BETTER LAKE THAN NEVER

Cooney ready to play midweek if needs be

WESTMEATH boss Jack Cooney says he’s happy to play Louth midweek to help get the League run off on time.

That fixture, due to take place in Drogheda last Saturday, fell victim to the weather and it suited neither side for it to be rescheduled on Sunday or the bank holiday Monday.

As a result, Division Three is a conundrum ahead of what was supposed to be the final round of games this Sunday, which go ahead as originally scheduled, with the Lake men at home to Longford and Louth travelling to Down.

A certain set of results this weekend would render the Louthwestmeath game meaningless but if either county were to win their closing two games, they’d be guaranteed promotion.

As of now, the Division Three final is set for Croke Park on March 30 but would most likely have to be pushed back if something is riding on Louthwestmeath, though refixing that game for the middle of next week could avert that.

Cooney said: “Whatever the CCCC decide we’ll go along with that. If they want to play it midweek, we’ll play it midweek.

“It’s a little bit up in the air. It all depends on the results at the weekend.

“If results go a certain way that game may not have to be played. If the results go another way, that game will have to be played.”

Liam O Ceileachair’s (inset) Louth wouldn’t be prepared to concede home advantage if promotion is at stake and the in Drogheda floodlights.

That means their Centre of Excellence in Darver would be the only option for a midweek game – although whether it would be capable of hosting a League game of that magnitude is questionable.

Furthermore, the CCCC may be reluctant to go down the route of week-night games, having received a frosty response to it in the past.

The lack of wriggle room in the League, with only one free weekend from the outset of the competition to its conclusion, creates the potential for these scenarios and pressure will come on fixturemakers to reassess the schedule for 2020.

Cooney continued: “When we played Down in the League it was our eighth game in seven weeks, after the run that we had in the O’byrne Cup. There’s nothing much more that we can do.

“We played those eight games in seven weeks, then we had a free weekend, and then we’re back into it again.

“I don’t know if there’s much more football that we could have squeezed in in this amount of time, considering it’s an amateur sport.” Gaelic Grounds doesn’t have