By Daire Walsh

Next weekend is set to be a big one for Westmeath football with both of their senior teams targeting top honours in major championship showpieces on consecutive days.

As part of a double header with a junior decider in the same province, Tracey Dillon and her Lake County team-mates will be seeking to claim back-to-back TG4 Leinster intermediate football championship crowns when they take on Wexford at Cedral St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge next Saturday. On the following day, the Westmeath men will be competing in their first Leinster SFC final in 10 years against Dublin at Croke Park.

This is off the back of memorable triumphs over Meath and Kildare – the latter coming as recently as last Sunday at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore. The Westmeath ladies booked their own provincial final berth with a comprehensive win over Laois a day earlier at TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar and, as Dillon explains, there is one family in particular that helped to connect both groups of players.

“It was a great game there, it was a cracker at the weekend. We were all glued to it, whether we were at it there in O’Connor Park or watching it on GAA+. It’s brilliant and it’s so exciting now for the county to have two teams in a Leinster final. Both the girls and the men in football on the weekend of the 16th/17th,” Dillon remarked.

“There’s a lot of crossover as well from the girls and the men’s team. The McCartans are a big one. You’ve got Lucy and Lara, and then Danny and Sam playing in the lads' game on the Sunday. It’s really exciting. There is a great buzz around the county at the minute and our camogie girls as well are in a Leinster final [an intermediate decider against Laois tomorrow].

“There are three Leinster finals coming up and the county seems to be really proud of everybody, which is absolutely brilliant. Hopefully everyone will come out on the day. Please God the weather will be on our side and it will definitely help with the crowd too.”

Thanks in no small part to a 1-4 haul from Dillon’s younger sister Sarah, Westmeath secured last year’s TG4 Leinster intermediate football championship title with a 1-12 to 0-9 success against Laois at TEG Cusack Park in Mullingar.

Standing in the way of their provincial defence are Wexford, who have advanced to the final stage of the competition courtesy of impressive victories over Wicklow and Louth.

When the two teams met in round four of Lidl National Football League Division 2 at Samaritans St Patrick’s Park – prior to both sides unfortunately suffering relegation to Division 3 for 2027 – a clinical edge in front of goal propelled Westmeath towards a 4-10 to 1-13 triumph.

The Lake County outfit have become accustomed to facing the Slaneysiders in recent seasons and while her side came out on top in that NFL meeting on February 22 of this year, Dillon is anticipating a stiffer challenge on this occasion.

“They’re a big rivalry of ours. We always seem to come up against each other in big games and it’s always a cracker to be fair. There’s never much between us. They have some really good girls and they’re after getting Aileen Gilroy there from Mayo as well. A big transfer down into Wexford.

“They’ll be a different team now in the championship and we’ll try to prepare as best we can. Try and play our own game, but also obviously preparing for their big threats.”

Though their recent encounters with Wexford have been tight affairs, Westmeath recorded an emphatic 4-19 to 0-6 win at the expense of the same opponents in the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship final of 2021 in Croke Park.

Having experienced what it was like to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand in GAA HQ, Dillon is eager to do so again later on this year when the Midlanders aim to collect the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup for the third time in their history.

Frank Browne’s charges will be taking each game as it comes, but with memories of their agonising semi-final defeat to eventual winners Tyrone in last year’s championship still fresh in her mind, Dillon (who works as a nursing allocations officer in TUS Athlone) is hoping to go at least one step further in 2026.

“That would be the dream. To get Westmeath football back up into the senior category would be really what we would hope for. Please God, we’d love a day out in Croke Park. It would be all the better if we could win it. We’ll take the Leinster final in our stride first and see how that goes. Then we’ll start making some plans.

“I suppose last year will stick with us for a very long time. That game against Tyrone that went to extra-time was a very hard one to take. Really we’ll be hoping to get a step further than we did last year.”

Since first breaking onto the panel in 2016, Dillon has been joined by at least one of her sisters in the Westmeath senior set-up – Rachel during her early days on the inter-county scene and the aforementioned Sarah in the current squad.

Before becoming Lake County colleagues, the Dillon siblings all featured for their club Milltown in a magnificent AIB All-Ireland intermediate club football championship final win against Cahir of Tipperary at Parnell Park on December 6, 2015.

Their father Tom was also the manager for this triumph and it comes as little surprise that Dillon regards this as one of the biggest highlights of her life and career to date.

“It was one of the best days of our lives. It’s one of the days that we’ll cherish forever. We were very young at the time, we think back and we say ‘jeanie mac, did we take it for granted?’ We’re blessed in our club Milltown,” Dillon added.

“We’re very lucky, we have such a great group of girls. We’ve been best friends since we were only small. We’re all still together, which is lovely. Hopefully you haven’t seen the end of us there yet either, but we’ll keep pushing on and hopefully push on for a bit more.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories