Watching Westmeath

Westmeath have suffered a blow after forward Luke Loughlin confirmed he will miss the rest of the season due to a hamstring tear and tendon rupture. Westmeath has emerged this Saturday as one of the stories drawing attention in Ireland.

Key facts

• Westmeath have suffered a blow after forward Luke Loughlin confirmed he will miss the rest of the season due to a hamstring tear and tendon rupture.
• It had been one of those giddy, dare-to-dream kind of weeks around Westmeath until life swung by with a good old-fashioned gut-punch on Wednesday.
• Former Kildare footballer David Hyland believes his old teammates will have slept a lot sounder this week knowing that Westmeath’s talisman Luke Loughlin is ruled out of tomorrow’s Leinster semi-final.
• Westmeath have only contested five Leinster Senior Football Championship finals (six if you include the 2004 replay).
• Connellan, 31, made his Westmeath debut in 2014 before signing an AFL rookie contract in Australia two years later.

What we know

Going deeper, it had been one of those giddy, dare-to-dream kind of weeks around Westmeath until life swung by with a good old-fashioned gut-punch on Wednesday.

On the substance, Former Kildare footballer David Hyland believes his old teammates will have slept a lot sounder this week knowing that Westmeath’s talisman Luke Loughlin is ruled out of tomorrow’s Leinster semi-final.

Beyond the headlines, Westmeath have only contested five Leinster Senior Football Championship finals (six if you include the 2004 replay).

More precisely, Connellan, 31, made his Westmeath debut in 2014 before signing an AFL rookie contract in Australia two years later.

It is worth noting that Wallace scored 1-7 from wing back in Westmeath’s O’Byrne Cup final win over Kildare in January.

By the numbers

At this stage, And while it is 26 years since Westmeath last won an underage Leinster title, there have been maroon and white shoots recently.

“There were 23 or 24 Westmeath boys playing in a Leinster colleges final, a school from Mullingar against a school from Athlone.

Going deeper, they were the first Westmeath school to win the All-Ireland colleges football title since the Carmelite College in Moate back in 1981.

On the substance, Loughlin sustained the injury during his side's Leinster quarter-final win over Meath on 19 April, coming off the O'Connor Park pitch midway through the second half.

What they're saying

“Beating Meath was a huge thing for Westmeath and it was a fully deserved victory,” he says. “There might have been some who felt maybe Meath would plough through Westmeath but there was a feeling here after the win over Longford that we would be very competitive, and that’s how it turned out.

“It’s almost unheard of for a Westmeath team at underage level to beat Dublin, so for two Westmeath teams at underage level to beat Dublin in the same year has given us a huge lift,” says Doherty.

“Unfortunately the scan came back indicating it was a lot more serious than we had hoped,” he says.

The wider context

On a related note, Today I got news that I more than likely won't play sport again this year, never mind with Westmeath," he wrote.

Going deeper, (I) have a grade 4C hamstring tear and tendon rupture and I’ll need surgery.

On the substance, Watch Armagh v Down in the Ulster Football Championship on Sunday from 3.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.

Beyond the headlines, Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.

More precisely, Watch The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.

The bottom line

• It had been one of those giddy, dare-to-dream kind of weeks around Westmeath until life swung by with a good old-fashioned gut-punch on Wednesday.
• They were the first Westmeath school to win the All-Ireland colleges football title since the Carmelite College in Moate back in 1981.
• Lake County have several players capable of causing Kildare bother in provincial semi-final.