Westmeath concentrate on clash with Laois

The Westmeath county board have agreed to cancel the full list of 10 championship matches scheduled for Sunday after complaints from the senior team's manager and selectors.

Team manager Brendan Lowry, and his selectors, Pat Fox and Ned Moore, as well as trainer Lorenzo Bracken, had at one stage been considering withdrawing from their posts because of the dispute.

The team handlers were displeased because of the board's decision to fix a full schedule of matches while the county team were preparing for their Leinster championship clash with Laois on June 7th.

Lowry and his selectors felt that their chances of advancing in the Leinster championship were being hampered by the domestic programme and threatened to resign if the domestic list wasn't cancelled. Lowry yesterday confirmed that Westmeath football was back on the rails. "We were in a predicament caused by the fact that we had won two championship matches, and I'm glad that we didn't draw it out and that we have solved our problem," Lowry said.

The county secretary, Paddy Collins, was at pains to point out that the team management and the county's Games Administration Committee had met to draw up a schedule at the beginning of the season, and that an overall fixture list for the year was agreed, including a full schedule of county championship matches on May 24th. "However, the problem arose when we beat Carlow and Longford and we had the Laois match fixed for June 7th," Collins said.

"That list of fixtures has now been called off. We were in a dilemma and we had to find a solution. Generally the county team is the shop window for the county, but we also have to realise that we have commitments and responsibilities to club players who are not in the county panel.

"I hope we can now move on. The county players have had more than 100 training sessions and have been unavailable to their clubs, and this causes a problem for the clubs, which we understand," he said.

Lowry said that he had met the Westmeath county chairman and other officials and an agreement had been reached. "We never wanted to force a situation. We were paying the price of success and we are determined to go further by beating Laois on June 7th. "We are also anxious to build on the success which has been achieved at under age level in recent years. We also understand that the county board has responsibilities to all players in the county," he said.

1992 All-Ireland Under-21 medal winner Sean Daly has been recalled to the Waterford senior hurling panel for the Munster championship campaign. The Lismore clubman has been out of favour for the past 16 months, having been dropped from the panel on disciplinary grounds.

Daly played a starring role in Waterford's march to glory in 1992, scoring three goals in a drawn final with Offaly at Walsh Park, and he again starred in the replay at full forward in a final which saw the Deise side capture their first title in the grade.

The team for Sunday's first round Munster championship game with Kerry in Tralee will feature three of that side - Fergal Hartley, Tony Brown and Paul Flynn - while Tom Feeney, Anthony Kirwan, and Flynn played in the minor side that captured provincial honours in the same year.

Tyrone have kept faith with the side which drew with Down for Sunday's Ulster minor football championship replay at Newry. The same starting 15 will again take the field after fighting back for a late equaliser at Omagh last Sunday.

Joint manager Mickey Harte said he hopes the experienced gained in the drawn game will be put to positive use in the rematch. "They hauled themselves back into a game that they appeared to be buried in, and now it remains to be seen which side has learned most from the draw," he added.

Tyrone (MF v Down): P McConnell; G Devlin, M McGee, F Loughran; C Meenagh, B McGuigan, P O'Neill; C McAnallen, K Hughes; G Wylie, D O'Hanlon, S O'Neill; A Lynch, E McGinley, D Kelly.

Monaghan (JH v Down): E O'Connell; D Lally, D Reilly, N McGuigan; D Hanrahan, D Connolly, P Kenny; M O'Dowd, J Harding; G Sullivan, C Connolly, R Healy; P Walsh, P Ward, P Cunningham.