Search Results for 'Cian Ward'

Meath 0-17

The Galway footballers head up the road to Navan to take on Meath in the qualifiers on Saturday (7pm) and the few loyal maroon supporters who travel will do so more in hope than expectation.

The Galway footballers head up the road to Navan to take on Meath in the qualifiers on Saturday (7pm) and the few loyal maroon supporters who travel will do so more in hope than expectation.

Gloomy and dismal is the only way to describe the fare on offer last Sunday in McHale Park between Galway and Mayo in the Connacht senior football championship.

It’s not too often I start my column with a football theme but the scenes that followed last Sunday’s Leinster football final will have repercussions for every GAA supporter.

The senior inter county championship has got off to a predictably drab start. Isn’t it a shame that we never have any fanfare attached to the commencement of our showcase GAA competition? The GAA just do the marketing thing any way at all. And looking at some of the attendances so far this year, one must draw the conclusion that it is time GAA HQ smartened up their act in this regard.

There’s probably enough of talk of doom and gloom around without me adding to it here. But sure at this stage we wouldn’t know how to cope if we heard a bit of good news anyway, would we? With that in mind I thought I’d share with you something that has been troubling me over the festive period.

Both Westmeath and Roscommon Gaelic footballers return to action this weekend in the All-Ireland qualifiers eager to forget their last 70 minutes of championship action. Roscommon and Westmeath are in very similar situations with both teams suffering heavy defeats in their respective provincial semi-finals and having just two weeks to regroup and try to focus on the qualifiers. On Saturday afternoon Roscommon head for the sunny south east to take on Wexford after their 20 point defeat to Mayo, while later that evening Westmeath entertain old rivals Meath in Cusack Park in a bid to get back on the road again after their 27 point defeat to Dublin. Westmeath started out their campaign this year against Meath in early January in the O’Byrne cup. The question is come Saturday evening will Meath be Westmeath’s first and last game of 2009? Both Westmeath players and management have taken some criticism over the last few weeks. There have been many excuses given for the poor performance against Dublin - poor league campaign, constant injury crisis, and the lack of match fitness and sharpness by a number of the 15 that took the field against Dublin.

Westmeath’s All-Ireland campaign came to a premature end on Saturday evening at the hands of Meath in a wet and windswept Cusack Park, on a scoreline of 1-15 to 1-5.

After Kerry hammering the lard out of Dublin last Monday it is difficult to predict any victors now with any huge degree of confidence.