Damien Healy believes Westmeath must match Dublin in the early stages if they are to upset the odds in Sunday's Leinster SFC semi-final. The Rochfortbridge man, who celebrates his 33rd birthday this week, cut short a world trip to play for the Lake County in this year's championship, though he is unlikely to start the Croke Park tie due to a lack of recent match practice. "You don't want to be giving them a good start," he said. "If they get any sort of a lead, Dublin could end up trouncing you. The first 20 minutes are crucial. Any game we've beaten Dublin in in the last couple of years, in the first 20 minutes they've absolutely hockeyed us off the pitch but we contained them and managed to just scrape over the line in the end." After a disastrous NFL campaign and a far from impressive first round win over Wicklow, Healy says Westmeath can't have any complaints about their rank outsider tag. "Dublin are looking for an All-Ireland and they've won four Leinsters already. It's not going to be easy at all. "Dublin are probably 1/5 favourites and deservedly so. Westmeath haven't shown anything to alter that fact. But if everybody gives their all and works their socks off and believes they have a chance of winning, you're giving yourself a chance." Westmeath manager Tomas O Flatharta names his team after training tonight amid speculation that former Shamrock Rovers soccer player and St. Loman's clubman Paul Sharry could be handed a shock starting role. Tweet

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