Tailteann Cup Group 3
Westmeath v Antrim
Mullingar – Sunday 2-00pm
The draw for this year’s Tailteann Cup sees Antrim face a difficult opener when they travel to Mullingar to face Westmeath this Sunday in Cusack Park, Mullingar.
The Saffrons will want to forget the last meeting of these two sides at the same venue or maybe it’s better to remember it and travel with the mind-set that this is an opportunity to right the damage inflicted that day back on March 5th 2023.
Everything that possibly could go wrong that day, went wrong as Andy McEntee’s side suffered a heavy defeat that would put a massive dent in their promotion hopes.
A new day, a new game and a different competition and Antrim will want to get their Tailteann Cup campaign of to a good start but face a formidable opponent.
The Antrim side has undergone many changes from that easily forgetable performance in Mullingar with Mick Byrne, Eoin McCabe, James McAuley, Joseph and Patrick Finnegan, Ruairi McCann and Conor Stewart the only players still in the panel that started that day though Dominic McEnhill came on as a substitute.
Captain that day, Peter Healy has not kicked a ball this year but is still around the panel as he recovers from a long term injury that required surgery and just where he is at in terms of recovery is not known at the time of writing.
Westmeath went on to gain promotion to division 2 in 2023 but recorded only one draw from their 7 fixtures and return to division 3 in 2025 while Antrim are relegated to division 4 for the 2025 season.
Just how those league campaigns have affected both sides remains to be seen but Antrim were somewhat unfortunate to make the drop from division 3 and were competitive in nearly all their games.
Their outstanding performance against All Ireland Champions, Armagh in the ‘Corrigan or nowhere’ Ulster Championship will have given Andy McEntee’s side a lot of confidence.
The Saffrons played out of their skins in that one and led the All Ireland champions by a point at half time and that lead could have been greater but Kavan Keenan’s penalty just before half time was saved by Blaine Hughes.
Paddy McBride, Eunan Walsh, Dermott McAleese and Marc Jordan were missing through injury in Antrim’s meeting with Sunday’s opponents back in 2023 while Kavan Keenan, Conor Hand, Ronan Boyle and Ryan McQuillan are amongst the emerging new faces likely to see action in Mullingar.
Antrim can take a lot of confidence from that performance against Armagh and if they can perform to that level and keep it going for the 70 plus minutes then they are quite capable of getting a result at Cusack Park.
Group 3 Tailteann Cup: Westmeath, Limerick, Antrim, London