Belief the key for new-look Westmeath says Flanagan

A potentially very difficult Allianz NFL Division 2 campaign got underway for Westmeath with a three-point defeat to Louth at Haggardstown last Sunday, and with the somewhat daunting challenge of Meath coming next on the agenda (Sunday, Cusack Park, Mullingar, 2.30pm), Pat Flanagan's depleted panel are going to find it tough to register their first points of the 2012 league series. Minus their Garrycastle contingent, including Dessie Dolan and Doran Harte, Westmeath went into last weekend's league opener without several other possible starters. They held their own in the opening half, and led by 1-3 to 0-5 at the interval, largely thanks to a first competitive senior goal from Maryland's Callum McCormack. However, with Paddy Keenan inspiring Louth, Westmeath eventually slumped to a 0-12 to 1-6 loss. Speaking ahead of the meeting with Meath, who Westmeath have a pretty dismal record against over many years, Westmeath manager Pat Flanagan said they need to believe they can compete against the Royals. "For sure, Westmeath have not enjoyed too many victories over Meath in the past, and we have a very young crop of players at the moment, but we have to go into the game believing we are good enough to compete at this level (Division 2), and also that we can get enough positive performances and results to stay alive in the division. Meath got off to a winning start last weekend (against Monaghan), and they're far more experienced than Westmeath. "We know most people are looking at Westmeath as relegation fodder, especially after losing to a so-called fellow relegation candidate last Sunday. But last year we suffered a very heavy defeat to Louth in the first game of the Division 3 campaign, and actually failed to win any of the opening three matches, yet we stuck together, worked extremely hard as a group, and remained positive. Eventually, we built up a bit of confidence, a bit of momentum, and the lads quickly realised they had the potential and ability to perform against any team in Division 3. We won our last three league matches last season and won promotion. We're obviously a bit disappointed to lose our first game against Louth, but there's plenty of time to recover, and I'm hoping we can give Meath a very competitive game," said Flanagan. Flanagan hopes his midfield options will be boosted by the return from injury of Darragh Daly, but Ger Egan is not expected to be available for at least another couple of weeks, Flanagan said. "We have to take the positives from the Louth game. It's a very inexperienced team we have at the moment, and we did very well for long periods against Louth. The experience of Paddy Keenan brought Louth through in the end, but we're happy with a lot of things we did. Trevor English (Tang) did very well, particularly in the first half, as did Aidan Finnan, but we lacked a bit of experience at crucial times and it told in the end. We only had three players starting that played against Louth in last year's Division 3 final, but the lads we have at the moment are giving everything they have, and you have to credit them for that. "I'm sure it'll be no different against Meath, and hopefully we can turn in a good performance and get off the mark in Division 2. Getting a good display, and hopefully a positive result, against Meath, would be a huge boost to everyone that's involved," said Flanagan. Div. 2 Allianz NFL Fixtures Sunday, February 12 (2.30pm) Westmeath v Meath, Cusack Park Monaghan v Kildare, Clones Tyrone v Derry, Healy Park Galway v Louth, Pearse Stadium.