London Calling!
"London calling to the faraway towns now war is declared and battle come down" is the opening line to that famous song by The Clash from so many years ago and maybe it's an apt way to look forward to the Senior Hurlers encounter with the Exiles next Saturday. The Hurling Qualifier draw on Monday 10th June, threw Westmeath and London into the mix and with Ruislip the venue, it certainly will be the most unique of the games set for the opening round. With the prize of home venue in the next round against the Winners of Offaly and Waterford, both sides will feel confident of making it through but it's a hard game to call. Both Westmeath and London bowed out in the opening round to Antrim and Carlow respectively exiting on similar margins so it would appear that both sides should be pretty well matched for this forthcoming game. Both teams progressed to their Divisional finals in the National league with London winning Division 2B beating Meath in the final while Westmeath lost to Laois in the Division 2A final. As a consequence both sides will be in the same Division for 2014. In their two home league matches this season, London were comprehensive winners over Down and Roscommon respectively. They have had an excellent home record over the past couple of years so facing Westmeath wont be seen to be a daunting task for them. In their match against Carlow on May 18th at Dr Cullen Park, London lost by 4-17 to 2-13 with the game evenly contested until Carlow struck their opening goal just prior to half time. They trailed by ten points as Carlow took a grip on proceedings early in the second half but fought back well with two goals before the home side killed off the issue in the final ten minutes. In Gerard
Hennelly, London have a fine full forward while Martin Duggan and Donal Reale were also useful performers on the day. The London team has a number of Galway exiles with the aforementioned Hennelly being from Ardrahan with Abbeyknockmoy's Brian Costelloe having plenty of experience so certainly Westmeath manager Brian Hanley will have a good idea of their form. For Westmeath, there was disappointment with the Leinster exit to Antrim on Sunday 5th May with the general feeling that many players did not do themselves justice with their performances in the 3-18 to 2-13 loss. However, the recent good performance against Wexford in the Under 21 championship has re-ignited the belief that Westmeath hurling is making steady progress. Westmeath have many fine players who can step up to the mark with Eoin Price,Brendan Murtagh,Niall O Brien and Derek Mc Nicholas capable of inflicting damage on any team. This is a great opportunity and I do believe that Westmeath will hold a narrow edge which should see them hurdle this tricky encounter. The goal of a home game in the next round should be plenty of incentive to win this game. Throw in at Ruislip is at 4-30pm on Saturday.

Intermediate Hurling Championship:
The Intermediate Hurling Championship took centre stage at Headquarters this weekend with a number of games decided. Castletown Geoghegan were comprehensive 5-10 to 0-9 winners over St Brigids; Raharney had a hard earned 1-9 to 1-4 victory over Cullion while Ringtown's two goals were decisive in their 2-12 to 0-11 victory over Fr Daltons.


Centra Get Together Family Day
Cusack Park Mullingar has been selected to host one of the Centra GAA Get Together Family day's with activities from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 22nd June. The event is being organised by Centra on a countrywide basis and the Star Players who will be in Mullingar next Saturday will be Kilkenny legend Henry Shefflin and Galway's Joe Canning. It promises to be a great opportunity for young players to try their skills in a family friendly environment and certainly the limited amount of tickets available for this are expected to be snapped up quickly. The programme for the event is as follows;

Planned Running Order
 
10.00am        Families arrive Players arrive on site
10.30am        Hurling Skills Session with 2 x Players and Hurling Coach
-Welcome & Introduction (15 min)
-Group Warm-Up (15 mins)
-Basic Ball Drills (20 mins)
During these drills, the children will be divided into 3 groups, based on their general hurling ability - Each child will be given a colour-coded t shirt as the drills proceed.  This is to ensure a safe and beneficial session for all involved. 
-Group Sessions x 3 approx 20mins each
11.15am      Photographer arrives on site for an hour and a ha
-Photographer to capture shots on pitch,
-Children with players
-Social shots of families at the BBQ/Tented Village/McCarthy Family
11.40am                    Skills Session Ends
11.45am                    Photo opportunity with players (15 mins)
12.00pm                    BBQ & Own brand refreshments are served
2.00pm                      Event Ends
**Please note:         The tented village, McCarthy Family, music, face painting etc will be set up from 10am for families to enjoy throughout the event and during the skills session with players.
The event will have a capacity for 75 families which includes two adults and two children (300 people). Only 100 children will be permitted to participate in the hurling skills session
Admission to the Event is by Ticket Only and Tickets can be obtained directly from Centra only: www.centra.ie email:[email protected]
Please note that this event is not organised by Westmeath GAA but by Centra

Tyrrellspass Golf Classic
Tyrrellspass GAA club are holding a Golf Classic on Friday 28th June at New Forest Golf club. Teams of four cost €140 and tee times will be available from 8-00am to 5pm. For booking tee times, please contact Frank Martin on 0872600586 and for sponsorship Gerry Sheridan or Joe Daly can be contacted at 0872562483 and 0864023881 respectively. Presentation of Prizes in Tyrrellspass Castle at 10pm.


Leinster Poc Fada
The Leinster Poc Fada competition will be an "on the road event" held at St.Mullins Co. Carlow, on 11th July 2013 starting at 6.30pm. The course will be approximately 5Km in length.Representatives from the twelve Leinster Counties are invited to participate. Counties are requested to send one representative at adult Level and one representative at U-16 level.
The winner of the adult section will receive the Leinster Poc Fada Cup (perpetual) and a Poc Fada trophy. In addition he will be invited on the "TodayFm Topflight Ski Trip 2014", where they will take part in their annual Poc Fada Competition on the ski slope.

The adult Leinster final winner and runner-up and the U-16 winner will be invited to participate on the Cooley Mountains in the All- Ireland Poc Fada competition which is run on Sat 3rd August.

GAA/GPA Elverys Youth Camp!
The Gaelic Athletic Association(GAA) and Gaelic Players Association (GPA) are offering boys between 13 to 15 years of age, the chance to learn the skills of Gaelic Football and Hurling from their GAA heroes, in top venues across the country over a two week period, from June 24-28 and July 1-5.
This is the latest venture between the GAA and the players' body and will see youths of all playing ability get an insight into the life of an inter-county player in an action packed week. Some of the areas which will be covered include conditioning games, skills development, mental preparation, sports nutrition and athletic development.
Each camp will be organised and supervised by a leading GAA player in their respective county and the cost of online booking is €55. 
All participants will receive a limited edition Elverys Sports pack, while there will also be an exciting competition with the chance to win a Lenovo laptop in each camp.
For a full list of camp venues and ambassadors, please click here; www.elverysyouthcamps.gaa.ie.



Westmeath GAA development Lotto
The Most recent draw was held on Tuesday 11th June with the numbers drawn being 5,10,17 and 20. There was no Jackpot Winner so the Jackpot for the draw on Tuesday 18th June will be €8450. There were ten match three winners who received €32 each and they were;
Brian Lambden C/O St Oliver Plunketts GAA
Jason Charles C/O St Oliver Plunketts GAA
Carmel Mc Cann C/O Westmeath Ladies GAA
Helena Clarke C/O Westmeath Ladies GAA
Darren Carter C/O Mullingar Shamrocks GAA
Martina Heffernan C/O Mullingar Shamrocks GAA
Phil Owens C/O Mullingar Shamrocks GAA
Ellen Dowdall C/O Delvin GAA
Niall & Helen C/O Delvin GAA
Pat Farrelly C/O Delvin GAA Tweet

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