Derry vs Westmeath

[AN other]

The Westmeath team to play Derry on Sunday at Celtic Park shows one change from the side which beat Laois with Damien Healy coming into the side.

Damien Healy, introduced as a sub against Laois, retains his place at midfield with Paul Bannon, moving to the 40, Alan Mangan moves to full forward to the exclusion of Peter Tormey.

Dessie Dolan passed a late fitness test on his injured hamstring and has been included in the side.

Westmeath: Gary Connaughton, Francis Boyle, Michael Ennis, Kieran Gavin, Alan Rigney, Donal O'Donoghue, Derek Heavin, Martin Flanagan, Damien Healy, Fergal Wilson, Paul Bannon, John Smyth, Dessie Dolan, Alan Mangan, Denis Glennon
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Could be a good game on Sunday, think it could tell alot about what is to be expected of Westmeath for the rest of the league, people were generally surprised by the level of performance against Laois.
Healy in midfield is interesting, he's not your traditional high fielding, ball winning midfielder, but himself and Flanagan are a pretty mobile pair, and Bannon is likely to be back helping out in the ball winning department. The Bradleys and Maldoon will be a nice test for a relatively inexperienced back line and it will be interesting to see if Kieran Gavin and Budge Rigney can build on their improvement against Laois.
I'd rather see Tormey getting another chance or two ahead of John Smyth, I don't think he offers much.

If anyone could provide me with directions of how to get to Celtic Park from the Coleraine direction it would be much appreciated...

[Bogball XV]

take the road for L'Derry and Limavady, drive straight, following the signs to Derry, handiest way might be to follow signs for strabane then, this should take you into the waterside, there cross the old foyle bridge and take a left immediately, drive along for about a mile and there should be signs pointing up to the right for Celtic Park/Brandywell - an hour would do the trip easy.
Alternatively try these:
Travel
(miles) and
then to
take total
(miles)
0.00 Start out at Coleraine,Lderry A2 0.00
0.05 Bear left onto Waterside - A2 A2 0.05
0.03 Continue forward onto Strand Road Strand Road 0.08
0.59 At Strand Road Roundabout take the 3rd exit onto the A29 (signposted Londonderry)  A29 0.66
0.42 At Greenmount Roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Dunhill Road - A29 (signposted Londonderry)  A29 1.08
7.16 Continue forward onto the A37 A37 8.24
5.24 At Killane Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Ballykelly Road - A2 (signposted Londonderry)  A2 13.48
0.43 At Station Road Junction continue forward A2 13.91
0.54 At Lisnakilly Roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Ballykelly Road - A2 (signposted Londonderry)  A2 14.45
1.61 Continue forward onto Ballykelly Road - A2. Entering Ballykelly  A2 16.07
4.98 Continue forward onto Clooney Road - A2. Entering Greysteel  A2 21.05
5.42 At Maydown Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Clooney Road - A2 (signposted Londonderry)  A2 26.47
1.26 At Gransha Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Clooney Road - A2 (signposted Londonderry)  A2 27.73
0.27 At Caw Roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Clooney Road - A2 (signposted Omagh, Dublin) Entering Londonderry  A2 28.00
1.64 At traffic signals turn right onto King Street - A2 (signposted City Centre)  A2 29.65
0.09 At Waterside Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Waterside Link - A2 (signposted City Centre)  A2 29.73
0.28 At Duke Street Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Duke Street - A2 (signposted City Centre)  A2 30.01
0.27 Turn right onto Craigavon Bridge Upper Deck (signposted City Centre)  Craigavon Bridge Upper Deck 30.28
0.25 At Carlisle Roundabout take the 1st exit onto Abercorn Road - B507 (signposted Letterkenny)  B507 30.53
0.35 Turn left onto Cooke Street Cooke Street 30.87
0.02 Bear right onto Windmill Terrace Windmill Terrace 30.89
0.18 Bear left onto Lecky Road Lecky Road 31.07
0.07 Turn right onto Brandywell Road Brandywell Road 31.14
0.14 Turn left onto Lonemoor Road Lonemoor Road 31.27
0.10 Arrive at Brandywell Ground,Lderry Unclassified  31.37
- Section time 0:50, Total time 0:50 - -




© Automobile Association Developments Limited
Automobile Association Developments Limited accepts no liability for the accuracy or contents of the information provided by this Service or for any losses resulting from its use.
The recommended route is the route that we consider to be the quickest and easiest (but not necessarily the shortest) based on average off-peak driving conditions.

http://www.aaireland.ie/routes/

[AN other]

Cheers Bogball, thanks very much.

[Maroon Heaven]

Will be great to see how Healy and Flano operate at midfield.  I think Healy is an excellent servent of Westmeath Football and reads the game very well.

