SHAR THING Elusive provincial title finally within reach for Westmeath ace Paul and he admits: We know we can win this one

ANOTHER year, another Leinster final, but Paul Sharry knows his best chance of conquering the province lies with his club.

It’s the third year in succession that Sharry will line out in a provincial senior final but while Westmeath were well beaten by the allconquering Dubs in 2015 and ‘16, it’s a much more level playing field for St Loman’s as they face Moorefield in Portlaoise on Sunday.

“Yeah, that’s true,” he agreed. “I’d say it’s the exact same for every team when Rathnew beat St Vincent’s, the same talk going,

‘Jesus it’s a great opportunity now, a level playing field’.

“Say for example it was us against Vincent’s in the Leinster final, everyone would be saying they’re red hot favourites. Whereas they might be saying ourselves or Moorefield are slight favourites, but it wouldn’t be a major upset if either side wins.

“It’s a 50-50 game in my opinion. We look at it as a winnable game, no more than they are too.”

If Loman’s are to be victorious on Sunday, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where John Heslin, the Westmeath talisman, wouldn’t be par- ticularly influential. His spectacular goal early on in the county final win over Tyrrellspass was rated one of the finest ever scored in Cusack Park.

“That was unbelievable, wasn’t it?” beamed Sharry. “We were saying beforehand that our idea was to get an early goal.

“Tyrrellspass are a rival-ish team and if you give them hope, it will turn into a fight of a game. But if you get a goal and try to kill them off as quick as possible, it’s going to be over in a blink of an eye.

“So we came up with a few routines, ideas for throw-ins, how we are going to make space, and for a full-forward to be on their own in the first 10 minutes. That all went out the window after 10 seconds when he just went up the pitch and drilled it in.”

The Mullingar-based club have the much travelled Luke Dempsey (inset), former Westmeath, Longford and Carlow manager, in charge of them now and Sharry speaks warmly of his man-management skills.

“He’s smart. As in, he keeps everything right. Like, Hes [Heslin] was saying last week that Lukey would make you feel 10 feet tall before you go out and play the game. The week of the game it’s not so much thinking about other teams, it’s more about ourselves and being confident and feeling

relaxed in front of goal for kicking scores.

“He makes sure you know your roles and he’s very good at kind of making sure we analyse aspects.

“We dedicate one night to maybe analysing Moorefield.”

Nonetheless, Dempsey was in charge of Moorefield in the not too distant past so his insight on the Kildare champions is bound to be particularly helpful.

“You’d imagine it will be some form of advantage to us as in, he’s going to know our style of play.

“It’s three years since he’s been involved with them.”