Unbeaten Down coming to town as Westmeath plot out 2024

There are good reasons to be optimistic as a Westmeath football supporter.

Having taken over in the Westmeath hotseat in late 2022, Dessie Dolan has built on Jack Cooney's body of work that included the inaugural Tailteann Cup to continue to raise expectations.

Last year's league campaign however was nothing to write home about, a LWWLWLW record that never saw them seriously mount a promotion bid out of the third tier.

That inconsistency, coupled with the subsequent Leinster first-round defeat to Louth, meant suspicions that their guaranteed presence in the All-Ireland series courtesy of the Tailteann Cup had blunted their edge gained more traction.

Pitted in a group with Armagh, Galway and Tyrone, most outside the county had respectability, rather than genuine ambitions to progress, as the primary goal.

As it turned out, had John Heslin’s free deep into injury time against Tyrone in the final group outing snuck inside the upright, they would have advanced to the preliminary quarter-finals at the Red Hands expense.

Regardless, a draw, coupled with a one-point defeat to Armagh indicated that Dolan has a solid foundation with which to build upon.

Another boost arrived in October. The Leinster goals for those outside the capital is to avoid the Dubs, and Dolan's side would only encounter the All-Ireland champions in the final should they go on a provincial run.

A first-round outing with Wicklow – Oisin McConville’s side had to wait until round six for their first win and managed just three points from play against Westmeath last month – will hold little fear, with rudderless Kildare, whose drop to Division 3 was confirmed after a sixth successive defeat last night, awaiting in the last four.

It offers Westmeath a very realistic