LSFC Final: Dublin v Westmeath 12.7.2015 Croke Park 2PM

[Dinny Breen]

Fantastic to see but what people don't realise that this will only be Westmeath's 4th ever Leinster Final appearance. Think about that only 4 out of 127.

My Grandad played in their 1st one in 1931, he was playing for Parnell's in Dublin at the time. The following year Dublin approached him to play for them but he declined the offer. So Sundays' game would have been a great occasion for him but I'll be there representing him and looking towards a miracle.

[Hardy]

Great stuff, Dinny. Enjoy it.

[JoG2]

That's a goodin Dinny.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Good man Dinny. Are you alright for a jersey?

[Dinny Breen]

Good man Dinny. Are you alright for a jersey?

Ha! I'm not normally a jersey wearing supporter but on occasion I wear a Kildare polo shirt, although they generally lose when I do. Thanks all the same.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Good man Dinny. Are you alright for a jersey?

Ha! I'm not normally a jersey wearing supporter but on occasion I wear a Kildare polo shirt, although they generally lose when I do. Thanks all the same.

Don't put a hex on the minors on Sunday!

[Croí na hÉireann]

                   Darren Quinn;

  Killian Daly, Kevin Maguire, John Gilligan;
Paddy Holloway, Kieran Martin, James Dolan;

          Denis Corroon, Darragh Daly;

     Ger Egan, Paul Sharry, Ray Connellan;
John Connellan, John Heslin, Shane Dempsey

John Connellan in for Lorcan Smyth only change from the semi final. John's form probably deserves it but I really liked the impact he made from the bench in the last two games.

[macdanger2]

Would be mighty to see Westmeath beat the Dubs but having watched the match the other night, if they play like they did in the first half, they'll get absolutely annihilated, way too many basic mistakes

[Lone Shark]

Have lived in Westmeath for a god few years and have been involved in a couple of clubs.
They do a huge amount of things right (take Leinster schools football ...... 24 clubs take part in the A-championship - 6 from Dublin but 5 from Westmeath and no other county with more than 2) and imo it has been a confidence thing, historical baggage, etc etc that means the average Westmeath person has a negative outlook on all things football..... when they got promoted to Div 1 it was a case of we'll be down again next year. Same at the start of this year.
Beating Meath has done wonders to address this and the Dublin result won't actually change that a huge amount.

Kildare had 3(Athy, Newbridge and Maynooth) this year, 3 1/2 if you include Edenderry (roughly half their squad or more are from Kildare clubs). Salesian, Celbridge and Naas CBS move up and down between A & B. Rathangan also won the AI B this year.

Rathangan won All Ireland "C" did they not? Also they had nearly as many Offaly starters as Kildare, though granted Jimmy Hyland was the main reason they did so well.

A lot of Westmeath's schools would draw heavily from outside the county as well - Moate CS would usually have four or five from Offaly in the side, while Marist would usually contain more Roscommon than Westmeath. Athlone CC would probably be closer to 50/50 between Ros and WH.

St Josephs in Rochfortbridge would historically have drawn heavily from Rhode and St Brigids clubs in Offaly too, though I believe that's not as much the case in recent years as Rhode lads have started going back to St Marys in Edenderry. I saw St Josephs a couple of years ago and they had just one Offaly starter, the rest were Westmeath. They had a decent side this year, not sure how many Offaly lads were involved.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Have lived in Westmeath for a god few years and have been involved in a couple of clubs.
They do a huge amount of things right (take Leinster schools football ...... 24 clubs take part in the A-championship - 6 from Dublin but 5 from Westmeath and no other county with more than 2) and imo it has been a confidence thing, historical baggage, etc etc that means the average Westmeath person has a negative outlook on all things football..... when they got promoted to Div 1 it was a case of we'll be down again next year. Same at the start of this year.
Beating Meath has done wonders to address this and the Dublin result won't actually change that a huge amount.

Kildare had 3(Athy, Newbridge and Maynooth) this year, 3 1/2 if you include Edenderry (roughly half their squad or more are from Kildare clubs). Salesian, Celbridge and Naas CBS move up and down between A & B. Rathangan also won the AI B this year.

Rathangan won All Ireland "C" did they not? Also they had nearly as many Offaly starters as Kildare, though granted Jimmy Hyland was the main reason they did so well.

A lot of Westmeath's schools would draw heavily from outside the county as well - Moate CS would usually have four or five from Offaly in the side, while Marist would usually contain more Roscommon than Westmeath. Athlone CC would probably be closer to 50/50 between Ros and WH.

St Josephs in Rochfortbridge would historically have drawn heavily from Rhode and St Brigids clubs in Offaly too, though I believe that's not as much the case in recent years as Rhode lads have started going back to St Marys in Edenderry. I saw St Josephs a couple of years ago and they had just one Offaly starter, the rest were Westmeath. They had a decent side this year, not sure how many Offaly lads were involved.

Would have got a few alright but would have been heavily outnumbered by lads along the N4 from Tyrrellspass to Kinnegad and then out to Killucan. Would have got the odd one from Ballinabrackey as well.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Have lived in Westmeath for a god few years and have been involved in a couple of clubs.
They do a huge amount of things right (take Leinster schools football ...... 24 clubs take part in the A-championship - 6 from Dublin but 5 from Westmeath and no other county with more than 2) and imo it has been a confidence thing, historical baggage, etc etc that means the average Westmeath person has a negative outlook on all things football..... when they got promoted to Div 1 it was a case of we'll be down again next year. Same at the start of this year.
Beating Meath has done wonders to address this and the Dublin result won't actually change that a huge amount.

Kildare had 3(Athy, Newbridge and Maynooth) this year, 3 1/2 if you include Edenderry (roughly half their squad or more are from Kildare clubs). Salesian, Celbridge and Naas CBS move up and down between A & B. Rathangan also won the AI B this year.

Rathangan won All Ireland "C" did they not? Also they had nearly as many Offaly starters as Kildare, though granted Jimmy Hyland was the main reason they did so well.

A lot of Westmeath's schools would draw heavily from outside the county as well - Moate CS would usually have four or five from Offaly in the side, while Marist would usually contain more Roscommon than Westmeath. Athlone CC would probably be closer to 50/50 between Ros and WH.

St Josephs in Rochfortbridge would historically have drawn heavily from Rhode and St Brigids clubs in Offaly too, though I believe that's not as much the case in recent years as Rhode lads have started going back to St Marys in Edenderry. I saw St Josephs a couple of years ago and they had just one Offaly starter, the rest were Westmeath. They had a decent side this year, not sure how many Offaly lads were involved.

Yeah it was the C competition. They had four starters from Bracknagh and one from Gracefield. Rest of the team made up from Rathangan, Monasterevin, Nurney, Ellistown, Allenwood and Ballyteague.

[Dinny Breen]

Rathangan won All Ireland "C" did they not? Also they had nearly as many Offaly starters as Kildare, though granted Jimmy Hyland was the main reason they did so well

Sorry it was the "C" - hard to believe he didn't start for the Kildare in their 1st Championship game! Yea Rathagan would be a typical border school, would draw a lot of pupils from the Clonbullogue direction.

[From the Bunker]

Any links? Any scores yet?

[easytiger95]

0-1 to 0-1 - Westmeath playing really well, Dublin sloppy.

[easytiger95]

dubs 0-2  Wm 0-1 - point from play from McCarthy, 11 mins gone