Crowd of 500 can attend Westmeath game as limit raised before weekend

There was a small bit of good news for local sports fans today as the number of people that can attend the Westmeath footballers' opening championship match has been increased.

This Sunday's game between Westmeath and Laois is taking place at Bord Na Mona O'Connor Park with the throw-in fixed for 1.30pm.

A crowd of 200 was due to be allowed attend the game, with the numbers scheduled to be increased to 500, at venues with a capacity of 5,000 or more, from Monday next, July 5.

Today it was confirmed that the increase to 500 has been brought forward to Saturday, which means that 300 people more than previously anticipated can watch Jack Cooney's side in action in a repeat of the historic 2004 Leinster final pairing.

The Roscommon footballers are also in action in a big game on Sunday.

Their Connacht semi-final against Galway has been designated as a pilot event for the safe return of spectators, with 1,049 due to be allowed attend the fixture in Dr Hyde Park.