league campaign. It was a game where we were under a lot of pressure but we stuck to the task and dug out a win in difficult circumstances. We'll be looking to do something similar this weekend." The last time these teams met was in the league last March, when Wexford travelled to Mullingar and came away with a victory (0-13 to 1-7). Flanagan said he wouldn't read too much into that game. "At that stage we were still getting ourselves together and we were missing the likes of Denis Glennon, Dessie Dolan and our under-21 lads. I don't think you can dwell too much on that result at this stage of the year." He also said that in Westmeath's recent challenge matches - which they lost to Armagh, Meath and Galway, before drawing with Roscommon - the focus was not on the results but on giving certain players "a chance to play their way into contention." One such player was Darragh Daly who, Flanagan said, "came into midfield and played very well, giving us another option there." The manager said he was baffled to hear the Westmeath team being described as "defensive" in certain quarters. "I find it curious to hear people talk about us being a defensive team. We scored 1-19 against Waterford and 0-19 against Offaly (in the league). We wouldn't be getting those kinds of scores if we were playing defensively. "We know Wexford are going to be on top of their game this weekend. We'll have to take the game to them as best we can, because while they beat Offaly by a good score, they're not world beaters." If Westmeath can overcome this hurdle, the fact that Dublin and Kildare are on the other side of the draw could provide a great opportunity to reach the Leinster final. When asked about his side's prospects of reaching the provincial decider, Flanagan said: "We can't look further than the Wexford game at the moment. But I think any team, prepared properly, with the talent that we have, should be able to do well. "We're a young side, and that may work against us at times, but I do believe that if we play to the best of our ability we are certainly capable of getting to the Leinster final if not further," added Flanagan.