Support to help against odds

Tomás Ó Flatharta may be leading his Westmeath side into the lions' den to play Dublin at Croke Park this Saturday, but he brings one crucial element with him - it will be the best-supported team ever to leave the midlands county.

"We will have over 10,000 supporters from the county itself, plus what I expect to be the full backing of about another 10,000 neutrals who will be at the match - so we will have 20,000 people cheering us on," said Westmeath GAA chairman Séamus Whelan yesterday in advance of Sunday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football championship quarter-final.

"That's more than we have ever had getting behind a Westmeath team, and hopefully it will stand to us when we run out against Dublin. Neutrals always support David in a David-versus-Goliath challenge."

The entire population of Westmeath - listed at just short of 80,000 in a recent preliminary census report - could fit into Croke Park (capacity 82,000).

Some bookies have placed Westmeath at 12 to 1 in a two-horse race - attractive odds a number of Westmeath fans have found impossible to resist - but there is a real determination in the camp to prove the pundits wrong.

The shock victory over Galway in the final round of the qualifiers at Galway's home venue of Pearse Stadium seems to have barely registered with the bookies and the tipsters, and sources within the Westmeath set-up say this low-key approach suits them perfectly.

"We know that Dublin are commanding all the attention in advance of the game, which is only natural given the huge levels of interest in the fortunes of the Dublin team," added Whelan.

"It has allowed our team to go about their preparations quietly and in a very focused way, and hopefully this will translate into a good performance on Saturday.

"We know this is a good Dublin team, but our lads have improved steadily as the year has gone on and we will be hoping to show further improvement on Saturday."

Westmeath are keeping their fingers crossed that the experienced Athlone attacker Joe Fallon, who had a leg operation last week, will be able to join the squad for the clash, but it may be later in the week before they can make a final call on his fitness.