Dude's injury a concern for Roses as Tang await

Jasca Sports Westmeath IFC Quarter-Final Preview ROSEMOUNT are keeping their fingers crossed this week that influential forward David 'Dude' McCormack can shrug-off the effects of a recent ankle injury - but manager Eamonn Gallagher is holding out little hope of his ace marksman making Saturday's Westmeath IFC quarter-final against Tang at Cusack Park (6.45pm). McCormack came to the fore during the early stages of Rosemount's qualifying group, as a largely youthful Roses outfit surprised many onlookers by taking maximum points from their first three outings. During that three-game winning sequence, the 'Dude' notched five goals (as Rosemount hit a total of ten goals against Shandonagh, St Mary's and Ballinagore), but his absence was felt in the last group outing - a 3-11 to 1-5 loss to group winners Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall (C-F/C/W). Gallagher knows his physical presence in attack, and penchant for hitting the back of the net, will be sorely missed if he fails to recover in time for Saturday's game. Gallagher is also concerned the manner of Rosemount's defeat in their last outing, to C-F/C/W, will have a bad impact upon his young players. "The last game knocked us back a bit, and we're in a period of regrouping at the moment. We have a young team, when you consider four of them are minors, and Andrew McCormack and Theo Watts played U-16 football last year. It's a big step-up for a lot of these young lads. David 'Dude' McCormack looks like missing out. He's not trained or played for the past month, so it's impossible to see him contributing on Saturday. David Tone is also a slight doubt, as is Stephen Darcy, but we're hoping both those lads will be fine to play," said Gallagher. Tang were often without some key performers throughout the group stages, and it told in defeats to Tubberclair (by just a point) and Division A winners Caulry. Of late, manager Paul Conway has been able to welcome back the likes of Niall Bannon, Robert English, Alan Higgins and Dean Reddin, while scorer-supreme, Aidan Burke, is in deadly form at present, and will need to be watched closely by Rosemount. With Martin Rock affording good support to Burke in attack, Tang are also blessed with some fine performers in Colm Conlon, Kieran Duncan and Conor Marlowe, and most observers will anticipate their greater experience and physical strength playing a key role against the Roses. The victors from this quarter-final will play C-F/C/W in the last four.