Kerry and Fitzmaurice looking to maintain momentum

No one said it would be easy. Just a year after their gallant rise to Division One of the Allianz Football League, Westmeath are poised to fall again, and the fear is the decline might not stop there.

What is certain is that only a minor miracle will save them from relegation now. With five defeats in five games already, Westmeath host a Kerry team on Sunday who are edging back into their good old form and need another win to keep alive their chances of making the semi-finals.

To make matters worse Westmeath will also be without John Heslin, their top scorer of the campaign with 21 points in their opening four games. He missed the heavy defeat to Tyrone in the last round due to a groin injury: that necessitates another four-five week recovery period so Heslin will also miss the final game against Kildare on Sunday week.

Precarious position
By then, however, their fate may already be sealed, as only a win against Kerry will give them something to play for going into the last round. With Kildare in an almost equally precarious position, with just one win in their five games, that final game might count for nothing for both teams, unless Kildare manage to beat the in-form Derry on Sunday, that game set for Celtic park.

Kerry, meanwhile, won’t be showing Westmeath any sympathy, as a defeat, unlikely as it is, could leave them battling relegation in the final game, against Cork: “We’ve had two wins in a row now and we’ve got to try and keep it going,” says Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice. “Westmeath I know played very well in patches for their games in Mullingar. In all of their games they have played well in patches. I think they will win a game before the league is over.

“I remember too in Mullingar we found it tough going, in 2012, in the qualifiers so we’re going to have to be very careful. We’ll be treating it the same as any other game but we’ll be looking to keep the momentum going.”

The race for promotion from Division Two is delicately poised, with Donegal, Monaghan and Down all on seven points, while Armagh and Meath are giving chase on five points. Donegal will almost certainly beat Louth on Sunday, while Monaghan are at home to Laois, and Down are away to Meath.

Division Three
No such fears for Roscommon and Cavan in Division Three – both of whom are guaranteed promotion; indeed that makes Sunday's game between the teams at Breffni Park the first "dead rubber" of the season, and they're also set to meet again in the division final. However, with Roscommon facing Leitrim in the Connacht Under-21 final on Saturday week, manager John Evans will be resting his under-21 players, and with that digging further into his panel.

Meanwhile former Laois star and one-time AFL rookie Brendan Quigley has been named as New York football captain for 2014 – and will lead against Mayo in the Connacht championship opener in New York on May 4th. Manager Ian Galvin, who also has boasts other former county players such as Galway's Nicky Joyce, Donegal's Ross Wherity and Offaly's Brian Connor.

The Connacht Council has agreed to a request from RTÉ to bring the throw-in forward to 7.30pm Irish time to facilitate the broadcast of highlights.

OFFALY (SF v Limerick): A Mulhall; D Brady, D Hanlon, J O'Connor; N Darby, J Moloney, M Brazil; R Allen, N Smith; P Sullivan, A Sullivan, E Carroll; C Hurley, N McNamee, P Cunningham.