High flying 'Castle aim to keep up winning ways against Bun'

REIGNING champions Garrycastle can virtually ensure a semi-final berth in this year's Westmeath SFC by beating Bunbrosna in their Division 2 clash this Sunday at Tang (6pm). In the only senior championship game this weekend, Garrycastle will look to build on last weekend's impressive 2-10 to 0-7 victory over Mullingar Shamrocks. Last weekend's comfortable win was all the more impressive given the absence of ace attacker Dessie Dolan through injury. However, county star Doran Harte is warning Garrycastle against the threat of complacency ahead of the Bunbrosna game. "Things are going very well for us in the championship, we've had three good wins, and there's a very strong panel of players at the club. But we know we've to maintain the same level of effort shown against Mullingar Shamrocks when we face Bunbrosna. If we give Bunbrosna a sniff, they'll take advantage with players like Aidan Finnan and Peter Tormey, so we've to be on our guard and play with the same attitude that we showed against Shamrocks," said Harte. With Dessie and Gary Dolan sidelined through injury, along with fellow attacker Paul Dillon, while Mark McCallon and Shane Mulvihill have gone abroad, the club's notable strength in depth will be put to the test during the final two games of the group stage. "Those boys are a loss, but we've around 30 fellas at training and any of them are good enough to get in most club teams in the county," said Harte, who expects to see Shamrocks bounce back from their heavy defeat to Garrycastle last weekend. "Shamrocks beat us in the championship group stages last year ... and that was a real awakening for ourselves. I expect Shamrocks to regroup after that and come back stronger. They'll certainly be there or thereabouts at the latter end of the championship," Harte said. Bunbrosna, who lost by five points to The Downs last weekend, have just two points from three games and badly need to get more points on the board. However, unless the form guide is turned dramatically on its head, it's difficult to see where those points are going to come from. Struggling Athlone will be keeping a close eye on Sunday's game, as they can ill-afford to slip any further behind Bunbrosna in the Division 2 standings. Athlone, who lost to Maryland last weekend, have no points from three games, and are now embroiled in a battle to avoid relegation. In Division 1 of the SFC last weekend, Castledaly achieved a much-needed win over Killucan, while a depleted Tubberclair side lost out to St Malachy's. In the other game in Division 1. St Loman's had an emphatic win over Tyrrellspass with John Heslin scoring 2-6 for the Mullingar side.