Four Westmeath football clubs are up in arms about the possibility of having to play championship games without players who are involved with the county hurlers.

The senior and intermediate football championships get underway in the Lake County this weekend and St. Malachy's, Killucan, The Downs and Shandonagh are likely to be without their county hurlers, who run the risk of getting injured and missing Westmeath's Leinster SHC quarter-final against Wexford tomorrow week.

St. Malachy's and Killucan have four players each on Michael Ryan's hurling squad, while The Downs have two (Brendan Murtagh and Shane Power) and Shandonagh have one (Aaron Craig).

The four clubs affected have requested that their games against St. Loman's, Tyrrellspass, Garrycastle and Athlone respectively be postponed, but the county board are sticking to their guns and are going ahead with the games. Because the 13-day rule doesn't apply to different codes, the clubs must fulfil the fixtures or face the prospect of losing two points.

It's understood that the clubs have made contact with the DRA, but a late appeal to prevent the games from going ahead appears unlikely.

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