Close affair expected as old rivals battle for final place

In the age-old football rivalry between Westmeath and Offaly, a new chapter will be written when the counties meet in this Sunday’s Tailteann Cup semi-final at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm).

I bumped into an Offaly supporter last week outside Tullamore hospital and, after the initial pleasantries, the talk soon turned to the upcoming match. “If Westmeath are any good, they should win by about six points,” declared the Offaly man, a regular spectator at games involving his county. Such pessimism about one’s own team is quite common among GAA supporters.

However, the available evidence suggests that Sunday’s game should be a close one and a case can be made for either side to come out on top. Indeed, the last competitive clash between the counties was a tight affair, with Westmeath winning a Division 3 league game by a single point in 2019.

When the teams for this year’s inaugural Tailteann Cup became known, Cavan were installed as favourites with the bookmakers. Nothing has happened since to alter that situation, with Cavan showing they deserve the mantle of favouritism with the way they dismissed Ulster rivals Fermanagh in their quarter-final.

Westmeath have been priced as second favourites behind the Breffni men, but it’s worth bearing in mind that of the four teams left in the competition, Offaly operated at the highest level in this year’s Allianz Football League.

Offaly competed in Division 2 and came very close to retaining their place in that flight for next year. They only lost to Cork by a single point (1-21 to 1-20) in their last league game, and a draw would have been enough to secure survival for Offaly.

Interestingly, Westmeath lost out to Cork last year in a play-off which saw them demoted to Division 3. Similar to Offaly’s clash with the Rebels this year, it was a game Westmeath could have won, but even a scoring tally of 0-25 wasn’t enough.

This year’s league campaign also saw Offaly defeat Down and draw with Meath. And John Maughan’s charges scored 3-10 in their defeat to a Galway team now preparing for the All-Ireland quarter-finals as Connacht champions. It’s a form line which indicates the capability within the Offaly ranks and the very difficult challenge they will present to Westmeath on Sunday.

In addition to the benefit of playing higher level opponents in this year’s league campaign, Offaly football has been boosted by last year’s All-Ireland U-20 triumph, with the Faithful County defeating Westmeath along the way. This success has brought an infusion of belief and youthful talent into the Offaly panel, thereby increasing competition for places.

Some of last year’s U-20 players are already making an impact. Jack Bryant (the star forward on the successful U-20 team), Rory Egan and Keith O’Neill started in Offaly’s recent win over New York, while Cathal Flynn and Morgan Tynan were introduced as substitutes. Both O’Neill and Flynn scored goals and the talented Bryant contributed two points.

The Offaly attack still has veteran Niall McNamee providing inspiration, while his Rhode colleagues Anton Sullivan and Ruairí McNamee will also take watching.

Offaly did fall to a surprise defeat to Wexford in the first round of this year’s Leinster championship, but they went into that game with several injury setbacks and they are much stronger in terms of personnel now.

Westmeath’s aforementioned ranking as second favourites for the Tailteann Cup is probably based on the potential within the side. This was shown by the way Westmeath pushed Mayo close in last year’s league and Kildare in the championship. And though they didn’t come as close to beating Kildare this year, Westmeath scored 2-15 in last month’s Leinster semi-final defeat, playing some excellent attacking football in the process.

Yet Westmeath’s overall form in 2022 has been patchy and they were particularly poor in their league defeat at home to Longford. That display was far from a true reflection of the capabilities of this Westmeath team, but in general this year, they have struggled to deliver a consistent performance over 70-odd minutes.

In their clash against Kildare, Westmeath mixed some fine play going forward with the concession of 1-21 and Kildare were able to carve open up the defence with alarming ease at times. Ronan Wallace has been one of the leading lights in the Westmeath team this year, but much of the centre-back’s best work has been going forward. And if he makes those trademark forays forward on Sunday, other players will have to plug the gaps. Wallace relishes going forward and often creates chances for others by doing so, but he doesn’t appear to be a natural man marker and this is something the Westmeath management will need to factor into their plans.

Jason Daly has shown himself to be an excellent shot stopper since he emerged on to the Westmeath team, but kickouts have often proved a troublesome aspect of his game and this was seen again in the Kildare match. Of course, that is not all down to Daly - outfield players have to provide viable targets to receive the ball if the keeper opts to go short. But as was shown with Donegal’s problems in the first half of last Sunday’s match against Armagh, going short with kickouts can have disastrous consequences when they go wrong.

Discipline will also be of crucial importance in Sunday’s local derby on the Croke Park stage. Kevin Maguire’s red card made things difficult in Westmeath’s opening Tailteann Cup game against Laois, and the Caulry player’s experience and defensive guile were badly missed against Carlow. Indeed, Carlow pounced for two first-half goals and could have had a third. Such defensive lapses would definitely be punished by Offaly on Sunday.

Jack Cooney and his selectors will also hope to have Ray Connellan back in the fold after a groin injury ruled the Athlone man out of the last two games.

Wins against each other have often led to bigger things for Offaly and Westmeath. In 1997, Offaly needed a replay to overcome Westmeath and they went on to capture the Leinster title.

Offaly’s run to their last Leinster SFC final appearance in 2006 included a win over Westmeath (the last time the sides met at Croke Park).

The Lake County’s historic Leinster breakthrough in 2004 began with a narrow win over Offaly, on a day when Michael Ennis kicked the winning point for a 14-man Westmeath team (after the dismissal of Rory O’Connell).

On Sunday, there is a place in a national final at stake, albeit in the new second tier competition. Yet there is no doubt both sides will be very eager to win and, irrespective of the views of the Offaly supporter at the start of the article, Westmeath will need their best performance of the season thus far to achieve victory.