Any word on Flanagan....?
(I note The Sunday Game omitted the potential importance of his being injured and included him as one of the problems the Dubs will have to face)
Any word....?
i saw he went off at halftime
wot happened to him?
There is a rumour circulating that he may have done his cruciate. He would be a massive loss. We are gathering momentum and he is back near his best. It would be a terrible blow to lose him now.
From the Indo:
Cruciate fears for Westmeath stalwart Flanagan
Monday June 09 2008
THE only negative for Westmeath on Saturday evening was the possibility of a serious injury sustained by in-form midfielder Martin Flanagan.
The Tyrrellspass man was visibly struggling towards the end of the first half and didn't appear on the restart when he was replaced by David Duffy.
"We don't know how he is at the minute but we fear it could be the cruciate," said Westmeath manager Tomas O Flatharta. "Martin was a big loss to us. He had been playing great but hopefully we'll have him back again."
Westmeath had a more than adequate replacement in David Duffy and the Kerry native praised the impact the Shandonagh man made on his introduction.
"David had been very unlucky not to get his place [from the start]. But it's fantastic to have a guy like him coming in. He is developing and getting very strong and he is being assisted by other lads.
"It's a local derby. It was always going to be a tough contest. I thought we started well in the first 15 minutes or so we put up a few scores. We were fortunate in that Offaly missed a few scores partly because of our defensive work and a few of them were off form in their shooting."
O Flatharta agreed that his team always seemed to have the edge on their opponents and pointed to the goals as crucial.
"Towards half-time we slowed down the game a bit and they came back into it," he said. "In the second half we started off well and we got the goal but in fairness to them they came back into it. We got another goal and we started playing football then."
- Donnchadh Boyle
I saw this lad playing for Westmeath against Armagh in the league this year and it was as good an individual performance as I've seen in the last ten years.
He will be a massive loss for Westmeath
I'd agree, my first question after the Dublin game yesterday was how they would handle Flanagan. He has been excellent every time I've seen him this year.
Terrible blow for the guy.
After half-time, Flanagan walked back down the side of the field with the Westmeath subs. He only had a small bandage on his knee, with a small pad or similar on the inside of that. He didn't seem to be visibly limping to me, so I'd say he will most likely be OK for the Dubs game.
N.B. I have no medical basis to make the above assessment, just what I saw myself.
From hoganstand.com -
Westmeath fans are breathing a massive sigh of relief after scans revealed that stalwart midfielder Martin Flanagan hasn't suffered a cruciate ligament tear.
According to county board sources, however, the injury could still be serious enough to force him to miss the Lake County's Leinster SFC semi-final against Dublin on June 29.
The Tyrrellspass clubman, who has been Westmeath's outstanding performer this year, was forced to retire at half-time in Saturday's win over Offaly at Tullamore after landing awkwardly as he put in a challenge on Offaly's Thomas Deehan. It was immediately feared that he had ruptured his cruciate ligament - an injury which usually takes up to nine months to recover from and would almost certainly have ended Flanagan's long career in the maroon and white jersey.
But the 32-year-old received good news on Monday and will now endeavour to win the Leinster medal which he missed out on in 2004 when he was controversially omitted from Paidi O Se's squad.
Meanwhile, Westmeath manager Tomas O Flatharta's request to have next weekend's scheduled senior and intermediate football championship games postponed so that his team can prepare for the Dublin game without any distraction has been granted.
I see the oul club fixtures are shunted the minute the County team starts looking like going anywhere
good news, great player who could be useful for a diggin match at the aussies down under later in the year!id say he could look after himself if a ruckus were to start
Quote from: hitzelsperger on June 09, 2008, 07:41:41 PM
good news, great player who could be useful for a diggin match at the aussies down under later in the year!id say he could look after himself if a ruckus were to start
Funnily he's not that type of player at all. Probably never has had to be given his physical stature, he just gets on with the game.
Great to hear the cruciate isn't the problem. Would be a sad way to be forced into re-retirement...
I do think Flanagan's form has dipped a bit since the league though. He hasn't played as well in either the Longford game or first half of the Offaly game as he did during and throughout the league and I feel he may be struggling slightly with the pace of the championship games, especially in the heat.
Having said that I would much rather have him available against Dublin but in my opinion, Duffy is now our most important midfielder and his second half introduction against Offaly helped to swing it in our favour early in the second half.
Quote from: AN other on June 10, 2008, 01:55:54 PM
Great to hear the cruciate isn't the problem. Would be a sad way to be forced into re-retirement...
I do think Flanagan's form has dipped a bit since the league though. He hasn't played as well in either the Longford game or first half of the Offaly game as he did during and throughout the league and I feel he may be struggling slightly with the pace of the championship games, especially in the heat.
Having said that I would much rather have him available against Dublin but in my opinion, Duffy is now our most important midfielder and his second half introduction against Offaly helped to swing it in our favour early in the second half.
i thought he was outstanding against Longford A.N Other
didnt see the Offaly game though.
Maybe I am being a bit harsh on him for the Longford game. He wasn't particularly poor in either match to be honest but he never reached the heights (literally and metaphorically....) he reached in the Monaghan and Dublin league games in either in my opinion and I do think the heat affected him in both.
Duffy has missed out on most of the televised games (televised is a very loose term when RTE (shower of amateurs) are involved of course) this year apart from the second half of the Offaly game and I think he has escaped under the radar a little which could be very useful for Westmeath against Dublin if midfield focus is put on Flanagan.
On reflection saying he is more important than Flanagan may be a little over the top but both of them on top form are immense. I just think Flanagan might struggle to find his league form in the championship whereas Duffy proved his worth against Offaly.
AN Other - Do you not think the fact Dublin were without Fennell and Whelan against Westmeath helped Flanagan look so good?
flanagan has been one of the best players in leinster for years , i can vouch for that. he probably doesn;t have the athletic abiliity he once had but he's still a hell of a player. he's probably more a centre forward though and i imagine duffy will start and flanagan will go to centre forward, but don't underetimate flanagan anywhere inside 45 yards it generally goes over.
Westmeath will win Leinster the year.
Quote from: INDIANA on June 10, 2008, 10:17:12 PM
flanagan has been one of the best players in leinster for years , i can vouch for that. he probably doesn;t have the athletic abiliity he once had but he's still a hell of a player. he's probably more a centre forward though and i imagine duffy will start and flanagan will go to centre forward, but don't underetimate flanagan anywhere inside 45 yards it generally goes over.
If Flanagan does play against Dublin I don't think it'll be anywhere other than midfield.
Of course Dubsforsam, Flanagan and the whole Westmeath team only performed reasonably well that day because half the Dublin team were missing. We all know that already.