Injury meant that Russell Casey had to wait nearly a year to make his intercounty comeback. Unfortunately for the Castledaly man he was thrown in against the All-Ireland champions Tyrone in a league game that was one to forget for Paidi Ó Sé's men. Damaged ankle ligaments kept the centre back sidelined for the majority of last season but after a lot of hard work and effort, Russell forced his way back into contention and following a full training schedule during the winter months, a return to the starting line-up was imminent. Russell had to wait until Westmeath's second last league match to get his chance and it could not have came against stronger opposition as the Lake County travelled North to face arguably the best side in the country at the moment, Tyrone. "I was delighted to be named in the team after such a long time out," said Russell. "It was a tough match and we ended up receiving quite a hammering from them. "They way Tyrone play makes it very difficult to beat them, especially with their two half-forwards pulling back into their defence and leaving our remaining backs stretched . It really was a tough game and we never got going but I wasn't totally disappointed as it was my first competive game in quite a while and hopefully I done enough to warrant another chance," he added. Tyrone were as superior on the day as the final scoreline of suggests even if, ironically, the visitors enjoyed quite a lot of possession in the first half especially. However Paidi O Se's side were wasteful in the extreme in trying to walk the ball into the homesters' net as they battled against a strong breeze and their classy opponents. Russell has been a long time on the Westmeath panel now and he is confident that the current training regime is the best he has ever seen with either club or county. "The training has been excellent with both Paidi and Tomas. It definitely brought us up an extra level and that is where we need to be if we intend to match the best in the country. "I think anything less than a Leinster title will be a disappointment for the supporters and who can blame after the last few years. Expectations have increased and it's up to us to produce the goods." Working as an Electrical Engineer with Mercury Engineering, Russell is based in Drogheda, Co Louth at the moment and makes his way to Ballinagore twice a week for training, a long journey he is happy to make. "Yeah the evenings we're training, I leave the house for work in the morning and usually don't return until 11 or later that night, which can be fairly tiring but its worth it and I enjoy it. A final round win against Mayo preserved Westmeath's status in Division One for another season after both Longford and Fermanagh were defeated. Russell points out that had the side been a bit more consistent in the earlier rounds of the league, Paidi's men could have been in the semi-finals. "We definitely should have beaten both Longford and Fermanagh, while with a bit more luck we would have collected all the points against Cork, although in the end we were fortunate to hold on for a draw." Westmeath can now concentrate on the first round of the Leinster championship with a tie against neighbours Offaly in Croke Park, a side that Russell knows all about, as he lives not far from the Faithful border. "Already there is plenty of hype and slagging taking place with the neighbours and there is no doubt that both sides will lift their game on theday. We have done a lot of intense training over the past few months and things seem to be taking shape now with confidence high in the camp." Away from the county scene Russell is working on three projects with Mercury in the Drogheda area at the New Boyne Bridge , McBride train station and the new St. Laurence Street shopping center development. Mercury Engineering provides mechanical, electrical and fire protection services to companies throughout Ireland. They deliver optimum solutions, cost effective and on time, tailored to the demands of the project. They are able to do this because they combine experience and resources with a unique broad range of capabilities. Each division is capable of delivering a complete turnkey service, from estimating and tender submission to planning, design and installation. CAD capabilities mean they can create design specifications if needed, or deliver on existing ones. Their expert procurement team works to source high quality, cost-effective materials from suppliers worldwide while their directly employed team of skilled people ensures they can deliver, when and where needed. In 2002, Castledaly reached their first ever Westmeath senior football final only to lose to Garrycastle in the decider and they had high hopes of reaching the some stage of the competition last season but the year turned into somewhat of a nightmare. "We had a lot of injuries last year with myself, and Derek Heavin missing a good bit of the year while JP (Russell's brother) and James Galvin were not in the country. When we are down a few players it hits the squad fairly hard because we have only a small panel to choose from," added Russell. At the moment the main priority for the defender is to establish himself on the Westmeath senior football team and with over a month to go to thefirst round of the Leinster championship, Casey has every chance of playing in Croke Park. Tweet

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