[the green man]

there cross the old foyle bridge and take a left immediately, drive along for about a mile and there should be signs pointing up to the right for Celtic Park/Brandywell - an hour would do the trip easy.

even handier, go over the upper deck of the bridge, straight on, through the lights, park her up at Long Tower, down the steps under the fly over and your at the lower turnstiles ( if they are open) Failing that go on up Stanleys Walk take left and your there

[never kickt a ball]

Teamwork An Port. What's the score now?

[anportmorforjfc]

still the same, second half only started

[never kickt a ball]

1-04 to 2-05 to westmeath at half time

[anportmorforjfc]

Derry 1-05 3-06 Westmeath

[Maroon Heaven]

Great Result yesterday by the Lakelanders , Martin Flanagan was outstanding again at Midfield. Excellent work rate by all the players and showed great hunger throughout.

Maithu Thomas

[Croí na hÉireann]

Another unexpected win for the Lakers according to the experts...  There was only one team in this from the off and apart from either side of half time the result never looked in doubt. Derry were in a word, awful. That is apart from the class of Enda Muldoon, kept them in it. Westmeath are playing some lovely football at the moment and are flying fit. The future looks bright with Shaugho, Keane, Davitt, Gary Dolan and now Healy to come back.

Rigney and Gavin are settling in well and look completely different players than those that lined out against Dublin. Rigney was up and down the pitch all day and didn't look out of breath once. Nachie did a good job on Paddy Bradley but was he carrying an injury??? Donal O'D struggled against Muldoon to put it mildly and someone with a bit more height, Nachie probably, should have been switched on him. Francis Boyle and Heavin looked their solid selves.

Flan had a quieter game than last week but still shone in parts. Fitness needs to improve though. Bannon was quiet enough too and probably wasn't helped with all the moving around.

Dessie was in a word, class. His play for the third goal summed him up. Lifted the ball at full speed, brushed off his marker, and sent in an inch perfect ball over the last defender to Budda's chest. He is orchestrating everything from the half forward line and even cowardly assaults from behind can't keep him quiet. Lost count the number of times he was back inside the 21 bringing the ball out. Glennon at last had a good game for Westmeath, ozzed skill and actually took the right option instead of heading down cul de sacs. Budda took the goal well and some points of note too. Great to see Connellan back so soon and Wilson in such good form. Smyth worked hard but can't see him near the team once May rolls around.

Substitutions were a bit strange from O'Flaherta, Tormey must have been on the field only 5 mins before he was taken off and didn't seem to be carrying an injury. Paddy Martin only lasted till half time after replacing Healy in the first 5 mins. It's a testament to this mans character that he continues to train and play for Westmeath at his age even though he's only guaranteed a bit part role, certainly compared to recently departed prima donnas... Farrell again looked a player when he came on and surely deserves to get a start soon.

All in all very encourging for the Lakers and hopefully they'll get a big turnout in Mullingar in two weeks to thank them for their efforts so far. Trip to Derry was well worth it for those that ventured, fair play all.

[AZOffaly]

A grudging well done to Westmeath yesterday. 2 great wins for ye. Another 1 or two of them and ye'll be in Division 1 next year again, which would be a great bonus for ye.

Who is this Gavin lad?

[Croí na hÉireann]

Plays for Shamrocks is all I really know about de lad, along with Rigney (from Tyrrelspass) hasn't looked out of place since the Dublin game. Good to see that O'Flaherta is not only keeping tabs on the underage structures but willing to have confidence in them, augers well for the future...

Division 1 next year would be indeed a bonus and should be our minimum target now after our great start. Still there's a world of difference between 1A and 1B but it would be great to be up there next year with the Kerrys, Tyrones and Mayos. Won't mean diddly squat though if we don't beat the Slashers on the 13th May...

[AN other]

Westmeath were definitely out of the traps earlier in this one, had 1-3 or so on the board before Derry seemed to have left the dressing room, they appeared disinterested for most of the match after that barring a small period here and there.
Kieran Gavin looks like he could turn out to be a very decent player at this stage, and if Rigney keeps his game to game improvement up it'll be interesting to see if Healy makes the move back to defence come championship.
Although Derry were poor nothing more could have been asked of Westmeath. They were moving the ball very well at times, and never looked like they were in danger of loosing this one.
Dolan deserves another special mention, he has a great footballing brain and work ethic to complement his undoubted skill. The pass for Buddah's goal was nothing but sheer class. He isn't notching up the same type of scores from play that he has done in the past, now playing that bit deeper, but personally, I think he's contributing a whole lot more. Getting players involved, holding the ball up, taking the right option almost every time.
It's a bit early in the year to be getting excited but there certainly seems to be good reason to be optimistic about the year ahead.

[Iarmhí Abú]

AZ, are you looking up the family tree to see is this another long lost relative on the WH side.  He is a young lad that has been very impressive at underage level recently and is highly thought of around Mullingar.